Our society today has adapted to the use of the developing and growing technology. Social media activities amidst us have significantly increased, and without us being aware, it’s slowly consuming and affecting our social lives. As internet users, it is necessary to examine the dangers of social media and restrain from them. Many existing studies and articles show increased dependence on social networking sites, for example, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Instagram. Therefore, social media is getting more dangerous .
The notion that social media has come up to ease work is significantly taking a negative impact on our lives. We are factoring in most our time on social media activities and increasingly affecting our social life. Social media has become our prime way for communication diminishing face-to-face interactions. Social media is addictive and can led to withdrawal, isolation. It can also trigger less well-being and less happiness (Langerfeld, p.e30-31). People are over sharing their private lives on social media platforms affirming and seeking validation of their self-worth in order to feel accepted by the society. According to Piotrowski and Chris, 2015, warns parents about the dangers that they are putting their children through when they expose their children’s lives on social media looking for compliments. Cyberbullying and Facebook depression have become rampant in our day to day lives. It includes hurling insults, making threats, attempting to send emails that are full of insults, hacking someone’s digital communicating tool and sharing provoking pictures or information. The rapid growth of social media has led to increase in crime. Victims of online bullying have attempted suicide, they also experience fear, depression, anxiety, and they struggle in there academics. Body shaming is another form of harassment that is increasingly becoming common. It causes low self-esteem issues and a feeling of unworthiness. Decrease in self-esteem is associated with depression and social withdrawal (Piotrowski and Chris, 2015).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Continuous dependence on social media has a downside effect on education. You find that there is over-reliance on social media by students causing interference in their studies. Studies carried out show that students are spending more hours on social networking sites interacting and chatting with friends instead of concentrating on their studies. This has affected their academic performance and led to a decline in their grades (Langerfeld, p. 30-31). Due to much time spent on social media, students have become less creative, and their writing skills have been greatly affected. Redundancy in reading books and novels has increased, affecting the student’s creativity in writing. Lack of research and use of the library has also changed the academic performance of the students for they instead use Google and other social sites to copy and paste when assigned tasks. Student rely on social media for the accessibility to provide answers and information reducing their focus on research and learning.
Not only is social media affecting students, it also has a downside effect on companies and businesses. Companies find that job applicants do not communicate effectively and their communication is deteriorating due to lack of physical interaction with one other but over-reliance on social media to network. Companies are also prone to unnecessary risks such as; hacking, privacy, spy-ware, safety and viruses. Hackers are mostly interested in the company’s financial reports, information in return decreasing the company’s privacy. They can access the email and other private documents. Hacking damages the company’s reputation. Social media gives customers a platform to provide feedback. In case of dissatisfaction comment, it may risk how customers view the company and hurt the company brand. Employees might also be spending most of their time on social media compromising and wasting the companies’ time and in turn affecting the companies operation and decreasing its productivity.
Social media can impact health. People spend the most time sitting, and less movement is involved this causes weight gain and may, in turn, affect the health of a person. Also, too much time is spent on a computer or a cell phone, and this exposes one to light causing the eyes to strain leading to poor eyesight. Other health problems associated with spending more time on social media platforms are joint, back and neck pain due to limited movement. Social media also affects our mental health. It can cause distraction an example is chatting while walking or driving is a potential hazard. It can lead to stress too. Fatigue is another health issue problem related to overuse of social media.
Another major problem arising in the prolonged use of social media is sexting. Exchange of sexual information is a common practice among our young generation. Although sexting is said to be dangerous and also a crime, people still engage in it. They post nude photos online looking for reviews from their virtual friends without caring what effect this might bring. When a group of teens was interviewed and asked why they do it, most of them said it was a way of experimenting and exploring. However, some said they are pressured into it. Apart from the emotional damage that sexting can cause, it’s also a crime and can lead to addiction. (Rice, p.21-23) states that 90% of sexual photos posted on social networking platforms find their way to the pornographic sites.
Social media makes the distinction between conspiracies, fake news, and rumors very difficult. It’s difficult to tell whether the report is accurate. Political campaigns thrive on both real and fake news that spread on social networking platforms. Social media also promotes biases, especially about politics. The peddling of false information on particular leaders affiliated to specific political class has become the norm in some of the social media sites that promote fake news. Dangers of over dependency of social media with continue to prevail, therefore as a society we must take steps to ensure that social media does not negatively affect us but instead benefits us.
Work Cited
Lagenfeld, Sean J., et al. "An assessment of unprofessional behavior among surgical residents on Facebook: a warning of the dangers of social media." Journal of surgical education 71.6 (2014): e28-e32. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24981657
Ngai, Eric WT, Spencer SC Tao, and Karen KL Moon. "Social media research: Theories, constructs, and conceptual frameworks." International Journal of Information Management 35.1 (2015): 33-44. https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/elsevier/social-media-research-theories-constructs-and-conceptual-frameworks-bzOjieSQvj
Piotrowski, Chris. "Emerging Research on Social Media Use in Education: A Study of Dissertations." Research in Higher Education Journal 27 (2015). http://www.academia.edu/25958599/Emerging_Research_on_Social_Media_Use_in_Education_A_Study_of_Dissertations
