Before the internet became so pronounced, I remember those good old days when life was more physical than “internetical” ( living your life entirely on the internet). People had time for one another more and related better than now. I remember those days when personal activities were kept at intra-personal level; family and friends’ secrets were real secrets. Though life was not as global as it is but privacy was more respected, envy, wickedness, fraud and other crimes were not as pronounced as it is now.

This is not to say that internet is bad. Internet brought lots of innovations, exposure and discovery. In fact, research is easier now than before. You can get anything you want from the internet. Internet has increased interconnection among humans and the world has become a “global village”.

Internet is a global computer network that provides a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardised communication protocols. You see, internet in itself is good although whatever has an advantage has a disadvantage.  The medium and purpose which the internet is used has stained its usefulness.

It is important to note that even as communication and inter-connection has increased and life seems a bit better, some vices need to be pointed out and that is why I decide to write about ” life on the internet “.

As earlier stated, life was more physical and peaceful before the advent of internet. Its not just the internet alone that has brought us to where we are, social media especially has made lots of contributions to living more on the internet than physical. Social media platforms(Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube etc) have all become a dumping ground. People come  up on the internet and dumb pictorial and word refuse. People practically live on social media, they wake up, eat and sleep on social media. People who are like that, have their spirits and souls attached to social media and can not do without it for a second. The internet as a whole has influenced people that they leave fake life, people bury their true nature just to behave and look like what they see on the internet.

While I was younger and because of my addiction to social media and its influence on me, I had the desire to acquire material things like cars, houses and even money at all cost. I fancied all I see on the internet and I wanted to live the life I saw on the internet. This affected me a great deal because I could not focus on who I am. I was no longer living my true nature rather living life according to what I see on the internet. All of these happened because of the influence from social media and internet. But at the end of the day, I was able to overcome social media influence through God’s help and I now have control over myself.

Its unfortunate that on the internet you see people living to impress, not really to express and the one who expresses himself/herself is called out and insulted or mocked. One major problem with wanting to be and live like others is depression, having low self esteem which might probably result to crime and even suicide.

According to research, People are on average online for 24 hours a week, twice as long as 10 years ago, with one in five of all adults spending as much as 40 hours a week on the web. As people spend more time on the internet, they tend to see what others have acquired, what they display whether real or fake, they are carried away and would want to try all possible means to get same things as what they see on the internet and that is why we have increase in crime rate(theft, murder, fraudulent act – “Yahoo yahoo“) and suicide.

Family and friends no longer keep secrets and they no longer keep close physical friendship rather everything is done “on air” – internet.

Internet has taken the place of true friendship.

The following tips below might help you keep away from developing an addiction to the internet.

-Find Alternative positive Ways To Vent Your Emotions.

-Make Friends in Person.

-Stay Close to Family.

-Follow a Routine.

-Seek Help from a Counsellor.

The essence of creating the internet and the social media especially is to ease communication, have a better relationship and bring interconnection between and among human race.

Conclusively, may I say that we all should use the internet for its positive purpose to better human life and to make the world a better place. Don’t let social media pressure you to do what is wrong.

I am Glorie Shekwosa Dauda

Your comments and constructive criticisms are highly welcome.

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