We live in a time where we can see what everyone is upto through pictures, stories or reels on Facebook or Instagram. We live in a time where we can join a live podcast and even possibly participate in it. Whether we are making more connections there or are we getting over our insecurities of talking out loud is a different story.

What is clear though is that although it is building with our network or helping us keep in touch with our contacts (although being a good advantage) is that social media is changing the definition of being social. Teenagers these days keep scrolling through their Insta feeds for hours, looking at what celebrities and influencers post there. They are even busy turning everything into a reel as if restricting creativity to a game of making the best reels.

Sure, we are communicating. But is all this truly making us social in the actual sense? Actual friendships; the ones where you sit with each other and laugh, the ones where you go on trips, the ones where you hang out at the coffee house or at the pub on weekends and especially the ones where you can depend on each other in times of need; are fading especially when there is nothing like school or college binding us. We are getting distant. I mean, it’s natural for most old friendships to grow weaker over a long period of time. We can’t actually stay in touch with all of them. But we do need to make a choice to either stay in touch with our closest friends or make new friends for a healthy social life.

Being social in the active form like meeting friends, hanging out and so on rather than a passive from like connecting through social media is also better for mental health as it is more engaging. Unnecessary misunderstandings are also avoided as all communication is face to face. Physicially being present while communicating also helps us overcome our insecurities better, especially with a casual and friendly crowd.

It is okay to have an updated Facebook profile or use Instagram. But if you think it is going to compensate for an active social life, that would be a huge mistake and as human beings, it is necessary to have and enjoy a healthy social life.