9 Signs Social Media Has Taken Over Your Real Life

There is a lot of good that social media has done for the world. And for many, it has become an essential element of. daily life.

Such is the seductive drawing power of social approval that many users, especially those who grew up with social media, are letting their social accounts dictate their lives like robots.

I was compelled to write about this because someone I met asked me to add her on Facebook and Instagram. Judging her to be just another social media zombie whose sole reason for waking up in the morning is to see her follower count rise, I said that I’d only like to make real friends in real life. Not virtual friends.

Yet without skipping a beat, her response took me by surprise.

Because she answered in a as-a-matter-of-fact manner that she wants to be real friends too. And that is why I should add her on Facebook as that is where she shares updates on her life.

I was actually quite astonished by the response…

… that people these days see the virtual world as real life.

Here are nonuple signs that someone (hopefully not you) has allowed social media to take over their lives.

1) You are talkative online but a clam in real life social events

Posting away comments on your own or friends’ FB posts is like second nature to you.

In fact, you have very little reservations with letting out how you really feel about something online.

On twitter for example, you feel empowered to totally state your opinions about everything and anything… even to strangers.

Yet whenever you go out with friends or colleagues, the feisty personality you have on Facebook vanishes like a sighting of Bigfoot.

The unhealthy thing is that social media has become the world where you unleash the real you while the real you needs to hide in real life because you are simply not comfortable enough when real people around you.

In fact, one of the reasons you clam up while people are having fun having real interactions with real people, might be that you are looking downwards at your phone posting more comments on FB about how boring the gathering is.

2) The first thing you do when you wake up is check the social feeds

The addiction doesn’t get any worse when you eat, live, and sleep social media.

The first thing people do when they wake up is usually give out a loud yawn like a lion king in the African safari. Or get up and brush his or her teeth.

But not you. No.

The productive nature in you makes it a point to squeeze in an basic inspection of the social feeds that were coming in throughout the night. All in the name of productivity.

And of course, you need to check whether there were people who liked your last post before you went to bed last night. And if anyone replied to a comment you made on a influencer’s Instagram picture.

3) When food arrives on the table you simply have to take a picture of it to share online

This is one of the unhealthiest trends caused by social media that has created zombies out of everyone.

These days, every time, without fail, whenever I’m out with others for a simple lunch or dinner, when the meals are served, someone would stop everyone else on the table from digging in just so he or she can take a picture of it.

The picture then give them quality content to post on FB.

They don’t even care if the food is good or lousy. They don’t even care if they get to devour it to savor it’s taste.

The important thing is that they get to share online and get others to like or comment on it.

The irony is that food pictures are one of the most engaging content on social media. There is no shortage of engagement with colorfully pictured delicacies.

This is a primary reason why so many social media addicts cannot help themselves but to snap and share…

… so that they can get a reaction from friends online arouse a little bit of envy…

4) If you haven’t got it on video, it didn’t happen

It’s astounding how people are recording everything they do just so to share it with their online social network.

It is as if you didn’t really live through an experience unless you have recorded it on video and shared it with friends to prove that you really had that experience.

No longer is it enough to fly to the Maldives and enjoy the sun and gorgeous beaches. You simply need to record your travels so that you can check-in on a unique location and show everyone subscribed to your feed that you’ve really been there.

Social approval is what drives you. Living life to the fullest is just an excuse to get more likes and shares.

Anything interesting or out of your normal daily routine becomes another great opportunity to record a video and show your friends.

In fact, a key motivation to go out and do something different is that… you can record it for likes, shares, and comments.

5) You have left meetups early just so you can get home to edit that video for upload

Most people would be able to understand if you have a video to prepare for the marketing plan of your business. So you have to leave a group dinner early to get back to work on your laptop at home.

However when the video you need to work on is your shopping trip, and you are so eager to edit the videos to share with friends on FB… who are you kidding?

You are living the virtual life. Your world is social media. And getting off it is like apocalypse arriving early.

To you, socializing in the real world no longer holds a lot of value. It’s more worth while to get likes on FB where they can be verified with thumbs ups.

You don’t want to have a day without any posts… or people might think that you no longer exist. Even worse is if people think that you had a boring day with no noteworthy activities to broadcast.

Sometimes, you even refuse to go out because you want to stay home to edit your social videos and images to share later…

6) The thought of whether people would like your posts weigh heavily in your decision to post

If you get stressed out about whether people would engage with your social media posts, you have essentially entered the dark side of social media.

Social media is supposed to be a place for friends to share stuff with each other.

If social validation is such a huge factor affecting what you share, you are putting too much pressure on yourself and too much thought about how people might think of you.

Everyone has a need to be heard. But a need to be agreed with… that’s another thing altogether.

7) You hashtag the hell out of every update

If you are one of those who insists that social media is just a manner in which you log your personal diary, who are you kidding when the hashtags contain more words than the post itself.

Either you are too embarrassed to own up that you are craving social approval, or you have absolutely no idea what you want.

You can admit it.

You include at least 20 hashtags on each tweet so that people you don’t know might just find you while searching for relevant terms about the topic. They might then end up on your profile. And follow you. Thereby increasing your followers count.

An extra follower without having to follow back… the ultimate social approval…

8) You have private conversations on public group chats

This is something that really annoys me.

I’m sure every reader is in some form of public group on places like Whatsapp, Facebook, Telegram, etc.

And sometimes, members in the group uses the public chat room for personal conversations that don’t involve anyone else but a specific member.

If the topic does not concern everyone, or it’s a conversation meant for a specific individual, why not take it to private messages?

Oh right…

Because you want the world to know that you actually have someone to talk to about a topic others are not familiar with…

9) Social media has become the only place where you can reveal your deepest thoughts

When you have reached this phase, it basically means that you have no real friends around you who you are comfortable enough to confide your most intimate thoughts.

Yet you need to let out what’s on your mind…

This is when we sometimes see weird out-of-place posts in public feeds. Like how one needs to work harder or how one wants to be loved.

If Facebook is the only place left for you to express these thoughts, it’s about time you review your life.

An if you are posting these things just to get a reaction from friends, it’s about time you see a shrink.