Social media or cancer? Just like cancer, social media slowly withers away people’s brains, especially in teenagers, when they consume almost everything they read. Social media has grown exponentially while attracting the young minds of teens and molding them without teens knowing. They latch on to things that they feel comfortable with, because they are still trying to find who they really are. Today, social media is used by almost every teenager in America. Sites like Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, and Facebook can affect them in a negative way, making them feel worse about themselves or even changing who they really are. Social media can seem harmless to many teens, but it can actually hurt them and cause mental health issues. The …show more content…
Overall, seeing other people live exciting lives or being happy is causing depression because teenagers can’t live up to that standard. According to Duffy and Edson Tandoc, a former doctoral student at MU and now an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, a Facebook study he conducted found, “that if Facebook users experience envy of the activities and lifestyles of their friends on Facebook, they are much more likely to report feelings of depression.” Teenagers desperately need to find themselves, but instead compare themselves to others making them feel depressed when …show more content…
Before students only had to worry about being bullied at school, but due to technology advances and the use of social media, teenagers can be bullied twenty four- seven. Cyberbullying causes a huge impact on students and when they are too busy with the anxiety of being bullied their grades can suffer or they can even drop out. According to HealthDay News, 9,590 students were surveyed from 580 U.S. schools. Compared to kids who were not bullied, students that were cyberbullied experienced a 0.049 drop in their GPA between grades 9 and 12. This number is too big when you think about the potential students have but the constant bullying by their peers on social media effects that. For some, dropping out or taking the bad grades feels like their only option. Some teenagers that get cyberbullied on social media can’t take the constant criticism, which can lead to suicide. An example is Hannah Smith, a 14-year old student from England. Smith had been on ask.fm, a social networking site that allows people to ask questions anonymously. Cyberbullies urged her to drink bleach and cut herself. Eventually she couldn’t take the bullying any longer and committed suicide. Social media has a huge impact on these suicides because it’s through these websites that these teens are being bullied by other students. If teens don’t stop soon the side effects of cyberbullying
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Show MoreThe article “Girl’s Suicide Points to Rise in Apps Used by Cyber Bullies,” by Lizette Alvarez discusses the seriousness of cyber bulling and its effects on teenagers, specifically Rebecca Ann Sedwick. For starters, people are trying to raise awareness about teenagers driven to suicide since a 12 year old girl, Rebecca Ann Sedwick, committed suicide because she was terrorized on social media. As many people knew, Rebecca was brutally bullied online to the point where she had to leave school and go get help, but sadly the bulling started again once she returned, and this time she put on a “brave face” and didn’t tell anyone; untimely, she should have gotten adults to help her because she couldn’t handle the bulling on her own. In addition, social
There has always been controversy on whether or not social media is healthy for teenagers. In the article, “Antisocial Networking?” by Hilary Stout from the New York Times dated April 30, 2010, Stout explicates why she dislikes social networking sites. She claims that social media eliminates the opportunity for adolescents to develop empathy for others, understand different emotions, and recognize the meaning of facial expressions and body language. However, Melissa Healy clarifies how social media is beneficial for teens in her article, “Teenage Social Media Butterflies May Not Be Such a Bad Idea” from the Los Angeles Times dated May 18, 2010. I disagree with Hilary Stout because social media is an efficient way of communicating with friends, helps teens develop social skills, and creates opportunities for adolescents.
With all the new networking site it makes it easier for bullies to target their victims. Kids don’t understand when they reach a certain limit it can trigger the young kids mind to commit suicide. Bullying and suicide have a huge connection between the two. Getting bullied at school is one thing getting bullied on social media is another, there are more people that can see if they post public. Getting made fun of on social media can make the other kid sensitive and can get to them to the point where they cannot take it anymore. If kids have easy access to get online it is easy for them to find their victim, now a day kids know how to work the new websites. Among average 61% have received mean or embarrassing posts online and 59% have received mean texts, e-mails or instant messages (Anderson, Bresnahan, & Musatics, 2014). It is easier to bully on social media then is at school or anywhere else. Embarrassing pictures or even inappropriate pictures of the victim can be uploaded by the bully leading to embarrassment for everyone to see. It is much easier to be behind a screen not being face to face to attack with harsh word, or whatever it is to embarrass the kid. Being behind a screen doesn’t like kids socialize, which is what is wrong with the society
One of the reasons that teenagers suffer from depression is Facebook. The researchers at University of Missouri-Columbia indicate that Facebook can lead to depression because of being envious. For example you will open up your Facebook ID and scrolling
This sort of phenomenon makes major headlines regularly in recent times and effects a clear majority of today’s youth. State and local lawmakers have taken steps to prevent this type of bullying by making illegal under several criminal law codes. Michele Hamm, a researcher in pediatrics explained, “There were consistent associations between exposure to cyberbullying and increased likelihood of depression.” Cyberbullying became widespread among students with the rapid growth in use of cellular devices and the Internet. With this kind of technology bullies have the ability to send harmful messages to their recipients at any given time. This type of bullying is the hardest to control because it involves students but often happens off school grounds. However, because the evidence is material, students and parents could bring this evidence to the school and local police departments if a situation were to happen. Parents should be mindful of their child’s use of the internet and electronic messaging, cyberbullying usually takes place in a medium in which adults are seldom present (Mason, 2008). Also, instead of sending direct messages to other students, bullies use platforms such as social media and anonymous blogs to post harmful things for others to see. Educators must understand the significance of social media use to their students, especially
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.
Besides cyberbullying, there are many other negative outcomes for American youth in the use of social media websites like Facebook. For example, many teens are using shorthand and abbreviations when writing or communicating online. Additionally, teens lose themselves in social media, ignore their surroundings and even become addicted to social media. Consequences of this include a rise in obesity, devaluation in family, lack of exercise and decrease in focus on school and homework. Adolescents that use social media more often than others are more prone to “narcissistic tendencies,” “anxiety, depression, and other psychological disorders” (Protalinski, 2011). American youth that share more online also display manic, aggressive and antisocial behaviors.
How the social networking influents young people’s psychological well-being? Since the World Wide Web appeared in the world in the year of 1991, the internet has significantly changed people’s life on almost every level. Especially when the social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, became popular during the last decade, people’s lifestyles have greatly changed by this form of communication, which consequently brings many psychological effects on the young people. As the result, according to the recent researches, the teenagers and the young adults in this era are bearing many mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and addiction, due to the social
One of the most concerning effects of social media is depression. When teens create an online identity, they are often displaying an unauthentic self. This “other” self is often what the person wants to be like. Having to jump from the online self to the real self can often lead to depression. In an article in the Huffington Post, Dr. Jim Taylor calls this Facebook depression. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that “Researchers have proposed a new phenomenon called “Facebook depression,” defined as depression that develops when preteens and teens spend a great deal of time on social media sites, such as Facebook, and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression.” (802). Facebook and other social media outlets create an almost high school-like environment outside of school where the teen has to strive for acceptance as well. Dr. Moreno tells the New York Times that ...
Bhardwaj 1 Think of a time when people didn’t have technology and how they had to interact, whether it had been from writing letters to using telegraphs, communicating with people was hard to come by back then. Of course, times have changed and now technology has made it easier over the years, social media has become an essential part of our lives whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and many other websites. Nowadays, everybody is using it whether its companies using media to promote their products or even teachers tweeting out what last night’s homework was. Social media is a great tool that helps us connect with the world and communicate our ideas. Yet there are some people who believe that social media has a negative impact towards our society as they believe that people can get addicted to it, it causes them to get easily distracted, and many other dangers.
Social network sites have without a doubt become an important part of everyday life for many people, considering that Americans live in a country of technological advances. From people constantly checking their Facebook page to people posting pictures on Instagram, social media has changed people’s behavior and the way that they communicate with others. Social media includes websites such as Facebook and Twitter. This essay will focus on the causes and effects of social networking on the daily lives of American citizens.
The cons of social media can be very risky, especially when the youth of this society is partaking in it. Children and adolescents are now known for inappropriate content on social media sites or just simply not understanding the concepts of privacy. A nationwide issue that has been addressed is the action of cyberbullying. This action often leads to harmful circumstances such as suicide attempts, with some being successful. In just one state in the U.S., 1,491 high school students that were the “cyber bullies” were related to suicide attempts and about 4,693 students were rel...
“First, many targets report feeling depressed, sad, angry, and frustrated.” (Hinduja and Patchin). These are just some of the bad effects that cyber bullying is causing for today’s teens. One of the worse effects of cyber bullying is the link between cyber bullying and suicide. “Finally, cyberbullied youth also report having suicidal thoughts, and there have been a number of examples in the United States and abroad where youth who were victimized ended up taking their own lives.” (Hinduja and Patchin). This alarming fact should be the wakeup call to the U.S. that we need to do something about this problem and fast. Cyber bullying simply does not just hurt someone’s feelings, but it is taking lives of our youth. The first step to help prevent this issue can be to have our schools inform the students of the dangers of cyber bullying. “Furthermore, school district personnel should review their harassment and bullying policies to ensure that it allows for the discipline of students who engage in cyberbullying.” (Hinduja and
According to the article, “10 Ways Social Media Affects Our Mental Problems,” Degreed claim that social media make us restless by “two-thirds admitted to having difficulty relaxing when unable to use their social media accounts.” Teenagers are always tired when they have to stay up late at night to catch up with all the news feed on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that make them have no energy to go on the next day. Based on the newspaper, “Excessive Social Media Use Harms Children’s Mental Health,” by the Telegraph shows that “children who go on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more than three hours a day are more likely to have mental health problems.” Social media can lead to bullying that affects teenagers mental health issue and being stressed. Social media have now taken a part of human life and some are addicted to the point where they can’t even live without
Nowadays, social media is growing very rapidly throughout the whole world. Social media has changed the way that we communicate with others through using these common social networking sites like Face book, Twitter, and Instagram…For that, social media has positively and negatively impacted our life.