Social Networking Sites: Bad For Our Society? Essay

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.

Since the Bulletin Board System there has been hundreds, and counting, of social networks created: most notably Twitter, Facebook, Kik, Snapchat, and Instagram. Today there are just over 3 billion active Internet users (45% of the world’s internet users), 2.1 billion of those people have social media accounts (Jeffbullas.com). People use social media for many numerous reasons. Most use social media to stay close to relatives and maintain social ties. Some of people’s most essential daily needs are accounted for by social media: whether it be interacting with friends or coworkers, following politics, or following the latest fashion trend set by the Kardashian

Social Networking: The recent study revealed that more and more people of all age groups are facing depression due to social networking. For e.g. someone enjoying outing/get together with friends or getting more likes or comments makes one feel jealous and/or left out. Most children and young people are experiencing loneliness due this.

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.

For years and years, the internet has progressed so much. So much that communication and our lifestyles have reached a whole new level. One of the many revolutionary inventions is called social networking sites or social media. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and many more, are where people gather on the internet, create a personalized profile about themselves, and interact with other people around the world. Social media can help contact friends, family, and other people long distance. However, our priorities have completely changed to “life isn’t measured by the number of breaths you take, but by how many likes you get on Instagram.” With social media, people seem to lose touch from reality. This whole “me, me , me”

The use of social networking sites is rising at great rates. According to a report conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in 2012, ninety-five percent of individuals aged 12-17 use the internet; and eighty-one percent of those use social network sites (Pew Interest). Although it is known that social media can have a useful impact on lives, often times people forget that with a positive comes a negative. The continual use of social network sites will impact teen lives more negatively than positively because they can cause huge distractions from valuable and critical pursuits like education; they can also cause mental health issues and a reduction in communication skills.

(procon.org. 1). Anyway, while we pond on that question, let us discuss why social media discourages students from studying or why students who uses social networking sites don’t do well in school. Besides the fact that students who use social networking sites use them to connect with their family, and long distance friends, proponents of social networking sites may argue that it helps students to do better at school, and that 59% of students with access to the internet report that they use social networking sites to discuss educational topics and 50% use these sites talk about school assignments, according to procon.org (2). However, since these sites are not one hundred percent accurate and reliable, how are we sure that the students who uses social networking sites are actually doing well in their academics and not failing when it is obvious non users of social networking sites perform better. As a matter of fact, what chance does a student who uses social networking sites stand to a student who spends their time outside classroom doing their homework’s, reading their class notes, textbooks, and novels, and spending their time on other things other than on social networking sites? In as much as many of us don’t see the harm social networking sites are having on our students, it is an undeniable fact

Many people in our society can relate. We wake up, check our phones. We go to school, check our phones. We go home, check our phones. And right before we go to bed, we check our phones. And for what? What are we constantly checking? Imagine logging out of social networking sites for one day. How would you feel? You would probably feel disconnected and want to log back on as soon as possible. This generation uses these websites to connect, to stay in the loop, and to become involved. However, people will take advantage of the use of these websites, and in return, the websites take over the majority of their life. The act of constantly wanting to be

Some say people who use social networking sites are prone to social isolation. Despite opposition, I am convinced that social networking helps people who are shy and socially isolated to connect with other people. This concludes that social networking can help people who have low self esteem other than lowering their self-esteem any more.Although many argue that social networking can exacerbate feelings of disconnect and put children at higher risk for depression, low self-esteem and eating disorders,I believe otherwise. According to my research, I have found that more than 25% of teens report that social makes them feel less shy, 28% feel more outgoing, 20% report feeling more confident,in which 53% of teens were identified as being shy (5 Boroughs). This means that social networking brings out a better person in most, and makes them feel better about themselves other than feeling bad inside.

Young adults’ reliance on the internet has developed into an addiction, resulting in teenagers to feel isolated and disconnected from their peers. In an experiment conducted in “The Effect of Social Network Sites on Adolescents’ Social and Academic Development: Current Theories and Controversies” June Ahn “found that longer use of the Internet was related to increased depression, loneliness, and smaller social circles.” The younger generation lacks genuine socialization because of the extensive amount of time teenagers spend isolated in their own virtual world. The lack of physical interaction has taken a toll on youths’ ability to develop social skills and friendships. With a lack of these social skills, today’s youth will experience trouble socializing, affecting their ability to create and maintain friendships. Furthermore, in Keith Hampton’s article “Is Technology Making People Less Sociable?” he reveals today’s youth, “spend so much time maintaining superficial connections online

Over the past few years social networking has started to grow into a bigger entity, almost now to a cultural level. It’s now to the point where younger children have started to use these forms of social networking such as Facebook to connect with friends or to update what they are currently doing. For example with Facebook, its main function is to keep people connected and intertwined to ensure that friends are able to know what each other are doing. And to do this they either make a status update, post a picture or a video, and even making new friends with someone thousands of miles away. But what happens when adults such as you and I start to use this kind

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.

With the development of advances in technology, communication through social networking has risen immensely. Communicating is not only less complicated, it is also relatively inexpensive. “Many teens in relationships view social media as a place where they can feel more connected with the daily events in there significant other’s life, share emotional connections, and let their significant other know they care” (Lenhart, Anderson, and Smith). However, the ease of access to social networking has allowed many adolescents to become overly involved. Networking has the potential to influence adolescents both emotionally and physically which in turn may lead to negative behaviors. An article from procon.org stated, “The use of social networking sites is correlated with personality and brain disorders, such as the inability to have in-person conversations, a need for instant gratification, ADHD, and self-centered personalities, as well as addictive behaviors” (ProCon.org). Essentially, social networking has rising negative influences on teens because of increased cyber bullying, lack of respect for personal privacy, and its addictive qualities.

At any given time of day, anyone can access an abundant amount of information at the click of a button. Men, women, kids, teenagers, adults and even the elderly are learning how to use the internet to their advantage. Among all the benefits the internet has provided to us, online communication has proven to be the most beneficial. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have made it easy for everyone to stay in contact with each other. Regardless of how far apart a family member or friend is, everyone is just one click away. If someone is not having a good day, they can share their feelings with everyone in a matter of seconds. These social networking sites have become quite popular among adolescents. They allow teens to stay more connected with their friends outside of school. Now teens have become more obsessed with their friends Facebook or Twitter status than engaging in outdoor activities like football or

We are living in the 21st century and technology began to change very promptly. After the Supercomputers had introduced in the 1960s, scientists and engineers started to develop the networks between those supercomputers, and later they discovered the internet, which is a global communication device where people all around the world can meet and talk about pretty much anything. The development of the internet age has enabled people to inhabit a life at a faster speed. In today’s society, many people across the world are accessing the internet multiple times a day. It makes people’s lives very easily from a different side. Many people use the internet on their smartphones and check their email, Facebook, bank account balance, etc. via the internet. However, one of these things, most of the people busy with their social networking sites than the others. Social networks are an essential part of today’s Internet and used by more than a billion people worldwide. A social networking website is an online platform that allow people to share ideas and interact with other people, from childhood friends to unknowns. This interaction reveals much information, often including personal information noticeable to anyone who wants to view it. There are a bunch of social networking sites in the world. Most of the people especially teenagers have several accounts on social networking sites and spend too long on those sites writing their status and reading the status of others. Although social