How Can Social Media Become A Social Norm?

There is debate over these social networking sites; do the benefits outweigh the dangers? Some people argue that social networking sites promote increased communication with friends and family, familiarize people with valuable computer skills, and allow contact and interactions with people from around the world. Others argue that these sites expose children to predators, increase vulnerability to computer viruses, lower worker productivity, and promote narcissism and short attention spans. Social networking sites entice people to spend more time online and less time involved in face-to-face interaction. On an average day it is said that American’s waste about 17% of their day on the internet interacting on social media and networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace. The popularity of these sites has more than

“Our community now has more than 1.55 billion people, including more than 1 billion people active every day,” says Mark Zukerburg, the creator of Facebook, on his own Facebook page last year. As one of the most popular social media sites in the world, Facebook has been adopted by an increasing amount of people over the past decade. The number of users on Facebook indicates how Facebook plays an important role of socializing and communicating in modern age life. Since Facebook allows users to see their friends’ updates and access Facebook on a mobile device, it has a tremendous impact on its users in several aspects. People may ask, “how does Facebook impact its users?” Some people suggest that Facebook creates negative consequences, such as distracting students in class. However, do all users experience these negative consequences? Sociologist Everett M. Rogers argues that the consequences of innovations, whether they are anticipated or not, can be perceived as positive or negative. Since Facebook does not differ from user to user, rather that it is the users that are different from one another, Facebook’s consequences vary from individuals. Even though some criticize how Facebook influences people negatively, depending on how the individual uses it, Facebook can positively impact users through sparking creativity, providing convenience, and creating change.

Social media is the term that is used to refer to applications and websites that allow people to interact and stay connected (Nations, 2016). Although, the creation of social networking sites is relatively recent, it has rapidly become a prominent part of billions of people’s lives worldwide. For example, between 2012 and 2016 the number of monthly active Facebook users increased by 83% (Statista, 2016). As a result, investigating the effects of social media on people’s psychological wellbeing has become a popular area of research. However, the combination of findings from these studies are inconclusive as to whether social media has a negative or a positive impact on our psychological wellbeing and because social media is so widely used this is an important question to address. Huppert (2009) stated that “Psychological wellbeing is about lives going well. It is the combination of feeling good and functioning effectively” (p. 137). This essay will focus on Facebook, in particular, as it’s the most widely used social network and has over 1.5 billion monthly active users (Smith, 2016). It will discuss research that has investigated the effects of Facebook on life satisfaction, academic performance and psychiatric disorders which are all related to psychological wellbeing. It will conclude that research mostly suggests that social media, in particular Facebook, is harmful to our psychological wellbeing.

Social media sites are a few of the most visited sites every day. Everyone wants to know what everyone else is up to. People can follow their favorite celebrities every move and see what their friends are doing with every update. Few people go days without checking their online profiles on popular social media sites such as, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Many people joined these networks to keep up with old friends from the past and keep contact with everyone in their life and young people use them every day to check status updates and post selfies. In the article, " The upside of selfies: Social media isn't all bad for kids", Kelly Wallace claims that social media has a positive effect on young people. However, research shows that social media impacts young people’s emotional health negatively.

Attention-getter: What if I told you Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are bad for your well-being. Many of you won’t believe me or many of you will deny it, because you know it’s true. There are many negative effects from these apps that have found its way into your life whether you have noticed it or not. These apps appear to be fun, convenient, and interactive ways to talk with friends or catch up on the latest trends, but they are not as harmless as they may seem.

Social media is described, by the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2015), as “forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)”. As few as 10 years ago the term social media was yet to be coined, but within that decade the use of these blogs, websites and sharing platforms has increased exponentially with no plateau in sight. From creating Instagram accounts for household pets, to sharing Halloween themed baking ideas over Pinterest, people today have access to social media outlets for almost everything. Today about 74% of people ages 18-65 use some form of a social networking site (Pew, 2014). Facebook takes the lead in social media usage with about 71% of those adults. LinkedIn and Pinterest are tied for second at 28% of users, 26% use Instagram, and Twitter falls last in the top 5 most used social medias with 23% of users (Pew, 2014). In September of 2013 the Pew Research Center measured that 90% of adults ages 18-29 used these social media outlets on a daily basis, which is an astonishing increase from the 9% that was measured in February 2005 (Pew, 2014). Due to the fact that young adults are increasingly involving themselves in these online platforms, it is very important to understand the long term and psychological effects (such as depression, social anxiety,

The purpose or hypothesis of this study addresses the anatomy of the Facebook network, communication behaviors and network composition, private messages and public communication, and the psychological implications of Facebook use.

Facebook has 1.4 active users and growing (Vogel et al., 249. 2015). This is an impressive number because it signifies the importance social media¬– specifically Facebook has in today’s society. The majority of college students have Facebook accounts (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe., 2007). Facebook is a platform where friends share personal updates in the form of pictures, and status updates. With this availability of information, it opens the door for social comparison. Social Comparison Orientation is the tendency to compare oneself to others (Vogel et al., 249. 2015). There are two forms of social comparison, upward social comparison and downward social comparison. Upward social comparison is the tendency to compare oneself with someone who is perceived to have a better and more active social life, as opposed to downward social comparison, which is the tendency of comparing oneself to someone with a lower social activity (Vogel, Rose, Lindsay et al., 2014). Facebook promotes social comparison among college students. High frequency of Facebook use is associated with high levels of social comparison¬ —specifically upward social comparison¬, which negatively impacts the student’s well-being.

In this case, the study proved that teens and young adults have become obsessed with social networking and has led to many questions if networking is good or bad (Conger, 2010). In 2009, the media expressed that social networking could cause harm to our bodies and brains by “shortening our attention spans” and “weakening our immune systems” (Conger, 2010). Whereas other studies that have been conducted prove the opposite and suggests that teens who spend more time on social networking sites are more likely to be “well-adjusted” and “psychologically” healthy (Healy, 2010). At this point, it’s time to investigate the pros and cons of children being on social networking sites and understand why parents are against social networking and why certain individuals feel that networking is beneficial.

Do you have a question? Are you trying to figure out what to eat? Or are you bored?

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.

At any given time of day, anyone can access an abundant amount of information at the click of a button. Men, women, kids, teenagers, adults and even the elderly are learning how to use the internet to their advantage. Among all the benefits the internet has provided to us, online communication has proven to be the most beneficial. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have made it easy for everyone to stay in contact with each other. Regardless of how far apart a family member or friend is, everyone is just one click away. If someone is not having a good day, they can share their feelings with everyone in a matter of seconds. These social networking sites have become quite popular among adolescents. They allow teens to stay more connected with their friends outside of school. Now teens have become more obsessed with their friends Facebook or Twitter status than engaging in outdoor activities like football or

While the proliferation of Social Media and its effects on society are startling, and at times aggravating, there is research and solutions being hashed by behavioral scientists, therapists, and psychologists. One such study seems to, if not validate my solution of quitting Social media all together. According to Gupta, Arora, and Gupta (2013), they surmise that through recognizing Facebook addiction and questioning what

In the past ten years, the breakthroughs of the Internet have lead to the creation of online social networks. Founded in 2004, Facebook has become the most popular social network in the past few years. It has created a new way for people to communicate and socialize. Either by “posting” on their friends’ “walls” or by videoconferencing, users can leave them a message. However, the nonstop use of Facebook is becoming a discussed issue among our society. Youth are using Facebook to procrastinate on their daily tasks. Checking their Facebook profile is now part

Social networking sites (SNS) have become a way of life and a prominent form of communication. They provide a platform for users to professionally network, to socialize, to share personal adventures and achievements, and to express emotions and feelings. SNS allow users to observe family members, friends, acquaintances, or even strangers and learn what activities they are participating in or how they might be feeling at any given moment. With access to an abundance of information about others at the tap of a finger, lives have been consumed and overwhelmed with this new form of technology. From 2005 to 2015, nearly two-thirds of American adults report they use SNS and 90% of young adults, age 18 to 29, are involved with social media (Perrin, 2015).