Hidden cost of addiction to social media

By John Kariuki

One of the biggest technological leaps in recent times has been the advent of the social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, WAYN, LinkedIn, Google Plus and YouTube, among others. Through these inventions, one can communicate with thousands of people across the globe. More businesses have jumped onto the social media platform to increase their reach — and so have millions of individuals.

But, social networks are not free. They could cost you a fortune. They rely on costly Internet connectivity through computers, tablets and smart mobile phones, with the shillings counting at every visit.

Personal finance experts warn that avid users of these social networks spend a lot of money to keep up with cyberspace friends. It all starts with the electronic device such as a mobile phone or computer which takes priority over other needs.

A social media addict can spend at least six hours a day surfing and contributing to the social chatter. This is at the expense of their hard earned cash and time for actual work.

This is made bleak by the fact that it is easy to recharge one’s surfing credit because many financial institutions have linked up with mobile phone money transfer services. Benson Gatere, a tech-savvy economist, notes that most people are shocked when they track the money and hours that they spend socialising. “Elementary economics dictates that if you spend over a quarter of your day on social networks, then this activity should create at least 25 per cent of your daily income,” says Gatere.

Yet, few people ever factor this in their lives, making the social media a costly venture. Gatere advises people to use the social media by advertising their personal businesses, products and skills instead of the normal gossip and incredulity that goes around.

Gatere likens people’s addiction to social media with going into a nightclub and drinking until morning because “good business ideas” can be gleaned from the small talk there. “But this is costly until the day one learns to choose the right crowd with the right ideas,” he says.

Ann Rose Njambi, a fourth year student in a public university admits to have been a social media junkie for several years until she tracked her expenses.

“My day would never be complete without connecting to a multiplicity of friends on the social networks and participate in all major debates,” she says.

Many are the nights that she would stay up to the wee hours chatting away with friends.    Njambi says that the hidden cost of this past time included the periodic updating of her laptop computer so that it could upload and download data shared with friends.

“I would also regularly buy classy mobile phones with the latest Internet features,” she says.   The first sign of Njambi’s socialising trouble came when she re-sat college examinations.

“I was devoting little time to study as I was totally addicted to the social media,” she says. “I was routinely taking out my mobile phone and chatting under the desk during lectures,” she says.

 At the height of her addiction, Njambi would spend phone credit of Sh200 daily on this activity alone. At this rate, her stipend would run out within weeks of the new semester.

She would then borrow money from friends and relatives to keep up her passion.

“When my plea for examination and project money became too common, I devised new lies.” But even these would be soon busted. Over one holiday, Njambi got a temporary job. But she devoted Sh10,000 of her wages on buying headphones and a camcorder camera and upgrading her computer so that she would hold live chats with her Internet friends.

Unable to finish her college projects and with the holiday drawing to a close, Njambi sought counselling help. She has since risen above the veritable social media junkie that she had become.

The social media is just a technology, not a strategy to replace good, old fashioned human interactions.

Use it as a tool for enhancing your existing relations and be wary of many swindlers lurking in there.