Is Social Networking Beneficial to People?

Pantic, Igor. "Online Social Networking and Mental Health." Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, vol. 17, no. 10, Oct. 2014, pp. 652-657. EBSCOhost, DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2014.0070. Doctor Pantic in “Online Social Networking and Mental Health” discusses various studies on Facebook and symptoms of depression, social

We tend to idolize people’s lives based on how happy they seem to appear on social media then believe we must act the same way. With one popular social network, Facebook, gives people the ability to stay connected and share with their friends/family. Having a Facebook page is now an expected part of being online. This online website is surprisingly causing young adults to feel sad,

According to Dr. Douglas Kenrick, University of Arizona’s Social Psychology lecturer, Facebook is not bad but the usage of it is what paints an ugly picture. In the article above, emotional aspects seem to be most affected when one uses Facebook in comparing oneself with their peers, friends or relatives. Posts by the defined group outline the seven ways mentioned which are termed bad since it leads to mental health dysfunctions. The use of Facebook to follow others updates leads to a number of psychological hazards such as; gives one a feeling that their life is not neat as of others, one develops envy towards friends achievements, Facebook keeps touch with people who hurt before, it can disenfranchise marriage in the event of stalking. The emotional friction developed through the wrong use often leads to depression. If one can avoid using Facebook in a manner that they will not follow other people’s posts then they are less likely to get stressed up about others and to a great extent avoid mental complications such as depression. According to the study about 80% percent who use Facebook in following others updates with a lot of

Previous research examined the potential relationship between social comparison, envy, and depression. Appel, Crusius, and Gerlach (2015) utilized a sample of about 130 participants that were divided into two experimental groups of depressed and non-depressed to analyze profiles that were on Facebook. The researchers found that high levels of envy, when the social comparison level is high, could result in depressive symptoms. In the case of Facebook, there is a concept called Facebook Envy. Envy that comes out of gathering information about others on Facebook (Chou & Edge, 2012). Tandoc, Ferrucci, and Duffy (2015) report that Facebook envy has some influence on depression. A person that uses Facebook more may experience higher levels of envy

On its surface, the effects of using these social networking sites seem fairly harmless. Many scholars state that social networking sites allow close friends or family members to stay in contact with one another and they also allow connections (business or social) to be made with individuals that an individual may not ever come into contact with possible. On the other side of the spectrum, some scholars argue that there are negative effects that can be linked to the use of social networking sites. There have been studies conducted that link the use of social networking sites to mental and psychological issues such as depression, low self-esteem and diminishing social interaction skills.

Social media has taken the world by storm. In the article “When Your Smartphone Is Too Smart for Your Own Good: How Social Media Alters Human Relationships” by Lori Ann Wagner, a researched survey found that 73% of adults online use some type of social networking platform, while 42% use multiple platforms. With social media being seen and used by so many people, is there a problem with it influencing and affecting humans in some sort of way? Many people would argue yes to social media negatively affecting humans, while others disagree to that idea. Social media is seen mostly affecting social relationships between people. Social media should not be used as one’s primary social outlet as it inhibits natural social skills, interferes with face-to-face relationships, and provides empty social connections.

Facebook is addicting and people spend a majority of their time on that website hoping for a “like”, so when they don’t get the validation of a “like” they think no one likes them and get upset. Likewise, comparing other’s life to their own increases the negative thoughts running through one’s brain. On an article published on Forbes’s website, Alice G. Walton writes “It turned out that people who logged more Facebook time not only had more depressive symptoms, but that social comparison – in any direction – was the mediator, and for both sexes. In other words, it didn’t matter whether a person was making upward, downward, or neutral social comparison – they were all linked to a greater likelihood for depressive symptoms.” Also, as mentioned above, staying inside all day staring at a screen will negatively affect a person’s mental health. In a short article published in Time Magazine, journalist Alice Park writes “Scientists found that healthy teens who used the Internet obsessively--reporting that they felt moody or nervous when not online--were 2.5 times more likely to become depressed nine months later than less frequent surfers were.” (Park) This information shows that the internet is having a negative effect on the younger

Keywords Facebook, well being, age groups, Social Networking Sites (SNS), Internet, Psychological distress -In this section, the definitions of important key terms will be stated. C) Variables of Well Being -Well being is very general and in this section, it will examine the different possible variables of well being and what is their relationship with Facebook use. 1. Sharing, Liking, Commenting, and Distressed? The Pathway Between Facebook Interaction and Psychological

There have been few studies that have examined a person’s psychological characteristics (e.g. self-esteem, depression, and self-consciousness) and Facebook use (citations). In a previous study conducted by Lee (2014) on how college students compare themselves with others on Facebook, there was a negative relationship between social comparison frequency and self-esteem. However,

Social networking is an arguable topic; some people think it’s a good tool, but others are worried about the impact it has on people’s lives. Social networking has lots of good points. You can express yourself, showing off your favorite song, or posting pictures of your new outfit. It is harder to feel embarrassed over the internet than in person, so people find it easier to vent their feelings on social media such as Facebook and Instagram. Also, you can learn someone’s life story just by checking their page. Their friends, likes and dislikes, relationship status, phone number, address... basically everything. You can share your feelings as well, and it is a good way to relax yourself after a busy day. Moreover, it makes it a lot easier to keep in touch with family and friends, especially if they live far away. You can also make new friends via social media. On the other hand, even though social media has a lot of positives, it has negatives as well. Social media can ruin relationships as people may get jealous if they find out their boyfriend or girlfriend is exchanging messages with others. More importantly, it can be a waste of time as people can visit a site to check on thing and end up spending the whole day ‘behind the screen’ and as a result, not doing anything useful with their lives.

Is social media beneficial, or has it served as a hindrance to our society? This has been a reoccurring topic for quite sometime now and honestly, I believe that it has been both a "blessing" and a "curse". I am guilty of using social media way too much--it's pretty much a drug if you ask me. No matter how many times I tell myself that I am going to stay off for at least a day, I always find myself slipping in a tweet of some random Drake song lyric (that's pretty sad, I know). Besides personal addiction, using networks like Twitter and Instagram have actually expanded my outlook on different issues and trending topics. I do not really watch TV, so I never watch the news, however, though social media I usually find out all that I need to know.

In conclusion, social networking has decisively proven to be good for our society. It is essential to recognize that social networking can benefit our society tremendously by helping students do better in school, spreading information/news, and helping those that are socially isolated to get out of their shell and connect with other people. The facts

Social networking has become a major part of society. Many people wake up each day and check social media websites specifically throughout Twitter and Facebook first thing in the morning instead of reaching for a newspaper. Since people are spending such a large amount of time surfing social networks, it is important to point out some of the positive and negative effects that social networking can have on a society. The positive effects of social networking sites are allow people to create new relationships and reconnect with friends and family. Increased communication, even online, strengthens relationships. And the other   is social networking sites make people share everything that they want and   bring people with common interests together, offer exposure to new ideas from around the world, and lower inhibitions to overcome social anxiety.

Many Facebook users idealize the lives of others who show only parts of it, usually successful situations or events that express happiness. The social network has been called out for making people envious and unsatisfied because of the constant exposure to positive yet misleading highlights of people’s lives. A Stanford University Study led by Ph.D. student Alex Jordan measured user activity of college student’s Facebook profiles. He noticed that they seemed to feel particularly depressed about themselves after logging onto the site and scrolling through others' vacation photos, attractive profile pictures, accomplished bios, and cheerful status updates.

Contradictory to most literature, the findings of this research supported arguments that Facebook usage had no significant relationship with mood. Which supports Datu et al (2012) results that also established no