Dear Editor,

Social media has obviously trespassed significantly on our lives and eroded much of what was once considered the real world.

The benefits of social platforms are many, including instant access to world news and useful research information. It allows us to pay bills effortlessly and stay connected to family and friends from the comfort of our homes, and thus has largely sent letter writing into retirement.

However, social platforms have equally infringed on our reality and our humanity in negative and unfortunate ways. The unregulated increase in the use of technology and social media seems to have fulfilled the day Albert Einstein once said he feared: “I fear the day when technology will overlap with our humanity. The world will have a generation of idiots.”

Obviously, the inseparable attachment to social media sites has profoundly changed our outlook on life and even warped our current truths. According to a 2023 US surgeon general advisory: “The current body of evidence indicates that while social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents, there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”

Could the extensive obsession with social networking be the root cause of many social ills that plague society? For instance, the options for forming friendships and meaningful relationships become so much easier for someone who is shy and conservative, but, at the same time, opens one up to the risk of being abused by insincere people, thereby increasing the potential of betrayal, which may result in depression and suicidal blues.

Could the social media mania explain the increase in road crashes and fatalities? More people do fiddle with their cellphones while driving, myself not totally excluded. A car that doesn’t move when the traffic light is on green, more likely than not has a driver that is distracted by his or her cellphone. If you see a car veering in and out of its lane, look over, someone’s tapping on his or her cellphone.

Social media addiction is real and and poses a serious threat to us all.

Homer Sylvester

h2sylvester@gmail.com