Media Essay : The Negative Effects Of Social Media

Kardaras, Nicolas. "Generation Z: Online and at Risk?." Scientific American Mind, vol. 27, no. 5, Sep/Oct 2016, pp. 64-9. MasterFILE Premier. Kardars discuss generation z use of social media affecting them negatively. He opens his article with a story of Heidi who becomes addicted to social media when her school issues her a Chromebook. Before Heidi is issued the laptop, she was a sweet innocent girl and after having it for a semester she became someone her parents could not recognize. He states that social media is a “perfect storm” for humans because having a social connection key to “happiness and health”. Having the ability to always use social media leads to hyper texting the illusion of a real connection making it hard for teens to have face to face conversations, making a teens become “glow kid[s]“, someone who is raised on mostly digital social interactions. Facebook depression” can result in the teen to have lower grades and behavior problems in teens. He concludes his article with facts proving that Facebook can become addictive in some people. This source helps support my thesis that Facebook affects teens mental health.

Online social network has gained astounding worldwide growth and popularity which has led to attracting attention from variety of researchers around the world. In Carla Poertner article,”Is Facebook Making Us Stupid,Boring and Insecure?” She is right on target about youth being impacted over social networking. Social media has influenced youths whether it being their motives, lifestyle, or even a choice and ways of their realizations. Although, some will argue saying that social network is a good influence towards young people it is morally wrong due to getting themselves into addiction leading to danger, lack of concentrating in school, even their physical and psychological health. In other words, generations of teenagers and young adults

There are many contributing factors that create an anti-social society that we call the present. The main cause for this is that instead of making genuine conversation, we would rather use our phones. The more our phones advance the more we will notice awkward, if any conversation in the world. It is apparent that social media is creating a depressed, anti-social society.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are commonly used among the younger generations, but can the excessive use of these apps cause mayhem? According to a new study conducted by the Family Technology Education Non-Profit Group, teenagers are spending nearly 9 hours a day on social media. The excessive use of social media is a bad influence on adolescents because of the negative impacts it has. Social media can cause direct impacts to the mental health, safety, and lives of its users. Teenagers need to ensure that they are being cautious and responsible while using different social media networks.

October 15, 2010, the movie “The Social Network” was released and later received over $220 million dollars in revenue. The reason this movie received such a high amount of revenue is because of all the teenage users of social networking sites. This makes the debatable case of whether social networking is considered unhealthy for teenagers. But through common sense and logic, anyone can see that it should be considered a negative aspect because it encourages procrastination, creates a false sense of security, and allows teenagers to explore the option of suicide.

Social media are websites or applications that most of people use every day, but it can cause several harmful effects, such as symptoms of mental health, increase cyberbullying, and reduce productivity. Social media is a place where people can share their personal information, pictures, videos, ideas, and different form of expressions. It also the great place where people can interact with each other by using the text posts or comments. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter are the platform social media that most of people use. Each people has different purpose of using social network, such as communicate with friends, or promote a business. According to the Statita.com, in 2017, 81 percent of U.S. Americans had a social media profile, representing a five percent growth compared to the previous year.

The use of social networking sites is rising at great rates. According to a report conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in 2012, ninety-five percent of individuals aged 12-17 use the internet; and eighty-one percent of those use social network sites (Pew Interest). Although it is known that social media can have a useful impact on lives, often times people forget that with a positive comes a negative. The continual use of social network sites will impact teen lives more negatively than positively because they can cause huge distractions from valuable and critical pursuits like education; they can also cause mental health issues and a reduction in communication skills.

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.

Technology plays a big role in people’s progression in relationships. Social media is the big boom in social relationships, they connect more people in more ways than one. Even though Parents worry about their children on social media, teens can find a positive outcome from it. Social media positively impacts teen relationships. Teens say that social media has more positive effects rather than negative on relationships. Also, most kids that are introverted can find kids that have similar interest online, and make new friends.

Most people believe that social messaging is more of a benefit than a consequence, but using social media can actually be harmful. Social media is something most kids, teens, and even some adults are using all the time. It has become a part of our generation’s lives. Having people on their phones all day long is not only disappointing, but also damaging. Instead of talking to someone face-to-face and hanging out, people prefer just texting or going on a social network. For some people understanding a life without social media is near impossible. Using social media can have some adverse effects such as: it causes cyberbullying, it can compromise education, and it could have an effect on social skills.

Social media seems to be one of the many hot topics of discussion recently, and consequently many people have the false sense of security that they have a profound knowledge on how it affects the health of the teenage population. A sedentary lifestyle, decreased sleep, as well as other physical health conditions seem to come to mind when one links health and social media. However, there is a much bigger problem that can go unnoticed because it can be impossible to see: the impact it has on mental and emotional health. These branches of health are just as important, and even arguably more important than physical health is. Social media can be utilized to connect with distant friends and express oneself; however, teenagers should refrain from the overuse of social media due to its detrimental effects on their mental and emotional health.

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.

Studies have shown that the average person now spends more time each day on their phone and computer than they do sleeping according to Nick McGillivray (“What are the Effects of Social Media on Youth?). Social has become part of our social society, especially for the many youths. There are positives to being on social media and also equal amounts of danger that come with using social networking sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. These social networking sites also have effects on today’s youth by altering the way they behave, the way they learn, in not only a classroom setting but also in the real world setting, and the way that they socialize with their peers and others.

According to Kit Smith, an author of Brandwatch, “there are 3.03 billion active social media users”. Most likely, that this number is only increasing every day. Social media has both positive and negative effects on teenagers in society. Many teenagers experience negative effects of social media without knowing somcial media itself causes these symptoms. Social media has many negative effects on teenagers, but the most important ones include that it gives them social anxiety, can lower someone’s self-esteem and can cause sleep deprivation. These negative effects that social media has on teens are problems that can be solved. Social media causes problems such as, lowering self-esteem, sleep deprivation, and social anxiety. Social media is growing and will only continue to grow. Every day, as teens all around the world are scrolling through different social media platforms, they see all these perfectly depicted lives of different people that can lower someone’s self-esteem. Social media is pleasing to the eye and draws people in, becoming addicting. As this addiction grows, people may think they need to stay up late into the night talking to different people on Snapchat or over text, watching videos on YouTube, Netflix, or other video streaming sites, and going through their Instagram or Facebook feed. This can lead to sleep deprivation for a teenager. As teens continue to use and to adapt to talking online, it makes it harder for them to interact in real life. They become more awkward when facing people and talking directly to their face. There are plenty of other reasons social media can have a negative impact, but these are just a few that can be solved. Social anxiety is an important negative effect of social media on teens. This is important because if teens cannot communicate in person normally. For example, they could struggle to find a job or friends because they are anxious about what people think of them, and it can cause them to have a hard time talking to people. Thomas A. Richards is the Psychologist President of the Social Anxiety Association, and he describes social anxiety as “the fear of social situations that involve interaction with other people”. He explains that social anxiety is being

With the development of advances in technology, communication through social networking has risen immensely. Communicating is not only less complicated, it is also relatively inexpensive. “Many teens in relationships view social media as a place where they can feel more connected with the daily events in there significant other’s life, share emotional connections, and let their significant other know they care” (Lenhart, Anderson, and Smith). However, the ease of access to social networking has allowed many adolescents to become overly involved. Networking has the potential to influence adolescents both emotionally and physically which in turn may lead to negative behaviors. An article from procon.org stated, “The use of social networking sites is correlated with personality and brain disorders, such as the inability to have in-person conversations, a need for instant gratification, ADHD, and self-centered personalities, as well as addictive behaviors” (ProCon.org). Essentially, social networking has rising negative influences on teens because of increased cyber bullying, lack of respect for personal privacy, and its addictive qualities.