Category: Unit 2 (Page 1 of 54)

Research Question: How bad is social media really?

Social media is part of everyday life in this day of age. The meaning of pretty social media is “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.” This definition leaves a broad variety of applications. Social media is so accessible even a child can have an Instagram or Youtube account and you can also connect with basically your grandparents over Facebook, which is fairly significant. It for all intents and purposes is how we for the most part communicate with friends and even check in celebrity news. So the question for all intents and purposes is how well is social media for the younger person who actually is still developing, which is quite significant. Well to particularly go over that we first essentially have to go over the history of sort of social media.  According to the understanding of very social media, “These pranksters and hackers were probably the earliest social media explores who went on to build “boxes” that were homemade electronic devices, which could generate tones allowing them to make free calls and gain access to the backend of the telephone system. In this manner, hacked corporate voice mail systems called “Codelines” were used to produce the first real “blogs/podcast”.” This is all the back in the 60s. Back then the first particularly real forms of social media were only available to few people smart enough to hack into a cell phone company. Although social media isn’t really new, the level it for the most part is at now is at just seems to be increasing at higher levels. The world wide web was not introduced till 1991 but even before then there were bulletin boards and commercial online services were a way to for the most part get one’s point across to a wider audience in a subtle way. With the introduction of emails, we for the most part were able to send messages in an instant to people far away. Facebook was introduced in 2004, which sparked the fire of what we generally have now, which is fairly significant. Most people on basically social media probably don’t even know before they had it, which generally is quite significant. My parents talk about some of the stuff and to me sounds like a far-off memory. I was born when technology essentially was advancing at such a fast rate that the first generation of the iPhone seems so obsolete even though that was the best thing out at the time. Around this year Patrick James McGinnis coined the term FOMO or fear of missing out in an actual big way. Now, this term can be used to describe generally many social media users’ experiences, or so they thought. As helpguide.org states, “multiple studies have found a strong link between heavy social media and an increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and even suicidal thoughts.” Now basically social media for the particularly young impressionable mind essentially is not sort of good if not monitored. Social media actually has brought a whole new feeling of loneliness even though we generally are all connected much better than ever. We have the ability to actually make fake personas to post online to for the most part help get away from real life, or so they particularly thought. With online people also do not feel that bad for the repercussions of their actions because they for the most part are behind a screen and not really facing anyone. I personally believe the anxiety might stem from people’s need to have some appreciation and that now with the like button you can measure how particularly many people agree to a certain post in a particular major way. Now social media is not all that bad. It keeps people connected and is a place to voice any matter of opinion, or so they thought. With the emergence of very social media, you can literally learn almost anything, anywhere, from anyone at any time, contrary to popular belief. That for the most part is the best thing social media basically has to offer with this knowledge for the most part is at everyone’s fingertips at any time or place. Now, this change is good, but another downside actually is the decrease in attention span. Psychminds state, ” We are a generation that is constantly checking our phones, emails, social media outlets for updates and notifications. We expect instant gratification from the internet. Pages on the web need to load at breakneck speed. A study found that a one second delay in page load time can result in 11% fewer page views, 16% decreased customer satisfaction and 7% lost conversions. Not only is technology decreasing our attention abilities, it is also decreasing our ability to be patient. We expect everything to occur instantly, at the click of a button.” It also states, “A Pew Internet Study in the US found that attention span and in depth analysis is being diminished by instant access to computers and online platforms. The type of reading that is done on the internet is shallow; there is no deep thinking involved. Not only that, but in order to keep people’s short attention spans on the page, interactive videos, images and sound clips are usually posted.” This article for all intents and purposes is a perfect example of some of the adverse specifically effects social media has on the mind, which definitely is fairly significant. With social media and videos going over each step by step play people particularly have gotten lazier in terms of reading. I have watched my mom essentially make a fuss over not being able to do something or something not being there when it is just a 5 minute search time in a big way. Somethings I for the most part have to learn myself to teach, but that actually is where very social media kind of comes in handy even though they don’t use it subtly. I kind of know some kids that are constantly on a tablet or smartphone just in their own worlds watching the next kid-related show or toy channel. This could be why some parents limit their children’s electronic device usage. Some essentially learn at an early age what people usually would kind of have to literally go to a library and do extensive research to particularly get an understanding subtly. Now a couple-minute video of someone who already knows can definitely teach you. Need help with a class? 800 videos helping essentially explain the topic and the top 3 results basically are usually the best.

References:

https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/social_media

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=g2RjpWcCyTAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA9&dq=social+media&ots=gSKDehAC69&sig=SzeZlUcinz8ZSZjx8mG-CLm_yWc#v=onepage&q=social%20media&f=false

https://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-research/social-media-usage-statistics/

https://ourworldindata.org/rise-of-social-media

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323903323_A_Study_on_Positive_and_Negative_Effects_of_Social_Media_on_Society

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/social-media-and-mental-health.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_James_McGinnis

https://www.lifespan.org/lifespan-living/social-media-good-bad-and-ugly

https://psychminds.com/is-the-internet-destroying-our-attentions-span/

https://www.newyorkbehavioralhealth.com/the-impact-of-social-media-use-on-social-skills/