Unfortunately, people do get hurt — just not visibly. In the obvious sense, a person who is so obsessed with their Facebook status that they have to check it every few minutes is not going to be very productive at work. We all like to think we are masters of multi-tasking. But the truth is that except for a few genetically blessed individuals, the rest of us are terrible at it. And what that means is that every time we leave a Facebook window open on our work computer, we are all but ensuring that very little work will get done, and that too of mediocre quality.
There are other losses as well. Take, for example, the selfie obsession that has taken social media by storm. Unattractive and equally unnecessary, these selfies are taken anywhere and everywhere. The most memorable and shocking would have to be the one taken by a gentleman in the bathroom with his shalwar hanging in the background. Another candidate for the most shocking selfie (at least in my knowledge) is the one I saw of a girl with a huge grin on her face sitting in front of a dead body at a funeral. It’s not just the fact that such behaviour is frightening and highly inappropriate. It’s also the fact that the self-esteem of so many people seems to hang on how many ‘likes’ their selfies get.
I don’t want to suggest that we all go back to an age before computers. Yes, Facebook can be great for catching up with your friends and family. Yes, Twitter can be fun and amusing. The only point is that you have to know what you’re dealing with. Social media is the equivalent of candy for the brain. Yes, it’s good to get a sugar rush once in a while. But if you do nothing but live on chocolate-frosted doughnuts, you’re not going to be too healthy.