Effects to Offline Relationships and Social Interactions.

Throughout the past decade, social media use

has grown exponentially and has changed the way we communicate with each other. As social media is

now an extension of our daily lives in today's modern-day society. Consequently, there is a greater than

ever connection between people from all corners of the globe. The responses provided by the

participants showed how an individual's physical, social, and personal history have an impact on what

they do and learn online, which translates to their offline experiences.

The following are the actual statements of the challenges that the participants mentioned during

the interview: 

“I do consider my daily social media usage excessive since I think I spend more
time on social media platforms than doing more important things online, like checking
my activities on my blackboard account, or doing productive activities.” (IDI2) 
 
“Yes, since I cannot go on with my day without the use of any socials and I
mostly use it for communication and to let time pass by.” (IDI3) 
 
“Whenever I use social media while hanging out with my friends, they start to be
distant and use their socials too and the physical bond somehow decreases.”  (IDI3) 
  
“I feel like time reduces intimacy with others in a way wherein we lose time to
keep in touch with them face to face. I think that it creates a barrier between me and my
friends and family.”  (IDI7)

“Yes, I definitely believe that my social media usage is approaching the border of

addiction.” (IDI6) 

Several participants mentioned why these are identified challenges brought by the effects of

offline relationships and social interactions:

“I think social media reduces intimacy of relationship because I’m more focused
on social media rather than with my friends, with the time with my friends and
family. (IDI1) 
   “Since we appear to be in our own worlds whenever we use our phones, I
believe it lessens the intimacy between friends and family members. Instead of spending
time with our families, we use our phones throughout our free time. Similar to how we
do it with our friends, while we are having fun watching videos or surfing on our phones,
we frequently forget to talk or chat with our friends because we get so caught up in
what we are seeing on social media.”  (IDI2) 

“I don’t think it reduces the intimacy of my relationship with friends and family,
on the contrary I think it improves it?? I mean, I talk to my online best friend via
Instagram and my other friends via messenger. On the family side too. We get to
communicate and bond too. But I guess, when there is a social event, I do tend to get
distracted by my phone, but I don’t think it’s the social media’s cause, but more of my
own opposition to conversing with people.”
 

As was shown, grade 11 students at MMCM may experience challenges as a result of the impact

of their offline relations and social interactions. However, Nezlek, Richardson, Green, and Schatten-

Jones' (2002) study discovered that individuals who were more socially active or “offline” reported better

levels of life satisfaction and psychological well-being. Some have come to feel that having greater

connections makes you happier as a result of this. On the contrary, it is important to note, that social

interaction in the digital world can have a negative impact on our real-life relationships. While online

connections can be beneficial, they can also lead to a lack of face-to-face interaction and

communication, which can ultimately harm our interpersonal relationships. According to Hertlein's 2012

research, internet use tends to blur the lines between our online and offline connections, resulting in

detrimental impacts on our day-to-day life by interfering with the function of our offline relationships,

declining job performance, and increasing the risk of internet addiction.

Coinciding with these findings, Abbasi and Alghamdi (2017) discovered that excessive use of

social media, particularly Facebook, can lead to negative societal repercussions such as social isolation,

distrust in relationships, infidelity, lack of social cohesiveness, Facebook addiction, and other personal

conflicts. Our online and offline relationships have grown to become so interconnected, meaning that
what we do in one can impact the other. Under this lens, according to Kerkhof et al. (2011), those with

high compulsive Internet use have decreased quality in their offline relationships, report decreased

commitment in their relationships, and have more frequent conflicts with their partners or families. As

heavy social media users also have worse interpersonal competence when it comes to starting new

relationships offline, making it more difficult for them to do so the more they use social media.

Affected Life Aspects. The growth in social media use has given rise to concerns about the

impacts it may have on users' psychological well-being, highlighting both the possible drawbacks and its

potential societal benefits. While it has numerous positive aspects that facilitate online socialization and

entertainment, it also poses several challenges regarding academics, such as reduced focus, increased

procrastination, and decreased productivity. In addition, excessive use of social media is associated with

various mental health issues that can lead to anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues as seen

from the statements below:

“The influence it has on my mental health.” (IDI6) 

“I think the aspect of my life that is most affected by these challenges is my

education and eventually my mental health. For instance, when I do my schoolwork in a

rushed manner, I get low marks. When I get low marks, I tend to question my actions

because I am aware that people are expecting more from me, and because of the

excessive time I spend on social media, I let them down and disappoint those people. Yet
 I can’t blame social media because it did not force me to spend most of my time on it; I

am the one who got addicted to it.” (IDI2) 

“Dealing with my academic problems is the most significant problem I can think

of. I am mostly expected to do well in school, and the pressure sometimes can be too

much.” (IDI2) 

“When self-deprecation begins, it kind of transcends me into a dark place. When

I get there, it’s really hard to finish assignments and stuff related to school because all I

can think of is “why am I doing this?” or like “why am I even trying?” or “is this good

enough?”. Then, I tend to get quiet and push people away when I get into that dark

place. I lose the care to reply to my friends and then would feel bad about that

too.” (IDI6) 

“Probably most of us can relate to “academic pressure” which can be sometimes

excessive. Especially in my case, someone is always expecting more from me.” (IDI2) 

“The state of my mental health, I believe, is the number 1 influencer of every

other aspect of my life too. When it’s at a low point, it’s so hard to take care of myself

which then affects my physical health. Then, it’d affect my studies. Then, my social life.

And everything else.” (IDI6)