Author: Contributor

Social media have revolutionized modern communication. The best thing we can do is be informed about all the new possibilities for managing our online reputation.

It’s becoming harder to discern between professional and personal online, so we’ve begun referring to our online presence as our “Personal Brand.” Your Personal Brand is a representation of YOU, both personally and professionally.

Here are five benefits of using social media:

1. Connect with others

Online networking can help you grow your network of peers, mentors, role models, and other professionals in a significant way. Nurturing those relationships will give you an entirely new network from which to draw when you need opportunities or professional advice.

2. You can share your expertise

You can build credibility by sharing content on topics you’re knowledgeable about. Your online presence is not the only factor to consider. By living your brand and letting your actions represent your online presence, you validate your ability to be trusted, and your relationships will become more robust and more authentic.

3. Make your business more visible

Your visibility can increase dramatically if you hone in on your expertise and consistently manage your social media channels. Sharing good content ensures that more people see it if you post it consistently. So, when you post good content, it will get shared, increasing your reach.

4. Make sure you are well-informed

The Internet is a noisy place. As a result of social media, you can focus on what you care about and what you want to read. You can create lists to curate content from the people, thought leaders, or media outlets of your choice. It is easy to learn about what is happening around you.

5. Connect whenever you want

Although this may seem disadvantageous to some, it’s not. In the long run, however, the ability to communicate with anyone instantly outweighs any negative aspect.

The trend of checking and scrolling through social media has grown dramatically over the past decade. Social media use is not a problem for most people, but some users become addicted to websites and use them excessively or compulsively.

Psychiatrists estimate that 5% to 10% of Americans today fall into the category of social media addiction. 

As a behavior addiction, social media addiction is characterized by excessive concern about social media, by an irresistible urge to log on and use social media, and by depleting other areas of one’s life to pursue social media attention.

A significant part of social media addiction is the dopamine-inducing and socially stimulating environment provided by social networking sites.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram produce the same neural circuitry caused by gambling and recreational drugs to keep consumers using their products as much as possible. 

According to recent studies, the constant stream of retweets, likes, and shares from social media sites triggers a chemical reaction similar to what drugs like cocaine accomplish. A neuroscientist once likened social media interaction to having dopamine directly injected into your system from a syringe.

Despite the widespread use of social media, very few people are truly addicted. If you have any doubt that someone may develop an addiction to social media, ask them these six questions:

• Do they spend a lot of time planning social media strategies or thinking about social media?
• Do they feel a constant urge to use social media?
• How often do they use social media as a way to forget their problems?
• Are they often unsuccessful in reducing their social media use?
• Is it troubling or restless when they cannot access social media?
• Has social media been detrimental to their job or studies due to their excessive use?

If you answer yes to more than three of these questions, you may have a social media addiction.

The focal point of this information is to help you identify social media addiction and help others around you. The best way to share information is through “word of mouth,” i.e., direct communication between people. You can also share this with others to get them informed.

The internet contains lots of information, some are true and some are not. If you are not careful, you can end up taking in fake information and leaving out the real one.

Everyone has the freedom of uploading what they like on the internet, so you have to be careful of what you walk with.

When it comes to information regarding addiction, it is important to be sure of where you get your information.

The reason is, addiction is a sensitive issue and you need credible information from trusted sources because the lives of people are at stake.

It would be harmful to many people if you release inaccurate information as regards addiction. It could destroy people’s lives in the process, so you need to be extremely careful.

To make sure you lift credible information, you have to ensure it is from an authority website, an academic or professional source, or a notable news outfit. Over time, these sources have proven to be trusted if you want to get credible information on addiction.

You can also check studies done by mental health research institutions, and articles written by professionals in the addiction and mental health field. These sources are credible because they contain ample information garnered from real-life experiences.

In addition, you can get credible addiction information from established news brands like an editorial or a known newspaper. These sources contain written content from top-notch journalists known for conducting in-depth research.

Also, you can get good information from student essays. An intellectual individual who is ready to work and collect adequate research information would also be of help, but such people are hard to find.

These days, the internet has made it easier for us to get access to the right information. All you need do is know where to search and access these information.

While combing the corners of the internet, you need to keep in mind that the lives of people are in your hands, depending on you for the right information.

These days, teenagers have more access to social media platforms like never before. The average teenager is on a minimum of three to four social media platforms.

Even though these platforms come with their benefits, there are adverse effects if teenagers are addicted.

Are you a parent who doesn’t want their teenager to be addicted? Here are some ways to help prevent it

Create a general schedule for them

Your teenager is presently in school, so they will spend a number of hours there. When they are back, it is important they have a list of activities lined up for them.

Parents who are not careful in this regard would ignore their teenagers and leave them to spend the rest of their day on the internet.

You can outline some activities like sleeping, reading and the likes. You have to ensure your teenagers are engaged in beneficial activities when they are at home.

Create a Social Media schedule for them

It is not advised to leave your kids completely off the social media. So, it is best to outline sometime for them to operate their phones. However, you must be careful not to allow them spend several hours on various social media platforms.

Integrate parental control on their devices

On various devices, you can set parental control. This allows you to have an insight into what your kids are doing on the internet. With this parental control, you can know their activities on the internet and correct them if they are engaging in any harmful activity.

Get their password

You need to have your teenager’s password to gain entry into their phones for regular checks. If you are aware of what is occurring on their phones, you will be able to correct them accordingly.  

Some teenagers can be very sneaky and if you are not careful, you will be kept in the dark concerning their activities.

As parents, it is expedient to always keep an eagle eye concerning your teenagers to prevent them from entering the wrong hands.

The social media is place which has connected various people from all over the world. This is a place where various activities take place.

There are different social media platforms which solve one problem, that is communication. Social media platforms avail us the opportunity to keep in touch with people who we have not seen in a long time.

As a matter of fact, it also helps us to communicate with people who we have not seen before.

However, there is a level of trust which exists on social media platforms that allows us to share bits of information with people who are supposed to be our friends on these platforms.

Everyone loves the social media, and for some people, this love has gone beyond normal, it has become an addiction for some. People who are addicted to the social media, have an obsessive and compulsive desire to always remain on the social media.

They find it hard to take some time off the social media because, they want to participate in every trending event.

People who are addicted to the social media have little time for activities. Better put, the social media is at the top of their priority list, and they place it above other activities which they are supposed to do.

• 

It is very easy to spot someone who is addicted to the social media in the workplace. Such person would be inactive because they have spent a good part of their night surfing these platforms.

The pleasure derived from the social media, is similar to the feeling of pleasure and satisfaction which drugs and alcohol gives.

For college students who are addicted to the social media, they find it hard to do their assignments, and most of them who are addicted do not perform well like their mates in class. This happens because they barely have time to read.

Social media platforms and the internet as a whole, is a place which should be treated with caution. It should serve its purpose and nothing beyond that.

People must be careful to ensure that, they do not become obsessively inclined to any of the social media platforms, so that it does not take over their lives.

Addiction is a disorder which is no respecter of age, social status, race and the likes. Addiction has a way of destroying the normal way of life of an individual, especially when it starts at a young age.

Therefore, this is a disease which must be stopped by all cost, and one of the most effective medium in ensuring this is the social media.

The social media is very advantageous and it comes with lots of advantages. Also, the same applies to the disadvantages which are attached to the social media. The social media has been known to promote addiction in all sorts of way.

On the social media, people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs are perceived as being cool. So, teenagers get influenced by this wrong notion, and they start by abusing drugs and alcohol.

Teenagers need proper guidance when it comes to the contents on the social media, this is why there is a proper need for enlightenment.

To start with, individuals who are well versed in addiction treatment need to lend their voices on the social media. They must start by correcting the wrong notion which people have about drug and alcohol abuse.

• 

They need to let teenagers know that, the positive effects which comes with addiction are usually short-lived. In the long run, there are dire consequences which are attached to it.

This enlightenment is not something which can be done in a day. It is a needed continuous process.

Asides the fact that there should be a reformation in content when it comes to addiction, there should also be the inclusion of pictures and videos which will show real-life negative effects of what addiction can cause.

It should not stop there, tales of celebrities whose lives were destroyed by addiction should also be told. This would make teenagers realize that, no matter your status, addiction has a way of ruining someone’s life if care is not taken.

Teenagers need to be properly schooled on the entire process of addiction, so that they can make a good decision in this early stage of their lives.