The Consequences Of Social Media

Introduction Undeniably, we are now living in this digital age whereby social media is inescapable as it has become one of the top forms of communication. According to the Dictionary, social media simply means websites and applications that allow users to create and share content or to participate in social networking, informally. With social networking sites and applications like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Blogger and so on, being used by one-third of the entire world, they clearly had a major influence on society. With 95% of teens using the Internet and 81% of them using social media (Madden, Lenhart, Duggan, Cortessi & Gasser, 2013),it is crucial to understand the consequences of social media because with the proficiencies

It can be anything from laptop to a tablet and smartphones that are around us through social media sites, text messages, chat and websites. Examples of cyber bullying are harassment, threats, malicious comments and so on. It has been found that approximately 43% of kids reported being bullied online at some point of adolescence. Studies also show that 68% of teens agree that it has become a serious issue in the society nowadays (Woda, 2014). The internet never sleeps as it operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week which also means cyber bullying can happen anytime, anywhere. In fact, it can be extremely complicated to track down the initial offender. This is scary as it can result in both emotional and psychological consequences. Cyber bullying pushes victims to commit suicide. This is because victims will often think themselves as a failure. They would also feel unworthy to be helped as they’re not valued by others after being embarrassed online. Everyday, they live in constant fear of being tormented even more after seeking for help from their parents or teachers. Therefore, they would tend to terminate themselves,thinking it’s the solution. According to Yale University, bully victims are between two to nine times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims. With that, everyone should stand up against

It is defined as depression that develops when preteens and teens are overexposed and spent a great deal of time on social media sites, such as Facebook, and then begin to show classic symptoms of depression. Similar to depression in the offline world due to lack of acceptance, Facebook depression can cause anxiety and withdrawal, as well as a tendency towards involving in risky activities such as substance abuse, unsafe sex or self-destructive behaviors. The study found that the interaction these teens have on social networking sites is on the rise with 22% of teenagers logging onto their favorite social networking sites especially Facebook more than 10 times a day ( Tahnk, 2014). With majority of teens owning smartphones, it makes accessing into social networking sites much easier and convenient. This could also lead to a false of connection. According to Cornell University’s Steven Strogatz, social media sites can make it difficult for us to distinguish between forming meaningful relationships that we nurture in the real world versus casual relationships formed through social media (Jung,2014). Teens would actually becomes less interactive and eventually become anti-social in the real world as soon as they find communicating through social networking sites, are much more effortless compared to face-to-face communication