Social Media Epidemic

The internet is perhaps one of mankind’s greatest milestones. It connects people from all over the world, thus eradicating traditional boundaries of land and sea. Along with this connectivity comes the availability of information and instant communication. This sort of digitalization of human interaction is evident in social media websites like Facebook. People are able to communicate with each other and share aspects of their lives constantly. A popular form of self-expression present across all social media platforms is the ‘selfie’: an informal photograph of oneself taken by that person either with a front facing camera or other form of unprofessional photography. It has become such a phenomenon that it was named Oxford English Dictionary’s

The Bad Selfie Selfies are negatively affecting people’s lives. They are creating a narcissistic community. Everyone thinks that they are the best and no one else matters. The camera on them just changes them. In the article “The Selfie Craze,” Judy Farah speaks out about how selfies cause problems.

that will harm people in the future. She quotes “Jumping quickly from image to image in hastily edited segments (in some cases as quickly as one image every one-thirtieth of a second), television and, to a lesser extent, movies offer us a constant stream of visual candy (Rosen).” Rosen’s explanation of the dangers imaging brings is the more you continue to eat the candy; in this case watch TV; the more everlasting effects will occur. The author uses this comparison in an act to address that the rotting tv causes leads to children's behavior issues. Too much addictive moving visuals becoming “more nimble” and “less demanding of our attention” (Rosen). Murphy modernizes this addiction feeling like a drug when she talks about modern day instagram as as an addictive drug rotting the mind. She quotes Jacquelyn Morie, an immersive technologies entrepreneur and virtual reality researcher at the University of Southern California, stating “We are so bombarded by media telling us how we should look and how we should be,” said,. “With selfies you have this authority and autonomy that you don’t have in other parts of your life (Morie).” Murphy is indirectly taking Rosen's idea of visual candy rotting the mind and putting it into modern day context. People on instagram that post pictures for likes are not self satisfied. They feel affection from random

Selfies are particularly common in today’s society among young people. They are an effortless way to show where you are, who you are with, or what you are doing at a certain moment in time. Selfies are substantial in trying to keep in touch with other individuals. Social media has evolved from generation to generation, and sharing posts around the world has never been simpler. With the click of a button, a selfie can be shared with hundreds, or even thousands of people on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

Rumors spread over social media can often not be true. Social media helps us though. Social media has also changed the way we communicate with each other.

The "selfie" is a relatively new phenomenon to the digital and social media scene, although not an entirely new event. The emergence of social media has helped expand the proliferation of the selfie, allowing an individual to show their activities to the world whether the world wants to see it or not. Just who posts the most selfies is a point of interest to advertisers, social psychologists, and behavioral psychologists. Advertisers want to know so they can find a target audience while social psychologists and behaviorists want to be able to understand the psyche within the posters.

As people detach themselves from the world, they are putting their lives on the web. A picture, a snap, or a comment is all it takes for someone to undergo mockery. People are quick to judge in the comment section about a particular photo or video because they are blanketed behind their computer. A serious issue is arising that a University of Pennsylvania student, Kathryn DeWitt, almost became the seventh person from Penn state to take her life. She noticed that a classmate was insulting her through text message. That classmate turned out to be her friend. Her insecurity and betrayal from her friend caused her self-esteem to plummet, which almost resorted to taking her life. A study done by Amanda Hess in “Cause of Death” reveals how “Suicide rates among 15-24 year olds has steadily increased over the years from 9.6 deaths per 1000 to 11.1 in 2013”. For quite some time human beings competed against one another in regards to activities. Whenever DeWitt went on social media she would notice how they had more friends, went out to move parties, and had fun. She wanted to have fun and party just like the people on her news feed. What she fails to realize is these people are more concerned about keeping a “perfect” image on Instagram or Facebook, but in reality they suffer. Most people post the explicit selfies for the attention but some people post other pictures or ridicule others to make their lives seem in command. These people are looking for a way to escape their problems in the real world. Instead of confronting them they are blanketing themselves behind social

Social media is a phenomenon that has become largely popular among the 21st century youth. While many believe that social media causes a sense of narcissism in children, that is actually false and instead comes from parenting and over excessive coddling. In a study conducted in 2005, psychologists, Mary Alvord and Judy Gardos found that over excessive coddling done by parents in hopes of raising their self esteem actually causes their children to feel insecure and insignificant. Due to that feeling children put up a front of extreme selfishness in hopes of gaining admiration and acknowledgement. Also in this time in age, older generations confuse finding self-worth and love with narcissism. On social media, many people work to show off themselves and to been seen as pretty, but in all honesty the photos people post aren’t for satisfaction of

Technology is improving as the time goes by and there is a hobby that teenagers mostly do in terms of social media, it is taking a selfie. Selfie is slang term used to describe a photo that is taken of oneself for the purpose of uploading it to social networking sites and image sharing websites, such as Facebook, and Instagram, but did you know that this kind of mannerism has become a problem to people because this simple hobby can result to addiction, accidents, and crime that usually results to death?.

Social media arenas have become strikingly popular in the past decade serving the varied communicative intentions. Despite the accelerated rise in social media networking industry, the research has been passive to study the behavior on social media such as self-photography which has been a general issue of conversation in day-to-day life. One of the big questioning is about what one 's behavior on social media might express his or her personality traits.

For many individuals, social media is a part of their daily life as a form of entertainment and interaction. Sometimes there is no need to turn on the radio or the t.v for the weather forecast when everyone on your news food suddenly becomes a meteorologist. Even current events or local news is at the tip of your fingers on your smart device. Many people may think it is just the younger generations using these smart phones, but that is not the case. “As of January 2014, 74% of adults who use the internet use social media websites” (Pew Research Center, 2014). In regards to how social networks and media affect people psychologically there is a need to define what is narcissism and what is social media. Social media websites allow people to

Society is wrestling with a rising epidemic, narcissism. Narcissism is a destructive societal and individual problem, where community and civic responsibility is being replaced by self-promotion and self-recognition (Emmons, 1987; Twenge, 2009; Twenge, Campbell & Freeman, 2012). This trend is being fueled by today’s technology. Of particular interest, social media has reduced the amount of actual human interaction and provided fertile ground for narcissism. One tool of social media that exemplifies narcissism is the “selfie,” The 2013 Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year, “selfie,” refers to the growing phenomenon of taking pictures of ourselves.

Is social media affecting the mental health of this generation? The app, Instagram, is popular among millennials. It is a social media platform provide a way to share pictures online. With the ability for others to like and comment on your posts, this can instill pressure to receive a certain amount of likes and comments in order to achieve approval from peers. As stated before, Instagram is a method to see someone’s life through a camera lens. This being said, a person can begin to compare their lives to the one’s they view on Instagram. Feeling as if their life may not compare or be as exciting as one of their peers, one can begin to feel depressed. Ultimately, the use of the social media app, Instagram, causes users to develop self-esteem issues and depression.

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.