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Negative Effects of Social Media on People

Phan Thị Hồng Phương

Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages – Information Technology
Writing Research Paper
Nguyễn Huy Khải
May 6, 2022

In recent years, technology has played an important role in human life so many
people have been exposed to social media since childhood. It has become a critical part in
our everyday routines, sometimes even checked multiple times per day and hour. By the
click of a button we are able to communication with people all over the world by posting
on timelines, stories and blogs. With applications such as Facebook, Instagram and
Twitter we can communicate via photos and video with no longer needing face to face
contact. Social media impacts the society in the adverse way too. But consciously or
unconsciously, it can have negative influence on users. The significance of social media
in our world can be realized by the fact that nearly 2.65 Billion people on internet use this
platform and this number is estimated to grow in upcoming years (Clement, 2019). Social
media has brought a lot of benefits to our society however, social media has a
considerable amount of negative impact on the youth. Social media has adversely
affected the mental health of the teenagers and is turning them into antisocial generation.
Social networks have increasingly become dangerous as a result of the explosion of
information available and the lack of selection, as well as the fast transmission of
information data. In this article, we are going to tell you the disadvantages of the social
media on a user such as effect to human’s psychology, effect to human’s health and
cyberbullying.
1. Effect to human’s psychology
First and foremost, social media has enabled communication to be effective and
efficient, but it also has negative implications associated with social communication and
social skills of youth. It is affecting relationship and degrades the quality of interpersonal
communication. Youngsters are spending much time on social media which cause
physical isolation and a lack of face-to-face communication. Besides decreasing the
amount of face to face interaction, social networking usages also reduce the quality of
their social interaction. As teens prefer to stay online most of the time, they are not able
to spend quality time with their friends and family. This leads to poor communication
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between their loved ones which not only damage the essence of their relationship but may
also destroy it. There is a drastic shift in the way teens communicate today than 6 years
back, most teens now prefer texting friends rather than talking to them face-to-face
(Stenmetz, 2018). By opening the applications on our phones for Facebook or Instagram
all we need to do is click on a button in order to share a picture of our most recently selfie
or create a post about current thoughts for people to like and comment on. We have
already covered a few articles related to Facebook stalking, Instagram Stalking, and
WhatsApp Stalking. Smartphones are connecting people. But, the negative effects of
smartphones on youth can be seen today. If you’re always sharing your location, then
social media friends know where you are. Teenagers are used to updating their status,
share what they’re watching, listening to, reading, and where they check-ins. This habit
becomes an addiction and makes them hyperactive because they always look for new
updates from their friends. They check every notification and alert to respond because
they believe responding on time is necessary.Teenagers find new friends on social media
and never take a rest. Social media users feel a need or desire to post often to keep people
up to date with their life and to constantly check what other people are doing so that they
know how to fit in. Even though social media has many positives and benefits, there are
many negatives that come along with it. The pressure is higher than ever to fit in with
societal norms. New ideas of beautiful, new styles and trendy ascetics appear every day
which produces added stress for people to keep up with the trends. The idea that we need
to look a certain way, be a certain size, wear specific styles and constantly be up to date
on the newest trends causes an obsession by social media users. Seeing only the best of
other people’s lives can make social media user feel inadequate and depressed. When
people post pictures or videos on social media, it is just a part of them, we don't know if
the pictures are real or fake. They only post ecstatic, flashy moments so that people can
feel they are living a luxurious life, and very happy. Everything that is posted on social
media makes people who find it so overwhelmed they will feel very pressured. For
example, people with poor property they will see playful images from the accounts of
billionaires they will feel inadequate and increasingly pessimistic with life. Therefore,
they will feel they are not satisfied with the present while those who are wealth of
property have a lot of money they live without worry. Such connections are virtual but
can produce anxiety and cause depression. That is a reason why we should anti-social
media.
2. Effect to human’s health
Personal health can be negatively impacted by spending too much time on social
media. Social media not only makes us antisocial, but it is also very bad for our health.
Nowadays, teens have become addictive to social media to such an extent that they
sacrifice their valuable sleep. Sleep deprivation is linked to major mental health issues
such as depression and anxiety. A study on high school students shows that each hour of
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lost sleep was associated with 38 percent in risk of feeling sad and 58 percent increase in
suicidal event (“How technology and Sleep Deprivation Affects Teens”, 2018). Due to
lack of sleep teens become more aggressive, irritable and suffer from lack of
concentration which leads to poor academic performance. Moreover, social media has
become an addiction. Like other addiction behaviour brain responds to social media with
release of dopamine which gives them a sense of reward (“How technology and Sleep
Deprivation Affects Teens”, 2018). Teens become overly concerned about their social
media accounts and tend to log on uncontrollably leaving behind important tasks
(Hillard,2019). Hence, this addiction of social networking sites can not only damage
mental wellbeing of teens but can also affect their future. The addiction of social
networking also has great impact on teens physical health, as teens spend most of their
time on various social platforms, they don’t do any kind of physical activities such as
playing outdoor games, running and exercise. Due of lack of physical activity youngsters
are vulnerable to various heart diseases, several cancers and most common obesity. For
some people, social media can lead to depression and anxiety, spending too long on
social media makes you think your life is useless since social media portrays the image of
a perfect life, being wealthy and having a big fandom. To reduce this risk, it is
recommended spending about thirty minutes to an hour per day on social media. Social
networking becoming mobile use will increase cell phone use and the problem with that
is that cell phones have been found to emit electromagnetic radiation that is absorbed by
the brain and body. This absorption disrupts the brain sites for memory and learning and
can cause confusion and forgetfulness. The cause of cancer in the brain has been the main
health concern with cell phones, which social networking by mobile phone is not
exposing the brain to the waves. Also, a cell phones gives small amounts of radiation off
and would require a lot of use and over a long period of time for it to start to cause
cancer.
3. Cyberbully
Last but not least, a cyberbully is the use of social media to communicate false,
embarrassing, or hostile information to specific users (Prajapati, 2019). Prior to social
media teens were agitated by school bullies, but today they are targeted by bullies via
internet. Among the major effects of social media, cyberbullying is an evil that has
become such an atypical today. The act of cyberbullying consists of spreading rumours
and lies, posting private photos and sensitive information of a student without consent.
One thing that makes cyberbullying more harmful than the traditional bullying is the
anonymity. Cyberbullies use fake identities to humiliate and threaten others, which helps
them protect their true identity and motivates them to continue bullying other people. Just
like other victims of bullying, cyberbullying can be traumatic. Cyberbullied teens
experience fear, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem (Gordon, 2019). In addition to
this, students may lose interest in the activities they use to enjoy, stop spending time with
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their friend and in the extreme cases they may commit suicide. As internet is present
everywhere cyberbullying feels permanent and victims of cyberbullying often find it
difficult to feel safe even at their homes. The effects of cyberbullying give a clear
indication of direct relationship between cyberbullying and depression. Victims of
prolonged cyber-bullying often end up with psychosocial problems like depression,
isolation, loneliness, stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, and some even become suicidal.
The lack of a mechanism to unravel users behind cyberbullying accounts is what is
making these activities rampant. As cyberbullying, cyberstalking has become an issue.
As technology is growing social media has become an imperative part of our
society. In conclusion, social media has some benefits too. It obviously keeps us
connected across great distances, and helps us find people we had lost touch with years
ago. However, social media is like a two-edged swords and prudence is required in its
operation. It has proved to have both positive and negative impact on people. However,
social networking sites have a negative effect on human's health as frequent use of these
sites causes mental disorders such depression, anxiety and sleep deprivation. Based off
the evidence I have provided and research I have done, I think my hypothesis is correct
that heavy social media use does affect one’s social communication which moreover,
affects one’s mental being. Mental well-being and self-esteem can be affected by social
comparison, body image or overall dissatisfaction with the way we look and present
ourselves. Social media is a critical part in today’s society, bringing light to the negatives
will hopefully make it so more people can focus on positive self-esteem. Although social
media has enhanced our connectivity, it is also causing a decline in social and
communication skills. Due to excess use of social networking sites the quality of
relationships has dramatically declined. Further, cyberbullying has also emerged as
negative effect on social media which has increased rapidly in the past few years causing
mental distress among teens. All of these issues are preventable only if you could have
self-control on your behaviors. Controlling and determining how often you should check
your accounts is the key factor in this subject.
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