Negative Effects Of Facebook Addiction

Nowadays, there are many people who are addictive to technology very much, especially some social networks, like Facebook. An article from World Academy of Science, Engineering, and Technology shows that, “Facebook has become an essential part of many people’s lives. Surveys have shown that 71.2% of Internet users in the U.S. are also Facebook users, and that almost adolescents check Facebook first thing in the morning. Facebook ranked first in a survey of the 100 most popular websites in Taiwan. Nearly 90% of the Facebook population is made up of students, particularly university students”. At the same time, we have to notice that technology brings us a lot of fun. For example, communication has been made easier and the Internet has brought email and chatting facilities. Instead of sending letters to respective destinations, it is very easy to send an e-mail, which will be received instantly. New technology makes people to contact each other easily. If you are very busy and have no time to see your parents, you can call them or text them anytime, even during the 10 minutes break of the meeting. If you go to other country to study or work, and get far from your friends, you can have Internet video with them, in this way you can see them easily. All of those I said are the benefits and convenience that new technology bring us. In this way, technology makes people get closer, but not be alone. Without new technology, people have to see each other face to face or

“A study. . . found that people experienced the psychological symptoms of withdrawal when they stopped using [social media]” (Walton). With this comparison, by the end of the article, the audience has a sense of fear of addiction to social

When thinking about a drug, most people think to substances like heroin and cannabis; however, there is new substance that has been sweeping nations. A drug is a substance that has a phycological effect when introduced to the body. Though people don’t think of social media as a drug, it has the same addictive side effects. Upon reading article “Addicted to Distraction” by Tony Schwartz, which talks about the addiction society has to social media and its effects, I realized what a drug social media is. This generation has experienced technology like never before, and it has led to advantages and disadvantages. Although social media can be fun, there is a developing addiction that has causes, effects, and solutions.

In the modern and technological society which we live in today social media plays an integral part in everyday life. Social media is an online tool which allows people to communicate, share data and form groups with others sharing common interests. On social media platforms users can forms virtual communities or networks exchanging information. (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Social media has become such a big part of life that the term ‘Facebook addict’ has been introduced into the urban dictionary.

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.

T. Sawchuk in his essay “Dating and Relating in the Internet Age” tells us about the psychological need of gathering and enjoying information about the other person through social media. For example – Facebook is the biggest social medium that helps to anonymously (most of the cases) find out pictures, thoughts, friends and interests of other people. My reaction isn’t as skeptical as the previous one, but still, psycho-Facebook-addiction isn’t really for me. I’m not interested in this topic and as well I’m not addicted to any social media, especially Facebook.

Social media has connected us in unimaginable ways, and introduced us to a world much larger than our humble backyards. Nowadays, nearly everyone has a Facebook, an Instagram, or a Twitter account. Grandparents, teenagers, children, and even some pets are a part of one social network or another. While websites like Facebook are great for sharing pictures, stories, and interests, but they are also capable of raising awareness about important issues that may have been overlooked. Recently, the overuse of Facebook was thought to promote negative psychology well-being, including depression and loneliness. It 's safe to say that the world has become hopelessly addicted to social media. Plenty of people can 't make it through the day or in extreme cases a few hours without popping on their computers or scrolling through their smart phones to check the newsfeed on Facebook. As Stephen Marche says in his article, "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?”, Facebook makes us miserable and lonely. In fact, even though there is evidence showing that we 're more detached or lonely than ever because given Facebook is about social relationships; however, the site also offers an extraordinary number of ways to connect with others. This is just a taste of what Facebook can do, and with a huge number of people utilizing them, its possibilities are only growing. Facebook does not replace real human relationship or create loneliness, but it does not exterminate it either. It all depends on ones usage.

In line with Paul Nussabaum, a clinical neuropsychologist and member of scientific advisory board Alzhiemer’s foundation of America,

Simon Dumenco takes a different turn on how people complain about being so sick of Facebook but yet, they still can’t seem to stop using it. Giving his reasons on how Facebook have ways on presiding you to continue to use the site in his essay “If We’re all So Sick of You, Facebook, Why Can’t We Quit you?” These two essays compared together gives it’s reading an insight on how technology and social media takes place in a person's life and develop into a hobby, and then becomes addictive. Although “Students Addicted to Social Media” by the ICMPA who focus on digital technology and how students are addictive to social media, while “If We’re All So Sick of You, Facebook, Why Can’t We Quit You?” by Simon Dumenco who discuss how Facebook manipulate people to use its site, they both explain how technology and social sites are addictive and an everyday morality of a person’s life. These readings are both worthy of attention, because although people stay connected to the world by using social media to communicate the less they interact and communicate face to face

A matter of contention prevalent within the media, several studies have shown that social networking – Facebook in particular – can have detrimental effects on our wellbeing. Researchers from the University of Michigan assessed Facebook usage over a fortnight and found that the more people that used it, the more negativity they experienced concerning their day-to-day activities; as well as over time, incurring higher levels of dissatisfaction with their life overall.

Nowadays, a lot of teenagers are addicted to Facebook. Like everyone knows, Facebook is a type of social network and through Facebook we can know other people

Forest park students slowly wonder through the halls trying to make it to their next class. They are oblivious to their surroundings because of their eyes glued to their social media apps on their phones. It almost looks like they are zombies feeding their social media brains with their phones.

Facebook and other social media has changed everyone’s day to day life. According to Newsome in “7 Ways Social Media Can Affect Your Self-Esteem,” she mentions the following reasons which have affected our social habits: the ads, the perfect life, the curating of our online stuff, the battle for likes, the false connections, the folly of the tutorial, the interruption of our emotional lives. All these reasons are contributing to the same outcome that everyone is incapable of living their lives the way they are. Facebook teaches everyone that their lives are not complete if they are not perfect. Everyone gets influenced by other Facebook users and wish to adapt to certain things that other users are achieving. Our social habits change, they become more focused for likes and more followers on social media rather than enjoying the actual event they attended. According to Newsome, we do not completely engage ourselves in social habits as social media becomes an interruption because we tend to document everything that we interact in and wish to make it look interesting on social media for attention. New social media world affects social habits because it takes attention and time and people feel secure while using Facebook because, according to Newsome, for an introvert the connection to the social media world is much easier than a normal conversation. Also Facebook gives a false connection which is easier to connect with.

The research conducted by Uysal (2013) investigated the effects of Facebook addiction and mood, in 297 participants. The results indicated a minor relationship between the Facebook addiction and mood. Likewise, Labrague (2014) later also identified similar results, with individuals who spend longer on Facebook being more likely to develop negative mood. When comparing the results from these two pieces of research, to the findings from this study. There are many similarities between them for example they all use students and questionnaires in their designs, therefore should result in similar results between all three studies. Conversely, this is not the case which strengthens the argument for the need for greater research within this area of psychology; to better understand if Facebook usage has an impact on mood.

Today’s youth generation, has a strong attachment to the online world. Many adolescents spend most of their time online versus offline. Therefore, one can consider these adolescents as a social network addict, a person who spends a fair amount of time on one or many social platforms. Throughout the three articles, “Social Networking Addiction: An Overview of Preliminary Findings” by Mark Griffiths, “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship” by Nicole B. Ellison and “Taking Risky Opportunities in Youthful Content Creation: Teenagers’ use of Social Networking Sites for Intimacy, Privacy, and Self-expression” by Sonia Livingstone, show how this addiction has changed people’s communication among people. While there are