The Negative Effects Of Social Media

As technology editing tools have become easier to use, many people have felt obligated to go on a photoshop epidemic every time they share an image to the world of social media. In a pervasive world where images of unrealistic standards fuel over the media on how one should look, social media has one of the most significant impacts in body dissatisfaction in today’s society. Throughout the last decade, social media has become one of the most common and favored ways for people to communicate, connect, and share. Thus, there have been many debates and discussions on whether social media has a positive or a negative impact in the way an individual perceive themselves. With the rapid growth and rise of smartphone usage among adolescents and young adults, social media outlets have become an essential part of one’s daily life. Today, when adolescents and young adults turn on their smartphones, often times, the first thing they will refer to is a social media site. It has become a place where they are exposed to news, images, and expectations. Thus, often times, these images, ideals, and expectations are ingrained in their brain and bombarded with what is considered to be beautiful in today’s society. Moreover, these unrealistic standards will often lead to a form of comparison, influencing them to take extreme measures. Although social media serves as a platform where people can connect, communicate, and share, it has a negative impact on one’s body image because it can lead to a

According to a recent study by IDC Research, 80% of smartphone users check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up each morning.

Social media has gone from a great way to stay connected with friends to an obsession that has caused anxiety and depression amongst teenagers. “Researchers have found evidence that people who overuse technology may develop similar brain chemistry and neural patterning to those who are addicted to substances” (FCD Prevention Works). A solution would be setting boundaries on your phone. One should take periodical breaks, turn off notifications, establish phone free zones, set aside certain times to check your phone, have a phone fast, and engage in real human contact. Teenagers’ dependency on social media has caused teens to lose touch with the world going on behind their phones and laptops. This dependency social media has caused social anxiety, depression and an unhealthy need for social media.

Growing up in the age of internet and being millennials, social media is as natural to the people of today as breathing or drinking water. Social media is a “series of websites and applications that have been designed to allow people to share content and communicate with each other quickly and efficiently” (“What is Social Media, 2017). A few people have a more confined perspective of social media likening it to mean the same as social networking on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others. The power of social media is such that, the number of people using it worldwide is expected to reach 2.95 billion by 2020, which is a third of the world’s entire population (Facts, 2017). Social media has been described as being more addictive than even cigarettes and alcohol because it has entered so deeply into the lives of young people that it is almost impossible to stop using it every day (Winefield, Gill, Taylor & Pilkington, 2017). Today, social media can serve as a helping tool in changing a person’s life but at the same time it could also lead to a conflict which might have a negative impact on a person. As summarized by Huppert “Psychological well-being is all about the lives going well. It is a dual combination of feeling good and functioning effectively” (2009, p.137). Social media affects our psychological well-being in many different ways, both positively and negatively. Due to the broad nature of this topic, this essay will focus equally on both the pros and cons

Used by the majority of Americans, social media has become a prominent source of entertainment, education, and communication. Social media is consistently at the fingertips of the average American, however, with this much exposure it has been shown to display negative effects, including of mental illness, addiction, low self-esteem and an outlet for bullying. Eventually, this can result in the downfall of social media

Social Media: good, bad, or ugly? Millennials would say that social media is beneficial, entertaining, and provides valuable information to young adolescents. Some older people love social media, though some would argue that social media has a negative effect on society and is the source of distorted information, miscommunication, and failure in relationships. What happened to one on one conversations with colleagues or activities that included running, going outside, or even just sightseeing? The relationships between people have been disrupted due to social media's negative effect on the idea of a healthy relationship; False expectations, mental health issues, and lack of communication prevent strong relationships to begin and grow.

“We didn’t have a choice to know any life without iPads or iPhones. I think we like our phones more than we like actual people” said Athena, a teen who was interviewed by the Atlantic (Twenge 2017). When individuals are addicted to social media, it may cause a lot of problems, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Teenagers today struggle with communication and creating strong bonds with others due to their lack of in-person conversations. Most conversations take place over text messages or social media accounts and it has affected their attitudes and behaviors. Addiction to social media typically leads to unplanned circumstances, such as mental health problems, which includes depression and anxiety.

Most teenagers have cell phones that they use for large portions of the day. Yet we do not know what they could be doing on there. Social media has a huge impact on someone’s life when it comes to Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and ect, however a lot of it is negative. The social media platform is enormous and still expanding every second, almost every kid has some platform of social media. Kids as little as five have some social media accounts! What the older generation grew up with and this generation now are way different. Social media has a negative influence on society because it is a platform for bullying, can lead to poor grades and puts your safety at risk.

Vulnerability. If there is one trait that all young people have in common, it is just that: vulnerability. They feel pressure, and judgment, from their peers and adults alike. It is a constant weight of self-doubt and self-criticism propped upon their shoulders. While this vulnerability has been prevalent in each generation of young people, it has been exponentially heightened in this day’s generation. Social media is having an incredibly harmful impact on young people. Social media has created a climate of criticism and torment and, consequently, young people are suffering. While there are many negative effects of social media, its most disturbing effects are threefold: it promotes impractical expectations, allows a platform for torment and harassment, and stunts the progression of adequate social skills among youths. Social media is absolutely detrimental to the mental well-being of young people.

“People are spending 1 out of every 7 minutes on Facebook when online. Facebook users typically are spending 10.5 billion minutes (almost 20,000 years) on the social network. And, that’s excluding mobile devices.” This clearly demonstrates the problem with our society, the ease at which we fall blindly into the influence of our surroundings, in specific social media. According to Merriam-Webster, social media is “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and micro blogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)”. Social Media platforms have become such a powerful and dominating advancement to human culture, that as a society we have become oblivious to its ramifications. Social media has impacted us negatively through the obstruction of our social capabilities, and is destructive to an individual’s mental health/behavior. This detriment can be therefore prevented if we become aware of these consequences, and continue to progress with a depth in comprehension, allowing for the control of ones growth.

Scientists as well as prominent Facebook associates and employees are questioning whether or not it’s remotely possible for social media to ever fade away. The question is just as valid as a challenge to early suggestions some ten years ago or less that social media would merely be a fad. They question this, though, only because they fear that it might be best for everyone if an end to the social media era did come to fruition because of the litany of adverse effects it’s been proven to have on people. New research finds that children as young as 10 years old fit the psychological profile for addicts with regard to social media and that their happiness directly correlates with how many likes they get.

A question the online world is wondering still looms over society like a stormcloud. There is an unsuspected lightning bolt coming down on us that is the consequences of our Internet. What teens and kids are not thinking is that the Internet seems to be hurting us from the inside out, hurting our health, our schooling, and our connections with friends and family. Who are the role models of the Internet, if there are any?

With the emergence of Facebook, the way people communicate with each other changed forever. A social network allowing users to share the events of their lives through posting photos and status updates, to monitor the lives of their friends, and to communicate directly via a built-in messenger has revolutionized Internet communication, causing millions of people all over the world to share all kinds of information about themselves. There were, of course, other social networks before Facebook, but none of them garnered such a significant user base, remained as persistent, and continued to act as an effective form of communication as much as Facebook did. Along with Facebook, currently there are many other social networks, each with their own features and purposes; what unites them all, though, is the idea of sharing. Seemingly, this should positively impact the communication skills of users, since it allows communication even for people far away from each other, or who are unable to communicate live. However, there have been numerous research studies proving the opposite: social media platforms not only impair a user’s ability to share thoughts, but distort communication processes, creating more problems than they solve.

Being a student, I guess the penetration rate about the social media for me is almost 100 percent. At least me and my friends use it every day. We probably used it to translate the words or chat with others. Even more, we use it for fun. Everyone use social media. Undisputed, social media is another way for us to keep communicating with each other. However, it could bring the negative and the positive effects for us. According to my personal experience, I think the social media is harmful for the students and It can bring a lot of negative effect for me.

Social media is a part of society as water is to life. Without the use of social media there would be a world of close friendships and face to face communication. “It’s estimated that by 2018, 2.44 billion people will be using social networks, up from 970,000 in 2010” (Guzman). Imagine not having social media to communicate with friends and family. Think about having to have a face to face conversation instead. “We use it for every part of our lives- in our personal relationships, for entertainment, at work and in our studies… every minute we collectively send more than 30 million messages on Facebook and almost 350,000 tweets” (Guzman). Social media is becoming an increasing problem throughout society, taking away face to face communication, effecting relationships, and causing a negative effect on mental health.