A Brief Note On Facebook And Mental Wellness

Technology has a huge impact on our lives. Now more than ever, we have unlimited knowledge and data at our fingertips and numerous and longer connections with people globally. With social technology, our society has adapted to a new age and is basing itself around an endlessly advancing and fast-paced scientific world. Technology has a huge impact on our social interactions and day-to-day routine, creating a culture of physical discommunication and digital conversation.

However, like genetics, it also has many negatives. Technology does improve the world’s ability to communicate quickly and easily, but it also separates people socially. Social media and smartphones for example, have dramatically reduced human interaction. Everyone would rather communicate online than in the real world. According to Pew Research Center, “Roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) now report that they are Facebook users, and roughly three-quarters of those users access Facebook on a daily basis” (Smith and Anderson 1). This a huge portion the the American population that is using Facebook alone. There are many other social media platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest that attract even more users. The more people use these services, the less they interact with others in person. Aldous Huxley once said, “Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards” (Huxley 1). Before the technology that exists today, people were unable to communicate with others that weren’t in their area. Now, people tend to communicate with those around them less. As technology continues to improve, this situation will only become worse. Preventative action must be taken to prevent this from destroying human

Do you believe that “Facebook”, a social network, can make you sad? This is what Justin Mullins tries to prove in his article “Can Facebook make you sad?” which is about the satisfaction of Facebook users is it increasing or decreasing. Mullins supports that Facebook make people feel unsatisfied and that it make people feel down over time. Justin Mullins mentions statistics and personal example to prove that Facebook reduce people’s satisfaction. Despite the fact that the author fulfilled in convincing the readers with the valid argument regarding Facebook, some of these arguments are false, weak, and fallacious.

The advances of the Internet have transformed the way people live, behave, and think through the constant access of information and communication that it provides. The internet has reshaped other media outlets such as radio and television and also created new media or social networking sites. These social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have popularized tremendously within the past decade. These sites offer different forms of interactivity, making it so users can connect with anyone publically. Reporting what you are thinking or doing throughout the day has become a social norm. It is our responsibility to question these new habits and norms to see if it can cause harm in any aspect of the users’ lives. Facebook is one of the most popular networking sites in the world and was the first social media site to reach 1 billion registered users. They still maintain a steady number of 1.7 billion monthly active users (Statista, 2016). Although there are many positive effects of Facebook, many researchers are concerned with possible consequences or negative psychological

Matt Ritchel writes in Attached to Technology and Paying a Price that “They [cell phones and computers] shrink distances and handle countless mundane tasks, freeing up time for more exciting pursuits.” This shows that technology grants for one to be virtually anywhere and to be able to do more in a day that the limited amount if there was no technology. “Social media has made every relationship persistent and pervasive. We no longer lose social ties over our lives; we have Facebook friends forever.” (Hampton, Social Media as a Community, paragraph 5). Moreover, this displays that people will not all of a sudden lose friends because they have not talked in a while, instead, one will be up to date on how their lives are

Facebook is one catalyst for increased desolation. A study from University of Michigan psychologist Ethan Kross claims that Facebook usage can lead to more instances of sadness and loneliness. Kross indicates in the study that “[n]ested time-lag analyses indicated that the more people used Facebook the worse they subsequently felt.” The research was able to compose its conclusion based on consistent surveying about the participants’ relative emotional states. Kross composed a questionnaire for Phase 1, assessing the participant 's Facebook motivation levels by asking questions such as whether they use Facebook to share good and bad information with friends and “to find new friends.” For Phase 2, there was another survey provided through text messages. Participants were asked “How do you feel right now? How worried are you right now? How lonely do you feel right now? How much have you used Facebook since the last time we asked? How much have you interacted with other people ‘directly’ since the last time we asked?” Given Kross’s statistical data, there exists a negative connection between Facebook intensity and satisfaction levels. As the participants used Facebook

“When girls wake up in the morning after sleepovers [they] don’t even talk to each other for a good 20 minutes. [They] just sit on [their] phones.” - a quote found on social media. Technology has made life easier, more convenient, and even boosted the economy- but has it made humans more alone? Instead of talking to a person that might be two feet in front, humans stare at their phone. Technology, especially social media has impacted society, and not for the better. The crucial, still developing, generation such as children and young adults are impacted negatively. Growth in technology has lead to dependence on devices, a growing conformation to society's definition of perfect, and a fear of missing out- creating an isolated society.

Social media has the ability to help people greatly in connecting with each other. A friend from childhood could be found from across the world in just minutes at little cost if they have a Facebook account. That was impossible even 20 years ago. However, this is not always the case, as more and more people seem to feel disconnected from the people around them due to social media. Despite being a simple way to make and keep friends, it can be a drain on people’s health, especially teenagers and young adults. This is why people should learn about how to use social media in a healthy manner so that they do not find ways to abuse it, because it can affect the mental and physical health of individuals.

In today’s society not only are we obsessed with technology, we depend and rely on it daily. Do we, as a society, depend too much on technology? In recent years a phenomena called social networking has really taken off. While there are numerous social networking sites, Facebook is by far the largest and most popular. Facebook has more than 1 billion active users and the average user has 130 friends ("Statistics"). Have Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites gotten out of hand? While some people may believe social networking has positive effects on humans, it in fact has negatively altered the way we communicate, our identities, and even our health.

In the last three decades, I can remember technology at a younger age from a few well-known devices such as Walkman, Nintendo, and boom boxes. Soon, the world was introduced to computers, internet service, and social media. Since the beginning of the digital age, social media has become one of the most utilized methods for most marketing industries in the world today. People are already social by nature sharing

In fact very few of us can live without using gifts of technology. Social media like Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat are few examples of modern technology and are used by billions of people around the globe. Today social networking sites playing important role in our life. However the use, may be excessive use, of Facebook might be harmful to us to some extent. A study conducted by University of Michigan researchers claimed that “Facebook causes depression”(Kross 2). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being instead of enhancing it. It is generally believed that socialization is good for psychological health. In fact this is true subject to some pre-set criteria. But socialization through Facebook is harmful. The study is the first published research that examined influence of Facebook on young adults. The focus was how happy they are and how satisfied with their lives over time. They researchers claimed that the more people used Facebook during one time period, the worse they subsequently felt. On the surface, Facebook provides communication tools for fulfilling the basic human need for social connection. But instead of enhancing human well-being these findings suggest that Facebook undermine it.

The experiment aimed to assess the relationship between self-esteem and Facebook usage which was measured by three variables (Average time spent in minutes per day, average number of Facebook friends and emotional attachment to Facebook). The experiment hypothesised that relationship between self-esteem and the three Facebook variables would be found; the study also proposed that gender would have an effect across all variables. 80 university students (36 males, 44 females) were recruited via opportunity sampling. The study found no statistically significant relationship between self-esteem and each of the Facebook usage variables. Furthermore, no significant interaction effects for gender and self-esteem was found. A significant main

As technology progress, humans evolve to the advanced technology and enhance our lives via technology. We connect to our families, friends and others through social media such as Facebook. Social media takes up a huge part in our lives. Social media infest us with information that are relevant and irrelevant to us. Marry Marrow wrote, “It was Facebook that changed the face of e-communication; in fact, it was the first electronic social media” (para 1). She assumes that Facebook is playing a huge role in electronic communication. In the journalist Maria Konnikova, “How Facebook makes us unhappy?”, Konnikova divulges many aspects of people on social media through researching and experience, and finds how social makes us unhappy. I agree with Konnikova findings after reading her article. In addition, she concludes that if you are engaged, active, and creative you will not sorrowful on Social media, however if you are passively browsing and defuse to engage, you will be depressed.

The internet has a greater impact on people today than ever before. It has been a constant source of news, entertainment, and education for users around the world for more than twenty years. However, the most revolutionary of its technologies, social media, didn’t achieve mainstream popularity until about ten years ago. As a result of this new development, Facebook, Twitter, and similar services are becoming the most visited destinations on the internet. These websites allow users to quickly and easily share pictures, links, ideas and messages with other users; theoretically facilitating social interaction. But do these self-proclaimed social networking tools actually encourage healthy human interaction? The evidence suggests that they do.

In the past 20 year’s internet has become part of our daily routine. Waking up in the morning and the very first thing people do is check their Facebook. Facebook is a social media website where people can interact with others online. In fact, Facebook has more than 1.19 billion account of people. Some people say that Facebook is taking over people’s lives. Today more than ever people are findings ways to connect with family and friends. “According to the Facebook website, more than half of the active user’s log on to their accounts daily”. However, although Facebook could be great way to use to connect with friends and maintain good relationships with people it can cause more harm than benefits. I do believe that Facebook became part of who we are.