Positive And Negative Effects Of Social Media

We have all heard that communication is the key to any good relationship. The article by David Isaacs (2014), states that “social media is likely to facilitate communication not impair it”, which is one of the main reasons for social networks and to communicate with family and friends all around the world instantly with effortless accessibility all thanks to the internet. David Isaacs (2014)

Social media is a very popular and widely used medium of entertainment in today’s society that allows people to connect and congregate from all over the world without having to leave the comfort of home. In order for many people to relieve social isolation and loneliness, social media unravels new pathways of communication and can be used to help people open up and express their opinions (Naruse). It can give people the chance to share and express their ideas to a large audience and receive feedback. Large and small businesses alike use this platform of communication in order to relay information about their products and services faster by using promotions and advertisements on social media websites. While social media has proven itself to be helpful and beneficial in today’s society, there are many studies that show how it can take quite a toll on the mental health and wellbeing of the people who constantly use it.

It has become extremely common for an individual to sign into their Facebook account, and see a picture that they feel exposed a little too much. Check into their Instagram account, and regret letting everyone know what their location was. Feel uncomfortable, or bullied by a tweet that a person posted to their Twitter. Per Farheen’s article on negative effects of social media “participating in social media sites such as these can make you feel more connected” (Sagheer 1). It is not okay for individuals to feel victimized due to the negative effects of social media. Social media tends to distract, humiliate, and destroy one-self through entertainment. If people would donate more time to things more supplemental to their growth, and limit their use of social media, then maybe people would stop walking over the harm that social media presents to our community. Monitoring the time invested into social media will help eliminate most of the detriment, privacy issues, and bullying flowing through today’s society.

Social networking sites (referred to more broadly as social media) are a collection of websites and applications that enable users to swap ideas, post updates and comments, and participate in activities and events while sharing their interests with other users. From general chit-chat to propagating breaking news, scheduling a date to following election results, gentle humor to serious research, social networking sites are used for a variety of reasons by various user communities. Nowadays, nearly every person who has access to a computer and Internet indulges in some kind of social networking on a daily basis. The introduction of social media has changed the entire dynamics of our lifestyles: the ways we live, work, and maintain our friendships. Despite its numerous advantages, social media does yield some negative effects. However, the benefits of social media greatly outweigh its negative effects.

These drawbacks include too many people being reliant to talking online rather than in person and not verbally communicating with friends even though they are in the same room. Jasmine Fowlkes shows the reality in how social media is affecting our new generation through her article, “Viewpoint: Why Social Media is Destroying our Social Skills.” After discussing the results conducted by several researchers, Fowlkes states,“As more generations are born into the social age, social media will continue to be the favored communication form among young people. However, this shift may begin to affect their ability to properly communicate in person with peers.” Many start to rely on applications on our devices to talk to people, but this results in less verbal communication. In addition, Kelly-Fay’s Talktrack research study showed that conversations held in person are much more impactful than on social media. Rather than making social media a huge part of your life, Fowlkes wishes that people would look up from their phones and engage more with others since that could change their lives.

In the article “The Relationship between Unwillingness-to-Communicate and Students’ Facebook Use”, a study was conducted to examine how Facebook use and unwillingness to communicate in interpersonal communication are related, motives for using Facebook, and the effect that Facebook has on behavior, attitude, and unwillingness to communicate. The study found that there were multiple motives for why people use Facebook including maintaining relations, entertainment, boredom, and to meet new people. The study also discovered that

In our modern international society, technology continues to advance rapidly and change the way we communicate. In the essay “Is Technology Destroying Social Bonds?” Shawn Ghuman claims that “Digital communication has taken away from what makes humans thrive, the ability to express thoughts through in person discussion” (Ghuman 8). I agree that this may be the case, considering how often people now choose to communicate digitally rather than in person. Nowadays, young adults are becoming uncomfortable with direct confrontation of any kind. Even talking over the phone and making a simple dentist appointment. For our society to keep moving forward, it is necessary that we develop the social skills needed in order to have proper face to face communication. Unfortunately, due to over-reliance on social media to communicate with others, today’s young adults are losing valuable opportunities to practice face to face interactions that are needed to develop strong social skills.

With the use of social media, being the number one way in which we keep in touch with our friends, family and so on. It has become a well-known method in the world today, because people all over the world use social media to communicate with one another, but then what they don't know is how social media is negatively affecting our lives, social life and communication skills. These days, everyone is on one or more social network, whether it's Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on. Social media have a great effect on people in the world today. It affects our ability to interact and communicate well with people.

The use of social media is ruining this generation’s real life social skills. According to Social Media Today, an online community for professionals, “The amount of time people spend on social media is constantly increasing. Teens now spend up to nine hours a day on social platforms, while 30% of all time spent online is now allocated to social media interaction.” Texting or online communications does not allow people to truly express themselves for who they truly are. There is a loss of social and personal development communicating through social media. For instance, people online are unable to use body language, tone, voice and facial expressions through a text. An article on The Telegraph, pointed out that “One in four people spend more time socialising online, using sites such as Facebook, than they do in person, according to research.” The study also found that even when there is an opportunity to see people face-to-face, on weekends for example, up to 11% of adults still prefer to stay at home and communicate on their devices instead. (USA Today). The problem with socialising online is that affects a person’s ability to communicate properly in face-to-face interactions. The person will feel a sense of social anxiety and not project their voice loud enough for their audience to hear them. For

In order for future generations and today’s youth to be better communicators, it’s important that focus is returned to more face to face communications instead of social media and texts. If the youth continue to use social media as a means to communication future generations will be less educated and will not be prepared to enter the working world.

The social media has not replaced face to face communication since according to a research presented by Marotta (web) there exist some important facts against the view that social media is reducing face to face interaction. Analysis of some theories about the use of social media was done in this research. It was found in first study that a great number of actions performed on different websites were of reactive type involving searching the profiles and reading news of various events rather than socializing. It was also found that the participants spent only 3.5% of their time on social interaction for example, talking and giving the remarks (Marotta). This is a very small percentage of the total population that use the internet and modern methods of communication. The research also demonstrated that the social interactions of the

After debating whether social media has a positive or negative effect on teens, it has been concluded that social media has a negative impact on the developing teenager. Social media can be a great tool at times, by being a means to communicate with friends, classmates, and family members; It can also help spread your ideas, hobbies and life experiences. But after reading the article Studies Offer Mixed Messages On Social Media’s Effects On Young People, By The Baltimore Sun, it explains how social media has a negative effect on teens by causing them to compete (to have a better social media feed), change their body to fit into society (the ideal body shape) and the way it can makes someone feel.

Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Instagram, and Flicker was invented to keep us in touch and keep us closer to our family and friends. But according to How Facebook ruins Friendships “we took our friendship online” (Bernstein). First we began communicating more by email than by phone and then switched to instant messaging or texting. By joining social Medias online

Our lives seem to be more and more consumed by technology as great advances in this area have continue to be made, especially when it comes to social media. Many researchers have begun to notice that depending on how much time individuals spend on these social media sites, they can negatively affect their daily lifestyle in very significant ways.  For example, social networking has become a huge distraction for students and it can affect their grades depending on how often they check their various accounts while doing class work.  Researchers have also come to find out that social media can contribute to the development of psychological symptoms

Some of the top benefits of social media over the years are that it is free to anyone, the content can get out to resources virtually immediately, and it can be delivered to a wide variety of people. For these reasons, communication through social media has become an extremely accessible and convenient way to communicate. It is also popular for those who need to be in contact with others. One example that comes to mind is a teenager who goes away on a trip to visit a friend or family. They can be hundreds of miles away but still talk to their parents as if they weren’t. Another example is a person who is shy and has a hard time making friends face-to-face, social media sites are a great way to meet people and build relationships.