Social Media

“In a world of algorithms, hashtags, followers, know the true importance of human connection.” -Simi Fromen. When I read this quote I thought about all the times I’ve gotten distracted on social media, which led me to not being present with my loved ones. My friends and family would be playing games and just enjoying each other’s company, but I was the teenager who hid off to the corner scrolling aimlessly. My phone was essential in my everyday life because it comforted me in any uncomfortable settings, but it also distracted me from making a human connection with those around me. Social media is defined by google as a,

“websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.” For me, social media wasn’t a platform that allowed me to create and share because it became a drug that drastically affected my well-being.

This application became something that has impacted one’s health, education, and business. An application that was supposedly created for these positive uses has caused people to misdiagnose themselves, waste time scrolling rather than completing assignments, and facing hackers. These applications affect people’s mental health in today’s society. Bryan Herrera states, “Herrera informs that heavy usage or reliance on social media tend to bring “low self-esteem, body dysmorphia, and feeling of disconnection among peers and family, thus confirming that while social media brings a multitude of benefits, if not properly regulated, it will become very consuming and unhealthy.” Here we can see that social media is affecting people’s self-esteem, which leads to body shaming and it has also created a disconnection between people’s relationships. Social media has led people to consume so many insecurities by others. This can be connected to Instagram influencers who receive so many likes on social media that can leave people to compare themselves to. Teenagers compare themselves to people who receive these likes and start to want to adjust their image thinking it will lead them to receive that same type of engagement. This type of behavior lowers one self-esteem because they start to believe their image isn’t accepted and have to change their appearance to get the same love or attention others get. This is something that is detrimental to people’s health and leads to body shaming or even feeling less than others. Social media has affected how one perceives themselves and has brought insecurities onto one that has never been in existence. Waseem-Akram- states, “The unnecessary use of these sites has an effect on the mental as well as physical health. Students do not take their meals on time and take proper rest.” This means that these applications are being used aimlessly and are causing a domino effect of problems on one. Students aren’t able to be well-rested for school because they spend so much time engaging in the media, which causes them to lose track of time and lose proper sleep.

Next, students’ education is being affected by these applications. From personal experience, I can vouch that being on social media so often, I start to implement slang into my school writing assignments. Social media is a major part of my generation and has become something that can control us. For example, these apps keep track of what we like, comment, and share which will allow them to place more of these same types of content on our page to engage us more and this leads to time wastage. Waseem Akram writes, “Students generally utilize slang words or abbreviated types of words on long range interpersonal communication locales. They begin depending on the PC language structure and spelling check highlights. This decreases their charge over the dialect and their experimental writing abilities.” This explains how slang on social media has become a part of scholars’ everyday language causing them to over-utilize those words. Students are also becoming used to autocorrections on their phones and this is not allowing their brain to work and problem solve on their own. These apps are doing the jobs for us students and this is affecting our ability to write or spell. The author also writes, “Students, while seeking and concentrating on the web, get pulled into utilizing online networking locales and once in a while they overlook why they are using the internet. Sometimes students are not able to deliver their work in the specified time frame as their time wastes.” Scholars are on social media so much that they lose track of time. The internet has become a drug that has pulled them in and distracts them from getting the important things done in life such as school assignments or completing chores. We get so distracted by scrolling through these apps that we lose track of time and end up submitting assignments late. Social media is causing us, scholars, to not get an education because we waste time engaging in others’ lives and not investing in ourselves.

The media has affected the way businesses grow and operate. Businesses are dealing with hackers who can steal people’s usernames and logins for personal things such as shopping accounts, banking information, and social media. A Study on Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media on Society also states, “Personal information and security can be hacked and shared on the Internet. Some Twitter and Facebook accounts have been hacked in the past and the programmer had posted materials that have influenced the person’s lives.” Hackers have the skills to steal one’s info and possibly sell it to others or even blackmail. This leads to the idea of hackers selling people’s personal information to scammers. W.Akram and R.Kumar write, “Several cases are available where people have committed fraud and scams through online networking.” People are stealing others’ identities, which is engaging in fraud but this is affecting big businesses such as banks, retail stores, etc. These companies are dealing with fraud and have to deal with tons of write-ups about fraud being done on their account which means companies have to refund these customers who didn’t authorize a purchase. When companies are refunding the cardholders they are pulling money away from their business budget. This is harming businesses because they are using their budget for refunds when they could have been expanding their companies.

As you can see, social media has impacted one’s health, education, and business. Teenagers are dealing with depression due to wanting to adjust their appearance. As a teenager who used social media herself, I can echo that social media has been detrimental to my mental and my peers. I’ve had tons of moments in my life where social media made me question my identity, which led to me isolating myself away from these apps. Also, I have friends who don’t have social media and seem to live a more fruitful life because they don’t deal with the media reflecting insecurities onto them. My friend, Sky has never had social media and doesn’t face the problems I dealt with daily. In modern-day society students are so busy scrolling that they’re wasting time or even losing track of time which causes them to not turn in assignments. Businesses are also losing money because hackers are selling people’s personal information and this is allowing people to get a hold of others’ banking info or store log-ins, where they can place unauthorized purchases.

Phoon, Andie (2017) “Social Media and Its Stark Influence on Society,”WRIT: GSW Journal of First-Year Writing: Vol. 1 , Article 8.

Waseem, Akram(2018) “ A Study on Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media on Society,”www.researchgate.net/publication/323903323_A_Study_on_Positive_and_Negative_Effects_of_Social_Media_on_Society.

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