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.”

While analyzing the effects of social media, the negatives may outweigh the positives. The reason for this can be found right in front of our faces. Today’s society lacks the basic human social skills, and is unable to carry on a conversation without looking at their phones. Insecurity, addiction, and social skills all play an important role in the effects of social media.

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 become prominent parts of life for many young people today. Most people engage with social media without stopping to think what the effects are on our lives, whether positive or negative. Are we as a society becoming more concerned with Facebook "friends" than we are with the people we interact with face-to-face in our daily lives? What will the longterm effects of today 's social media use be? There are many positive aspects, but there are equally as many dangers that come with the use of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google +, Tumblr, Instagram, gaming sites, and blogs. Social media has both negative and positive effects on society, it is up to the user to decide what impact they want to make. In order to make the right choices, we must dig in and research this topic thoroughly.

The abundance of technology and social media today has led to many positives and negatives in our society. The

Social media is one of the most common ways for people to communicate anywhere and at any time in modern society. Some people think that it is beneficial to have in society. Although, many people are starting to see negative effects arise from the use of social media as well. These negative effects are increasing and becoming more problematic every day. The disadvantages of social media far outweigh the advantages. Social media effects everyone in society, especially teenagers by negatively impacting their lives, face-to-face interactions, and mental health.

“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.

Firstly, we need to understand what social media is. From a broader and vague perspective, social media can be referred as the wide variety of mobile and Internet-based services that allow users to contribute to online exchanges, join online communities, or contribute user-created content. Although social has helped us learn more and educate ourselves on many things, it has a lot of mental effects on our bodies. It has detrimental effects on our wellbeing (Bányai et al. 52). Social media is a platform that has an increasingly significant impact not only on our mental health but also multiple facets of modern life beyond online communication. This platform is misleading the teens and the young adults because they are the most who spent a lot of time socializing online and doing all manner of things thus exposing themselves to the risk of developing the mental problems. They get all negative effects that are associated with social media because they spent most of their time online. Although social media has more good than harm, we also need not spend most of our time online as this will bring us many mental problems that can affect our entire life. Social media has vast negative effects on oneself, specifically on depression, addiction, self-esteem, and confidence, therefore we need to regulate the usage of it to avoid these problems in the future.

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.

Social media has started to take over the lives of young and old, but with that comes some negative effects. There was on average 1.32 billion daily users on Facebook in just June of 2017 (Company Info). This is the age of technology, were new websites or apps are being made to make it easier to talk to people. While it might be a good thing that we are now able to talk to someone across the country, or the world, in real time, it is the way that we are talking to people that is alarming. Social media and texting have changed the way younger people interact with others, our social skills, and the way we write in a very negative way.

Isolation is increasing in my life since social media are taking such a huge roll in it. I have discovered that social media is helping me build walls in my own life. I notice the continuous blank stare at my phone as I roam the halls of Florida International University. It’s as if my social anxiety is a broken leg and my cellphone is my crutch. My cell phone brings me so much comfort, although I am comforted, I feel so disconnected with the world. Learning is much easier through social media websites. I am anti-social during school and with myself. All of this brings me to the conclusion that social media causes negative impacts in my daily life. Some of which include avoiding peers around the halls and using the internet to learn. I am not an electronic loving person, but why am I allowing social media to lock me up with handcuffs that I don’t have the keys for?

Many students walk around campus with their eyes on their phones checking up on the new trends or pop culture. Is social media affecting college students in a negative way? Yes, their grades drop, become less focused in their daily lives, and social media can make someone less social. When do you see a full classroom with no people on their phone for the whole duration of the class? The answer to that is rare to never happening. Freedom is a huge reason for the amount of people on social media.

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.

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.

Social Media, we all have some form of it. The Definition of social media is “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)” according to Merriam Webster. From teenagers with apps like Instagram and Snapchat to adults with Linkedin and Facebook. Social media is not exactly great and it has a very negative effect on society. Not only is it infecting our minds through our phones but it can even evoke dreadful situations and feelings. From the horrible feeling of “FOMO,” procrastination, and the terror of getting cyberbullied anonymously. Is social media doing more harm than good? The answer is yes. There are many facts and studies that show the effects of social media on people of all ages. Around 43 percent of teenages have been bullied online, this may or may not be anonymous. With hundreds of new social media apps coming out every month, such as Miitomo , Musical.ly, Peach and Vidku and even more powerful updates of the apps we already use and know, is the “wonderful” world of social media going to get bigger and bigger until it takes over our lives and for good? It’s slippery slope from here.