Negative Effects Of Social Media And Its Effects On University Students

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.

We live in a world where the new way to communicate is via Internet. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media networks have taught us ways to connect with one another and have become our new way of entertainment. As reported by influencer marketing agency Mediakix in David Cohen article, “How Much Time Will the Average Person Spend on Social Media During Their Life?” confirms that the average person will spend more than five years of their life on social media according to Mediakix study. But, people may not see the subliminal effect that social media is having on us, with the concern of sexting and cyberbullying slowly wearing down latest problems are occurring because of this evolving medium; it is affecting people happiness without them even realizing it. Social media has become the foundation for people to showcase their lives 24/7 keeping their followers up-to-date with their “extravagant” lifestyle. With young adults’ use of social media, they are obsessed with the idea of appearing happy even if they aren’t happy and this is having an impact on their mental-wellbeing.

In recent years, it has sadly become true that technology is getting smarter while humans are getting dumber. Due to the overwhelming success of social media as a new form of communication, the world is experiencing a massive increase of media exposure, especially among teenagers. Indeed, people are beginning to appreciate the simplicity of the old days; kids used to spend more time outdoors, making face to face interactions with both people and nature. Nowadays, the whole world in teenagers’ eyes seems to fit into the screens of their smartphones, making it harder for parents to control the type of content their kids are exposed to every day. Even though social media was initially designed to bring people closer together, It has actually turned into a problem instead of a solution; kids today are suffering from behavioral disorders that are not supposed to occur at such a young age. Despite the advantages of social media, it seems to influence teenagers negatively, causing them to lack social skills and turn into concernedly depressed, constantly bored shades of human beings.

Society is very familiar with all the rising social media platforms that teenagers are using like Snapchat, Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook. Those are some of the most popular apps that teens are using. But how have all those social media platforms shaped my generation? Social media has been labeled as a positive tool but overall adults have seen it as a harm to teens. Many parents have agreed against their children using those social media platforms because of the many incidents that have surfaced involving kids and teenagers. The most common dangers that parents think about have been that kid’s have been bullied and have received death threats or even self-harmed. The social media platforms that are a popular among teens are being used as a way to express themselves, proving others who is strong, and to be social and covered with friends but those decisions have brought them negative consequences in one way or another.

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

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.

Social media has been known to help students develop important knowledge and social skills. “At first glance this may seem like a waste of time; however it also helps students to develop important knowledge and social skills, and be active citizens who create and share content.” (Chen 3). The more time teens spend on social media the more they become aware of their own social side and how to interact with others, especially their peers. “Some types of social media has beneficial effects, like helping adolescents establish some sense of identity and build networking skills” (Riley Davis). Too much time being spent on social media can also exploit teens to some harsh realities that they’ve probably never experienced in their lives before.

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.

73% of teenagers use what seems to be harmless, social media. Although it’s main function is to provide online communities for friends to interact on the internet, social media is a direct link to developing mental illnesses. Mental health is a very important issue, especially in the millennial generation, because it can impact a life drastically. Mental well-being is at risk when using social media because it flaunts what society considers “perfection” to be, can become easily addictive and social net workings can be a hostile environment. All of these issues that are promoted by social media or that exists there can seriously deteriorate mental health and drive illnesses forward.

In an ever-changing world, technology has pervaded almost every aspect of the average person’s life. Along with advances in technology has emerged the rise of social media sites, where individuals can take pictures of events, update statuses, mark the places they have been, and the foods they have eaten. Young adults have been at the forefront of using these social networking sites to display their actions and aspects of their lives to the public world. While one may think these sites are intended to bring joy to others, and put people in connection with one another, the display of other’s lives may have a negative effect on the viewer. Among groups who may be negatively affected by these social networking sites are college students, who face a new environment, and commonly experience a “fear of missing out” from viewing the lives of others. While these social media sites may be fine in small amounts, the increased consumption of multiple social media sites may have a negative effect on the happiness of college students, which may produce a link to depressive symptoms.

Social media causing health issues in minors is shown and proven in “In Defense of the Internet: The Relationship between Internet communication and Depression, Loneliness, Self-Esteem, and Perceived Social Support” and “Psychological impact of Social Networking Sites: A Psychological Theory”

Although social media can have positive outcomes, it has led to a growth in mental health problems and has triggered conditions specific to social media usage. Social media has become a huge social issue in this generation. Through social media, adolescents are exposed to new mental illnesses such as Facebook depression. There is increased exposure to harassment and bullying when using Social media.

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.

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.