Negative Effects Of Facebook In Our Generation

The influx of social media has had a negative effect on our generation. Social media usage has been the most prevalent way to communicate in this generation. While entertaining, the negative consequences of using Facebook outweigh the positive. The popularity in Facebook has impacted adolescence negatively with concerns such the rise of cyber bullying, friends’ posts that affect our mood, which make it seem like their lives are better than ours. Also, despite their claims of bringing people together, Facebook is actually fostering the development of an anti-social society. In this essay, I plan to argue the negative effects of Facebook and why introducing Facebook into our society was a poor decision.

Facebook alters the whole concept of cyber-bullying.

However, as we use Facebook more frequently, our emotions and sympathy towards others differ from how they normally are in face-to-face interaction. It was found that, “Eighty-eight percent of respondents in a study conducted by Joseph Grenny reported that people are less polite on social media than they would be in a face-to-face interaction. Facebook users give a nonverbal ‘thumbs down’ through body language when our words create either misunderstanding or offense” (Grenny 2013, 2). When Facebook is used more than the occurrence of face-to-face social interactions, it becomes more challenging to interpret what someone is saying by not getting a reading on the body language or the tone of voice used. When we use social media, we feel as if we need to know everything going on with our friends on Facebook that we might not know that well. This results in us becoming so submerged in Facebook, that it prohibits us from not focusing on our real-life relationships, skills, education etc. People experience the fear of missing out where if we look at a friends profile picture or posts and see pictures of something such as a vacation they went on and we didn’t, or a an event that person went to and we were not invited are examples of how are self-esteem can be lowered, which can result in social anxiety. “Social anxiety is considered one specific type of anxiety disorder and is characterized by fear or apprehension surrounding social behaviors such as eating in public, meeting strangers, and many other public actions” (Lee & Davidson 2014, 2). This quote above states that when people are constantly using Facebook, their chances of becoming addicted escalades. The concern about being a frequent user of Facebook is that we can become apprehended by our social surroundings, meaning basic social skills such as