The Negative Psychological Impacts 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.”

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

In the article, Liliana Escobar-Chaves and Craig Anderson focus on how youth are spending more time on social media and how that time spent of social media is causing them to bring negative effects to society. The authors go on to explain how the trends in increased social media use is increasing the health risks of obesity, smoking, drinking, unsafe sex and violence. The authors provide an in-depth look into each health risk and provide multiple facts and research studies to help support their claims. These research studies provide a clear and excellent understanding into how the increase in the use of social media can have a negative effect on the health risks they mentioned in the article.

Individuals nowadays have been shaped by many factors including family, environment and personal experiences, but have you ever wondered how social media has contributed to our lifestyle behavior? In the period that before social media the individuals interest and concerns were not so complex, however, since the improvement that has happened in social media, individuals' lives have undergone a great change. As a result of this development of the social media, individuals’ lives have changed for the better, as we can make relationships easier and develop our social skills. However, this great changed on social media has brought some downsides on our personality.

People don't often realize what life really is without mass media. As I take a look and analyze how American lives would change without media, I begin to realize that it is nearly impossible to think of anything that isn't affected by media. As I think about big cities, I instantly think of LED billboards of Las Vegas or the light up signs in New York. Everyone in this world is constantly influenced in this world by books, TV shows, social media sites and news. Personally, I know multiple people that wouldn't know how to go about their day if there wasn't social media available. The change that would occur would be dramatic if there wasn't a subject telling Americans how to live, act, and think. Although there are positive aspects to the media outbreak, the negative impact on Americans and various other groups of people throughout the world, outweigh the positive.

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.

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.

In our world of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media, we are connected with people more than ever before. One would think that we are interacting more socially and bringing people together regularly. However, with each passing generation, experts are learning the real implications of social platforms and how it is negatively affecting our social skills and mental health. According to Sherry Turkle, a social psychologist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, people are more connected to one another than ever before in human history, thanks to internet-based social networking sites and text messaging. But they’re also more lonely and distant from one another in their unplugged lives.

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.

Peter Drucker is best known for being the Father of Modern Management, as well as being the author of several books and articles about innovation, entrepreneurship and strategies for dealing with the world. Drucker once said, “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said” (Drucker). Social Media has an had enormous effect on the world today. Everyday people are posting cruel comments and inappropriate posts about others without thinking about the effect it can have on that person. Although these sites provide us with easier ways of connecting with the world, they also have a negative impact on how people can view themselves. Social media sites such as, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram cause negativity all over the world today.

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

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.

Imagine the world without any form of social media: No Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, or Twitter. We would have to stop endlessly scrolling through our feeds. We would not be able to conquer the constant overwhelming urge inside of us that makes social media a popular dependency. We would have to look up from our phones and see the world around us. Our society today solely revolves around the use of social media. Even though social media can be an exciting form of entertainment for many, the amount of hours spent on social networking is clearly unhealthy. Kelly Wallace, a television journalist who reports for CNN, states that “on any given day, teens in the United States spend about nine hours using media for their enjoyment”. On average, teenagers spend sixty-three hours a week on social media and about two hundred and fifty two hours on social media in a typical month. Despite the negative effects of social media, such as cyberbullying, depression, and unrealistic body standards, teenagers keep returning to their favorite apps for entertainment purposes. Disturbing websites and apps can be found on the internet and recent suicides have been linked to the use of social media that have taken place all around the world. In one case, The Blue Whale Challenge has caused over 130 deaths in Russia. The challenge gives unsuspecting people tasks to complete such as cutting your body and watching scary videos. At the end of the challenge, the last task is to commit suicide or else someone would supposedly go and kill the player’s family. Police in the United Kingdom are currently warning parents and children about the dangerous social media phenomenon. Social media can be a great source of communication but is a cruel and menacing commodity when used incorrectly. The increasingly high demand for social media is driving our world into a downward spiral and is creating a cynical environment. The unhealthy addiction to social media is a serious issue that needs to come to an end.

Social media sites can be defined as computer technologies that aid people in sharing information, ideas, career interests and any other expressions. They are communities where people meet each other by the creating profiles and personal accounts, allowing them to connect with people based on their interest. Some of them are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram. One can access the social media through a computer, laptop or even a smartphone. People have seized the benefits of Social Media and greatly benefited from its many opportunities, even though some observers have noticed that there are a few negative impacts of social media usage. Indeed, they can be of both good and bad depending on what is one's intention on the platform. This study will expand on how social media can be used as a positive platform.

When someone talks about social media people hear a wide platform where one can express himself by sharing his life experiences and his opinions about anything online. Social media is taking over the world, and it is changing how people see the world. Social media such as Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter or Instagram, was made to connect people, but nothing is separating people as social media. Before social media, people used to have physical friends and now all they have is online friends. It is so sad how depression, low self-esteem, obesity and anti-social are increasing a day by a day in our lives due to the social media. Social media is negatively impacting our society.