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Social Media Such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

Updated August 10, 2022
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Social Media Such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook essay

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Social media applications like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are affecting how our society interacts with family, friends, and online acquaintances. Social media will change how we exist socially and how we are perceived by our peers, this will increase our chances of depression and addiction to the “likes”, which will ultimately alter our reality. The addiction to the online responses will trigger psychological consequences like depression or anxiety.

I believe that our view of the world can become artificially rendered by one of the most addicting tools that consumes most of our free time, such as smart phones with social media capabilities. Human beings are natural worriers, most have a fear of the worst-case scenario possibilities. In this case we assume the worst of our audience’s thoughts of rejection and mal intentions towards our online reputation. My observation of how social media has affected our emotional well-being was brought to light by seeing how close family and friends desire the approval of individuals by whether or not our friends “liked” a status or the comments they received. This distraction can cause stress and change the way our society reflects on ourselves and reconsider the value of your relationship with people who we thought were close friends and family. I think that the way people express ideas, use punctuation and apply emoticons can also be mislead and can be taken out of context. The perspectives are determined by their audience and what kind of emotional state they are in at the time. My last opinion comes from the way these applications can be used anonymously. Anonymity is an malicious way to present your point and get a reaction that you would not use on your own account. Being anonymous is one of the big ways that bullying takes place.

“The Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) of the brain monitors social needs by releases dopamine when we achieve social success and inspiring neurochemical deficits when we don’t. Tragically, social media is not the VTA’s friend” (Gordon, 2017). Our brains and bodies are incredible intricate system that interacts with nutrients, stimuli, and biological signals from each system within body. People also deal with stress differently, these stresses can by physical and emotional. Social media can stimulate unnecessary stress by caring or thinking too much of what our friends think of us. I see this cause stemming from an audience that is directly influenced by celebrities and reality television personalities, these personalities tend to over react to useless drama in their lives that is covered in their show. “The hippocampus (a memoryarea in the brain) continuously compares the external world to the brain’s core belief of how the world should be. That core belief is determined by a combination of genetics, epigenetics and the brain’s structural and functional dynamics” (Gordon, 2017).

Social media has influenced all the major aspects of our lives such as visualization and self-image through Instagram and Snap Chat, communication by Twitter, community through Facebook, and love and companionship with Tinder. All these avenues share some similarities of self-expression. “research has found that the more social networks a young adult uses, the more likely he or she is to report depression and anxiety. Trying to navigate between different norms and friend networks on various platforms could be to blame, study authors say—although it’s also possible that people with poor mental health are drawn to multiple social-media platforms in the first place” (MacMillan, 2017). Humans are not used to having so many outlets for these areas in their live, so it seems as if we are over stimulated with having so many tools in our pockets and purses. There is a demand to understand and create a new perspective to teach to our youth about how to not let these applications dictate our lives and how to handle emotionally toxic thoughts and senses that we gain from social media.

“A growing body of research indicates how deeply our brains are wired to seek social approval. A study out of Harvard in 2012 showed that humans devote up to 40 percent of our time to self-disclosure and doing so is as pleasurable as having food or sex. Diana Tamir and Jason Mitchell gave people small cash rewards for answering factual questions and lower rewards for offering their own views about a subject. Despite the financial incentive, people preferred to talk about themselves and willingly gave up money to do so” (Feiler, 2014)

People love to talk about themselves. A common aspect of these social media applications is the fact that all of them are ways to present ourselves to the world and gain knowledge for our own benefits. We use these platforms to express our feelings towards all subjects and people, we listen very carefully to the hip new fashion trends, adjust to make ourselves more attractive to gain the attention of potential love interests. Taking a step back and identifying the positive aspects of social media and understanding how we can use these applications for the greater good of others and how we apply it to our own lives will be a big part of the advancement of our culture.

“Social media is far more prevalent in younger generations and many young people have never known a world without instant access to the internet and social media platforms. A number of studies in recent years have raised concerns about the potential health effects of frequent social media use on young people – particularly when it comes to mental health. While the researchers acknowledge there is still much to be learned about social media’s impact on mental health, they say these are important conversations that need to be further explored, especially surrounding young people who are the most vulnerable to potential harms” (Welch, 2017). With todays youth surrounded by technology that we are beginning to understand, it is important to provide the education around the use of social media.

These applications offer ways of being anonymous by creating a fake account and creating an account that deceives a specific group of followers. Being anonymous raises concerns of bullying because it allows someone to say things or share things that do not have any repercussions as if he or she would say it in a conversation or from their own profile. “Researchers surveyed almost 1,500 teens and young people aged 14 to 24 from across the U.K. to score how each of the social media platforms they use impacts 14 specific factors related to their health and well-being. These included emotional support, depression, body image, loneliness, sleep, self-expression, self-identity, community building, and bullying, among others” (Welch, 2017). Emotions also come from how we feel day to day and how we read what has been posted. Context plays a significant part of how others may feel when we choose what words and punctuation to use. ‘Before, if you were having a face to face interaction everything is qualitative. You use someone’s gestures or facial expressions, that sort of thing, to see how effective your message is’ (East, 2016)

The amount of people that use these social media sites are staggering. Humans from all over the world are able to obtain access to the internet and log on and communicate with people from every corner of the world. This opportunity is key for marketing departments and spreading the word for businesses, individuals, and causes. The sense of community has never reached so many people, which adds onto the pressure of self-awareness and perception. “One is the ubiquity of Facebook, which has reached a truly epic scale. Last month the company reported that about 1.8 billion people now log on to the service every month. Because social networks feed off the various permutations of interactions among people, they become strikingly more powerful as they grow. With about a quarter of the world’s population now on Facebook, the possibilities are staggering” (Manjoo, 2016). With the number of users interacting with each other, this acts as a very detailed filter that have many fact checkers and judges. This keeps everyone honest and can eliminate the potential to lie, being deceiving for one’s own personal growth. “Now if you go online, one of the ways that you gauge the effectiveness of your message is in the number of likes, favorites or retweets, and this is something that’s really different and unique about online interaction.’ (East, 2016)

I believe that with the dedication of understanding the fundamental influences of how social media affects our psychology and the impact on our biological systems, we can use these platforms for good. This new technology has not been around nearly as long as our biological necessities. Humans are very adaptable, I see us making the most of the tools in the future and eliminating ways that cause depression and self-doubt. The structure of how each social media might need to change but we can make things more apparent of how it is in life rather than a perspective of reality which is very subjective. “Social media, by nature, is both a catalyst and a place for conversation. As such, the apparent dominance of pro-leave posts on Facebook and Instagram is neither a pure reflection of popular will nor a product of the services, but more likely something in between” (Manjoo, 2016). Time spent on social media could, therefore, also cause the brain to change.

Social media and how it affects psychological functions in our thought process and the biological impact with our senses and the release of hormones, can be mitigated with continuous studies and constructing the appropriate psychological tools. The information regarding these affects and understanding how our minds work at an early age will help when it comes to our society and how social media users allow their emotions are activate from the level of recognition from their friends.

Social Media Such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook essay

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