Social Media And Its Effect On Society

Nowadays, social media is a big part of the American culture with approximately eighty-one percent of the US population using it(Edison Research). On average, people spend two hours a day on social media meaning the average American spends five years of their life on it. This in part has to do with the variety of platforms which equals more time on them. (Asano) The rise of social media began in the early 2000s with the start of Myspace and continues to grow. Today, we have various platforms including: Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and YouTube amongst the most popular. These platforms provide a new way for billions of people to connect, communicate , and inform themselves amongst others at any time of day. It’s a new form of interaction where now the most social person sits on their couch, smart phone in hand, all day. People tend to say being online is toxic because of cyber bullying, hackers, and fake news; however, due to the increased access of ties between people and information, social media has begun to influence social and political change in a positive way through its power of communication.

Social media comes in many different varieties, but within those varieties there is one constant; hiding behind a computer screen. Social media allows people to not see the emotions of others when communicating with them. When humans do not see the reactions of others, and have the ability to hide behind the screen, it tends to be common for comments to be aggressive, uneducated, and/or rude. Arguments and debates have the ability to be civil, formal, and respectful of the opposing side and can end in a peaceful disagreement. Social media gives users the freedom to post things anonymously and without seeing the other people face-to-face, causing many fallacies to be used within debates online. Many people do not directly post their

With today’s technology some old world crimes have been given a new lease on life, through the use of social media. It used to take stalkers weeks, or even months, to study their victims’ patterns to find out their likes and dislikes; even something as the simple as their favorite flower took time to learn. They can now do this within a matter of seconds with today’s technology; and the use of social media just by looking at victim’s Facebook, a stalker can quickly learn what television shows and what movies they like. Where they are from, where they currently live, places they visit, restaurants they eat at, where they work and sometimes their current location with the use of a smart phone’s GPS receiver. Who remembers when facing the

Magazines and advertisements are full of beautiful women that do not appear to have a single flaw. These women are constantly portrayed to be popular, happy, and have it all together. Many adolescents viewing these ads or reading these magazines are constantly comparing themselves to these women. It feels almost impossible to be just like these models. This is most likely a result of these women being airbrushed and enhanced to appear to be exceptionally more flawless than they actually are. The standard of body shape that the media presents influences how people view themselves, and can possibly lead to long term health issues.

A recent study shows that the average person spends approximately 90 minutes on their phone a day. While this may seem like a small amount, the hours add up to over 23 days a year and almost 4 years of a person 's’ life spent on their phone. It’s obvious that people in the twenty-first century spend outrageous amounts of time on their phones; however, it’s not just phones. There are also computers, televisions, and tablets that factor into our lives. Social media can be accessed via these devices and has the potential to connect people, but it also contributes to the idea that social media is causing humans to lose their ability to communicate effectively. There is also evidence that suggests that antisocial traits and mental illnesses can develop after prolonged use of social media. However, social media also connects people around the globe, allowing for increased understanding of cultures and an increased ability for someone to find another person of like opinions and interests. Although there is reason to believe social media has its benefits, it is making humans increasingly antisocial and the risks outweigh the benefits.

Social media has taken the world by storm and completely changed the way human beings interact. In the current age of technology, social media has affected the way people communicate in drastic proportions. Advancements in media can be both purposeful or destructive; however, optimum power in this decision lies in the hands of the user. Many people use technology to connect with people from all around the world, but instead block out the friends and family around them. Even though some feel that social media helps build relationships, it actually makes people more socially isolated and disconnected from the outside world.

Our dependence on social media has formulated the wrong ideal of what social interaction truly is. Social interaction is defined in sociology as, “a dynamic, changing sequence of social action between individuals or groups.” This entails face- to-face communication comprising of physical and vocal cues, needless of speech. Facial expressions, eye contact,

In today’s century, technology has advanced in many ways such as making communicating with one another easier for everyone. No matter where somebody is, if they had access to these social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and so forth, then communicating with anyone, anywhere was possible. Not only that, it has also made it easier for people to meet anyone online along with making people a little more open by sharing their own personal life to people they have on social media and making it easier for people to expand their business with big companies. With that being said, many people think that technology and social media has played a big role in their life, but then, they also failed to realize that it also has its negative way of affecting our cultural behavior.

One primary feature of online networking is its accentuation on making and looking after connections. All the substance you make, all the accompanying you manufacture, each of these is intended to make and encourage more personal associations with individuals, now and again, and individuals you would not have met whatever other way. In the same time social media has and still is ruining many peoples relationships in various ways.

Some people agree about social media thathave unnegative impact. First Social media makes someone selfish. Many people now not care about other people , they think most people just do strange things, do things that are not important, and make themselves feel disturbed about the existence of people, and feel always right in every thing that has been done.

Social media has caused a social shift in how people communicate and interact. From the functionalist perspective, every individual follows and connects with others with the intention to further their development as individuals and make contribution to the society. According to functionalist perspective, social media provides a simpler and quickest way to contact people and easy ways to meet new people i.e. socialize people. It lends itself to the popular platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. These platforms have enabled people to be social online and open up a world, which replicates a culture of intimacy in the society. This ideally has permitted individuals to communicate more effectively and solve their problems quickly. Through posts and conversations that happen on a human level, individuals connect with others in a compelling and very personal way. Social media is about relationships and people, and is serving as a foundation for everything; individuals have amplified voices and are now a powerful passage of peer-to-peer stimulus – for better. In the eyes of a functionalist, social media contributes in a very beneficial way, to society. It makes people’s culture more and acts as a stress reliever, which the end result is decreased conflict.

Over the years the view of marriage has changed. Society has constructed the views of what a marriage should look like and what roles should be played even who should be married. Today’s social media glorifies all aspects of marriage, from prenuptials to annulments as well as overdramatized weddings and divorces. Respect has been lost as there are more and more reports of infidelity and less privacy of family and home life. Marriage was something that was once significant and held in high regards has fallen victim to the social construction of a newly defined meaning. One aspect that has changed marriage is the cohabitation between two individuals. Cohabitation encourages premarital sex. Society accepts cohabitation and

In today’s fast moving society many people rely on social media to get news quickly or send messages to friends. Social media has evolved from a tool used every so often to being relied upon by people every day. With people becoming so reliant on social media there have been concerns of whether or not it is good for society as a whole. By its definition social media means “forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)”. (Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, n.d.) The word social implies relationships and human interaction according to Alfred Adler

In the past, many people were limited to who they were able to interact with, and most online communication occurred through electronic mails. The amount of information exchanged was very limited because many computers were not yet capable of holding vast amounts of data and the speed in which the information was transferred was not fast enough. But with the advance in broadband technology, also came the expansion of communication channels. The thirst for instant communication resulted in the creation of social networks such as Facebook. After its beginning in 2004, Facebook revolutionized the way people interacted with each other online, and gave users the opportunity to directly connect and communicate in a much faster way. Companies can

At this very moment, there are thousands of people worldwide who are retweeting posts on Twitter, liking pictures on Instagram or posting a status on Facebook. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are a few of the many social media platforms that have become prevalent in our society. Because social media applications and websites provides users with easy access to communication with others around the world, individuals all across the globe are able to and do socially interact on a daily basis. Erving Goffman, Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead, three of many sociologists who viewed society through the interactionist perspective, would use these daily interactions to make generalizations about society as a whole. The paradigm of symbolic interactionism reaches conclusions about different groups in society, generally by observing everyday social interactions. Accordingly, interactionists would view social media as an aspect of society that consists of constant social interactions which continuously influences and affects both individuals and society as a whole.