Social Media Addiction: The Menace among Youths
Social media platforms have become easy ways to connect with friends and family and catching up with the trending issues. Studies have established that mental health community has become increasingly interested in examining ways in which technology impact people's lives. Although the positive impacts outweigh the negatives, social media is increasingly becoming a menace, especially among the youths. Positively, social media enable connection with families and friends in different geographical locations through Skype, Instagram, and Facebook. Unfortunately, with increased access to Internet and reduction in the prices of smartphones and laptops, most people buy these devices but spend hours on a daily basis updating their status, playing Facebook games, reading comments, searching for new friends, and uploading pictures. The paper aims to review different pieces of literature and discuss the concept, technological patterns, and emotional effects of social media addiction.
Literature Review
From a psychological perspective, addiction is considered a compulsive behavior that contributes significantly to various negative impacts. During addictions, people feel obliged to undertake in some activities more often to the extent that they present damaging habits, which might interfere with other critical plans. Thus, from the definition, a social media addict is anyone with the need to use the platforms excessively through frequently checking the status updates on the platforms and engaging in discussions which are less important through comments. However, studies have not been able to establish when fondness for an activity within the social media becomes a dependency and crosses the line to cause a damaging effect. In a study carried out by Ramasubbu, the researcher noted five distinctive types of the digital age: device addition, information overload, net compulsion, cyber-relationship addiction, and cyber-sexual addition (par. 1). With the rising number of youths accessing the social media platforms, technology has become even riskier since most of them engage in immoral activities. For example, Facebook has different ads, and with less regulation of the social media contents, children are exposed to adulthood contents and start to engage in online relationships with strangers and watch pornographic contents. As cited in Ramasubbu, social networking accounts for the 28% that the teens spend online (par. 1).
Emotional Effects of Social Media Addiction
Consequently, McDaniels undertook a study on how using social media affect emotional well-being of the teens and revealed that most parents do not understand that constant use of the social media platforms affect the health of their children. There are emotional and self-esteem issues associated with constant use of social media as teenagers are under pressure to upload perfect photographs while competing with other peers on the internet. Besides, with the current situation, the young generation especially the adolescent can do anything humanly possible to find the number of likes, comments, and following on the social media platforms (McDaniels par. 2). Although the scholars have not established long-term consequences associated with the excess use of social media, there is mental and emotional toll on the young people. Social media addiction has been linked to increment in the number of anxiety and depression and reduced relationship skills globally. In addition, it notable that these platforms could be more addictive compared cigarette and alcohol for some users. Despite these negative issues, there are positive effects of social media including being resourceful for the youths to find social support when struggling with issues and networking to find and build friendships and relationship with others.
The Role of Facebook in Addressing Social Media Addiction
Facebook is one of the social media platforms that tried to establish that would enable friends and families have meaningful interactions. According to the Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, the problem of social media addiction and solution lies within the new feeds. For many years, psychologists and academics have sounded alarm over the addictive qualities associated with social media which goes beyond the news feeds. According to the studies by PR Newswire, there are global health problems associated with social media addiction among the young generation. In a study with the America Journal of Epistemology (as cited in PR Newswire par. 1), the researchers aimed to draw a connection between the development of mental health issues among the young generations and the use of social media platforms. The study revealed that most of the Generation Z conduct their communication through social platforms. However, the social media platforms have been criticized for fostering negative self-esteem and through competing on the number of likes and following, the young generation post photos that depict them as immoral. There is less regulation in the social media industry.
Privacy and Safety Concerns
Besides, with advancement in technology and affordability of the smartphones, children do not even need the consent of their parents. The Congress established that the legal age for searching various web contents without the consent of the parents is 13. The legal framework is highlighted in the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act although the current generation is exposed to various social media platforms below 13 years. According to PR Newswire (par. 3), online predating has increased significantly and has become one of the greatest threat associated with online social interaction after content generated by the users. There are posts such as viral videos and blog posts which promote self-harm and substance abuse. Globally, there have been increased cases of suicides associated with cyberbullying. In a research carried out by Smith (par. 1), the findings revealed that Facebook has been enduring the wave of public criticism based on its cavalier approach on issues associated with user privacy. Most social media platforms use the concept of consumer surplus to offers consumers more value without paying. Smith also noted that consumers have shifted from Internet 1.0 to social media (par. 4). However, the shift has led to increased privacy issues, electoral influence, and online abuse associated with social. Although research on the impacts of social media is not conclusive, it is evident that the associated negative side-effects resemble the downsides of recreational drugs.
Impacts on Real-Life Relationships
Different sociologists and psychologist have explored the impacts of social media addiction on the real-life relationships. Despite the sudden increase on the "dark side" of technology, relatively studies have concentrated on technology addiction. Even though studies have established that personality traits play significant roles in other forms of addiction, no one understands the traits associated with social media addition. Some people consider excessive use of social media for networking as the latest form of addiction among the young generation. Initially, scholars theorized that heavy use of internet impairs the performance of workers and in family relationships. While carrying out research, Brooks noted the three negative effects associated with social media: loneliness, addiction, and privacy invasion (par. 3). According to Brooks (par. 2), social media is like the tobacco industry, which makes billions of revenues based on the destructive addiction. Brooks noted three important critiques associated with big tech. First, technology destroys the young generation with huge promises of ending loneliness but instead increases the level of solitude and social exclusion. Second, technology causes addiction with the purpose of making money. Companies that offer social media platforms understand the dangers associated with addiction. For example, Snapchat has Snapstreak through which the users are paid. Such activities have encouraged addictive behaviors since people use them frequently to earn more. According to Brooks, through the years, social media platforms have created irregularly timed rewards with subscribers compulsively checking their devices since they need to update themselves on the trending issues (par. 5). Third, the study noted that big tech companies such as Facebook, Google, and Apple use their near monopolies to invade the private lives of the social media users. Online platforms offer great opportunities for exploration but discourage activities associated with cohesion since they control people's attention and lead to diversion from the initially planned important activities. Smith (par. 7) opined that there are significant similarities between using social media and addictive behaviors. Moreover, the research revealed that smartphone deprivation among the young people induces anxiety though the moderate use of the platform is unharmful. There is need to understand that the fact that product harms certain people, it does not mean that it is bad for the overall society (Smith par. 11). Previously, economists theorized that addiction could occur due to short-sightedness. Smith concluded by noting the need to undertake more research to establish that the impacts of social media and tobacco are similar. There is need for governments to develop policies and regulations to limit using social media.
The Impact on Emotional Well-Being
In its studies, PR Newswire revealed that kids and teens have become vulnerable to social media platform, which has, in turn, led inadequate emotional maturity for the formation of a healthy sense (par. 4). Affected teens have low self-esteem and are hard on themselves with the unrealistic standards that they are trying to imitate from the social media platforms. With increased use of social media, the common theme has become unrealistic expectation of perfection with most young people spending a lot of money to be the people they are not to receive more likes or comments. Stefanou (par. 9) opined that there is a growing number of people staying glued on the social media platforms. Addiction to technology has effects on the emotional world and cognitive abilities. As cited in Stefanou (par. 10), Clifford Nass warned that chronic media users would find it difficult to filter out irrelevant information, which could have serious implications in managing working memory. The commitment of Facebook to change the prevailing situation is commendable. However, it needs to work closely with the government to develop policies that would favor the business and social media users.
Mental Health and Social Media
According to Ramasubbu, various neuroimaging have revealed that there are various parts of the brain that participate in social media: reward network, mentalizing network, and the self-referential cognition network. The National Institute of Health found that the more people spend on the social media, the more they accumulate problems: sleeping challenges and symptoms of depression (as cited in McDaniels par. 7). The problem with most teenagers is that they are much in the moment and forward-thinking as they become. Such pattern has made it difficult to control the young generation considering that human brains develop fully at the age 25 years. However, scholars need to be careful while establishing connection between mental health and using social media platforms. Most studies have failed to show that social media is one of the causes of anxiety and related issues. McDaniels recommended that schools should teach safe use of the social media and ensure that there are adequate studies that point to the effects of social media on the mental health of the teenagers.
Conclusion
There are different uses of social media. In the recent years, social media has become a critical asset among the young generation since they are increasingly using the platforms to satisfy themselves. However, their lives have become dependent on social media interactions. Social media addiction does not require a formal clinical diagnosis. With the advent of technology, efficiency and convenience have become important elements of life globally. Many businesses and individuals use social media platforms for networking, marketing, and discussion of critical issues. However, most people spend much time of the social media to an extent of being "obsessed" or addicted.
Works Cited
Brooks, David. "Taking on the Three Evils of Big Tech." The Scotsman, The Scotsman, 24 Nov. 2017, http//www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/david-brooks-taking-on-the-three-evils-of-big-tech-1-4621847. Accessed 4 May 2018.
McDaniels, Andrea K. "Does use of Social Media Affect Emotional Wellbeing of Teens?" Daily Gleaner, Daily Gleaner, 14 June 2017, sks.sirs.com. Accessed 4 May 2018.
PR Newswire. "New Studies show that Social Media has Become A Global Mental Health Problem for Younger Generations." ProQuest, ProQuest, 29 Mar. 2018, riohondo.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.riohondo.idm.oclc.org/docview/2019248929?accountid=28502. Accessed 4 May 2018.
Ramasubbu, Suren. "Biological " Psychological Reasons for Social Media Addiction." Huffington Post, Huffington Post, 13 Mar. 2017, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/biological-psychological-reasons-for-social-media_us_58c279a7e4b0c3276fb78388. Accessed 4 May 2018.
Smith, Noah. "Social Media has Become the New Opiate of the Masses." Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Free Press, 21 Apr. 2018, riohondo.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.riohondo.idm.oclc.org/docview/2028073776?accountid=28502. Accessed 4 May 2018.
Stefanou, Eleni. "New Facebook Feed Won’t Help Reduce Social Media Addiction." GulfNews, GulfNews, 23 Jan. 2018, gulfnews.com/opinion/thinkers/new-facebook-feed-won-t-help-reduce-social-media-addiction-1.2161711. Accessed 4 May 2018.
