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Alyssa Tyre

English Composition 1201

Professor Tim Waggoner

July 25 2020

Social Media and Its Negative Effects

Social media can be and is a daily routine for people around the world, “US adults use

media for an average of 12 hours and 9 minutes per day”. (“How Much Time Do People Spend

on Social Media in 2020?”) If we spend so much time on social media each day don’t you think

that we should do more research on the topic. We should know the effects of social media

usage and its negative impacts on [Link], I use social media every day and it's

something that I’m not very proud of. But, researching for this paper has opened up my eyes in

the aspect of the negative effects that it has on a person and other people around them.

Especially for those people using it over 12 hours a day every day a week. Social media has

affected many people in a negative way but they are in denial, I have been affected by it in a

negative way and it has caused me to wonder if I should go on social media. Using social

media can have a negative impact on a person’s life in the aspects of mental health, physical

health, the feeling of safety, and more by causing mental disorders, a lowering of one's self

esteem, less sleep, and much more.

Social media has evolved as time has gone on with making new trends and new

expectations for what influencers post, but the question is “has it changed for the better?”.

Social media used to be so simple. There were no sponsored ads across our feeds, there were

no social media influencers, and photo editing was only done by the professionals. But it all had
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to start somewhere. The social media site that first reached a million users that were active

monthly was MySpace, which happened in 2004. This was argued to be the beginning to the

journey of where social media is today.(Oritz-Ospina). In an article written by Dalvin Brown titled

“Remember Vine? These Social Networking Sites Defined the Past Decade” he explains that

MySpace was the first site that has evolved over the last 10 years. How we used it as a way to

keep in touch with others but now we are flaunting the things we own for attention or making

versions of ourselves that are unrecognizable. (Brown) More and more people are signing up for

Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tik Tok each and every day. In 2010, the number

of people signed on to any social media platform was fewer than 1 billion.

Social media can have negative effects on many things but the most common thing

social media effects is mental health. With this there are many aspects that can be affected

under the topic of mental health which can connect to bigger problems. One aspect includes

always wanting to keep up to date. Always wanting to know the latest news and what's going on

with the Kardashians at the moment. Most fear the moment they get off social media something

will happen they can’t afford to miss. Being on social media sites that cause you to be ‘always

on’ could cause feelings such as anxiety and loneliness, if you are unable to stay up to date and

be involved. (Centre for Mental Health) We are social beings and we need group interaction,

and feeling excluded can cause damage and negative physiological impacts.

Social media can also cause negative effects of a person’s wellbeing by promoting

expectations that are unreasonable to a person. In an article written by Alyssa Mairanz, she

explains what she hears from social media users. That they often feel depressed and sad when

scrolling through their news feeds on social media. She also speaks of how social media has a

way of comparing yourself to others that it has created. It’s something we have never had

before. (Mairanz) Many social media users have been known to feel this way after scrolling
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through their feed. The most common though, that feel this way, is young women. They are

constantly looking at pictures of social media influencers that are super skinny posing in bikinis

when it's an unrealistic expectation. Not every single young woman in the world is skinny and

has the perfect body to pull off a bikini. Also when posting, a person can feel stressed

questioning if their post will get enough likes or if its stupid and people will make fin of them.

There is always the “what if?” questions that run through a persons head when they are about to

post something on a social media platform. The road that social media has paven so far has

suggested that it will continue to increase in the aspect of being a dominant role in users' lives.

Because of this, social media has been connected to and associated with mental health issues

which include depression, anxiety, and loneliness. (Centre for Mental Health)

Social media use can also take a tool on a person’s stress. Social media is something

people often use to vent about everything going on. Some of the common topics being

discussed include politics, customer service, and more. But, the worst thing about it is that our

feeds start to resemble a long line of stress. (BBC) Reading other people's tweets on Twitter or

comments on any other social media platform can cause stress when we worry about another

person’s stress. I think that another thing that can take a toll on someone's mental health is

being addicted to social media. An excessive amount of social media usage affects your ties to

real life. Constantly going on your phone can cause you to lose some of those ties to real life

like everyday communication in speaking to others in real life. Mark Griffiths and Daria Kuss in

2011 from Nottingham Trent University located in the UK analyzed 43 studies on addiction

which concluded that addiction to social media, like I mentioned earlier, is recognized as a

mental health problem that may need professional treatment. Both Griffiths and Kuss found that

using social media excessively is linked to worse academic achievement, relationship problems,

less participation in offline communities, and that the people who are more susceptible to a
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social media addiction include people who are very extroverted, dependent on alcohol, and use

social media as a way to compensate for the few ties they have in real life.(BBC)

Not only does social media have negative effects on a person’s mental health but it also

takes a toll on one’s physical health. Social media usage can affect your physical health directly,

but is usually affected by the way you use social media. With that, it also depends on how long

a person is on these feeds that can play a role in how it affects someone physically. Some

examples of physical problems that can be caused by using social media for long periods of

time include carpal tunnel syndrome, eye problems, fatigue, lack of exercise, and distraction.

Median nerve compression, also known as Carpal tunnel syndrome, is a medical condition that

causes tingling, numbness, or weakness in one's hand. (WebMD) You can strain your eyesight

when staring at a device screen for too long, something that can help with this is blue light

glasses which protects your eyes from blue light that comes from these screens.

Another physical effect from social media usage is fatigue, meaning less sleep. Staring

at an iphone screen or tablet screen tricks the body, it tricks it into staring at a bright-lit

landscape. In doing so delays the production of melatonin and prevents quality sleep, which can

result in an even bigger group of health issues. (Saini) Finally, when we are distracted with our

technology we get lost in [Link] we are spending time on our phones when we could be

working out. When we don’t work out this can cause our physical health to decrease when we

aren’t burning more calories than we ate, that can eventually lead to being overweight which

can cause many other physical health problems. One of the most dangerous effects of being

addicted to social media is being distracted while driving which has caused thousands of

[Link] thing social media can affect physically is posture. In an article titled

“Louisville experts say social media is affecting posture” WDRB they have an interview with

chiropractor Dr. Dana O’ Neil who claims bad posture can often force a person's neck forward
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earlier than the natural process of aging which can put people in the risk of early arthritis and

disc degeneration. (WDRB) When a person is on social media they are usually leaning either

forward or backward to be the most comfortable and sitting this way for long periods of time

multiple days a week can accelerate this process even faster than it would be originally.

Social media not only has negative effects on both mental and physical health, but it also

can cause people to feel like their information isn’t protected and kept private. In a survey

conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2014 showed that around 91% of Americans

‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ that we have lost control over how our personal information is used

and collected by all sorts of entities. (Rainie) Most Americans are also concerned about

businesses and advertisers gaining access to the information they share on their social media

platforms. From a different article published by the Pew Research Center they conducted

another survey. Pew Research Center conducted a survey and asked Americans how they feel

about the security of their own personal data. It found that 7 in 10 Americans feel like their

personal information is not as secure as it was 5 years ago. Only 6% of that surveyed group felt

like their information was more secure now than it was 5 years ago. Also, about a quarter which

is 24% felt like the situation hasn’t changed. (Auxier)

Social media can be a great tool in communication with others but also has negative

effects on our in person communication. When we are chatting online we aren’t getting the in

person experience we need to be able to talk to new people we have never met before. There

are two ideas that come to mind when you think about how social media can affect

communication in a negative way. First, it changes the way individuals react to social cues,

emotions, nonverbal cues, as it erases the important aspect of the basis of communication.

(Jacob) Second, once someone is so used to communicating with others online they will

associate that communication as effective communication, then they are less likely to
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communicate with others face to face. Also, most people who do use social media platforms to

communicate are more invested in their relationships that are online. This can cause them to

focus more on those relationships and less on their in person ones which can suffer.

Social Media can have a negative effect on mental health if you don’t have strong

connections on social media, but if you do have these connections social media can benefit you

in a positive way. There are arguments leaning towards this idea that social media has a better

effect rather than a negative one such as the one I talked about earlier that relates to this next

sentence. Being connected to others in a social way can ease anxiety, stress, and depression,

provide joy and comfort, prevent loneliness, boost self-worth, and even add an amount of years

to your life.(Robinson) Social Media allows for users to connect and speak with other users

around the world. Especially, this can help people connect with others in a support group if they

don’t live close to each other and have to communicate online Keith Hampton a professor of

information and media at Michigan State University explains that social media platforms and

communication technologies make it easy to maintain relationships and get access to your

health information.(Futurity)

It is shown that support that is given in person is a vital piece for a person to have a

satisfying human experience. Although support that is given in person does benefit a person

better, support online opens up the opportunity for others who you might not know to do the

same and give support. Sometimes, this online support could give someone an answer they

needed all along. Given the proper support can improve physical health and it can also make

people feel optimistic during trauma by reducing stress and encouraging coping. (Gritters)

Social media allows for a way for people to communicate that wouldn’t otherwise communicate

which opens up an opportunity to give advice and help to others which can benefit someone

physically. Many argue that Social media has more positive effects than negative effects in the
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aspect of communication, but personally the negative effects are greater than the positive ones..

That they are able to communicate with family members that don’t have cell phone numbers on

facebook and that they are able to see how others are doing even when they live halfway

around the world.

With using social media everyday it is nice to know all the facts about how it can affect

me personally. Doing this research has definitely opened my eyes to the idea that maybe it's not

the best idea to spend hours snapchatting or scrolling through Tik Tok everyday. I have realized

that while doing research on the mental and physical effects social media has on a person that I

personally have felt stress and have compared myself to others on instagram which has caused

me to feel worse about myself. I have stayed up all night on my phone and I didn’t think that this

could be worsening my eyesight or that this is totally messing up my sleep schedule. Even when

I think that it’s fine because I could be studying it still takes a toll on my physical health. That I

should be interacting with my family face to face instead of just texting the family group chat on

my phone. That instead of watching Netflix on my computer on my own in my room I could

watch it with more people or I could go outside and go for a run with my dog. This is something

that I definitely need to work on to better my health and that could even benefit the health of

others around me.

Of course it’s not completely terrible to use social media but I think there should

definitely be moderation in using it and how long you are on these platforms. Social media does

have negative effects that most people don’t realize and it's important that everyone knows what

they are risking when they are scrolling on Instagram, Facebook, or more. I didn’t realize before

that certain things I post on these platforms could give away personal information and allow

others to access [Link] are so many aspects to this topic that I didn’t think about before, but

I’m happy I did my research paper about this topic and that I was able to see the [Link] a
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person’s mental health, physical health, feeling of safety, and more can be affected in a

negative way by social media and these effects can cause mental disorders, a lowering in

self-esteem, less sleep, and more.

Works Cited

“Anxiety, Loneliness and Fear of Missing Out: The Impact of Social Media on Young People's

Mental Health.” ​Anxiety, Loneliness and Fear of Missing Out: The Impact of Social Media

on Young People's Mental Health | Centre for Mental Health,​

[Link]/blog/centre-mental-health-blog/anxiety-loneliness-fear-

missing-out-social-media.

Auxier, Brooke, et al. “1. How Americans Think about Privacy and the Vulnerability of Their
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Personal Data.” ​Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech​, Pew Research

Center, 26 May 2020,

[Link]/internet/2019/11/15/how-americans-think-about-privacy-and-the-vu

lnerability-of-their-personal-data/.

Brown, Dalvin. “Remember Vine? These Social Networking Sites Defined the Past Decade.”

USA Today​, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 30 Dec. 2019,

[Link]/story/tech/2019/12/19/end-decade-heres-how-social-media-has-evolv

ed-over-10-years/4227619002/.

“Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, Complications, and

Prevention.” ​WebMD,​ WebMD, 25 Nov. 2019,

[Link]/pain-management/carpal-tunnel/carpal-tunnel-syndrome.

“Could Social Media Actually Improve Mental Health?” ​Futurity​, 27 June 2019,

[Link]/adults-on-social-media-depression-anxiety-2093392-2/.

Gritters, Jenni. “The Unexpected Health Benefits of Social Media.” ​Medium,​ Elemental, 20 Aug.

2019,

[Link]/the-unexpected-health-benefits-of-social-media-e345032668b9.

“How Much Time Do People Spend on Social Media in 2020?” ​Review42​, 4 July 2020,

[Link]/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-social-media/.

“Is Social Media Bad for You? The Evidence and the Unknowns.” ​BBC Future,​ BBC,

[Link]/future/article/20180104-is-social-media-bad-for-you-the-evidence-and-the-

unknowns.

Jacob, Carmen, and The Editors. “(10 Ways) How Social Media Affects Communication Skills?”

UpJourney​, 20 Jan. 2020, [Link]/how-social-media-affects-communication-skills.

“Louisville Experts Say Social Media Is Affecting Posture.” ​WDRB,​ 26 Aug. 2016,
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[Link]/news/louisville-experts-say-social-media-is-affecting-posture/article_28ba

[Link].

Mairanz, Alyssa. “The Negative Effect of Social Media on Self-Esteem.” ​Psychreg,​ 5 July 2019,

[Link]/negative-effect-social-media-self-esteem/.

Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban. “The Rise of Social Media.” ​Our World in Data,​

[Link]/rise-of-social-media.

Rainie, Lee. “How Americans Feel about Social Media and Privacy.” ​Pew Research Center,​

Pew Research Center, 30 May 2020,

[Link]/fact-tank/2018/03/27/americans-complicated-feelings-about-social-

media-in-an-era-of-privacy-concerns/.

Robinson, Lawrence. “Social Media and Mental Health.” ​[Link]​,

[Link]/articles/mental-health/[Link].

Saini, Suruchi. “Effects of Social Media on Physical Health.” ​Holistic Bonfire​, 1 Dec. 2016,

[Link]/archives/479.