Negative Effects of Facebook Essay

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.

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.

Social media has become deeply embedded as a part of today’s American culture and lifestyles, changing the way people interact and communicate with one another. Americans use social media every day; to not only communicate, but to express themselves. These online media sites and blogs serve as entertainment for its users and give them a sense of a social life if they do not already have one. Some users become so obsessed with their online lives that they lose the ability to successfully communicate with people in real life. Their craving for the use of social media becomes an addiction to where they can spend countless hours on their social sites. Facebook, a popular social media cite, has been proven to cause Facebook Depression, a sickness in which a person is emotionally depressed and in self denial. Studies have shown that sites such as Facebook, are a direct link to an individual’s physical and emotional well being.

Social media has many negative effects linked to teenagers today. Research has shown that social media has a harsh impact on the mental health of its users. This research suggests that social media can cause depression. Highly idealized representations of peers on social media may create elicit feelings of envy and the belief that others lead happier, more successful lives (Chowdhry). Although depression cannot be linked to one specific cause, there are many different factors that can contribute to it. With this being said, individuals will compare themselves negatively to others on social media because they believe other individuals sharing content are living better lives than they are. This will result in people feeling bad about themselves. Another impact social media has on mental health is that it is addictive. Although social media addiction is not a formal clinical diagnoses, it is reasonable to say that many people spend a lot of time on social media. Researchers have suggested that the excessive use of online social networking is particularly problematic to young people. It is claimed that those people who are addicted experience symptoms similar to those who suffer from addictions to substances and other behaviours. As stated above, although social media addiction is not classified as a formal clinical diagnoses, it has been compared to those who suffer from far more serious addictions. In addition to other impacts social media has on mental health, it can severely impact the self-esteem of those who are on social media platforms. Social media can have a negative effect on the

Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, you name it. A form of social media created for communicating with others. Social media, first created by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, launched the first real form of social media, now known as Facebook. Since then, social media has grown and is now used daily by people across the globe. But in reality, how healthy is social media for us? Social Media, the interest of today’s society and a part of our daily lives. It is used by sixty percent of the world’s population and is a large part of many individuals’ lives. Sounds great now, right? Well, the effects of social media are more serious than we think they may be and can

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

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.

Many people see Social Media as the world’s greatest invention while others see it as the world’s worst invention. , but which one is it? Is Social Media really important or is it just there for people to use? People do not tend to see the danger hidden beneath the Posts, the blogs, and the pictures everyone shares. Families destroyed others reunited due to the effects of social media. Friends, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends all in a big war at some point fighting with one another about who saw who doing what, who posted what, if the another one liked or did something that they were not supposed to do. Social Media has positive and negative effects to our society.

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

In the article “Constant Social Media and Teens’ Mental Health” Alan Mozes theorizes that ninety percent of teens all around the world use social media. Meaning that this could be affecting their mental health. Adolescents are now vulnerable to depression, anxiety, and sleep deprivation due to social media use, says psychology administrator, Heather Cleland Woods. The article asserts that 467 people were asked about their social media use, what times of the day they use it, and the pressure they feel when they can not respond to a message. The tests show that those who were more involved and somewhat addicted to social media have the greater chance of depression, anxiety, and poor sleep. This test refutes that cutting the use of social media

While there are many benefits to social media, there are hidden dangers as well, especially to mental health. An increasing number of studies have found that Facebook increases the risk of low self-esteem and depression because it gives a distorted

“Daily overuse of media and technology has a negative effect on the health of all children, preteens and teenagers by making them more prone to anxiety, depression and other psychological disorders;Facebook can be distracting and can negatively impact learning. Studies found that students, in general, checked Facebook at least once during a 15-minute study period achieved lower grades.” (Vito 1)

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.

The most genuine complication of social media is addiction. A reporter on Salem health characterized that text messaging is no longer the biggest teenage obsession, and enormous phone bills from lengthy phone calls are no longer the biggest doubts for parents. These teenage addictions still remain, but in our generation and in analogy to the Facebook mania, it’s quite insignificant. Facebook addiction is advised to be a disorder driven by a craving. Not being able to access Facebook creates anxiety among fanatics. It is one of the most prominent social networking sites and has over one billion users without exception. People detach themselves from family and friends. Further symptoms of Facebook addiction have been related with needy sleep patterns. Researchers have also attempted to evaluate certain personality traits to the obsession. Being in touch with friends and family might clarify the logic why people are unreasonably obsessed.

Facebook is currently largest social networking site in the world based on monthly unique visitors – attracting 130 million unique visitors every day (Alexa Inc. 2012). The site’s popularity exploded in 2007 and it bypassed its social networking rival, MySpace, in April 2008 (Phillips 2007). Over the last few years Facebook has impacted people’s social lives in various ways. With its availability on modern smart phones, Facebook enables users to continuously stay in touch with friends, relatives and peers wherever they are in the world as long as they have internet access. It can also group people together who share beliefs and interests and has been known to even reunite lost family members and friends through its enormous social reach