KABUL into a global village by connecting people, but its misuse on the other hand has created problems for families.
Experts and people are of the opinion that excessive use of social networks has put users in a series of serious problems, with most importantly distancing family members from each other and undermining their relationships.
Abdul Wahid Wafa, Afghan Information Center at Kabul University (ACKU), said, “Joblessness and the social media turning to a news source is the main reason of its overuse that caused breaking relations between family members,”
"Unemployment and the transformation of social media into a source of news are among main reasons for the excessive use of this medium,” said Abdul Wahid, Executive Director of the Afghanistan Information Center at Kabul University.
“And the excessive use of the social media has created a gap between family members,” said Wahid in the same breath.
"The social media has affected family affairs and behaviors and the same media is also used for political propaganda as well because our society is new to the social media culture," he added.
“The main problem is becoming addicted to social networks. Family members simultaneously engage in social media with their handsets rather than talking and dealing with each other. Various reports have been published which show social media in a number of countries has led to divorces and distances between individuals.”
A number of social media users also don’t have a positive view of the medium. Sanam Rustami, a social media user, said: “When we use social media we enter a virtual world and turn off our relations with family members and the real world.”
“We use social media excessively and even give priority to the distant friends on social media instead of those near us in real, we even do not share our problems with our family but share them with online friends,” she said.
Afshid, another social media user, said: “The global village has shortened distances between people around the world but has also distanced family members and close relatives from each other.”
“We no longer see night gatherings and prolonged discussions among family members as we did see in the past. Even if we organize a program to sit together with relatives, the participants including me would entertain on their mobile phones.”
“As the heads go down, headphones are put into ears. If someone raises his/her head to say something the others respond with ‘mmm’ inattentively,” she added.
Seyar Sediqi, a user, said: “Whenever I chat online with my friends particularly if they are female, my wife gets angry if she sees that, this really damages martial life and can lead to even divorce.” He said he had several times fought physically with his wife over the issue.
Some people suggest disconnecting from social media as a solution. Abdul Wahid Wafa said finding the root cause of excessive use of social media, improving education quality, organizing conferences in universities, parents control over their children and public awareness through schools could help overcome the problem.
There are no exact figures of social media users in Afghanistan, but the Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology (MCIT) has previously said that around six million people use social media mostly Facebook in the country.
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