Influence Of Social Media On Millennials

Social media itself is a huge danger to society. It causes many suicides within the world because of the cyberbullying and spreading of rumors. “Recent studies have shown that one out of four teens have been the victims of cyberbullying and one out of six have admitted to having cyberbullied someone” (Trautner 1). The internet and social media is supposed to be used to communicate with friends and for searching information, “Kids use technology different than their parents do. Sometimes it is hard for adults to understand that this can even be a possibility” (Trautner 1). It is not supposed to be used to bully someone, especially not to the point where the victim would think about suicide. “One of the statistics that has been highlighted within this news coverage is the threefold increase in the suicide rate for girls ages 10 to 14. The rates for girls in this age group increased from 0.5 to 1.5 per 100,000 during this time period. The increases for boys in this age group were not as high, climbing from 1.9 per 100,000 during 1999 to 2.6 per 100,000 in 2014” (Olsen

Older generations don’t realize how much technology has affected this generation of teenagers, along with the social media that comes along with the technology. As stated in “How Social Media Changed Teens’ Lives Forever”; “Negative posts or comments also can do great damage to a teen’s self-esteem.” (Ashley Black, Thomas Atseff and Colleen Kaveney) While many parents think social media is just a way to connect with others, many teenagers take it for granted. For example, “quitting social media because it made her miserable and obsessed with appearing perfect online”, is what a teenager felt about social media and what it has done to her. Though many think that social media is a great way to connect, teenagers take it to another level.

Melissa Healy, a reporter of the Los Angeles Times, in the article Teenage Social Media Butterflies May Not Be Such A Bad Idea, claims that kids who spend lots of time on social media are not the least well-adjusted, but psychologically healthiest. Healy supports her argument by demonstrating how social media is beneficial to a teen’s health. According to a three-year Digital Youth Project, when teengars use social media, it helps them develop important social skills such as communication, grappling with social norms, and developing technical skills. Psychology professor Kaveri Subrahmanyam describes that teens behave the same between offline relationships and online ones, so most teens will use the internet safely. The author’s purpose is

In Melissa Healy’s article, published on May 18, 2010, Los Angeles Times, “Teenage Social Media Butterflies May Not Be Such a Bad Idea,” she argues that social media and their social skills may not be such a catastrophe after all and that teenagers who use social media are psychologically healthiest. Healy supports this claim by first describing how, according to the research found by Amori Yee Mikami, social networking sites are mostly used to, not to converse with strangers online, but to interact with friends they already know and said, “So people of well-adjusted teens may have little to worry about regarding the way their children behave when using social media. It’s likely to be similarly positive behavior.” Then, she makes a connection

The age group that uses social media the most is 12-17 but the majority of people who use it all together are under the age of 30. 42% of adults online use social media and 97% of teens online use social media. Three in four teens access the internet on cell phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Ironically, even though it is called social media, it actually causes a lot of people to become less connected with other people in real life. Steven Strogatz of Cornell University says “ social media sites can make it more difficult for us to distinguish between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through social media. By focusing so much of our time and psychic energy on these less meaningful relationships, our most important connections will weaken.” What this means is that we spend a lot of our time and energy online trying to create relationships with people online that distracts from real life people and social situations. Sure, social media is good for connecting

The severity of smartphones impacting a child’s adolescence continues to increase each and every year. Forty years ago my parents were teenagers and none of them had a computer, let alone a smartphone. Flash forward to today and every single kid my age has a smartphone and some get one as young as ten years old! What will the next forty years entail? Vasts amounts of cyberbullying occurs online every day between high school students, so with time will this behavior continue into the workplace? Twenge shines a light on the fact that the more time spent on a social networking site, the unhappier the user felt. Not only does her article indicate we are on the brink of a mental health crisis, but we are also one the brink of a shift in basic human behavior. Before now, humans have never willingly spent such large amounts of time doing activities that leave them unhappy, unfulfilled, or worse off overall. Only time will tell, but time is not a luxury we possess, a response to this technology addiction needs to be formulated

Every year, "over 25 percent of adolescents and teens [are] bullied repeatedly through their cell phones or the Internet." (cyber bullying stats) and "Cyber-bullying [is] becoming more and more rampant in school and after school among teens and children." (Bullying stats). Social media can be a great thing that can open doors to new opportunities and discoveries, however, when used incorrectly, the digital footprint left behind may greatly affect future opportunities. To prevent a negative digital footprint, children and teens must be educated about internet uses.

As of 2016, suicide has replaced homicide as the second-leading cause of death among U.S. teenagers because of social media bullying. Social media has taken a significant toll on our society, one that affects millions of students around the globe. Every day, online platforms are gaining in popularity. So much that study now shows that the average person spends more time each day on their phone and computer than they do sleeping! While social media offers some benefits in regards to education and relationships, the risks of cyberbullying, social anxiety and identity theft far outweigh these advantages.

Today’s society of young Americans are concerned with social media and the trends that are presented, but what makes something a trend? In the past couple of years, it seems like in order for something to be a trend white people have to like it and make it popular. The media portrays to everyone in America that these trends were originated or even inspired by white people, but this isn’t true. A lot of the trends that are happening are actually from black people whether it’s black people’s facial features, appearance or hairstyle. The trends today represent cultural appropriation by offending black people and taking credit for these trends. However, white people think trends are innocent and don’t understand why they can’t do the same things

Technology has had so many advances in the past decade. People are constantly using the internet for numerous things. Every person uses the internet and technology at least once in their lifetime. Since technology is constantly growing and advancing people find themselves using it more and more for everyday life. Now, adults are usually the ones using the internet, but young kids have found themselves using it more frequently as well. Whether it be a child who is using a phone for games, or a teenager who is using a phone for social media, the internet is always being used. Young kids also find themselves using the internet for several things including social media or texting. With young people using social media there can be a positive side, a negative side, and even changes in ones mind. Young people feed into social media and with this comes cyberbullying, insecurities, distraction, and no privacy.

Generation Z has grown with the internet and social media, the first modern being Six Degrees created in 1997-- Gen Z being accepted as beginning in 1996. Social media is a both a positive and negative force that molds Gen Z to who and what we will be. Positively, social media has impacted Gen Z by, according to Huffington post, changing from being enraged to elated when viewing entertaining videos or memes, be able to contact distant friends, family, and or hero figures. Social media also makes for better-informed persons, if an event occurs that is not newsworthy or that is newsworthy, it is spread like wildfire across social media, informing the users about what is happening in their ever changing world as soon as anything changes. Also,

Cyberbullying is one of the main issues overtaking society today in the opinions of seventy six percent of people from the ages of fourteen to twenty four. Fifty six percent of the people in this age group are the victims of cyberbullying through both digital and social media. Another problem, according to seventy one percent of people, is sexting, when a person receives or sends inappropriate sexual messages. One out of every three people suffers from sexting habits, and fifty one percent of people from the ages of fourteen to twenty four have admitted to it. Ten percent of these people had not met the recipient of the messages in person, and about half of the people were under pressure to send these violating messages. Digital abuse in relationships is a problem that reaches forty-one percent of couples. Three in ten people are checked on through the media by their partner, and twenty seven percent of the people who are in a relationship have been forced to share the messages they have sent or received with their partner. Last but not least, one out of every two people has observed discrimination through language on social networks. Fifty one percent of people think this is wrong, but forty-six percent of people think it is okay as long as the sender makes it clear that they are joking. Similarly, fifty four percent of people believe close friends can

Despite the positives, there are many negatives associated with social media. Using social media can make a person more vulnerable to predators and cyber bullying. In this age, “Cyber bulling is quite common, can occur to any young person online, and can cause profound psychosocial outcomes including depression, anxiety, severe isolation, and tragically suicide” (“American Academy of Pediatrics”). Cyber bullying impacts society in a negative way because it is harming young teenagers’ minds. Bullies, torment, threat, harass, and even embarrass their victims by using different forms of social media. Using social media can also decrease privacy for an individual. People often give out their personal information not knowing who can see it. To average internet users, “A false sense of security may leave social networking site users vulnerable to security attacks such as hacking, leaking sensitive information, and sending viruses” (“ProCon”). Furthermore, Social media can also lead to brain disorders and can cause people to have a hard time interacting with people face to face. “Social networking entices people to spend more time online and less time talking to a person face to face.” (“ProCon”)

According to Angelo Young in "How social media is dumbing down our communication", the large number of people who use the internet in generation X only had one or two accounts, texting was boring and expensive, and mobile phone is designed only to call other people. Technology develops rapidly on social media, which changes the communication style of the Millennials, the group of people born at the beginning of the 21st century and in the 20th century. Communication is a process of sharing not only information and ideas but also meanings and feelings. However, social media is changing the way people communicate with each other. Social media have made differences in the communication style of the Millennials in contrast to the previous generation in the context of the communication form and the way people share their feelings.

Can you imagine living in a world with no social media or smartphone? No instagram, twitter, facebook or snapchat? Believe it or not, that world existed before us millennials did. According to an article found on the Pew Research Center.com, entitled “The Demographics of Social Media Users”, the amount of Facebook users is “72% of adult internet users [and] 62% of entire adult population.” Facebook along with other media outlets have easily become the norm for young adults and older adults in today’s society. The rapid growth of accessibility to social media networking was made possible from the creation and use of smart phones. The combination of social media sites and smart phone users has single handedly eliminated the need for human interactions, but also has provided a repertoire of information at our fingertips. I will discuss the following: the history of Facebook and its impact, the creation of the iPhone and its development of social media apps like Instagram, and the effects of cyberbullying. The purpose of this essay is to explore the productive qualities and destructive qualities that various social media outlets have presented to our generation.