For more than a decade now, the world has enjoyed interconnectedness like never seen before. All thanks to the internet becoming more mainstream, faster, cheaper and accessible.

After the dawn of the internet, we had so many ways to stay in touch with each other and distance became just a meaningless word. We could chat with each other, send emails, call and even have video calls.

There was also the birth of another way that we simply couldn't have imagined before all this, and that was the world of social media. For the first time, our real world social connections, were all taken online to reap the benefits of the internet.

This also saw the creation of giant corporations like Facebook who have now more than 2 billion monthly active users and own other popular social media apps like Instagram, Whatsapp and Messenger.

The Social Media Generation

I still remember the time where there was no social media at all and now, you can find almost everyone on one social media site or the other. We truly have become the social media generation.

While this has allowed us to get and remain in touch with friends, colleagues or other people in a plethora of ways and has allowed many many benefits for even businesses, the adverse effects cannot be ignored.

Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong thanks to social media, in the micro as well as macro aspects of living. Recently, there was a huge controversy surrounding Facebook and how the users' data can be used in many different nefarious ways.

Social media in some ways also have psychological impacts on people in various ways. One such thing I read about recently was that people using social media could be less happy than people who don't use them at all.

Happier Without Social Media?

One of the natural tendencies of us humans is to compare every single aspect of our lives with the people around us so as to get an understanding of whether we are better off than them or not. This can include literally anything.

On social media sites, it is a well known fact, that we usually pick and choose and post about only the happiest parts of our lives. For example when we travel to an awesome place, or having a great time with friends, or photos where we look exceptionally beautiful/handsome.

So, naturally, other people who are viewing those "perfect" moments of your life, get affected at least to a little degree as they start thinking that other people have a happier life than them, not realising that those people are in the same boat as them with the same types of problems and challenges in life.

This could lead to many people becoming upset, disappointed or even losing confidence in themselves. All because of the collective fake portrayal of an exagerrated lifestyle of people. So, if you stop using social media, or minimise your usage, you stop comparing and thus might live happier!