The Negative Effects Of Social Media

Social media has become a part of our life, and no one can imagine living without it. Social media has grown a lot over the several years. Young individuals have always thought that social media is a marvelous piece of technology, but they never think about the negative effects of ‘like’ culture, which contributes to conformity and other negative consequences. The article, The Insidious Evils of ‘Like’ Culture, written by Neil Strauss, tells us about to what people can go to get more “likes.”

As of 2015, more than two billion people (30 percent of the world’s population) are active on social media. Since then social media’s number of active users has grown and is continuing to grow day by day. As the number of active users increases so does the number of addictions that occur from it. Different groups of people say social media is a good thing because it lets everyone stay in touch but there have been many different arguments and studies that prove that social media can be bad depending on how much society uses it. Social media addictions produce negative effects in a person's life such as ruined relationships, low self-esteem, and physical exhaustion.

As of the 3rd season of 2017, Facebook has 2.07 billion users, an astounding accomplishment for Mark Zuckerberg. But what were his intentions when he was creating the globally-known website? Of course, his goal was allowing people to keep in touch with friends and family, as well as meeting new people over the World Wide Web. But did social media addiction or cyber bullying ever cross his mind as factors that could give people a negative impact on his site? Maybe so, but there are also educational purposes that can help students do better in school on social media sites. Does that mean that these impacts cancel each other out? In this essay, I am going to justify both sides of the fence when it comes down to the use of social media and the impact on its users.

In the previous few decades, technology and the creation of social media sites have taken a great part in the lives of people. The internet particularly began to develop in the early 2000’s into a prominent use within professional companies and personal use. Myspace and Facebook began the launch of early social media sites. Most children growing up in the early 2000’s did not have a prominent engagement in social media. However, times have changed. Technology has snuck its way into nearly every part of people’s lives, including those growing up. But, the internet and social media do not always have beneficial effects. Social media creates lasting problems for teenagers.

With the development of technology, the social media has become an obbligato part of our life. In the 19th century, people still used the newspapers as their main source of information about their city; in the 20th century, with the popularity of electricity, people started to listen to radio and watch television to know the event of their country; in the 21st century, computers and mobile phones gradually become popular, people enjoy the convenience and comfort of internet. However, does the social media usually give people a positive impact? Just like Allcott and Gentzkow said, “American democracy has been repeatedly buffeted by changes in media technology.” (211) Social Media creates a negative effect on today’s world by influencing the presidential election, disrupting politics, and controlling the business. Some people use social media to spread rumors and satisfy an own personal desire, and the biggest and the nearest effect of our daily life is the 2016 presidential election of the United States.

My phone buzzes during class, is it worth getting it taken away then wait five minutes till class is over? This is the burden that technology holds on young adults. The phones ,tablets and computers becoming more advanced making them harder to shy away from making our lives more depend on all the technology in our lives.

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.

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.

Social media is a large set of networks that allow individuals to communicate and engage with one another. Originally, these networks started as an extra way of communicating, but have now become a primary source (Johnson, Auria, et al. 1). Media can be used in positive ways such as spreading mass news, social marketing, connecting with family and friends, and as a search engine. Now, it is commonly used in negative ways. Festinger proposed that individuals use social media to evaluate and compare themselves with one another (Tatangelo & Ricciardelli 776). This leads to change in their “social and emotional development,” especially in teenagers (776). That statement can be proven by the fact that because so many individuals rely on social media, they end up worrying about what others think, so they feel insecure or ashamed. The effect of this can end up causing extreme changes to an individual’s life. This essay will argue that individuals darken social media by using it as a mask to influence one another, which increases the risk of mental health issues. This will be accomplished by analyzing how the people who engage in the media can change their own image, an individual’s self-image, value and identity, which can lead to stress, anxiety, depression, and even suicide.

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

With the rapid rise in technology, it brings about a new growth in the current culture. Technology, like cell phones and computers, brings on a newer form of communication that can be both private and public. Before the rise in technology most of our communication was face to face. Social platforms (like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and etc.) were not commonly used as they are today. These social platforms became more relevant because they allow many to interact with each other on an instant level. It is easy with these platforms to keep a brief conversation with short messages; for example, with Twitter each tweet is 140 characters. Often, the person behind the messages have “followers” (they, who in a sense, are subscribed to a person) that they can leave an impression onto. Some people use their platforms for positivity while some use their platform for criticism.

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

How many hours a day do you think you spend using social media? Some people spend hours on hours of time on social media. When people spend so many hours on their phones and computers looking at social media it tends to make them lazy and anti-social. People end up getting addicted to social media and it affects their work performance, the employees would be on their phones looking at Facebook and other social media platforms instead of doing their work. Social media is also the reason for social standards, and people, mainly teenagers, think poorly of themselves and how they look to others. There are many negative effects of social media, it makes people hate the way they look, making teens lazy, and it also can hurt people’s chances of getting a job or keeping it.

In this technological age, social media has become a vital part of communication between teenagers. Developing friendships is important for a child’s growth, but researchers are questioning if social medial is impeding communication skills are taking away the ability to communicate in real life. Teens are missing opportunities to witness how words and actions affect others to expose them to feelings such as empathy, as texting and online chatting keeps others at a safe distance. Social media can give us a false sense of belonging and connecting that is not build on real-life social exchanges. This makes it increasingly easy to lose oneself to cyberspace connections and replace these online interactions with the good old face to face

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 interacting on sites like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, 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