Within the world, there are millions of cellphone users within the nation. With the cell phones, comes social media, such as twitter, instagram, facebook and many other ways that can easily help or affect the lives of individuals.
Social media can affect our mental health. “Health experts love to say that sitting is the new smoking. Given the number of diseases to which sitting is linked, and the number of people it apparently kills every year, sitting is one of the worst things we can do for health. But possibly as concerning is the thing that we often do while we’re sitting: Mindlessly scrolling through our social media feeds when we have a few spare minutes (or for some, hours). And as we probably know intuitively, and as the research is confirming, it’s not the best habit when it comes to our collective psychology,” (Alice Walton in LiveLong). Social media can attract depression, due to things such as cyberbullying in which can bring an individual down, in which suicide rates have risen since social media has become an abundant need from teens. Teens feel the need to express themselves through their social media pages, in which can turn into a bigger deal than what it really is. Some people strive for social media, because they feel it will create more popularity for them, when that typically isn’t the case. Social media can cause people to compare themselves to others, such as when a girl sees another girl on the beach, she may compare herself to the others life, in which can cause insecurities.
Social media can also conflict jobs and college acceptances. Everything an individual posts online, can always be seen by people, even when deleted. Due to this, many people can have declines when it comes to college and job appliances to due the irrational behaviors portrayed on social media. Due to teens feeling the need to expose their lives on social media, it could be events that are too obscure, in which can affect their future in the long-run.
Some people believe that social media is helping society. This can be true due to it helping boost some people’s self-esteem by getting comments on their social media, sometimes from people they don’t even know. Social media also gives news distribution, so for instance, if you are driving down the highway, you can easily be alerted if there is a wreck down the road, which can help you find a different-quicker route which is a positive of social media. “Billions of people worldwide use social media networks. In terms of marketing, it is the most cost effective way to reach mass amounts of consumers. Consumers that support a cause, product or service are more likely to share posts from major corporations and non-profit organizations. Charitable organizations tug at the heartstrings of the general population,” (Agrawal, Forbes). Due to the news being an online source, it can be very beneficial. Social media can also portray teen-awareness, in which can help teens better themselves, or be aware of what issues are going on in the world.
In my personal opinion, I feel that Social Media is overdone. I feel as if people depend highly too much on it to either spend their time on, or to rely on for everything. I feel as if life would be so much simpler if social media was not a relevant thing. Social media is a good source to have, to communicate people relatives and friends far away, but there’s also pivotal points to the social media, such as cyberbullying and other forms of mental health causes. Is Social Media actually good or harmful to society?
