Social Media Ruining Society

How has technology and the Internet have brought young people closer together? For today’s teens, friendships can start digitally: 57% of teens have met a new friend online. Social media and online gaming are the most common digital venues for meeting friends. Phone calls are less common early in a friendship, but are still an important way that teens talk with their closest friends.

Is Technology Killing our Friendship by Lauren Tarshis I will be saying yes, because 1 in 4 teens are online constantly use social media. Using social media constantly can have a big impact with your friends in the real world. They are so busy online that it leaves little time for real world relationships

Social networking is the mainstream way to communicate with anyone. Teenagers are obsessed with social networking, no one calls each other unless it’s extreme circumstances or their mother. Sharing pictures, sharing life stories, and sharing opinions online has been the way of life and the norm for kids growing up with computers and smart phones. The parents to this generation have not grown up in the same environment and have different standards for online activity. In the Article “ 10 Reasons Why I Avoid Social Networking Services” written by Alan Norton, he lists why he does not use social networking services. His personal beliefs are backed up with statistics and hold true to many people in his generation but not in the younger ones.

76% of teens use social media of these 71% use Facebook, 52% use Instagram, and 41% use snap-chat. This is about teens who are always on social media and not getting off their phone, and who do not make true friends offline. We should not not be on social media all the time because it could ruin your friendships.

Social media is exposing youngsters to the important issues around the world. Social media also helps to reinforce friendship and offer a sense of belonging. While excessive social media might isolate kids, a study conducted by Griffith University and the University of Queensland in Australia found that American teens feel less lonely than their historical counterparts. They report feeling less isolated and have become more socially adept, partly because of an increased social media use (Knorr). Social media also allows the youngsters to express themselves and share their talent with the vast range of audiences. Likewise, social media also helps to boost self-esteem of youngsters. Social media also can be a valuable source of emotional support and being honest in social media gives a feeling of more social support to youngsters. In research published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, reported that college students who viewed their own Facebook profiles enjoyed a boost in self-esteem

The internet has so many features and benefits that help people maintain friendships or give us the tools we need to deteriorate one. The ability to keep in contact with each other, stabilize relationships, and network. On the other hand it can take its toll on a friendship. Social media combined with the fragileness of a friendship might affect someone's mental state, causing them to become a victim of catfishing or cyber bullying. Social media has impacted relationships in positive and negative ways.

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.

It is no secret that social media has taken over a lot of our time, and perception on society. It influences our day to day lives without us really knowing. Social media usually portrays one’s life to be perfect, or it makes us feel like one’s life needs to be perfect. For this reason being, social media can be a bad thing. In "The Social Networks" by Neal Gabler, he explains how media has taken away the meaning of friendship or anything 'real'. In the long run, social media makes things seem better than they actually are, it gives us unrealistic expectations for our friend and family interactions, which kills the chance of having actual friendships because our expectations are so high. So, here are the reasons elaborated on why social media

When scrolling through your Instagram feed or watching Snapchat stories of classmates and friends, it can be very difficult and sometimes impossible to not feel jealous or discouraged. These days, teens post nearly every aspect of their lives on social media. You see everything from what someone ate for breakfast, what workout they did that day, to what cute new outfit they have on for their fancy family dinner that night. A wide range of pressures arises with social media usage. Teens feel they always need to be available, many gain reassurance from likes and shares, and they are faced with the struggle of keeping up with the constant image of a “perfect life”. This is very dangerous because many teens are experiencing discomfort in their own skin when they compare themselves to others. It is difficult not to judge yourself and others when you are constantly viewing what your classmates, friends, and celebrities are doing. When interviewing a friend, Brayden Xilas who has been personally impacted by social media, she said “There has become an unspoken competition for teens to prove they have the best life through social media”. Friends and classmates are constantly trying to “one up” each other which causes a lot of stress for people to always be doing something worthy of sharing on social media.

In our society today, social media is a monster because it has created unrealistic social expectations and unhealthy relationships with ourselves and others. Social media has become a central platform to everyone in our society today and can cause many problems for a large portion of the users. Many of the problems that associate with social media can cause mental and physical harm to users such as, depression, which can lead to suicidal thoughts or actions, eating disorders, and even lowered self-esteem due to the unreasonable comparisons that people make when compared to popular and successful people. One major issue that social media has brought up is the exploitation of the anonymous identification which bullies use to hide from their victims. This can single handedly cause the issues that was recently stated. The social media crowd is now influencing young teens and kids to do drugs. It causes a sort of pressure for some adolescents to engage in illegal activities such as, smoking and drinking. This can be a real danger because they are too young to realize what they are doing to their bodies and could truly put their lives in danger. Social media also causes a learning deficiency in a large portion of students. These students are constantly on their phones and it takes their full attention away from the task at hand. This causes procrastination of assignments and can lead to lower grades. They are not disciplined enough to control themselves and stay away from their

Teenagers now a days spend only 24 hours a day in social media. We sit and surf actually nothing for the whole day. At the end of the day, we look like a zombie. The research says that people who are expressive in the social media are really shy in person. Social media also has its own pros yet there is this huge disadvantage of blessing youngsters with

In this day of age teenagers are very connected in the internet world. Infact, of the 69% of teens that own a smartphone or computer, 80% of them are on social media (Cyberbullying Rampant on the Internet). A majority of teenagers invest their time into social media and utilize the networks in search for their identity. Social media users publically open themselves up and become vulnerable to the peers around them. Social media can be used by middle and high school students as a tactic of gaining popularity. Students “follow & friend” each other

Teens feel as if social media has more positive effect on their relationships. These positive effects include confidence building and can also make them more unhibited. According to source, The Upside of Selfies: Social Media Isn’t All Bad Kids, “One in five teens said social media makes them feel more confident, compared with 4% who said it makes them feel less so. When it comes to relationships with friends 52% of teens said social media has made them better versus just 4% who said it has negatively affected those relationships” (Wallace,1). With the data found in a survey taken by Common Sense Media group, more teens feel as if social media makes them more confident to make more friends rather than not. They will then, go out, find friends and try to connect with others to improve their overall relationship status with others. According to Kelly Wallace, ““On the whole, teens said they feel that social media has a more positive than negative impact on their social and emotional lives, they believe that social media helps their friendships, makes them feel more outgoing and gives them confidence” said Shira Lee Katz, Common Sense Media’s director of digital media” (Wallace,1). The director of Common Sense Media pulled information from her surveys and data and concluded that teens generally feel as if social media improves the relationships they have with other friends. When teens notice that social media improves relationships with friends, this feeling of accomplishment helps them come out of their shell which increases their confidence and encourages them to make more friends. For some people it’s difficult to make new friends, but social media is the starting point

Facebook and other forms of social media create isolation and danger for the youth social media creates harm to people and can also lead onto isolation for many youths that are socially active on the internet. During the 20th century, technology began to change very quickly in the 1940’s the first computer was created, and later internet. YouTube was created in 2005 and a year later Facebook was created along with twitter. Social media has been a big issue for many people mainly because it increases the dangers for the active youth that are constantly using internet outlets. Social media has many ups and downs when it comes to health and communication with others.

The age group that uses social media the most is 12-17 but the majority of people who use it all together are under the age of 30. 42% of adults online use social media and 97% of teens online use social media. Three in four teens access the internet on cell phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Ironically, even though it is called social media, it actually causes a lot of people to become less connected with other people in real life. Steven Strogatz of Cornell University says “ social media sites can make it more difficult for us to distinguish between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through social media. By focusing so much of our time and psychic energy on these less meaningful relationships, our most important connections will weaken.” What this means is that we spend a lot of our time and energy online trying to create relationships with people online that distracts from real life people and social situations. Sure, social media is good for connecting