(opinion article)

It is impossible to imagine modern life without the internet. There are almost no such people left, who don’t have an account in a social network. In social networks, it is easy to find the desired video, music, book, and it’s also simple to find a like-minded person. Social networks bring us simplicity of communication, because of opportunity to be in completely different places in the world and communicate with relatives, friends or colleagues.

Whatever a person is fond of, there is no doubt that he will definitely find his like-minded people on the social network. There are so many interesting communities and groups in which you can make certain purchases, exchange something or even find a job.

Undoubtedly, social networks are a great technological achievement, which offers many opportunities. But I think that with these opportunities also can be some troubles…

There is always a risk that working with social networks will have harmful consequences on our mental state.

Firstly, we spend too much time on social networks. For someone, social networks are a great chance to “kill” time, but for others, it’s just wasted hours. After all, this time can be spent with much greater benefit: you can meet your friends, cook a delicious dinner or do some self-education.

Also, every day more and more people are abandoning the real world. In social networks, we can be different from our real-life position and behavior. In accordance with modern research in the field of Internet communication, 70% of active users of social networks embellish their lives.

Spending most of their free time on social networks, people lose their social skills in real life. In a live conversation they can’t put an emoji. The concepts “add to friends” or “unfollow” create a feeling that the real-life relationships are easy to build too, but it’s not true. The real-life people look gloomier than their smiling Facebook and Instagram doppelgangers.

Social networks have a large addictive potential, in other words, a significant risk of addiction. The reason is that working in social networks affects the pleasure centers in our brain. We have pleasant emotions every time we read a friendly comment under our photo, get a “like” or when someone leaves a positive review, etc. The desire to re-receive these emotions brings us back to social networks, forcing us to spend more and more time there.

It is also necessary to remember that social networks are a field of activity for fraudsters and crooks. Not many people think that the placement of an excessive number of photographs, the most detailed data about oneself, can turn against them.

Based on all the above, I can conclude: social networks are not harmful if you use them in moderation.

And you should always remember, that active communication in social networks is only an addition to the full live communication. You need to be able to take only the good things from social networks and sift out the bad!