The Social Media Platform Of Tumblr

Older generations don’t realize how much technology has affected this generation of teenagers, along with the social media that comes along with the technology. As stated in “How Social Media Changed Teens’ Lives Forever”; “Negative posts or comments also can do great damage to a teen’s self-esteem.” (Ashley Black, Thomas Atseff and Colleen Kaveney) While many parents think social media is just a way to connect with others, many teenagers take it for granted. For example, “quitting social media because it made her miserable and obsessed with appearing perfect online”, is what a teenager felt about social media and what it has done to her. Though many think that social media is a great way to connect, teenagers take it to another level.

The effects of social media impact everyone differently. Some teens are not impacted at all, some are diagnosed with mental health disorders, and worse case scenario, some take their own lives. According to the Huffington Post, suicide rates for girls ages 15 to 19 have doubled since 2007 and has increased 30 percent for boys. An article written by David Luxton posted by Am J Public Health

Technology throughout its existence has improved the overall quality of life for many people around the world. Its impact is evident in our generation, where many people rely on technology to gain information on current events, increase work efficiency and even helping us understand ourselves. “Advances in neuroscience, technology and research sophistication have greatly increased understanding of mental illnesses and improved the treatment of these disorders.” (Wahl, 2011). Despite our knowledge on various mental illnesses, many individuals stray away from professional assistance due to the stigma that is attached to the illness; many individuals do not opt for help because they do not want a label attached to them. Social media is a huge platform that influences many people and the slandering that many media platforms do when they discuss the topic of mental illness is slowly increasing and is an issue that must be discussed.

Social media is often praised for its ability to connect people worldwide, but in reality, it is forcing us further apart; we are no longer individuals but are instead creating for ourselves a fake social identity. Nicholas Carr, author of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” focuses on how reading on the Internet has made it almost impossible for us to do “deep reading.” In “Just Between You, Me, and My 622 BFF’S,” Peggy Orenstein looks at how social media has stolen younger girl’s identities, and formed their sexual identity. Chuck Klosterman in his article “Electric Funeral” sees the Internet as a breeding ground for “villains” who feed off our primitive impulses to draw attention and fame to ourselves. These three authors have powerful

One of the main reasons teenagers use social media is to get to know themselves, their friends, and what’s happening around the world. According to Watchdog Groups, the average blogger us a teenage girl who communicates with 5-10 friends. This girl’s blog us a form of social media in which she uses to communicate with her friends and most likely serves as an entertainment

It becomes a platform of competition, no longer a display of happy moments. It seems as if the only moments, we can display are when we are smiling or laughing. What about the feelings of insecurity and disapproval of ones self? This is constantly pushed to the backs of mind and upstaged by the pictures of “happiness”. Society is one huge factor to blame with its idea of everlasting happiness. Tumblr just adds to the fire with its staged photos of happiness from girls on the beach to its idea of good vibrations only. No one really speaks out about how most ups are accompanied by downfalls. Every hill has it peaks and valleys. But who knows, we are so chained to our gadgets to even take a look at nature. Society adds to this only signs of the bad when you turn on the news. We have been forced to see the natural imperfections of man as evil, not fuel to rise to the top. This generation no longer believes in the ideas of hard work when you can gain followers from just aesthetics. We have progressed to only rely on the eye to perceive everything from the images that flood our feeds and the text post that are constantly posted. Celebrities such as Kim

IT’S no secret that society’s perception of the world and ourselves is strongly shaped by social media. Popular networking sites such as Instragram, Facebook and Tumblr monopolize any current trend, magnifying it and making it widespread and visible.

Initially, social media is commonly used as a weapon to attack others on their opinions or simply because they despite other people. For instance, cyber bullying has caused huge problems ever since social networks have started becoming popular. “Nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online. 1 in 4 has had it happen more than once,” (“11 Facts about Cyber Bullying” www.dosomething.org). This is more targeted at teenagers and children because they are unaware of the harmful things they might say over the internet. To illustrate, cyber bullying can become a very serious issue when a minor commits suicide. “Bully-related suicide can be connected to any type of bullying, including . . . cyberbullying, and sexting, or circulating suggestive . . . about a person” (“Cyber Bullying & Social Bullying” http://www.bullyingstatistics.org). It’s the parent’s duty to filter the internet. Based on this information, social media is not necessarily safe, anyone can become a victim

From a young age I had been aware that certain people weren’t happy with who they were. I had a specific person in my life that sometimes hurt herself in order to feel better. Even though the problem was recognized, depression or self harm wasn’t something people in my life openly talked about. So I grew into my early teen years believing that any sign of mental illnesses was something that should be hidden. I saw it as a secret that couldn’t be discussed with anyone and definitely not revealed. I spent a majority of my adolescence on my computer, joining new sites and meeting different people. For the most part, it was a very positive influence. I’ve been exposed to certain things that have largely affected the goals I have for the future. It’s connected me to all parts of the world and allowed me to gather hobbies that I never would have had found if it weren’t for the sites I spent my time on. So many positive aspects emerged from my many hours online but like most things, it had it’s drawbacks. I was quickly exposed to blogs that promoted self-harm, suicide, depression, and self-loathing. What later came as a shock to me, was how other people on the site viewed them.

Social media is described, by the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2015), as “forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)”. As few as 10 years ago the term social media was yet to be coined, but within that decade the use of these blogs, websites and sharing platforms has increased exponentially with no plateau in sight. From creating Instagram accounts for household pets, to sharing Halloween themed baking ideas over Pinterest, people today have access to social media outlets for almost everything. Today about 74% of people ages 18-65 use some form of a social networking site (Pew, 2014). Facebook takes the lead in social media usage with about 71% of those adults. LinkedIn and Pinterest are tied for second at 28% of users, 26% use Instagram, and Twitter falls last in the top 5 most used social medias with 23% of users (Pew, 2014). In September of 2013 the Pew Research Center measured that 90% of adults ages 18-29 used these social media outlets on a daily basis, which is an astonishing increase from the 9% that was measured in February 2005 (Pew, 2014). Due to the fact that young adults are increasingly involving themselves in these online platforms, it is very important to understand the long term and psychological effects (such as depression, social anxiety,

73% of teenagers use what seems to be harmless, social media. Although it’s main function is to provide online communities for friends to interact on the internet, social media is a direct link to developing mental illnesses. Mental health is a very important issue, especially in the millennial generation, because it can impact a life drastically. Mental well-being is at risk when using social media because it flaunts what society considers “perfection” to be, can become easily addictive and social net workings can be a hostile environment. All of these issues that are promoted by social media or that exists there can seriously deteriorate mental health and drive illnesses forward.

The rapid growth of technology in our society has become more dominant than it was in the 17th and 18th century. Today, technology is used for almost everything in our day to day lives. But the most common usage of technology is for communication and industrialization. However, every good thing has its disadvantage if it is over used, and since technology has become very dominant, it is used by both young and older people but more predominant among the youth of the today. Even more, technology has brought about social networking such as Facebook, Twitter, my space, piazza.com, instagram, tango, and last but not the least texting. According to socialnetworking.procon.org, “47% of American adults used social networking sites like

At what point do you start to silence yourself around people? Is it what they say and do, or is it more specifically the person that performed the action? Can you imagine people you hold in high esteem making you feel othered? Then you realize the connection you thought you had with them was really just an elaborate daydream and the signs of their true character were there from the beginning. For me, this moment feels like the floor being ripped from under me, and as I freefall into the black abyss below, all of my senses except my vision stop working. I can’t hear the air whistling past me; I can’t shout for help. My body even refuses to breathe as if the air is now tainted with the vile words spoken in the space, and I refuse to take them

In 2012, 12% of teen girls and 4% of teen males said that they experienced a major depression outburst within the past six months. Depression is the most common chronic illness and many people are accused as victimizing themselves (Wade). Those who turn to social media for support usually do not find it but are instead treated as a freak or as a person looking for attention (A2z). With 200,000 depression blogs it is hard to log on to Tumblr and not see signs of depression and self-harm on your dashboard. Instead of living in the moment, the blogs dread on things in the past and rarely show any sign of happiness in the life of the creator. On the other hand, Tumblr has realized the harm that the blogs pose to those suffering and have created anti-suicide blogs where bloggers can write to the creator and attempt to get help. Still, the anti-suicide blogs would not be necessary if the showing of the depression images were not glorified in the first place (Dewey).

Can you imagine living in a world with no social media or smartphone? No instagram, twitter, facebook or snapchat? Believe it or not, that world existed before us millennials did. According to an article found on the Pew Research Center.com, entitled “The Demographics of Social Media Users”, the amount of Facebook users is “72% of adult internet users [and] 62% of entire adult population.” Facebook along with other media outlets have easily become the norm for young adults and older adults in today’s society. The rapid growth of accessibility to social media networking was made possible from the creation and use of smart phones. The combination of social media sites and smart phone users has single handedly eliminated the need for human interactions, but also has provided a repertoire of information at our fingertips. I will discuss the following: the history of Facebook and its impact, the creation of the iPhone and its development of social media apps like Instagram, and the effects of cyberbullying. The purpose of this essay is to explore the productive qualities and destructive qualities that various social media outlets have presented to our generation.