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Social media's positive and negative effects on students mental health
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“I didn't know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time –Betty White (“Betty White Quotes,” 2014, para. 1).” This quote can be interpreted to fit with several of the social media avenues that many people spend their time on. Day in and day out people post, tweet, share, and pin countless times throughout the world. These different forms of communication were first created for an easier way for people to connect with others. Yet now, so much time is spent on these social sites that it has warped the interactive part and is causing more damage than good. Many are growing a desire and are living for the amount of “likes” they can receive on a post or how many re-tweets they …show more content…
Narcissism is characterized as a preoccupation with ones’ self and how they are observed by others (Wallace, 2013, para. 1). Social media becomes a watering hole out in a desert, attracting all kinds of narcissistic creatures allowing them to thrive and live on the substances offered. These sites keep people posting events in their lives because they believe others are interested in what they do, but more importantly they want others to know what they are doing (Firestone, 2012, para. 6). Narcissists have insecure personalities which cause them to post so often in order to elevate themselves to feel better about who they are. Self-promotion is seen all over social network sites; people posting every several minutes or changing their profile pictures regularly to get a volume of “likes” to refuel their need of self-worth (Williams, 2013, para. 4). This need to feel accepted and to have people recognize one’s looks or appearance by spending inordinate amounts of time causes too many problems. It becomes a catch-22; narcissists go onto the sites to post about themselves, but in that instant they see the newsfeed of the fun other people are having and how great they look that they feel down again because their post will now be …show more content…
(2014, March 20). Social Media and Self Esteem. Man Repeller. Retrieved from http://www.manrepeller.com/best_of_internet/social-media-and-self-esteem.html Nitzburg, G. C., & Farber, B. A. (2013). Putting Up Emotional (Facebook) Walls? Attachment Status and Emerging Adults' Experiences of Social Networking Sites. Journal Of Clinical Psychology, 69(11), 1183-1190. doi:10.1002/jclp.22045. Retrieved from http://web. b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=103b726e-b79a-48e1-a880- e7c132287f3d%40sessionmgr110&vid=6&hid=118 O'Connor, M. (2014, February 20). Addicted to Likes: How Social Media Feeds Our Neediness. The Cut. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/02/addicted-to- likes-social-media-makes-us-needier.html Pollet, T. V., Roberts, S. B., & Dunbar, R. M. (2011). Use of Social Network Sites and Instant Messaging Does Not Lead to Increased Offline Social Network Size, or to Emotionally Closer Relationships with Offline Network Members. Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, 14(4), 253-258. doi:10.1089/cyber.2010.0161. Retrieved from http:// web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=103b726e-b79a-48e1-a880-
5). By never losing touch with acquaintances made throughout life, we lose what has made “good old-fashioned” losing touch so good (para. 5). We lose real friendships and “long-forgotten photos and mixtapes” (para. 5). Without these natural aspects that are so important to friendship, friends have not only lost their worth, but the whole point of a friendship has been lost as well. Arguing that losing touch is a necessity of friendship, Brown suggests that maybe the issue could be resolved if only social networks would create a “Fade Utility” app that would allow unintended friends to gradually blur into a sepia cast, similar to the way unintended friends naturally fade away from our lives (para. 6). Maybe if networks treated friendships the way nature does, providing opportunities for people to reach out to lost friends if they choose, then online friendships might hold the same meaning as natural friendships, where the title “friend” is not just a banner of status, but a position in a
People feel they are on top of the world due to the numerous friends that they have on their Facebook page. Having Facebook friends provides them with a sense of acceptance they had never experienced. These experiences are a gateway to a stream of emotions that has the potential to harm as well as to help. Social media has helped to emotionally feel connected and is an easy and efficient way to stay in contact with family and friends; however, it is harmful when it is the culprit for facilitating and fueling arguments and unhealthy relationships. “As the Danish academic Anders Colding-Jorgensen argues: ‘We should no longer see the internet as a post office where information is sent back and forth, but rather as an openarena for our identity and self-pro...
Manago, Adriana M., Taylor, Tamara, Greenfield, Patricia M. (2012). Me and My 400 Friends: The Anatomy of College Students’ Facebook Networks, Their Communication Patterns, and Well-Being. In Developmental Psychology, Vol. 48, No. 2, 369-380. American Psychological Association (2012). Web. 25 May 2015.
With the ever increasing influence of social media in our daily lives, we are seeing more individuals suffer from the negative effects of being constantly exposed to images of "ideal" body types. In Beauty and Thinness Messages in Children’s Media Analysis it is stated that “Research suggests that young children have body image concerns, such as a desire for thinness and avoidance to obesity.” The analysis continues with saying that “Few studies have investigated how children’s body preferences and stereotypes are influenced by media aimed at children. Results indicated that messages emphasizing the importance of physical appearance and portraying body stereotypes are present in many children 's videos but relatively few books (Herbozo S, Tantleff-Dunn S, Gokee-Larose J, Thompson JK, 2004).” The reshaping of beauty standards are fueled by unrealistic expectations through media, as there has been a huge difference in the way people promote themselves through social media in the last few years. This can have major effects on people as it influences negative body image which, coincidentally, can lead people to develop things such as eating disorders. With that being said, social media, through the use of alter egos, gives
In the world today, we as a society have contoured our lifestyle in order to grow more accepting of socialized platforms. With the simple help of different networking tools and various applications, people have been able to develop an online persona. The way one presents themselves through social media may differ from how they are portrayed in a public setting. Internet sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have acted as a tool for self-expression and individuality. Although social media has proven to be very effective, it has also condoned a more detached and artificial lifestyle for some. Through the use of social media, people have grown more insecure, distracted, and have worsened their social anxiety.
Schroeder, Stan. “Facebook Users Are Getting Older. Much Older.” Mashable. N.p., 7 July 2009. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
When you think about social media what do you think of. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Vine. Well social media is more than that. Social media is not just Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Social media is any online website that lets you interact with other people, share photo and information and keeps you updated. Or do you think about how it’s made a positive or negative impact on today’s society. In my personal opinion I think social media has made both positive and negatives impacts on today’s society .Some of the negative impacts are cyberbullying and addiction, and the positive impacts are spreading the word and increasing business sales.
Between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even LinkedIn, social media is undoubtedly an outlet that engages most online users. However, according to mental health consultants nationally, social media has become an anxiety-provoking factor (Materna 2013). One of the things contributing to social media anxiety is when teens compare themselves to the doctored pictures of friends. Not only are their friends flawless in the photos, but they may be on an exotic vacation. And it seems to make their lazy weekend at home in their bedroom pale in
Blow, Charles. “Friends, Neighbors, and Facebook.” ." The New York Times Oct. 2011.GeorgiaVIEW. PDF file.
To begin with, social media has been proven to be a dangerous addiction due to the many negative side effects like: sleep deprivation, and self-esteem problems. Most of the adult American population is connected to some sort of social media site, and they have joined the banned wagon of people whom check their social media accounts at least five times a day. Using social media to often can be time consuming and essentially causes sleep deprivation because the user stays up late on social media. Since social media has grown in popularity many have began to believe that social media is a life necessity. It is viewed by many as a daily necessity like brushing our teeth, or yet as important as eating. People whom are constantly on social media have been linked to develop self-esteem problems because they are so consumed on pretending and portraying this image of a person they are not. Social media has became such an addiction that many people wake up and the first thing they do is...
Social media has impacted everyone that has used it some point in his or her life. Since the world is increasing in technology advances, so is social media which can be good and bad. Technology has made a huge difference in the world and definitely how people are doing things now. Yes, the Internet can be good for the majority of things we use it for such as finding research, keeping in touch with family or friends who are far away, and saving time and money. Others like to take advantage of social media and use it in a way that can hurt people; it may not hurt them physically, but it can hurt them emotionally. Examples of how some people use the Internet in a bad way include cyberbullying, identity theft, or cyberstalking. Social media has impacted the Millennial generation for sure.
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are only a few of the most common words used in today’s language among children, teens and adults. Such words can be described as popular terms related to what many of us know as social media. In today’s culture, many teenagers rely so heavily on the usage of social media that issues once thought to be revolutionary are now taking place offline and online. In fact, several cases of mental addictions, depression and even suicide have all stemmed from the initial usage of sites such as Facebook, which are otherwise socially accepted as a simple means of communicating with “friends.” While social media does have its advantages, it can also be held responsible for several negative events in the lives of today’s teenagers.
These things have become so common that not having them almost makes it seem like there is something missing. Because of features such as these, it is incredibly easy to share every aspect of what we are reading, doing, eating and listening to with everyone in our social networks. While this has meant incredible advances in the way we interact with our world, it has also fundamentally changed the way our social relationships are created and sustained. Social medial led users to have false impression of others and changed our feelings. Because social media users tend to only show the most positive aspects of their lives, social media users have a false sense of reality when it comes to how they seem themselves, how others see them and how they see other people. “It is not difficult to say that social media effect our perception of others” (Goshgarian213).
Nowadays, it is not only common to have social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, but expected. Many people know the numerous benefits of signing-up for these accounts: keeping in touch with friends, being able to organize information and photographs, keeping track of dates or news, and many more. However, new research suggests that the use of these social media networks, specifically Twitter, can cause great unhappiness in relationships (“Twitter use…”). It appears that the social media page can act as a third member of the relationship. The use of these networks can take up so much time of one or both of the partners, that it is like having another person in the relationship. Unfortunately, this loss of time as well as the other negative affects social media has on relationships, can lead to communication issues and arguments.
Furthermore, browsing sites such as Facebook may lead to low morale, as people begin to measure their self-worth with the amount of “likes” they receive. Ironically, although social media sites boast their ability to connect people, they mainly separate society even more as people become isolated behind their screens. Social media is damaging to a person’s life because it can lower self-esteem, isolate people from real relationships, and cause privacy concerns as marketers, employers, and school officials can view information posted online.