Addiction To Social Media Addiction

We live in an era ruled by social media, primarily when it comes to teenagers, social media is used for everything. From communicating with family and friends to being used as a news outlet, and even advertisement for business and companies. This article is titled “Social Media: What's Not to Like,” written by Alison Pearce Stevens. The topic of this essay is the effect social media can have on teenagers. Social media, on one hand, can be used as a great way to share with the world and boost teens’ self-esteem. On the other hand, social media can be used as a place for bullying, body shaming and can cause depression or even suicide in teens.

Addictions may seem like simple pleasures at first. Unfortunately, that's the trap with any addiction. It starts out at a pleasurable interest. Gradually, it can turn into something that's life-altering and all-consuming. Not only can it alter your own life, it can ruin your family life. When it comes to addiction, most people think about the most popular ones like drug and alcohol addictions. However, there are many addictions that fly under the radar.

73% of teenagers use what seems to be harmless, social media. Although it’s main function is to provide online communities for friends to interact on the internet, social media is a direct link to developing mental illnesses. Mental health is a very important issue, especially in the millennial generation, because it can impact a life drastically. Mental well-being is at risk when using social media because it flaunts what society considers “perfection” to be, can become easily addictive and social net workings can be a hostile environment. All of these issues that are promoted by social media or that exists there can seriously deteriorate mental health and drive illnesses forward.

In modern society, with the rapid development of science and technology, social media has become an integral part of 80% people’s lives (sally,2015). As a result, it is a common phenomenon that more and more people are relying on these social medias and the most affected population are teenagers. There is a large number of social media channels, and the most popular are WeChat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Tumblr. Social media provides a more convenient way for young people to communicate with each other. On the other hand, social media will bring a lot of disadvantages for teenagers. For example, much of teenagers ‘time is thought to be spent on social media sites. Reportedly, many teenagers spend an average of 9 hours online every day (McGillivray, 2015). This essay will analyze the negative effects of social media on teenager’s health, education and relationships.

In today’s society almost every individual has some type of social media, whether it is Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, or Twitter, People have accustomed to utilizing these types of social media and it has become part of their life and daily use. According to the essay “Students Addicted to Social Media” by the International Center for Media and Public Agenda, the study from the University of Maryland claims “American college students today are addicted to media” (Signs of Life in the USA 403). The university discovered that when these students are restricted from using media it is similar in terms of drug and alcohol addictions. During the study that the university conducted, students discuss how boring it is without media and how it gives them anxiety about not receiving information through social media. Other students claimed that texting and IM'ing gives them comfort and if they do not have these items then they feel alone and isolated from the world ( Signs of Life in the USA 404). Students are not the only ones who have an addiction of media but also parents and non-students. However, the International Center is accurate in some aspects and the responses students gave are very relatable which some people can agree with.

For those who want to relax take a week long vacation, or how about putting down your distracted devices. No matter if it’s for business or personal use we can’t go a day checking our social feed. Social media was created for enjoyment, but humanity has destroyed the purpose. Social Media has caused so much chaos over the last decade, and it is only getting worse. Lies, death, deceit, and misery have all happened over the internet. Many people have lost their self- respect, and more violence has occurred for the entire world to see. Our generation we are “social addicted”, and that is not always a good thing. Social Media is the root of all evil, I am convinced.

Social Media is an ingrained part of today’s society. Students are constantly on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and many other sites that we adults are not hip enough to know about. The use of social media has also made its way into the classroom, leading many experts say that with the proper safeguards in place, social media use is possible- and even desirable- in the classroom. However, there is a limit as how often social media should be utilized both inside and outside of the classroom. It has gotten to the point that social media use can be labeled as an addiction, comparable to alcoholism and drug abuse. So what is an addiction? Dr. Lawrence Wilson labels an addiction as a “habit or behavior causes some kind of pleasurable sensation. However, in reality the habit is weakening the person in some way, because one begins to need more of the habit to get the same effect.” There are several telltale signs that a person may be addicted to social media including spending an excessive amount of time online, over-sharing the details of one’s personal life on various websites, and even looking for new friends and/or followers in an almost competitive way.

The internet and social media has opened so many doors for our generation. Thousands of resources are at our fingertips that 30 years ago would seem impossible. However, as the old saying goes ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ Scrolling through Instagram you will most likely find images of people with ‘perfect’ bodies in swimsuits. It is very easy to compare your body to these images and not feel confident about yourself. Now put yourself in a young teenager’s perspective, looking at all these images. Their main question might be “Why don’t I look like that?” This raises an issue for teenagers to be more likely to not be comfortable in their skin, have lower self-esteem, and body shame themselves. Another issue with social media is the anxiety that can come from it. Today it is apparent that most teenagers using social media platforms tend to be worrying about the color scheme of their profile, number of likes and how fast they show up, their following ratio, regulating the number of posts on their, number of followers, number of retweets and many more anxieties. In a weird way, it can be easier to make fun of someone or bully someone behind a screen and not right to their face. This raises another version of bullying known as cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is the most common online risk for teenagers and adolescence (O’Keeffe 801). Researchers have found signs of depression from the use of social media (802). From repeated and extended use of social media

While many people disagree, due to the rise of the use of technology, many have fallen victim to depression and anxiety, and we need to lock down this epidemic before it grows larger than it already is. In our current generation, a lot of people use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. Since the use of the Internet has multiplied at such a quick pace, social media platforms have progressed a lot. One of the original ideas of the internet was to make our lives easier by having this much technology at our fingertips.. People use smartphones, and tablets which can access to internet quite easily on the go. Such access to these devices make it easier to connect and access social media at the touch of a button. It makes contacting friends and family easier. However, technology use can be abused if not used properly. In our current generation, technology is heavily relied on, and some cannot survive without it.

Kids of all ages now in days are exposed to technology which scares us all. Although many parents worry that their preschoolers or younger kids are being harmed by this kind of exposure, the kids most affected by technology now in days are teenagers or adolescents. Social media has become so vital to teenagers; consequently, promoting anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, and an unexplainable amount of cyber-bullying.

We are certainly no strangers about social media, but do we know everything about it? Social media are internet based technologies notably created on computer web based sites and mobile apps platform, that facilitate the creation and sharing of information via virtual networks. Through social networking we generate contents such as text post, digital photos and even videos. It connects a user’s profile with those of other individuals or groups. Social media has rapidly altered our traditional understanding of relationships and personal information, making it difficult for users to fully comprehend the consequences of a world where individuals can be isolated everywhere they are in a group and where the private is also public.

Social media drives the very existence of our generation. With the new age of technology, teen usage of phones and other devices has been exponentially increasing in the past years. More and more teens can gain instant access to social media because of this era of technology. This era has changed the way our world runs today; however negatively social media takes its toll as well. This is due to the cause of an uprising in technology, like the digital revolution, which has had many effects on our society. This affects teens by creating indirect communication with the social community and lowering one’s self-esteem. Ever since the digital

Mental issues such as loneliness, depression, and the feeling of being worthless have been around for so long, as long as the beginning of humankind. But in this time period, wealth and failures in life is not the main cause of these issues. Instead, the overuse of social media is the reason why sadness is occuring to most teens right now. Almost every teen in their house today are in their rooms lonely and alone while holding their phones trying to refresh if there’s a new post or uploads of people they follow. Social media gives most of the users the feeling of being isolated to the society because they felt like they are living in a fake world while looking through other people’s bio or account in their smartphones. According to

The last decade witnessed an explosion of social networks such as Myspace and Facebook, which added a new social dimension to the web.

young person’s life these days, whether it’s revealing too much info about their boyfriend or girlfriend on Snapchat, having public spats with their friends on Twitter, or inadvertently inviting gatecrashers by posting party details on Facebook. Whether it’s at school or at home, social media impacted many people’s lives with its advance technology and fast speed messages. Social media has targeted teens into keeping a status online so that everyone who uses social media can see