The Negative Effects Of Social Media Addiction

Technology is a resource that has gotten individuals addicted in using it, distracting them from performing certain activities in their lives. However, technology has also been valuable in the way individuals use it to gather information. In the article, Escape from the matrix, it defined this addiction as FoMO (Fear of Missing Out). Writer Burak asserts that FoMo is “the latest cultural disorder that is insidiously undermining our peace of mind” (par. 5). Technology is greatly contributes to FoMo because it has greatly impacted individuals who participate in social media. Burak reports that “…56 per cent of those who use social networks suffer this modern plague” (par. 5). This is significant because this could get in the way of activities

The addiction to social media use destroys our mental health just as much as it does to only avoiding the urge to look at it. Social media addiction is a classified mental health issue that can require professional treatment. Researchers at Nottingham Trent University in 2011 concluded that this issue leads to an assortment of problems such as relationship dilemmas, academic decline, and less participation in physical interactions in which our social media will replace our ties in real life (Brown 6). In the article “Smartphones: Uniting the World’s Children for Better, or Worse?”, an addictive behavior is defined as when one compulsively repeats the same behavior that subjects things in his or her life to. The addictive behavior social media can bring upon a person is as detrimental as drug or alcohol addictions (Smartphones: Uniting the World’s 2). Being addicted to this will impair your mental state and your sole desire will be to log back onto your feed. Your mind will become bogged down with social interactions 24/7 and your mental health will deteriorate from social media

Internet addiction is a growing epidemic in today’s society. The general public began using the internet in the early 1990s. The internet can be useful for finding information or entertainment, but too much of the internet can be harmful. Many people carry a cell phone with them all the time, so they always have access to the internet. Servidio (2014) stated that the internet has greatly improved since it became popular, and now the internet is a vital part of many people’s lives (p. 85). Since the internet has become a bigger part of people’s daily lives, internet addiction has become more prevalent. Social media is a part of the internet that became popular with the invention of Facebook in 2004. Social media addiction has become an issue

“Students Addicted to Social Media” and “If We’re All So Darn Sick of You, Facebook, Why Can’t We Quit You?,” written by the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda and Simon Dumenco, are two writings outlining different issues that plague users of social media. The International Center for Media and the Public Agenda summarizes their findings following a study they conducted that isolated subjects from social media for 24 hours. They found subjects experiencing feelings of withdrawal, a phenomenon that social media companies prey upon as explained by Simon Dumenco. Dumenco postures that companies such as Facebook will send false notifications to entice users into logging back in. These two ideas combine to paint a picture of an unconditionally constant presence of social media in everyday life, a practice that may be facilitated by explosive social media growth on a mobile platform. Together, these two publications point to problems that may have drastic effects on social media and those who use it.

“If we are constantly checking in with our virtual worlds, this leaves little time for our real-world relationships,” proclaims Larry Rosen, a journalist from The Wall Street journal. Often we can’t bring ourselves to disconnect from our computer-generated lives, and that causes us to ignore real social situations, and ruin our chances at creating compelling mutual bonds. Another way that social media addiction breeds isolation, is that many people use their phone to cope with uncomfortable social interactions, and find themselves compulsively using them when anxious. The problem with this is that the people around them don’t want to invite them to anything, because all they do is play on their phones, thus damaging their social life. Lastly, Social media is addictive because you can choose to only follow or talk to people who share your opinions. It is easy, and addictive to be able to pick and choose people who share your interests, and agree with your opinions, but it also puts you at a disadvantage. When we spend so long around people who never challenge our opinions and ideas, we never get to see things from other perspectives, or grow. As well as this, most work places, require you to get along with people you may not like, or share opinions with. By constantly using social media as opposed to interacting with real people, we lessen our experience, and tolerance for people different than

In today’s society almost every individual has some type of social media, whether it is Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, or Twitter, People have accustomed to utilizing these types of social media and it has become part of their life and daily use. According to the essay “Students Addicted to Social Media” by the International Center for Media and Public Agenda, the study from the University of Maryland claims “American college students today are addicted to media” (Signs of Life in the USA 403). The university discovered that when these students are restricted from using media it is similar in terms of drug and alcohol addictions. During the study that the university conducted, students discuss how boring it is without media and how it gives them anxiety about not receiving information through social media. Other students claimed that texting and IM'ing gives them comfort and if they do not have these items then they feel alone and isolated from the world ( Signs of Life in the USA 404). Students are not the only ones who have an addiction of media but also parents and non-students. However, the International Center is accurate in some aspects and the responses students gave are very relatable which some people can agree with.

Addiction is defined as a compulsive need for a particular obsession. When social media was created, the thought of it turning into an addiction was not a concern. In 2017, 81 percent of Americans have user profiles on social media and are expected to grow to 2.5 billion by 2018 (Statista). Although businesses are advancing through the rapid growth of social media, isolation is also advancing because many now rely on social media as a way to interact with society. Due to the increase of online users, social media is now linked to the increase in isolation. While businesses, schools, and technology are advancing an argument can be made that social media is reducing social interaction. On the flip side an argument can be made that social media increases people’s thought processes and networking skills in communities that do not only rely on proximity. Much research has been done on the increase and decrease of a person’s feelings of isolation through their use of social media.

Although many people are addicted to the internet and social media, one girl experienced it in a rather harsh way. The now fifteen-year-old girl started “acting out” when she was just thirteen in the year of 2015. Her parents then turned off the service to her phone and took it away; but she would just buy a old or used phone from her friends, any phone she could get her hands on. In addition, she would stay up until 4:30 in the morning just looking at her feed, she also had multiple accounts for each app and would block her parents so they couldn’t see what she was doing or posting. Also, her social media addiction lead to the use of drugs and alcohol. At one point, when she was 13, the police showed up at her house in California, to inform her family that she was involved in a blackmail attempt, which included her nude pictures. Along with that she wrote a suicide note which she posted on her social media, had ended up on her parents phones, but she received treatment for “excessive social media use, substance abuse, and mental health,” (“ np).

Let’s talk about the rise of one major use of technology, social media. Popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. are some of the most widely used overall. The word “addiction” typically involves alcohol and drugs. In the past 20 years, a new form of addiction has emerged. Addiction to social media may not actually cause anyone physical harm, unlike tobacco and alcohol, it has catastrophic potential to ruin a lot of the population's mental health and could eventually cause long-term damage. While the older generations had

“Digital age addiction falls into five types – device addiction (i.e., computer game addiction), information overload (i.e., web surfing addiction), net compulsions (i.e., online gambling or online shopping addiction), cybersexual addiction (i.e., online pornography or online sex addiction), and cyber-relationship addiction (i.e., an addiction to online relationships). A 2012 survey by Common Sense Media found that “[teens] are attached to their devices than to their social networking sites: 41% of cell phone owners say they would describe themselves as “addicted” to their phones, and 32% of iPad owners say the same. 20% of social networkers say they are “addicted” to their sites.” Social networking

For those who want to relax take a week long vacation, or how about putting down your distracted devices. No matter if it’s for business or personal use we can’t go a day checking our social feed. Social media was created for enjoyment, but humanity has destroyed the purpose. Social Media has caused so much chaos over the last decade, and it is only getting worse. Lies, death, deceit, and misery have all happened over the internet. Many people have lost their self- respect, and more violence has occurred for the entire world to see. Our generation we are “social addicted”, and that is not always a good thing. Social Media is the root of all evil, I am convinced.

Facebook is one of the most widely used social sites in the world, and due to its broad reach and usage, it has dramatically influenced lives in the world. Internet has made everything so easy. The advances in mobile and network connectivity in the world’s recent times have led to an increased number of people on social networks with Facebook taking the lead. Products are easily accessible and easy to use, regardless of the location of the user, and this has led to a constantly increasing numbers of users. Since its invention, it has been a tool of communication and connecting with friends, and it has made us feel so good that we no longer notice ourselves already sunken in its powerful that we become addicted. According to Psychology Today “People who have developed an addiction may not be aware that their behavior is out of control and causing problems for themselves and others.”, so addiction to Facebook makes us no longer live without Facebook it has become unhealthy, and this problem has concentrate that we need to do something about it. Therefore, this research paper will discuss what Facebook addiction is, what impact that Facebook addiction can cause, why people should withdraw from Facebook addiction, and ways on how to do it.

Teen may have been outgoing and fun-loving child, but of late whenever they are seen, he/she are on his/her computer, tablets, and smartphones tapping away at the keyboard. If a teen spends more time on various social media sites than he/she does with real people in real environments, he/she is probably addicted to social media. A teen from Nashville confesses, “He found that he’d login at night, stay on the site until two o’clock in the morning, and then be frustrated with himself for not getting any sleep” (77 Boyd). He felt addicted, he decided to ask his friend to join him in deactivating their profiles, they deactivated their profiles within minutes of each other on the same computer. These teen showed willpower, the decided to take their lives back. “In the United States, media coverage frequently portrays American youth in dark bedrooms with only the glow of the screen illuminating their faces, implying that there’s a generation of zombified social media addicts who are unable to tear themselves away from the stream of content from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram” (78 Boyd) Many teenagers develop an unhealthy relationship with technology, for some the addiction to social media, affects their school work and personal relationship with their family. Although, some may argue, “Most teens aren’t addicted to social media; if anything, they’re addicted to each other” (80 Boyd). Although this may be a valid point, teenagers are still choosing social media instead of picking

There have been several studies that show how children, high school students, college students, as well as adult’s lives are more susceptible to smartphone addiction. Some studies looked at how the frequent use of social networking apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. game apps, and video apps tended to become a problem (Sook-Jung, Changho, & Cheolhan, 2016). Other studies show that smartphones are becoming a daily necessity for most and the truth about the addiction is that people are not addicted to their smartphone, they are addicted to the information, entertainment, and personal connections that is delivers (Emanuel et al., 2015). Some studies aimed to evaluate whether smartphone addiction symptoms determine if depression or anxiety contribute to smartphone addiction levels among a sample of students. This literature review will look at how smartphone addiction and how it affects social behavior in relation with everyday activity within young adolescents, college students and as well with adults.

Today’s youth generation, has a strong attachment to the online world. Many adolescents spend most of their time online versus offline. Therefore, one can consider these adolescents as a social network addict, a person who spends a fair amount of time on one or many social platforms. Throughout the three articles, “Social Networking Addiction: An Overview of Preliminary Findings” by Mark Griffiths, “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship” by Nicole B. Ellison and “Taking Risky Opportunities in Youthful Content Creation: Teenagers’ use of Social Networking Sites for Intimacy, Privacy, and Self-expression” by Sonia Livingstone, show how this addiction has changed people’s communication among people. While there are