The Social Media Epidemic by Vanessa Haenggi

“Ding-Ding-Ding” your cell phone is ringing with yet another notification from your friend Sally on Facebook. Instinctively you grab your cellphone and check the notification even though you are at a very important business meeting. Your boss shoots you a very shrewd look as you shyly put your phone away, questioning why you would even check in the first place without thinking. This is a sign of being a “social media addict”.

While there is no real “known term” for the sudden urge to check your Twitter, social media has become a widespread epidemic involving a majority of young teens and adults worldwide. While social networking can help others communicate in a fast and easy to use system, it can also have its absurdities.

Social media can ruin real life relationships and can distract you from your real world tasks ("The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals."). This can ultimately damage ones emotions and the way others interact with one another due to the fake image we perceive online. It also can ruin the way you “think independently” and can butcher your self-esteem ("5 Weird Negative Effects of Social Media on Your Brain | Reader's Digest.”).

Social media is the perfect place for fake fantasies to unwind, pictures to be chopped and edited, and false presumptions to be made, which could lead to the deterioration of someone’s self-image. Is it possible that the world will be able to alter and cut back on its use of the internet? Or do you think we will lead to each other’s demise?

        Social media is still a fairly new concept in the world, the first known actual sign of “social media” appeared in the late 70’s with Usenet, the first website to be able to post news to newsgroups ("Google Groups Usenet Timeline."). As time passed, technology evolved, and in 1988 the first Internet chat was introduced to the world, which involved file sharing, link sharing, and instant messaging. It wasn't until the 2000’s where the Internet really made a huge impact on society. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram quickly dominated the web and rooted itself into the minds of the people, especially young teenagers.
           

According to Dr. Lawrence Wilson, social media can evolve into an addiction. He believes that if an individual needs social media to feel happy, then that person is definitely addicted ("Welcome to the Center of Development."). It can be as addictive as alcohol or coffee, and while it doesn't physically harm your body, it can definitely ruin your personal relationships. If you are constantly checking your phone for notifications and cannot go more than an hour without it, you are addicted. If you are losing sleep and skipping important meals to check your phone, you are addicted. If you plan your day, thinking about when you will check your phone, you are addicted. Social media is a very addictive concept, and while it can bring us closer to family and friends, it can also hinder our social being, because too much of anything can never be good for you.

      However, on the other hand, many believe that the word “addiction” should not be thrown around so lightly (“Does Social Media Addiction Really Exist?"). The exact interpretation of the word addiction from the dictionary is “the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, such as narcotics, to such an extent that it's cessation causes severe trauma” (Elyot, Thomas. Dictionary.). Though it is highly recommended to work on your personal relationships in real life rather than through the screen, many can consider social media as a crutch for the society. This can be considered as a normal part of our lives, such as brushing our teeth, eating, and sleeping, but self-imposed of course. How can we break this habit, and how much social media is too much?

            Social media can cause multiple problems throughout an individual’s life. The problems that come with internet usage can include cyber bullying, fake profiles, sexual abuse, procrastination, and even anger issues which could damage personal relationships.

            With this day in age over 80% of teens use a cellphone on a daily basis ("Facts About Cyber Bullying|NoBullying|Anti Bullying Information Center."). Whether it be for the use of social media such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or even just text messaging, many cyber bullying incidents have popped up recently, especially in the last decade. Cyber bullying can become dangerous because it is easy for someone to bully an individual over a screen instead of face to face. Cyber bullying can cause the victim to have low self-esteem and anxiety, as well as distract them from everyday activities and cause them to slack in school. Suicide is also a common thought among victims who are bullied online. Many abusers who bully others online only do so because they have the desire and also feel completely invincible, and this can be traced back to internet addiction. Internet addiction can make the user feel as if though it is a fake world, where no one can really get hurt, but in fact this is quite the opposite and just because a tweet is erased, doesn’t mean it is gone forever.

            Fake profiles and cyber bullying can go hand in hand with one another. Some people have the drive to be able to create a fake profile to escape from their everyday lives and pretend to be someone else. Apart from the regular social networking sites, there are also online dating websites where many single men and women post pictures of themselves with a biography, in hopes to find a soul mate. However, there is no necessary back ground check required throughout the website. This makes it very easy for a person to pretend to be someone else and persuade others to believe that they are real. This can lead to false assumptions and expectations and eventually lead to trust issues and heartbreak.

            Nowadays many relationships communicate through the use of text messaging.  Many of these relationships reply on sexual explicit content to keep the “love alive”. It is reported that about 71% of teen girls and 67% of teen boys have sent an “inappropriate picture or message” regarding sexual content to their boyfriend and or girlfriend ("Internet Statistics | GuardChild."). Online sexual trafficking has become a widespread epidemic and many users are at a risk of being tracked online. By using social media, many strangers meet online, making it very easy to communicate and get personal information such as your address.

          Another component to internet addiction is the fact that it affects the daily lives of individuals by consuming most of their time. On average, teenagers spend about 5 hours of their day on social media alone. Students have the ability to use their phones during school which distracts them from learning. At home, once a student gets on their phone it may take hours for them to put it back down. This can result in poor grades and severe procrastination which can ultimately affect a student’s GPA in high school.

            Once addicted to social media, it is very hard to realize you have an addiction in the first place. Many individuals become irritable throughout the day if they cannot check their social networking site. This can ruin personal relationships as the aggression can become too intense to bear or witness.

          Social media on the other hand could also have a positive impact on our rapidly evolving world. For example, many families and friends around the world use the internet in a positive way, such that they only use it to communicate with one another, especially if there is great distance between them. It can also be used as a method of self-expression which can boost happiness, and created a sense of individuality and the freedom to be yourself. The internet can also benefit students by developing a deeper level of thinking by being able to look up and research certain topics that you may have trouble finding elsewhere. Everything in this world is good and bad for you, it just takes a strong mentality to take everything with moderation.

          The first step in solving an addiction is to be able to admit that you have an addiction in the first place. Admitting you have an addiction is a very difficult thing to do, because in most cases many people do not even realize they have a problem, unless a family member or friend tells them otherwise. Unlike other epidemics, social media is a hard habit to break since a majority of the world revolves around it.

            Once you realize that you have an internet addiction, you may start by trying to cut down the number of hours you spend online. As you gradually grow and become more independent, keep cutting out greater chunks of total internet time out of your life. You can help by moving around your computer and or phone to a place where you will not be able to get your hands on it.

            When you start thinking of what your next tweet might say, take out a notebook and write your thoughts down. This will begin to teach you to keep your thoughts to yourself without having to send out a 140 character tweet saying what you ate this morning. If you are absolutely itching to be able to check your phone, do something productive and learn a new trait. Teach yourself something useful such as a new recipe, read a new book, or even do your homework and clean your room. Once you start getting in the habit of doing other things when you think you need your phone, life will begin to fall into place.

            In today’s society it is awfully hard to give up social media. Social media plays such a huge role in our daily lives and it is one of the main sources of communication that we have. To be able to get rid of this addiction it will have to be up to the user himself, but as for the world, this social epidemic will never end.

            Albert Camus questioned the very meaning of life itself. He has a solid point on how society’s materialism has become like a plague. We are so concerned with what everyone has, whether it be who has the latest technology, or the hottest outfits. Life is more than just the number of followers you have on twitter or how much money you spend. Materialism has played such a huge role in today’s society partially due to social media. Materialism has become a wide-spread plague and we must dig ourselves out of this rut before it gets to deep.

Today’s society is out of balance with the harmony of the day. Hundreds of years ago we did not have smart phones or any type of technology. These type of materialistic things disconnect us from the real world. There is more to life than focusing on inanimate objects to not focus on the bustling world around us. We need to stop and smell the roses before life passes by right before our eyes.

One thing I find truly absurd is my own generation itself. Nowadays all that matters to my friends is whether or not they have the newest technology, or the most popular tweet. The internet has such a tight grasp on society that people forget the true meaning of life. Instead of enjoying life they enjoy it through a tiny little screen in their hands.
        

  Instead of making memories and doing real things with real people, everyone focuses on how others perceive them. It doesn't matter what clothes you wear, what you do, or who you are with, because in the end we are all just the same stack of bones waiting to be buried six feet deep. Life is about living it to the fullest and indulging in each other's companionship, not who has the most followers, or the prettiest pictures, because none of that will matter in the end.

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"The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals." The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals. Web. 25 Feb. 2016. <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-effect-social-media-society-individuals-27617.html>.

"Google Groups Usenet Timeline." Good Stuff! N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2016.

"Welcome to the Center of Development." drlwilson.com. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.

“Does Social Media Addiction Really Exist?" Does Social Media Addiction Really Exist? Web.05 Apr. 2016.

Elyot, Thomas. Dictionary. Menston: Scolar Pr., 1970. Print.

"Internet Statistics | GuardChild." GuardChild RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2016.

"Facts About Cyber Bullying|NoBullying|Anti Bullying Information Center." NoBullying Bullying CyberBullying Resources. N.p., 2013. Web. 12 May 2016.

"What Is Internet Addiction and How Do You Overcome It?" What Is Internet Addiction and How Do You Overcome It? N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2016.

Http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCguk2SvpnusMEUwbmWAJDgw."The Pros and Cons of Social Networking & Adolescents |Developmental Psychology Assessment." YouTube. YouTube, 2014. Web. 03 May 2016.

"Smartphone Addiction." : Tips for Breaking Free of Compulsive Smartphone Use. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May 2016