“I know a girl whose one goal was to visit Rome

Then she finally got to Rome

And all she did was post pictures for people at home

‘Cause all that mattered was impressin’ everybody she’s known

I know another girl that’s cryin’ out for help

But her latest caption is “Leave me alone”

I know a girl happily married ’til she puts down her phone

I know a girl that saves pictures from places she’s flown

To post later and make it look like she still on the go”

The lyrics above are from Drake’s popular song: “Emotionless”. It

paints a picture of the deceit social media provides the world with daily.

Social media can be a very useful tool when used sparingly. Mark

Zuckerburg’s original intention for Facebook was to help connect

people from all around the world. This was extremely useful

with long distance friendships and relationships. With just a few

clicks it allowed you to share what you were doing with the rest

of the world, and to see what your friends were doing on a daily

basis. Similar sites started to arise such as Myspace, Twitter,

Instagram, and Snapchat. These social media sites quickly

gained traction and became a major part in our everyday lives,

especially for those born after 2002. Like anything, however,

social media did not come without negatives. This blog post will

cover some of its’ main negatives such as deteriorating social

skills, self-esteem issues (mostly among teens), and addiction.

It is heard frequently; the complaints that the younger

generation doesn’t know how to converse without a screen in

front of their face. I must say, this is not a completely

unreasonable statement. Millenials and younger

have had phones/computers as their primary form of

communication throughout their entire lives, thus face-to-face c

ommunication became all but obsolete. According to Liberty

Classical Academy, looking at a screen more than ten hours a day

takes away the ability to know what to look at during face-to-

face conversation. This also takes away the ability to form

close emotional connections, and influence people. Also this lack

of face-to-face communication causes millenials to not

understand social cues and body language, both major parts of

being a good conversationalist (Liberty Classical Academy, 2018).

According to iGen, children spend at least 6 hours of their leisure time,

on various social medias. This is without counting in computer time at

school, while doing homework, etc. (Twenge J.M., 2017, pg. 51).

Another source, Introduction to Mass Communication by McGraw Hill,

states that children between the ages of 8-18 will spend about eleven

hours per day consuming information via various electronic medias

(Baran, 2019, pg. 31). Lastly, Microsoft Corporation studies have shown

that digital lifestyle has led to decreased attention span. The average

human attention span shortened from 12 seconds to 8 seconds in a little

over a decade. It is obvious during conversation when someone is

distracted, or looking/thinking elsewhere. With all these things

combined, socializing with millennials and younger has become

uncomfortable, and some might even say impossible.

Corporations are struggling to find young people to hire due to

their inability to connect with people skills and crippling social

awkwardness. 

Self-esteem among teens also largely took a hit from the

social media era. There are many psychological studies that have

both been completed, and underway that look at suicide rates and

social media. It is so common that teens see their peers

seemingly “perfect” lives on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, or

Twitter and feel worse about themselves because they are not

doing as well. Young girls see images of pretty, thin,

fashionable women and hate themselves for not looking “as

good” as they do. A dangerous phenomenon is occurring

specifically among college kids, an article from ChildMind calls it

“duck syndrome”. The term itself was coined by Harvard

professors, referring to the way a duck appears to glide

effortlessly across a pond while below the surface its feet work

frantically, invisibly struggling to stay afloat (Jacobsen, 2019). This is the

reality for many college kids, facing pressure to keep their image perfect

to their peers and family but struggling to do so. The rising

suicide rates for college students are terrifying, and those who

have died have often left no trace of emotional pain on their

perfectly constucted social media words and images. 

Social-media can be addictive in nature, as it allows to

virtually experience friends’ events without actually having to be

there. According to iGen “In Person No More: I’m with You, but

Only Virtually”, college students in 2016 spend 1/3 less time at

social events than they did in 1987. (Twenge J.M., 2017, 71) It

also lets you see amazing feats, beautiful places, keep up with the

latest fashion trends, and all within the comfort of your own bed.

According to Psychology Today, social-media addiction has

similar symptoms as substance addiction including: planning out

times to use social media, frequent urge to use social-media

more and more, using social-media to avoid problems, trying and

failing to reduce social-media usage, restlessness when unable to

use social media, overuse to the point is causes negative effects

with job/social life (Griffiths, 2018). While few people are actually

diagnosed as social media addicts, almost everyone could answer

yes to a few of those questions. It is not uncommon for people to

go to an event for the sole purpose of posting it on their social

media platforms. Social settings have become nothing more than

an opportunity to take a picture and prove their importance to

whatever crowd they belong. Notably among women, they worry

so much about their best angles/lighting. There are products you

can even buy that enhances you social media image! How

prevalent social media has become in our society is hard to

fathom. 

All in all, the saddest thing about the social-media age, is

the inability to enjoy, live in the moment. It has to constantly be

documented through technology. Like all things, when used

sparingly, social-media is a powerful tool that makes the world a

smaller place-for the better. As we have seen from the trend in

recent years, it can cause an epidemic of attention-seeking

and lack of grasp on reality. I challenge every reader to take this

information and use it as a warning for this plague ongoing in

society. Try to utilize social media in smaller doses, rather than

making it a daily-no-hourly ritual. I think you will find enjoying

things without a digital screen, more so than enjoying things

with, will improve your overall happiness. 

Sources

Addicted to Social Media? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-excess/201805/addicted-social-media

Baran, S. J. (2019). Introduction to mass communication: Media literacy and culture. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

How Technology Affects Your Social Skills. (2018, November 01). Retrieved from http://libertyclassicalacademy.org/ technology-affects-social-skills.

Jacobson, R., & Child Mind Institute. (n.d.). Social Media and Self-Esteem: Impact of Social Media on Youth. Retrieved from https://childmind.org/article/social-media-and-self-doubt/

Twenge, J. M. (2017). IGEN: Why todays super-connected kids are growing up less rebellious, more tolerant. Chapter 1

Twenge, J. M. (2017). IGEN: Why todays super-connected kids are growing up less rebellious, more tolerant. Chapter 2