We always find ourselves talking about how social media has many negative effects on people. Social networking isn’t for everyone, but it’s now such a massive part of all our lives, whether we embrace or reject the notion, that it can no longer be ignored.
Social Media Laptop from Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain Image.
There are many positive things that come from the use of social media. A big one is that it helps create tons of new social connections, adults and teenagers make new friendships and relationships online, as well as contacting relatives through social media sites. On Twitter you follow those who have something to say that you’re interested in, making connections with like-minded people much easier than in reality. Social networking sites make fitting in easier, as long as you are willing to open up a little. It's also a huge source of employment for a lot of companies nowadays, and they use sites such as LinkedIn, Monster and Indeed.
As with most things in life there are positive and negative sides to social networking, and when done in moderation, with checks and balances on how younger people in particular are using them, and with a firm grasp being kept on reality at all time, social networking sites are neither evil or a Godsend, it's somewhere in between. You don't always have to be "hungry for likes" and dependent on social media to do things for you, it just happens to be a huge part of our world today so we have no other choice but to learn how to deal with it.
Essena O'Neill a 19 year old Australian that was an "internet star" before quitting the use of social media. She became "famous" at the age of 15. In her email post she states "I was first Facebook famous - tall, slim, blonde, smiling, straight A student... Then I moved onto Instagram and Tumblr, then shortly after - at the request of others - Youtube." (O'Neill, n.d). Essena made the global headlines after making a Youtube video explaining why she decided to quit the use of social media in November.
She decided to quit everything because she wanted to prove that "social media is not real life" stated in Time.com. With that being said she then launched a website called "Let's Be Game Changers". Theres she posts about letting others learn about destructive nature of letting the approval from people online.
People that followed her thought that she was living the "perfect" life she stated. However that's when she explained in her Youtube video about how everything she posts are not real and that a lot of works goes into just one picture to make it look "perfect". On her website she also explains the behind the talk about each of her pictures she have posted online.
Instagram Star Reveals The Truth Behind Her Photos
However, she did also get a lot of hate not only from online users but also friends she met through social media. Lots didn't agree about what she said about how everything is "fake". She made friends a lot through Youtube. Later after announcing that she will be quitting social media her Youtube friends made videos about how they didn't understand why she said what she said and that, thats not how she acted when they met and hung out.
Not her Youtube friend but explains about "Is Social Media Fake?"
Essena O'Neill - Why I REALLY am quitting social media (Original Video)
Learn more information about Essena O'Neill under "Information Credits" from articles.
This paper challenge is really something. The paper challenge started on Weibo (which is a china version of facebook). How it works is women would hold a piece of 8x11 printing paper in front of their waist. In order to "successfully" win the challenge is if the sheet of paper can cover their mid sections. That is when the use of the hashtag of #A4WaistChallenge started. With people starting this challenge it can really cause other women to have problems with self confidence about their bodies. Even though it started on Weibo, with social media words can by around really quick.
As quoted on newsy by Melissa Prax titled "Asian Woman Are Pressured To Be Petite, And This Trend Proves It" states, "Women on social media are showing how slim they are by comparing their waist to the width of a sheet of paper... And not surprisingly, there are critics. Some are calling it unrealistic and even disturbing." (Prax, 2016).
Quote by Joseph
However, later on others started making fun of the challenge. Instead of using a women's body or a human body, the use of an animal started by putting the sheet on their backs or letting animals hold on to a sheet of paper. As quoted on tech.mic by Jordyn Taylor titled "This "Sheet of Paper" Challenge Is the Internet's Lastest Body-Shaming Trend" states, "Thankfully, not all social media users are taking the A4 Waist Challenge so seriously." (Taylor, 2016)
Next time before posting these challenges they should think about who would get affect first. As quoted on hellogiggles by Anna Gragert titled "This new "paper challenge" is super dangerous for young women's body image" states, "While we find many Internet challenges to be fun and engaging, this is one that has been taken too far. Because all bodies are great bodies, and a piece of paper should't dictate otherwise." (Gragert, 2016)
Gragert, A. (2016, March 17). This new "paper challenge" is super dangerous for young women's body image. Retrieved April 05, 2016, from http://hellogiggles.com/paper-challenge-wtf/
Spending countless hours on the social sites can divert your focus and attention from particular tasks. It lowers the motivational level of the people, especially of the teenagers and students. We rely on technology and the internet instead of learning the practical knowledge and expertise of everyday life.
Social Media Apps from Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain Image.
We all have our own reasons for using social media. Some like to look at other people's status updates and photos, while others use the sites as a way to vent their emotions. But one of the main reasons we use social media is for self-distraction and boredom relief. Social media is giving reinforcement every time a person logs on. The reinforcements keep coming in the form of supportive comments and likes, and we know that when behaviors are consistently reinforced and repeated it becomes harder for a person to let go of the habit developed.
Facebook Social Cigarettes poster by 2wenty, 2011 CC BY-SA 3.0
This behavior can lead to Facebook addiction. Research shows that more than 19 million Canadians log onto Facebook at least once a month (more than half of the population), while 14 million check their news feed every single day. That's only for Facebook, so imagine how the numbers change as other social media platforms such a Twitter or Instagram come into play.
Overall it's the idea that information, ideas, and behaviors can spread through networks of people in the same way that infectious diseases do. This idea is explained in further detail from this PopTech article. In one part he states "if someone could create the conditions for a social epidemic, the reasoning goes, and if only they could find the right people to trigger it, awesome change could be unleashed for relatively little cost."
Crowd of People from Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain Image.
Emotion can spread rapidly through large crowds, as the vast world of social media leads people into extreme states. Social contagion effects occur when people believe they have been infected by a disease (meaning an idea/behaviour). As more people show the psychosomatic symptoms, more people think ‘I am bound to get it’. So we may see infectious disease as a bad thing, but if it starts with the right idea and right people, social contagion doesn't have to be seen negatively.
This video is great to watch to get more of an understanding about how information and ideas are spread throughout the internet. It talks about four topics: Infectiousness, Resistance, Topology & Strategy and how each of these affects how things are spread.
This blog will be used by two users, Cindy Tan and Kiana Courtney. Here we will be posting information on how social media can affect our minds on how we feel about the things that are posted on line. Each post will have their own mini topic about the different kind of affects there are.
Words, phrases and topics that were used the most in the english speaking in social media in 2013
Feel free to leave any comments and questions on our posts or anything you agree with or disagree on what we talk about. Let us know, we welcome everyone here! This won't be the only place you can find about what we talk about because we will be using different social medias to spread the word.
"Personality and gender word cloud for social media" by H. Andrew Schwartz, Johannes C. Eichstaedt, Margaret L. Kern, Lukasz Dziurzynski, Stephanie M. Ramones, Megha Agrawal, Achal Shah, Michal Kosinski, David Stillwell, Martin E. P. Seligman, Lyle H. Ungar. Available under CC BY 3.0. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Personality_and_gender_word_cloud_for_social_media.png
