Social Media Epidemics

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.

Many people of all ages and from all over the world use social media on a daily basis. While many people of different ages use it, social media seems to influence the lifestyle of younger users, such as teenagers. Younger users of social media are usually more impressionable and more likely to be affected and influenced by online trends and standards, and because these users spend much more time on social media, they are more susceptible to create a habit of constantly checking their phones and becoming addicted. As people spend more time on the Internet and

Did you know social media can change you? Social media can cause problems with your health? In the article, “Student examines negative effects of social media on teens” by Aurelie Krakowsky and “The Upside of Selfies: Social media isn’t all that bad for kids” by Kelly Wallace talks about social media, but clearly it’s harmful to people. Social media is for people to enjoy on a daily basis and be updated on what is happening in the world; however it can be harmful to your health and even your education. It can lower kids self esteem and make them feel uncomfortable about themselves. It can also cause health issues and distant yourself from the people around you.

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 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.

Imagine a typical teenager; eyes staring at the bright, white screen, fingers moving everywhere from corner to corner and from top to the bottom, scrolling down the page to text a friend, while “liking” posts and sharing photos, all the while not knowing that the brain is negatively changing. Most teenagers think social media is a place that empowers them to make and share content, but they do not realize that it can cause them harm or become an addiction. Hilary Stout, a Los Angeles Times writer, who wrote “Antisocial Networking?,” opposes to social media. Teens who use social media on a daily basis overuse and rely on social media, so their brains are being rewired resulting in less empathy for others, the inability to understand different

Social media is described, by the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2015), as “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)”. As few as 10 years ago the term social media was yet to be coined, but within that decade the use of these blogs, websites and sharing platforms has increased exponentially with no plateau in sight. From creating Instagram accounts for household pets, to sharing Halloween themed baking ideas over Pinterest, people today have access to social media outlets for almost everything. Today about 74% of people ages 18-65 use some form of a social networking site (Pew, 2014). Facebook takes the lead in social media usage with about 71% of those adults. LinkedIn and Pinterest are tied for second at 28% of users, 26% use Instagram, and Twitter falls last in the top 5 most used social medias with 23% of users (Pew, 2014). In September of 2013 the Pew Research Center measured that 90% of adults ages 18-29 used these social media outlets on a daily basis, which is an astonishing increase from the 9% that was measured in February 2005 (Pew, 2014). Due to the fact that young adults are increasingly involving themselves in these online platforms, it is very important to understand the long term and psychological effects (such as depression, social anxiety,

Today, social media is used by almost all teens. There are so many unrealized negative effects of online apps that adolescents do not know about. In my paper, I wrote about how media can affect many parts of life. One of the quotes that helped demonstrate the great effect was written by Andrea McDaniels, “Studies have shown the around-the-clock world of social media takes a mental and emotional toll on some young people; it has been linked to increased anxiety, depression, and decreased relationship skills”. This showed the many different parts of life that can be impacted by onlinemedia. Overall, this research was inspiring to begin making change by bringing awareness to the numerous mental health risks associated with social media

Cell phones, tablets, laptops, and any other device are items we use daily. What we don’t know is how they affect us. Social media is something everyone uses. According to Pew Research Center’s Internet, 80% of teenagers between the ages 12 and 17 use one of

700 million people use Instagram, and 301 million people use Snapchat monthly since both of their launches. They’re also really fun to use, but these social medias are destroying the generation as we speak. There are three main reasons: how people spend most of their time looking down at their devices, how the devices become the owner’s first priority, and how it separates people from person-to-person connections and promotes virtual connection.

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.

A wide variety of people use social media and people see us as “always on our phones”. It is widely used throughout many generations. Professor Larry Rosen in Psychology Today explains how 70% of people in the last four generations have a Facebook account. Yet this study did not include our society, so this number is most likely greater now. But, as predicted, the same 2016 article tells us, “overall younger generations used more social media sites than older ones”. Teenagers can be seen being preoccupied on some type of technology. In a recent asking posted in the Huffington Post, modern American teens were asked about their social media. It showed that “90 percent of American teens say they use at least one social media site, and 71 percent of teens say they use at least two sites”. There are many different types of social media; social media as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “forms of electronic communication such as websites for social networking and microblogging through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content. No matter what the reason, people use social media very often. The Pew Research Center tells us, “around seven-in-ten Americans use social media to connect with one another, engage with news content, share information and entertain themselves.” With an increase in popularity, even the older generations are catching on and joining media sites. The same source explains usage of these devices has increased 31% in people over the age of 65 over the last 11 years. Overall, we observe an extremely dramatic increase in usage for all age groups between the years of 2005 and 2016. Whether people like it or not, social

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have become a major part of pre-teens and teenagers’ everyday life. With the amount of time, energy, and emotions young people put into social media, it has begun to show some negative effects on the health and well-being of youth. The possible positive effects that social media has is vastly overshadowed by the devastating negative effects it has on our youth.

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.

Can you imagine living in a world with no social media or smartphone? No instagram, twitter, facebook or snapchat? Believe it or not, that world existed before us millennials did. According to an article found on the Pew Research Center.com, entitled “The Demographics of Social Media Users”, the amount of Facebook users is “72% of adult internet users [and] 62% of entire adult population.” Facebook along with other media outlets have easily become the norm for young adults and older adults in today’s society. The rapid growth of accessibility to social media networking was made possible from the creation and use of smart phones. The combination of social media sites and smart phone users has single handedly eliminated the need for human interactions, but also has provided a repertoire of information at our fingertips. I will discuss the following: the history of Facebook and its impact, the creation of the iPhone and its development of social media apps like Instagram, and the effects of cyberbullying. The purpose of this essay is to explore the productive qualities and destructive qualities that various social media outlets have presented to our generation.