Cause And Effects Of Social Media

Social media is a very popular and widely used medium of entertainment in today’s society that allows people to connect and congregate from all over the world without having to leave the comfort of home. In order for many people to relieve social isolation and loneliness, social media unravels new pathways of communication and can be used to help people open up and express their opinions (Naruse). It can give people the chance to share and express their ideas to a large audience and receive feedback. Large and small businesses alike use this platform of communication in order to relay information about their products and services faster by using promotions and advertisements on social media websites. While social media has proven itself to be helpful and beneficial in today’s society, there are many studies that show how it can take quite a toll on the mental health and wellbeing of the people who constantly use it.

Suicide rates have increased in teens over the past few years. Along with suicide rates increasing, mental health of teens in general has been a widely discussed topic. A huge contributor to these issues is social media. Over the past couple of years, teens have been diagnosed with mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression at a much higher rate. These issues are prevalent for teens all over the world. The increase in diagnosis of disorders is largely due to the rise in popularity of many social media platforms.

There are aspects of the world that have caused or triggered Anxiety over the years. A common cause could also simply be genetics. Social Media, a common entertainment in everyday life, is said to be one of those. The United Kingdom Royal Society had created a survey that would ask people from the ages of 14 to 24 what they thought about social media, wondering how it could cause erratic behavior. The survey indicated, “...they all received negative marks, as well—especially for sleep quality, bullying, body image and FOMO. And unlike YouTube, the other four networks were associated with increases in depression and anxiety,” (Amanda MacMillan Time.com). Another article said, “more time young adults spent on social media the more likely they were to have problems sleeping and experience symptoms of depression, (Andrea McDaniels). Many young people believe it is necessary to look different to fit with social media standards, making them think negatively about themselves. However, others express that social media is a place

Some people may wonder what effect social media has on people worldwide. Many people are using social media daily and because of that, they might not know the effects that can be lurking behind a screen and causing harm to their mental health. Social media has many negative effects on mental health. Some people could think that mental health and social media has no relation, when it does. It is a fast-growing issue with many “cause and effect” reasons behind it. Each cause needs to be recognized along with the effect it has on the people who use social media.

Research has shown that we are lonelier and isolated than before, but is social media like Twitter or Facebook to blame for this? Or is this something that has been existed only to be expressed nowadays? According to Turkle Sherry, who is a professor and clinical psychologist social media does not only change what we do but also change who we are. This is just among the many research studies proposing the argument that Social media is the primary cause of isolation and loneliness so much witnessed. According to Forbes, researchers have taken almost the whole decade trying to ascertain whether social media is the leading cause of isolation and loneliness. To draw a valid argument, researchers have spent much of their time studying and relating how people relate to emotional robots and their preoccupation to practical things compared to physical interaction and face to face communication. Nowadays, we friend people through Facebook, communicate through Twitter, thereby keeping people at an emotional distance. We tweet in more than 100 characters or less instead of picking up the phone and emotionally engage the soul of the other person and after that interact. The connection forged through social media gives an illusion of companionship without the need of physically meeting, thus causing loneliness and isolated societies (Hadley, 2017).

Social media is used on a daily basis to keep people connected from all over the world. Even though many people feel like they’re connected when they use too much social media, others feel like they’re socially isolated. Brian Primack is the director of the Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health at the University of Pittsburgh. Him and his colleagues surveyed 1,787 adults in America ranging from ages 19 to 32 and asked them about their usage of 11 social media platforms outside of work. They also asked the participants questions such as how often they felt left out. The results of the survey revealed that the users who spent the most time on social media- more than two hours a day- had twice the odds of perceived social isolation than those who said they spent a half hour per day or less on those sites. Users who visited social media platforms most frequently- 58 or more times per week- had more than three times the odds of perceived social isolation than those who visited fewer than nine times per week. The study also showed that out of all the social media platforms, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram were the ones mostly associated with social isolation (Hobson).

The face of this century is wrapped around social media. Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are the three most commonly used of social media websites. Mainly to share personal information or perhaps even view what one person is doing by simply uploading a video. There have been many scenarios and debates on whether social media is consuming our daily lives in a negative or positive way. Although the three of these apps are very popular, Twitter has been in the lead with their users by sharing over 500 million tweets per day. Even though those statistics may sound cool, Twitter has also been known to be the main cause of cyberbullying, relationship problems, and teen depression. Is it really that bad?

Growing up in a generation of social media and being able to instantly send and receive text messages from anywhere in the world has caused me to not know of a time in which you could only communicate around the world with letters. I live in a day and age where communication is instantaneous, and anyone can be accessed at almost any time. In America alone, it is said that 77% of all adults own a smartphone, which means that more than ¾ of the adults living in America can contact anyone else at any time. Along with this instantaneous communication came social media and the opportunity to spread news and make normal people internet famous. Friends can send each other interesting articles and can share their political and religious views for the entire world to see. Although social media is supposedly a good thing that benefits the human race, it is causing more harm than good. Social media and the internet are causing the human race to be less intelligent and is causing higher rates of depression in teens.

Many social media sites and apps are very destructive to people's life. No one might see how addicted to their phones they are, until they are not around any type of social media to interact with one another. Then they start to feel lonely and depression might go there way due to not being able to stay away from conversing with someone constantly. Social media has become an addiction to society and many do not want to accept the fact that they wander off in their social life and forget to do productive work, or actually converse with a person face to face. About four social medias have caused this addiction which are facebook , snapchat, instagram and twitter.

The notifications of text, like, and share in technology and social media can be satisfying for many users. In fact, every time someone receives a text, like, or share, a chemical called dopamine and serotonin (the "feel good" chemicals in our body) are released making each notification addicting. In the past couple of years, technology and social media have changed tremendously making every site more addicting than ever. YouTube has numerous blogs one can watch now, Facebook has stories and live videoing, and Instagram/Snapchat have influenced social media users with different ways to post pictures and videos. There are many social media sites that people do not know exist; however, social media has taken over people's lives and have been the main cause to why anxiety and depression have increased in the last couple years. The "game" of social media is dangerous to people's social skills, personal life, and people's health.

From feather quills and ink wells to party lines and chat rooms, teenagers have always sought out ways to communicate with one another. What started as sending letters to communicate from one person to the next has quickly escalated to the popular creations of Facebook, Instagram. Twitter, Snapchat, Tumblr, etc. These sites make communicating across the world easy and accessible. With the positive aspects social media sites can bring such as helping families communicate when living away from each other, helping long-distance friendships work, increased social contact, and changing society, they also bring a variety of negative aspects. (Climent). "Social media is big and growing, but it is still dwarfed by the analog world in which people live and intereact,"(Fowlkes).

Less than half a century ago, the internet was created. It is hard to believe that a resource so prominent in our daily lives today is still so new. We use the internet for a wide variety of tasks, from having the availability to research virtually any topic we desire to processing and sharing important information quickly. The internet is a convenient and useful resource that makes our lives easier, so why is there a negative stigma associated with the use of it? Social media. The use of social media has increased rapidly over the past few years, primarily due to the creation of new applications and websites. The intent of these websites is to keep in contact with distant friends and family, to gain information about current news, and to express yourself and your individuality. However, it has become more of a negative experience than a positive one. Excessive use of social media, as well as the content being displayed, have been proven to be a leading cause of increased rates of depression and other mental disorders in young adults by exposing them to unrealistic images of beauty, as well as causing them to experience FOMO, or the “fear of missing out.”

The term “social media” simply refers to the websites or applications that can either be created or used and a medium of social networking. It has become one of the basic need of today’s generation. It is supposed to be the most useful tool in life, but it has been a major distraction for students. It has become one of the biggest social issue today and a controversial topic. Some society consider it as a boon whereas there are many cultures which believe, it is the biggest curse to young generation.

Our lives seem to be more and more consumed by technology as great advances in this area have continue to be made, especially when it comes to social media. Many researchers have begun to notice that depending on how much time individuals spend on these social media sites, they can negatively affect their daily lifestyle in very significant ways.  For example, social networking has become a huge distraction for students and it can affect their grades depending on how often they check their various accounts while doing class work.  Researchers have also come to find out that social media can contribute to the development of psychological symptoms

People who use the internet have so many rights and advantages. But what happens when people are using social media too much and they are so on their devices that they don’t get out in the real world and experience new things? Read out and find how social media affects your relationship with someone. Relationships such as mean your boyfriend/girlfriend or your friends or even your family. Spend time with the people in your life because who knows if you might ever see them again. Be with the people in your life and not the people on social media they can wait.