How the social media affects people’s lives

It sounds funny to assert that social media has taken over peoples’ lives in various ways. There is a persistent urge to have an active Facebook, Tweeter, Snap chat, and the Instagram account which helps to express people’s identity to the world they live in and also make themselves feel valued. The result is that today’s generation has become obsessed with virtual reality. Individuals have developed some habits that they did not have before such as the inevitable practice of checking notifications and in disappointment realize that one has not got many likes on the profile picture. 

Other people keep on checking their Instagram notifications within short intervals with the hope that they have received more likes on their photo updates. It’s important to consider whether a like represents popularity and other people’s perception to an individual. The greatest problem is that social media is easily accessible and people are surrounded by technology that allows them to inform others of the current activities in their lives (Romero, Galuba, Asur & Huberman, 2011). There is a trend of people being glued to the screens all day and cannot be separated from their phones at any moment. It is surprising to realize that individuals can spend more time on their phones in comparison to spending time with others thereby affecting their social life. The social activities are diminishing day by day as more people adopt the use of social media for communication other than one on one conversation. The Essay provides a discussion on the effects of social media to people’s lives.  

Some people think of the media as a platform that enables them to meet and communicate with their friends across the world, and others consider it as a channel for sending and receiving large chunks of information. Others consider it as a marketing strategy of their brand depending on how it is used. At present, social media is a significant aspect of people’s lives. Individuals can communicate on Facebook and can listen to music from YouTube which portrays how social media has changed their lives. Nowadays, people do not need to buy daily newspapers since they can just scroll the Twitter timeline for updates. Some other types of social media not only allow users to share their profession, company, and views on various topics but also enables them to find jobs.

Positive connections with people are crucial for the mental and physical health. It is clear that when people are socially isolated, they tend to have a short lifespan and reduced quality of life. Thus, despite the interaction of people on social media being inadequate, it can be beneficial in some ways. The seniors and disabled people have limited mobility and can use social media to connect in ways that they could not. The elderly grandparents can communicate with their grandkids and friends living in different states can chat online and through video calls (O'Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011). 

Social media affects people’s lives by facilitating communication and connection with others in high school, college, and over the web. The social sites ensure that people who are not in the same geographical location can connect and learn about what is happening to the family and friends lives. Social media sites are also effective in marketing, and over the past years, there has been an increase in the level of advertising on the sites. Many companies have become part of the site rather than mere advertising. The strategy allows them to have a closer connection between consumers and companies thereby leading to better service delivery and high-quality products (De Vries, Gensler & Leeflang, 2012).

Social media has also affected people’s lives by revolutionalizing the entertainment industry. A large population of people spends quality time on social media since it is a great form of entertainment. One can watch videos of what others post to their timelines, new pictures, read stories, and play games. In spite of the device used, more and more users are utilizing social media in their daily lives, and it has a significant impact on their lives. The social media sites are a major step towards globalization. The different social media sites operate differently, and thus users choose them to suit their needs and lifestyle.       

Despite everything appearing simple and easy to handle via social media, it is important to consider whether there is something strange with the society being highly dependent on social media. Social media is addictive, and studies reveal that 63% of the Americans use Facebook on a daily basis and for multiple times a day. Individuals use the sites for various reasons, but the bottom line lies in relieving distraction and boredom. The fact that people turn to social media now and then makes them addictive thereby affecting their lives. Social media also makes people compare their lives with that of others due to the posts that present an idealized version of what is happening, what things appear, and how things are going on. It makes users to regularly compare themselves to others and consider themselves less of own lives. When things go on well for others in your social circles, and you have a rough day, it is likely to affect the mood negatively. Many people have changed their behavior negatively due to the decline or loss of confidence they felt initially as a result of unfair comparisons with others. Low self-esteem is not the only consequence of heavy social media use (Bolton, et al., 2013). There is need to establish a healthy balance between the real-time relationships and the virtual connections using social media. In some instances, people tend to have low-self esteem, feel low upon seeing other people’s images and lifestyle, the envy of other people, using social media as the only activity for enjoyment, and being unable to perform personal duties without sharing it online.    

Social media is also an avenue for cyberbullying especially for the adolescents. A large percentage of teenagers using social media have had an instance of cyberbullying, and some of them have become victims of it. Social media tends to glamorize drug and alcohol use. In a study that explored the relationship between teenagers, social media, and drug use, it was found out that many teenagers use social media and interact with people who are more likely to use tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. Other teenagers are exposed to pictures of people who are under the influence of drugs through social media that shows the correlation between the two factors. It is likely that social media enhances peer pressure to which young people are exposed to activities that affect their lives negatively (Bandura, 2001).

Social media similar to other things that take large chunks of time has an impact on health. There are various ways that social media affects health, including addiction that makes people experience negative effects such as eyestrain, lack of sleep, and social withdrawal. People who spend their time in social media researching about problems and arguing with people are likely to suffer from stress which has a negative effect on health. Social media helps to connect with more people and keep in touch which enhances the health outcomes. There are different sources of health-related information on the social media which is helpful but can also be harmful if the information is not authentic.

Social media does not fully give the opportunity of portraying the reality of individuals, hence necessary to stop consuming a lot of time trying to make lives look perfect and focus on living in the moment. The constant updates about others, make people jealous and badly compare themselves with others making people to over-evaluate their lives. It is true that social media is a positive medium, about connecting people and sharing with family members and friends. However, where it began ruling and directing our lives and daily activities is the point that it went too far in affecting our lives. It is worth questioning whether the impacts of social media on people’s lives are worth it.

The issues discussed do not lead to a clear conclusion as to whether social media is good or bad since it has both positive and negative effects. However, there is clear evidence that social media has changed people’s lives in certain ways and there is much to gain from it. From communication, sharing, entertainment, strengthening relationships, to marketing, social media is considered as a breakthrough. On the contrary, it subjects teenagers to peer pressure, drug abuse, feelings of isolation, low self-esteem and affects the general health of the heavy users.

References

Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory of mass communication: Media Psychology, 3(3), 265-299.

Bolton, R. N., Parasuraman, A., Hoefnagels, A., Migchels, N., Kabadayi, S., Gruber, T., ... & Solnet, D. (2013). Understanding Generation Y and their use of social media: a review and research agenda: Journal of Service Management, 24(3), 245-267.

De Vries, L., Gensler, S., & Leeflang, P. S. (2012). The popularity of brand posts on brand fan pages: An investigation of the effects of social media marketing. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 26(2), 83-91.

O'Keeffe, G. S., & Clarke-Pearson, K. (2011). The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families: Pediatrics, 127(4), 800-804.

Romero, D. M., Galuba, W., Asur, S., & Huberman, B. A. (2011). Influence and passivity in social media. In Proceedings of the 20th international conference companion on World wide web (pp. 113-114). ACM.

Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in research paper writing services if you need a similar paper you can place your order from Top American Writing Services.