Social media is a platform where the public discuss their issues and opinions, children nowadays are growing up surrounded by mobile devices . Social media provides new ways for young adults to create and navigate social environments. However being a teen , the researcher wanted to take a deeper dive into the social media platform. Over the years researchers have indicated social media’s impact on mental health, as well as the positives and negatives of social media. According to (onlinedegrees.unr.edu 2017), “While social media provides easier and more accessible opportunities to interact with others, how we communicate and interact hinders the quality of our interpersonal relationships. The quality of interpersonal relationships is at risk because as the Internet is becoming more interwoven into daily life, the use of the Internet and/or social media becomes a higher priority.” This was a statement made in 2017, we are now in 2021 and these true statements are preeminent more than ever. Social media has grown at a rapid pace over these past couple of years, and has altered our lifestyles. In an article done by (knowledge.Wharton.UPenn) the researcher discussed how irreplaceable social media is, and how we as a country must conform to the way social media is taking over. In another article written by (onlinedegrees.unr.edu) the researcher discusses how detrimental social media is to young adults mental health and that more rules and regulations need to be made to slow down the rate of social media. With that being said, it’s pertinent to analyze both articles and discuss the big points from each point of view.
Looking at the article done by (onlinedegress.unr.edu), by dissecting what the researcher was saying this is what I took from it. Social media is fun to have but comes with lots of hidden manipulations and problems. Since 2015 it is proven that young adults spend the most time socializing through social media, which means a greater chance to experience the negative effects of social media. Social media started for the sheer purpose of communicating with friends, it has now gone way beyond that to
topics like marketing, politics, education and health. A recent poll done by (National Center For Health Statistics) shows 90% of teens under eighteen have used at least two forms of social media, 75% of all teens have at least one active social networking profile. With that being said, according to a study done by Pew research center in 2018 on teens in the US, 42% of teenagers experienced name calling, 32% have spread false rumors, 25% received unsolicited explicit images, 21% had their activities and whereabouts tracked by people other than their parents, 20% received physical threats, and lastly 7% had images shared without their own consent. The survey done after showed 90% of teens believe online harassment is a problem for people of their age, and 63% identify it as a major problem. 20% of people with at least one social media account feel the need to check them at least three times a day, sometimes more to avoid feeling anxious. Social media leads to depression in many cases, in the same study they analyzed how spending more time on social media was linked with feeling socially isolated. 67% of teens who are online have been cyber bullied, which has led to spread of depression across many teens in the US. Depressed students are more likely to smoke, abuse alcohol, and engage in risky sexual behavior. It is also a major risk for suicide, the third leading cause of death for teens and young adults from ages fifteen to twenty four . This is definitely a concerning fact for parents and those with varying social media accounts, this can get worse in the coming years as kids want to be like celebrities and everything they see on Instagram while not trying to be or find themselves. Finding ways to neutralize these sad facts should do wonders for social media and social media users.
On the other hand though social media isn’t all bad, there are some ways social media enhances us as a society and can be good. Social media has begun to be a place for resources and learning. Of course it is most known for socializing, but it can also be a place to share knowledge and update oneself on world news and new information. Another positive that sometimes can be seen as a negative , is the ability to share different opinions on different topics. Depending on the topic, conversations can become helpful and a source of entertainment for some. Advertisements benefit from social media tremendously, as they are able to promote their business and ideas while having teens’ attention due to the immense attraction to the screen. Some negative effects are that students are now more dependent on information on social networks and the web, which in the long run diminishes their learning and real research capabilities. It has now become we depend on virtual learning rather than present day to day learning. Now of course with the pandemic going on in our world today it is much easier to fall in this trap, which makes the negative side of social media that much more prevalent. In terms of posting, teens want the acceptance of others as they get a positive feeling over how many people like their posts, and as to be expected a sense of let down when you’re not getting the likes that some of your peers get. Social media can reduce social skills later in life, as our human to human interactions decrease tremendously. Sometimes though, social media can boost one’s confidence due to the fact that they know they will never see some people in real life. For example someone can portray as being belligerent , or someone they’re not because some people they interact with won’t actually see them in the real world. Which obviously can lead to cat fishing or altercations. In terms of older users , they use social media for more business purposes and creating contacts through social media. Businesses thrive off social media, it helps them connect with customers, increase awareness about your brand and can boost leads and sales. As stated before, businesses can advertise immensely on social media apps for younger adults as well as older adults. It’s much easier to get a business out there and get exposure by taking the social media route, below shows what businesses use to get content out and the percent.(marketing insider 2018)
Searching business and learning more about them through the web is how customers determine whether your business is the one they want to support, so making sure the website is informative can play a big role as well. In this day and age social media helps business tremendously with very low deterring factors. If we could get every usage of social media like that, it would be a virtue for all. The researcher from (knowledge.Wharton.UPenn) compiled a lot of these points regarding the conformity we as a country should do for social media.
Social media has enhanced us overall, however in some ways it has diminished us as well. For example we can look at the situation with Twitter, Facebook and Donald trump. It seems as though social media helped his rise to presidency, but it also led to his fall, as he was banned from Twitter for life and is currently still banned from Facebook. For his rise to presidency social media played a big part in his success, he was able to communicate with supporters through tweets and posts, and was also able to share his opinions and plans for the world to see. However social media also led to his demise, as his posts became misleading and too much for the world and his social media accounts to handle. In terms of youth, social media presents both risks and opportunities for adolescents. It is important for young men and women to develop a coherent identity, social media makes it unclear if people are engaging in real life presentation with a lot of ideal-self or false-self presentation. However some tend to believe the online life and offline life are disconnected, but in some instances there is much fluidity and connectedness between the life offline and online. The saying you never know what you have until it’s gone would fit social media perfectly, if we lost social media life would be dry for those coming up in this century and slow down many processes we are accustomed to and been accustomed to. As social media is growing expeditiously, answers to social media should be taken away, or used even more will unravel itself through how the world uses social media, and how we conform to lessen the negative aspects of the social media environment.
Through the negatives of social media , it’s imperative we as a society find ways to diminish the problems and enhance the positives. Because of the rise of social media, there should be classes and services giving adolescents strategies for safe use of social media. Limits should be set on how much a kid can be on or use social media, the less a person is on it the more it can have a more positive rather than negative impact. Ten to forty minutes per app a day, according to (journal of social and clinical psychology 2018) undergraduate students to limit themselves to that time were generally more positive and had better self images. They also reported less depression and loneliness after three weeks. Parents should keep tabs on their children and the usage of social media, without crossing boundaries and privacy. It definitely starts at home, and giving discipline to young kids to differentiate the positive and negative parts of social media. That is easier said than done but can be manageable in a household setting, the biggest authority to a kid or young adult is their parents and by giving them the freedom to use social media but also indicate mitigation, it will help distinguish the positive from the negative. Which makes social media a safer and more positive entertaining experience.
In conclusion, social media has a huge impact on today’s and the coming society. There are many ways it progresses us as a nation, but of course ways where it degrades and regresses us as a society. There’s no telling where social media will take us, or how it will change how we go about our day to day life. Social media has already made a big impact on our life’s and the up and coming children. If we as a nation can construct social media for better purposes all around, and give safe guidelines, social media should be a positive force for years to come. The social media use is only going up as the days, months, and years go by. It isn’t coming to a stop anytime soon and shows no sign of decreasing. Addressing the articles stated in the introduction, they obviously differ dramatically. However no one researcher is correct, as both have good points regarding their take on social media. It comes down to alleviating problems that social media brings and elevating the positives. Once we can find a solution for that, both sides should be able to come to a clear consensus on the future of social media. So I end with, what can you do to make social media more positive for yourself as well as those around you?
Work cited:
Author, G. (2020, September 18). Why Social Media Is Important for Business Marketing. Marketing Insider Group. https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/why-social-media-is-important-for-business-marketing/
Buschjost, K. (2020, March 3). The pros and cons of social media and its impact on youth. KRNV. https://mynews4.com/news/local/the-pros-and-cons-of-social-media-and-its-impact-on-youth
Rettner, R. (2018, June 1). These 5 Social Media Habits Are Linked with Depression. Livescience.Com. https://www.livescience.com/62718-social-media-habits-depression.html
Anderson, M. (2018, September 27). A Majority of Teens Have Experienced Some Form of Cyberbullying. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/09/27/a-majority-of-teens-have-experienced-some-form-of-cyberbullying/
The University of Nevada, Reno. (2019, December 30). Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health. University of Nevada, Reno. https://onlinedegrees.unr.edu/online-master-of-public-health/impact-of-social-media-on-youth-mental-health/
The Impact of Social Media: Is it Irreplaceable? (2018). Knowledge@Wharton. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/impact-of-social-media/
HR: Prof smith