Social media has many effects and some of the biggest the ones are those that affect everyday life. How would your life be different if you didn't have social media? What would you do when your bored? What would be the first thing you did when you woke up? For many people social media plays a big role in their everyday life and they don't even notice it.
One of the worst effects of social media is that it gives bullies the opportunity to harass or harm their victim 24/7. Cyber bullying is common among younger users of social media just as it is with older users. When the first thing many people do it check their social media and this is not healthy when it is fully of negative comments.
Social media is addictive and here are some of the effects it has on everyday life:
The study mentioned earlier was done by the University of Michigan and had very concerning results. The experiment was done by using a range of subjects throughout the University, they had to fill out a survey that was sent to them at random 5 times a day for two weeks. During this time the subjects were asked to use Facebook and record the amount of time they used it for.
The questions that were asked were:
These questions were used to base the experiment on. What was concluded was that “On the surface, Facebook provides an invaluable resource for fulfilling the basic human need for social interaction. But rather than enhance well-being, we found that Facebook use predicts the opposite result - it undermines it.” - U-M social psychologist Ethan Kross. They found that the higher the use of Facebook over the two week period the more the subjects life satisfaction levels declined over time. There was also no proof to support the other reasons why Facebook undermines happiness such as people only use it when they were sad. “In addition, although people were more likely to use Facebook when they were lonely, loneliness and Facebook use both independently predicted how happy participants subsequently felt.” Social media, Facebook in particular does not improve our lives and can be very addictive as many people use it continuously throughout their day.
One of the worst effects of social media is that it gives bullies the opportunity to harass or harm their victim 24/7. Cyber bullying is common among younger users of social media just as it is with older users. When the first thing many people do it check their social media and this is not healthy when it is fully of negative comments.
Social media is addictive and here are some of the effects it has on everyday life:
- Can make bullying a part of everyday life (cyber bullying)
- employers can access social media accounts and use the details available to decide whether or not to hire someone based alone on their online life.
- effects that lifestyle and job an individual has
- Can be the cause of depression
- Be a main factor to self-esteem problems
- Social media makes us compare our lives with others and make us depressed or less satisfied with our life
- a study completed by the university of Michigan showed that “the more people used Facebook the worse they subsequently felt. The reverse path way was not significant, indicating that people do not use Facebook more or less depending on how they feel.”
- lack of emotional connection
- decreased face to face communication skills
- alienates us from our families
- causes a distraction from everyday life, such as work, school, friends ,families
The study mentioned earlier was done by the University of Michigan and had very concerning results. The experiment was done by using a range of subjects throughout the University, they had to fill out a survey that was sent to them at random 5 times a day for two weeks. During this time the subjects were asked to use Facebook and record the amount of time they used it for.
The questions that were asked were:
- How do you feel right now?
- How worried are you right now?
- How lonely do you feel right now?
- How much have you used Facebook since the last time we asked?
- how much have you interacted with other people “directly” since the last time we asked?
These questions were used to base the experiment on. What was concluded was that “On the surface, Facebook provides an invaluable resource for fulfilling the basic human need for social interaction. But rather than enhance well-being, we found that Facebook use predicts the opposite result - it undermines it.” - U-M social psychologist Ethan Kross. They found that the higher the use of Facebook over the two week period the more the subjects life satisfaction levels declined over time. There was also no proof to support the other reasons why Facebook undermines happiness such as people only use it when they were sad. “In addition, although people were more likely to use Facebook when they were lonely, loneliness and Facebook use both independently predicted how happy participants subsequently felt.” Social media, Facebook in particular does not improve our lives and can be very addictive as many people use it continuously throughout their day.
Bibliography:
Facebook Makes Us Sadder And Less Satisfied, Study Finds (2013) Available at: http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2013/08/19/213568763/researchers-facebook-makes-us-sadder-and-less-satisfied (Accessed: 3 June 2015)
Facebook use predicts declines in happiness, new study finds (no date) Available at: http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/21626-facebook-use-predicts-declines-in-happiness-new-study-finds (Accessed: 3 June 2015)
InternetSafety101.org: Dangers (no date) Available at: http://www.internetsafety101.org/snsdangers.htm (Accessed: 3 June 2015)
InternetSafety101.org: Statistics (no date) Available at: http://www.internetsafety101.org/Socialmediastats.htm (Accessed: 3 June 2015)
Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D. S., Lin, N., Shablack, H., Jonides, J. and Ybarra, O. (2013) ‘Facebook Use Predicts Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults’, PLoS ONE, 8(8), doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069841
Facebook Makes Us Sadder And Less Satisfied, Study Finds (2013) Available at: http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2013/08/19/213568763/researchers-facebook-makes-us-sadder-and-less-satisfied (Accessed: 3 June 2015)
Facebook use predicts declines in happiness, new study finds (no date) Available at: http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/21626-facebook-use-predicts-declines-in-happiness-new-study-finds (Accessed: 3 June 2015)
InternetSafety101.org: Dangers (no date) Available at: http://www.internetsafety101.org/snsdangers.htm (Accessed: 3 June 2015)
InternetSafety101.org: Statistics (no date) Available at: http://www.internetsafety101.org/Socialmediastats.htm (Accessed: 3 June 2015)
Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D. S., Lin, N., Shablack, H., Jonides, J. and Ybarra, O. (2013) ‘Facebook Use Predicts Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults’, PLoS ONE, 8(8), doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069841