Argumentative Essay: Social Media

Social media can be said to be the reason for some of the worlds problems and solutions. Currently, there are a lot of people using social media. Some of the commonly used social media platforms are Twitter, Facebook, snap chat, what Sapp and tumblers among others. Because of the quick propagation of the internet, social media has since progressed so fast. It is believed that the generalization of the internet usually makes us live conveniently and quickly. The evolution of the smartphones has also made the use of social media much more accessible. Over the time, it has been a platform that people can contact each other even when they live far away. It has also been used by business people as a platform to foster marketing. In light of this, it can be said that the main reason behind social media creation was for the betterment of the generations and the society at large. However, the platform has proven to be otherwise. Social media has today done more harm than good.

It is reported that an average teenager spends a minimum of two hours on social media each day. As illustrated by Ngai et al. (2015), social media is today not only becoming part of their world; it has become their world. As much as teenagers have been arguing that they spend a lot of time on social media because they are stressed with their homework, this argument could, however, not be the case as illustrated by Ngai et al (2015), in his opinion, on statistics, youth who usually spend more time outdoors are usually happier and healthier than those who spend it indoors. According to Ngai et al. (2015), from the year 2000, the time that the teenagers have spent outdoors has significantly reduced, and the effect has been depression and stress. Another important aspect which is slowly being eliminated with the use of social media is the school work. This factor has become a second thought to most of the teenagers. According to Ngai et al. (2015), the overall result of this low classwork has been manifested in poor performance by the teenagers. It is currently hard to find a good teenager writer. The common usage of text has damaged the good old English language that majority used to admire.

Every teenager has a lot of expectation on social media. It is through this platform that majority of them gauges how popular they are and how important their opinion matter to their peers. However, sometimes things dont go as planned. People get disappointment on social media. The continuous disappointment and harsh words coming from friends usually lower self-esteem of the social media users. This has been mainly brought by the effects of cyberbullying. There are traditionally bullies who are out to demoralize their colleagues. In the view of Pfeffer, et al. (2014), young people are as twice vulnerable to cyberbullying on Facebook as their older counterparts. The hatred post that is usually posted on a social platform can be very harmful, harassing and also embarrassing. To some extent, they are found to be threatening thus making the social media users feel very uncomfortable.

The other negative impact that is brought by the social media is manifested in its addictive nature. Majority of people believe that alcohol or drug is addictive than social media. The truth, however, is that social media addiction is a big problem. According to Pfeffer et al. (2014), research done by the University of Chicago Booth School Business, the social media addiction was found to be growing at a higher rate and worse still; it is hard to escape. The study also realized that majority of people have the social media addiction and the worse yet; they dont even know it. The addictive nature of the social media also reduces one's productivity. As much as a business today uses social media for marketing purposes, the sites are potential destruction to employees. These specific employees are social media addicts who are majorly concerned with what their friends are posting on their social networks. According to nucleases research, Facebook tends to shelves about 1.5% off office productive. It is also reported that British companies lost 2.2 billion in years to the social blocked (Pfeffer et al.2014).

Studies have also proven that majority of social media users tend to undergo a kind of withdrawal. Swansea University confirmed that individual could experience symptoms of withdrawals at the moment that they stopped using the social media. The same study also examines that when people stop using social media, they also undergo some small measurable psychological effects. The continuous use of social media has also triggered sadness and less well-being than happiness. The more one uses social media, the less happy they become. This particular observation is brought by the fact that Facebook and other social media platform tend to conjure up a sense of isolation (Pfeffer et al., 2014).

With social media, privacy has lost it meaning. Social networking sites encourage people to be more public as far as their personal lives are concerned. This is brought by the facts that the intimate fact of our lives can easily be posted. In light of this, most of the time, social media users post things that sometimes remain available indefinably. These could range from a friend posting about their party or people posting about their social gatherings. Cyber-attacks and predators have taken advantage of individuals who post about their location and everything that they do. The aspect of privacy on social media has continued to be a problem even if some social sites allow their users to control who sees and visits their sites, an effort which is usually forgotten by the majority of the social media users.

Social media users are also at risk of getting metal and psychological disorders. The common aspect of the mental disorder is usually brought by the social isolation. The significant part of the reason why Facebook, for instance, have been contributing to social isolation is the comparison factor. Majority of the Facebook users tend to fall into the trap of comparing themselves to others. As they scroll through their feeds, they are usually bond to make certain judgments on peoples lives. According to Perl off (2014), comparison on whether one is better or worse off still makes Facebook users feel bad. Also, as depicted by Perloff (2014), any social comparison is, in most cases, linked to depressive symptoms. The comparison factor has also been found to be a source of jealousy and a vicious cycle. Majority of the social media users will admit that seeing peoples tropical vacations and perfectly behaved children, for instance, usually is envy-inducing. As explained by Perloff (2014), social media use tends to trigger feelings of jealousy. The aspect of envy has also been found to be a source of depression. Unfortunately, part of the unhealthy bit of the use of social media is that its user still comes back even after realizing that it does not make them feel good. In Ngai, et al. (2015), view, this is usually brought by the forecasting error. Just like drug use, they tend to think that getting a fix will help, but it makes the user feel even worse.

Social media could also be misleading. In fact, it is usually very unimportant. Besides the news part which is brought by the social media, the majority of the posts on social media are incredibly irrelevant and insignificant to our world today. The varying types of information that Daisy just got a new phone for instance is extremely useless in the long run. Worse still, some post is even offensive in nature.

During electioneering periods, social media has been abused by using indecent words. Sometimes, the use of social media can result in hatred and have in most cases led to violence. This is especially true when the platform is used to spread out hatred amongst communities.

Social media has stolen our social life that was used to have. People are no longer social. This has been brought under the impression that these sites create. People assume that after chatting with each other, they feel like they have reconnected. Also, during gatherings or any social function, people tend to be much busier with their phones than the meeting itself. What happened to the actual catching up? People are no longer connected as before.

As reported by Ngai, et al. (2015), social media, especially Facebook has been a source of home brakes. Most homes have today been bracken because of social media news and post. Because people can post anything and everything, some people can decide to leak out specific information that could be dangerous to the married couples or people who could be in a relationship and would want their lives to be private.

With all the information provided, this does not necessarily mean that there is no benefit of social media. At least, it is a source of connection as it has been used find people who had lost touch with years ago. Business has also used the platform to foster their profits. Majority of the companies have been using the platform to find new customers and lost get instant feedback about their products or services. Some have also gotten their significant halves unsocial media.

In conclusion, it clear that social media has a lot of negative impacts than the positive effects ranging from, lowing of self-esteem, waste of time, predators allover, cyberbullying family breakage and unproductiveness in business. The good news, however, is that as much as it has all these negative effects, social media usage, it is possible to significantly reduce or stop the social media usage.

Works cited

Ngai, Eric WT, Spencer SC Tao, and Karen KL Moon. "Social media research: Theories, constructs, and conceptual frameworks." International Journal of Information Management35.1 (2015): 33-44.

Perloff, Richard M. "Social media effects on young womens body image concerns: Theoretical perspectives and an agenda for research." Sex Roles 71.11-12 (2014): 363-377.

Pfeffer, Jurgen, Thomas Zorbach, and Kathleen M. Carley. "Understanding online firestorms: Negative word-of-mouth dynamics in social media networks." Journal of Marketing Communications 20.1-2 (2014): 117-128.