Addiction of Social Media

Social media is killing you! I know that got your attention, but it is taking your time. Nowadays, a lot of people are using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on. Social media is a bad thing for use, so I’m going to be exhibiting to you all about it. Since the Internet has propagated rapidly, social media has progressed a lot. The generalization of the internet makes us to live conveniently and fast. People are using smart phones, laptops or comfortable devices which can access to internet. These equipment’s allow us to use social media easily. It helps contact friends, family, and other people even though they live far away. It could be, however, abused, if you don’t use properly. Especially, it is important that we understand and regulate the use of social media for young children.

The article “Social Media as Community” “We no longer lose social ties over our lives; we have Facebook friends forever.” (Keith Hampton) Social media has created amazing apps that let us meet people that are exactly how we are ourselves. They have helped many students get relationships that they thought would never happen. “There is little evidence that social media is responsible for a trend of isolation, or a loss of intimacy and social support.” “Social Networking Sites and Our lives.” On the internet there is little evidence that social media has caused an isolation. The internet has made it where we can talk to people far from here that are just like us and usually people don’t lose friends that are exactly like

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.

In The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, Nicholas Carr makes the argument that the internet is changing our brains, impairing our ability to think deeply, to form memories and maintain our attention for long periods of time. The internet may also be changing our mood and encouraging depression through these very same processes as witnessed by internet addiction and social media depression.

In less than two decades, social media has revolutionized modern communication and information sharing. What began as a simple form of social networking has turned into innumerable platforms for people around the globe to share ideas, create and share businesses, promote brands, read news from various sources, as well as share and find vast amounts of information, among many other uses. Thus, with a few clicks of a button, people are now able to interact with someone on the other side of the world. The capabilities created through social media’s many uses have forever changed global politics, business, and interpersonal communication.

In the world we live in today, people have the opportunity to interact with one another due to the advancement in technology. For many years people relied on the traditional ways of communications, for example pay phones, send letters, a house phone, in person and they even used web cam’s. Presently, people rely on modern day methods of communication such as sending text messages, emails or even messaging via social. The development of the internet has made it so much easier for people to communicate that Social Media has become the place where people interact more than ever in a mere second.

Throughout the last decade, social media has drastically changed the way people interact with others. Websites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have taken the world by storm. It has never been easier to have a conversation with family members, friends, or even strangers who live millions of miles away. Due to the rise of social media, people have become more aware of social issues and have become aware of the world around them. They can easily read the news online or catch up on the latest celebrity drama. Social media improves the way humans communicate because it allows ideas to be spread quickly and efficiently to a global audience.

Social Media is an important communication tool via a series of Websites and Applications used by millions of people which facilitates the creation and the sharing of content and information, which allows people to develop contacts and relationships to connect with each other efficiently through modern technology such as computers and mobile phones to fulfil people’s social needs. The “Social,” in Social Media refers to interacting with other people through sharing and receiving information and the “Media,” refers to the instrument of communication e.g. phone. Social Media is important since it has connected millions of people and Social Media is one of the dominant ways we communicate with each other. As of 2017 over 2.8 billion people use Social Media worldwide. It is hard to remember communication prior to the emergence of social media.

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.

The use of technology can be a great help to people in communicating, reducing the time it takes. Technology such as email especially electronic email enables people to communicate with each other regardless of time and distance. The ability to release information to many different people at once, without calling a meeting or requiring printing of the materials, turned into a money- and – time – saving device. Therefore, people who makes use of technology gets to communicate with friends, families and strangers from all over the world.

It’s a serious addiction and it can fuel your snacking habits as you browse late into the night. Not to mention it can affect your sleeping patterns, which can induce stress and encourage fatty food indulgences.

“Students Addicted to Social Media” and “If We’re All So Darn Sick of You, Facebook, Why Can’t We Quit You?,” written by the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda and Simon Dumenco, are two writings outlining different issues that plague users of social media. The International Center for Media and the Public Agenda summarizes their findings following a study they conducted that isolated subjects from social media for 24 hours. They found subjects experiencing feelings of withdrawal, a phenomenon that social media companies prey upon as explained by Simon Dumenco. Dumenco postures that companies such as Facebook will send false notifications to entice users into logging back in. These two ideas combine to paint a picture of an unconditionally constant presence of social media in everyday life, a practice that may be facilitated by explosive social media growth on a mobile platform. Together, these two publications point to problems that may have drastic effects on social media and those who use it.

The world has never before been connected as much as it is today. One’s ability to communicate through various mediums is rapidly advancing, and this is much thanks to social media.

There is not a clear stated definition of digital addiction however Shaw and Black (2008) characterize Internet addiction by excessive or poorly preoccupations, urges or behaviours regarding computer use and internet access that lead to impairment or distress. However as the term addict is a strong description DA is seen as a general misuse of the internet in various forms, as no formal definition exists the author sees the disorder as problematic computer usage resulting in negative consequences. According to Young et al DA is a broad term covering a wide variety of behaviours and impulse control problems. K.Young (1999) also categorised DA into five subtypes of DA, they are cybersexual addiction, cyberrelationship addiction; net compulsion (e.g. gambling or shopping on the internet); information overload (e.g. compulsive database searching); and computer addiction (excessive game-playing). This project highlights social network addiction which falls into the category of cyberrelationship addiction but also contemplates all other types.

Today’s youth generation, has a strong attachment to the online world. Many adolescents spend most of their time online versus offline. Therefore, one can consider these adolescents as a social network addict, a person who spends a fair amount of time on one or many social platforms. Throughout the three articles, “Social Networking Addiction: An Overview of Preliminary Findings” by Mark Griffiths, “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship” by Nicole B. Ellison and “Taking Risky Opportunities in Youthful Content Creation: Teenagers’ use of Social Networking Sites for Intimacy, Privacy, and Self-expression” by Sonia Livingstone, show how this addiction has changed people’s communication among people. While there are