The Digital Age
Social media has been providing the best platforms where people can interact and share their ideas. Since the birth of social media, there have been both positive and negative effects on the users. In most cases, social media helps most of the people in business sectors where they have been using them to promote their products. It’s in social media where people can interact with other people who are even far away from them. Social media involves the use of computer tools to share information, ideas, images, videos, and other aspects. However despite the positive effects that social media contributes it still has many negative effects on its users. Where it may cause some bad effects on one’s health, a poor relation, time management, and many others. There has been an increasing rate over time most of the people are spending while using social media. Some of the platforms that are mostly visited include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and snap chats just to mention a few. Therefore the paper will be concentration on the negative impact of social media on its users.
Social media has negative effects on the users both physically and mentally. They can cause one to change their perception towards the world as well as themselves. Thus, some of the social media negative effects includes the following;
Depression and Anxiety
Most of the users of social media have been sending most of their time in a day browsing social media sites. Where spending too much on social media can affect one’s mood as well as behavior. It’s because the addicted users are always reporting poor mental health which is characterized by depression and anxiety (Joseph and Linda, 25). It’s influenced by what one views on these platforms. Most of the users of the social media they only post the best parts of their lives and the success they have achieved. But it’s so unfortunate that they don’t even explain the challenges they experience before achieving their best. Therefore, when one views all these comments they end up comparing their challenging situations with those of the others hence ending up being with a lot of fear within them. The challenging thing in life is when one compares themselves with others. Social media opens all these doors where one can compare himself with what others are doing and if one has not achieved much like others they may end up being disappointed and stressed.
From research conducted it’s true that social media has been the source of depression and anxiety for most young people. When smartphones are introduced in 2007 there is increasing in the number of people who reported depression cases. At this period the main cause has been the isolation these people are experiencing. Those who spend their most of time on social media don’t have time to interact with other people. Hence these group has been alone throughout and no one is closer to them since they assume social media is their best and closest friends. When these people are faced with any challenge they just pretend to be well but within them, they are suffering from depression. The more they try even to look for their solution online the more they are discouraged. Some have been using social media to express their emotions but on the same site, people are disappointed since some will comment on their posts negatively. Therefore, they continue suffering internally and no one is close to them to help them. These are the people who mostly end up killing themselves.
Increase in cyberbullying.
Before the innovation of social media, bullying is applicable only through face-to-face. However, through social media people can bully others at any time despite wherever they are located. Since social media has been helping people from far away to interact even if they don’t know each other the more they create room even for those using it to bully others (Koen, 45). It’s through social media where they are exercising their bad intention power of threatening others. Cyberbullying involves where people are threatening, humiliating, and even causing trauma to others. It may also involve spreading rumors about others or even positing private information or photos without the consent of the owner. It’s through the use of the internet that facilitates one being even texted with frightening messages which may affect the victim so much.
Cyberbullying also involves where people create a false profile about themselves just to win the trust of other people. At this stage, it’s where an individual trusts that person and starts sharing with them their experiences and even their private information. These cruel people they end up betraying the individual and also positing out all the information provided to them (Loren, 60). It’s an act that demoralizes the individual since it’s done where everyone can access easily. The victims end up being disappointed and even others my committee suicide.
Cyberbullying is one of the factors that cause most people to suffer from low self-esteem. Since the individuals will be sharing off from speaking up since they feel and secure and that all people know about their fates. They feel that they are not worthy to be in the world and this will affect their performance. If the individual is a student will start performing lowery and if employed will always be demotivated from working. Most of them will even resign from their working place an effect that will affect them psychologically as well as even changing their behaviors because of fear in them.
It causes fear of missing out (FOMO) to its users. It involves the feeling of anxiety where people usually feel that they are missing out on what others are doing. Its where even people feel that they are not celebrating the rewarding experiences of others. For instance, it involves where people may keep on looking at their internet or social media to verify whether they are invited on an occasion or what are other people planning to do.
FOMO is one of the factors that cause some mental health effects on those who mostly use social media. It’s a feeling of inclusion and social stands that an individual develops. It’s through social media where one notices what other people were doing and the victim feels that they are supposed to be included but they are not. They feel that those people who are close to society cannot be involved in an event and misses to invite them (Dedria, p.55). social media allows people to develop this bad habit where they can keep on searching what are other people are involved in every time and day. The platforms allow these people to feel isolated and most of them will start fighting for their sense of belonging as well as developing negative emotions towards the individuals. FOMO may cause many people to fight and even cause conflict among the given group of people. It involves a situation where one may claim to know why they were not involved in a social activity that was going on and as a result, it may end up people fighting or even developing enmity.
Social media causes many people to have unrealistic expectations about their friends and life. Social media causes many people not to accept themselves the way they are. It’s an effect where most of the people have been taking so many photos evaluating which one they can post on social media. So in most of these platforms, one gets that they cannot get the right identity or image of an individual. Most of their accounts are usually loaded with many photos. It’s a form of the desperation of an individual where they use the technology to seek for validation (Matthew and Goffey, p.90). It’s where people are using them to portray unrealistic images for themselves. Therefore, this causes a lot of pressure on most of the individuals as they keep on trying to perfect their images. Most people will go even to some extent of using their finances to purchase makeup so that they can look good and impress their peers and friends on social media platforms.
It’s in social media where people will take photos from big buildings or in a place where there are classic items and post them. It’s where people try to hind about their real identity claiming that they owe all those things surrounding them. The effect causes many people to suffer from stress and pressure trying to prove to others that their lifestyle is exactly as they express in social media. Some suffer from financial stability since they are trying to impress people with the little they have instead of improving their economical standards (Robert, 85). To some extent, some people prefer even not to purchase the food staff but purchase internet bundles so that they can just post their current state. Some will even purchase new clothes and have new hear styles just to ensure they perfect their image.
The social image also causes a negative body image. It’s when one looks at social media and finds people who post their beautiful pictures wearing very expensive clothes. Some people look at the body shapes of other individual and they perceive them to be more beautiful than themselves (Maxwell, 145). It causes everyone to have an issue with their body images and most of them developing tactics of exercising their bodies to change their body shapes. It causes people to take unhealthy decisions to make themselves look more attractive and have fame in social media. Its cause’s people not to accept who they are since they need to go to the extent of incurring cost to influence others to appreciate them.
Research shows that most of the females feel bod about their body appearance after looking at the social media pages where they see most of the people being attractive than them. The dissatisfaction feeling that most of the faces make them not to appreciate themselves. Social media has increased this effect of self –denial, and people trying to copy others. It causes some even to seek medical attention just to change their body appearance. For instance, some people go to the extent of bleaching themselves to be attracted and acceptable in society.
Social media affects the sleeping habit of an individual. Due to excessive use of social media, most people are suffering from anxiety and depression which affects their sleep pattern. Most of the people their sleeping partner becomes irregular hence affecting their productivity in the workplace. As the social media market is growing at a higher rate the same way the sleeping problems have been raising (Hartmann, Tilo. Media Choice, p.56). The relationship between media and sleep is interconnecting with other factors such as being addicted. Excessive use of technology leads to more dangerous addiction. Since one cannot do away without using or visiting the online sites. To some extent, some people will not even sleep whenever they have not to access the sites. They will keep on confirming if they have some people who are following their pages and if they see no one follows them or recognizes them they end up being stressed up. Some will be wondering whether there are no people who care about them and are concern about them hence feeling isolated. The effect causes people to use social media even very late at night and some don’t sleep at all. Their poor sleeping habits affect their health as well as their productivity in the workplace. Some will be sleeping or feeling dizzy and weak at work therefore unable to work effectively and efficiently.
In conclusion, social media has been the source of most of the problems which people are suffering from. The innovation of social media has been the source of innovation as well as economic development in most of the places. But at the same time, it has caused many negative effects on the life of all its users who spend most of their time in them. Some of the effects are that it causes depression and anxiety where people keep on comparing their lives with the life of their peers. Some suffer from FOMO where they develop the habit of searching what others are doing every day and feel that they should be included in those activities. Others develop self -denial where they keep on working for self -perfection so that they can look more attractive like those people they feel that are more attractive than them. Therefore, social media can be a source of all negative effects if not properly used. People should use them for their benefits but not intimidating themselves and changing their perception.
Work sited
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