The Prevention of the Negative Effects of Social Media

Society is obsessed with social media. People are constantly on their phones, laptops, tablets, or computers, checking in on the latest scandal on Facebook, or catching up with an old friend. It’s the way people communicate and find out new information. All information is at the tips of people’s fingertips-- just a couple clicks or taps away. Now, all this sounds great and wonderful; a tool for humans to better themselves and humanity, but in reality, it’s not. Social media does have its negative effects. Social media isn’t all good. Society obsession with social media has led to several disturbing negative effects including: people comparing themselves to others leading to low self-esteem, cyberbullying, overuse of social networks, which can become a distraction and led to failing grades and distance from family, and lastly it can even lead to what may very soon become a new mental illness, social media addiction. One of the major negative effects of social media, and most serious, is social media depression. Although social media depression is not an actual kind of depression, it is, nonetheless, a serious issue and very soon could become an actual disease. This “depression” comes around by people comparing themselves to other people. People do this by comparing themselves to other people’s lives, bodies, and physical beauty. Facebook and Twitter both allow people to update their status in a mere matter of seconds, instantly telling their friends or followers about the awesome experience they just had at Disneyland, or the five-star restaurant they just ate dinner at. People can feel as if their lives are less meaningful than another person’s when that other person is flaunting their prosperous lifestyle around social media. These feelings of worthlessness and unimportance can continue when they see an edited picture of a friend on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Pictures can easily be taken to make an individual look slimmer and more flattering, edited to clear imperfections, and enhanced to make them look the best they can. When people post pictures like those on social media networks, others can easily compare their unedited, unenhanced face to one that has been edited or enhanced. Constantly reading and seeing things that make people feel inferior or ugly can easily lead to depression (Koikai). Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Yasinski says, “It [social media] can cause things like depression and anxiety, probably on a larger scale than any drug has ever caused in America…" (qtd. Erwin). The truth behind this statement is horrifying. No drug could cause such wide spread depression or anxiety with the immediacy of social networks. No drug could ever be accessed that quick, or cause such strong feelings so fast. “Social media depression” can easily be reversed. The most important step is understanding that people only post the good on social media networks. Society pretends that everything is fine. People have no serious problems; people have their life together and nothing ever goes wrong. But this is far from the truth. People do have their problems, they just don’t make them public knowledge. The key is discernment when using social media. How often does that friend go to an upscale restaurant? Or to Disneyland? How long did it take that person to get the perfect picture? When people understand that others only post things to make themselves look better, then they could avoid bitter feelings. Another way to combat comparison is to stay away from social media altogether. If a person is severely struggling with comparison, limit their time on social media sites, or in extreme cases, take it away completely. Sometimes a break is what people need to readjust and start thinking clearly and rationally again (Levine). Another very serious and adverse effect of social media is cyberbullying. Bullying happens all the time in the real world, but when you bring in the cyber world as well, there’s no escape. Kids who face bullying at school can feel this way when they log on to a social media site, like Facebook, and see nasty comments about themselves. They feel as if they can never get away from the bully. Bullies can easily post a cruel status to another person’s timeline or “wall”, even something they might not have the guts to say face to face. This is a serious problem; the internet allows people to feel safe to say anything they want to others, something they might not say in a face to face conversation. This false sense of security can lead to people saying hurtful things to another person and that person’s feelings end up being hurt and can lead to stress, anxiety, depression, and even suicide (Levine). 49.5% of students reported being the victims of bullying online and 33.7% reported committing bullying behavior online (socialnetworking.procon.org). This statistic proves the point that social media gives others a false sense of security and allows bullies to continue to hurt and harm others away from the physical world. Cyberbullying can be prevented and stopped in a number of different ways. The first way is to report incidents of bullying online. If a person sees someone else debasing another person, they should immediately tell a trusted adult or a person who could handle the problem appropriately. Another way is to provide help. Make it known that if a person is a victim of cyberbullying, there is help available. This lets the victim know that there is a person they can trust to go to and tell and feel safe (39, Donegan). The last way to prevent cyberbullying is removal. "As simplistic as it sounds, turn it off." Dr. Thomas Van Hoose says (Smith). Van Hoose is right; turning off all contact with the bully from social media networks is the fastest, and most efficient way to get rid of a cyberbully. Social media overuse is another problem that society seems to have. When used in moderation and for a purpose, social media is exciting and useful, but it can quickly be overused. While waiting in line at a local grocery store, people can check their Facebook timeline, scroll through their newsfeed on Twitter or Instagram, or update their status. Now a little here and there is fine, it’s when people start to spend hours upon hours on end doing these things that it becomes a problem. Overuse of social media can cause a wide variety of issues. It can consume people’s lives, and has the potential to ruin relationships with friends and family. It can be a distraction from the real world, sucking people away from what really matters like homework and family (Koikai). A study showed that students who use social media have an average GPA of 3.06 while non-users had an average GPA of 3.82 and students who used social networking sites while studying scored 20% lower on tests. The fact that in some cases overuse of social networking can drop a student’s test grade from a one hundred percent to eighty percent, and lower their grade point average a whole 0.72 points is incredibly unjustifiable. A person who overuses social media can become like this—distracted and distance, not caring about their dropping grades. The same can go for relationships as well. An individual can spend more time on the internet than interacting with actual people. They can make phony relationships online, with people they assume are who they say they are. People justify spending all this time on the internet by saying they’re making new friends, when they have friends and family that care about them, in person. The dangers behind online friendships and relationships are ones that are very real and very alarming (socialnetworking.procon.com). There are several steps to prevent the overuse of social media. One step people can take is to moderate time they use social media. For example, a person can remove all social media apps from their phone so they have to sit down on a computer or laptop. If they access social media networks primarily on a computer, the computer should be moved to a common area in the house, like the living room. This way a person is not cooped up and alone to spend as much time as he or she pleases surfing the web (Donley). The last step a person can take is to use social media as a reward. This last step is more geared for kids and teens but is still effective nonetheless. If a child does well on a test or quiz, let him or her have an extra ten minutes using the computer. Rewarding a child with what a person took away, is a great way to get the child’s mind back on track (Kemp). The last way social media can have a negative influence is that it can be very addicting. Although this addiction is very closely related to overuse, there are several differences. People can become addicted to the good feelings they receive when they get numerous likes on a photo or status. The instant gratification people receive on these kinds of sites is extremely intoxicating. In fact, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is considering adding Internet Addiction Disorder to their list of mental illness. The need for attention and recognition can become overwhelming and can lead to wanting more and more of it. Almost like a drug. Americans admit to internet use being the number one time waster in their life in a recent study. Addiction can lead to numerous hours spent online trying to fill a hole they think the internet will fill. Social media seems harmless and fun, but when addiction comes into play, it’s not harmless and definitely not fun to try to reverse (socialnetowrking.procon.com). Reversing social media addiction is in theory easy, but for a person to carry out might be more of a challenge. Again, the key is limiting the time spent on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter, but this time people need to fill the need for instant gratification with something else. That something else can be found by talking with real people, reading a good book, or finding a new hobby. All these things can be distractions from social media which can lead the person away from spending so much time online. Actually carrying a plan successfully out to stop social media addiction is difficult, just like when dealing with any kind of addiction, so having an accountability partner is a great idea to keep a person on track with their plan (Husain). Social media is not a bad thing. Social media, in fact can be used in a variety of good ways like communication, information, and just plain old fun. But the key word there is used. How is social media used? Is it being used as a platform to compare a person to another person? Is it being used to hurt other people through cyberbullying? Is it being overused to the point where it’s taking away from a person succeeding in school, or being a distraction from family and friends? Is it becoming an addictive, where a person needs it to feel loved, accepted, and good? In conclusion, when social media is being use it to compare themselves to others, when it’s used to bully other people, when it’s overused, and/or when it becomes and addiction, it is a problem that must be addressed. And the most effective way to deal with it is time. Monitoring the time used on social media is the best way to make sure a person is getting the best out of social media.