The Impact of Social Media on Every Aspect of Our Life

It’s no lie that technology has connected us with other people around the world more than ever. We have the ability to connect with others in the blink of an eye (depending on how fast your wifi/data is, of course), but this is also breaking us apart, literally. Social media has changed how we relate to one another, and we are losing the art of face to face communication faster than ever. A lot of people feel the need to post something, anything, on social media ALL the time. They are quite literally glued to their phones 24/7. Though this may seem like it’s an awful way to live, it’s not all bad.

Mostly everything humanity does in this day and age is done through some kind of technology/social media. Politics for example – the president tweets out nonsense like a prepubescent kid. Teenagers depend on this, whether it be for school or their personal lives. I’ve seen classes where students have to tweet out responses to certain questions and use a specific hashtag so it’s easily identifiable. But, most of the time people just use it for their own personal purposes. “There is a word for what the internet and social media have done to us: alienation… You become dispossessed, your self-esteem soaring or crashing depending on how the public views you. This is a recipe for emotional sickness. ” In the article titled “I Know What You Think of Me”, the author talks about how he received an email by accident, not for him-but about him. He goes in to talk about how sometimes people care a little too much about what others think of them. “Hearing other people’s uncensored opinions of you is an unpleasant reminder that you’re just another person in the world, and everyone else does not always view you in the forgiving light that you hope they do, making all allowances, always on your side. There’s something existentially alarming about finding out how little room we occupy, and how little allegiance we command, in other people’s heads. ” Says Tim Kreider. He speaks nothing but the truth. As someone who overthinks literally every possible little thing in whatever situation, I can agree that there is something existentially alarming about the fact that we may inhibit other people’s heads, in a good or not-so-good way. Not only do we sneak our way into other people’s heads, but other people sneak into ours as well.

We all somehow talk about one another behind their backs. Whether it be for good or bad reasons, we all do it. “We all make fun of one another behind one another’s backs, even the people we love. ” Three billion people use social media. We are spending an average of two hours every day sharing, liking, and tweeting our lives away on these platforms. The internet is distancing us from everything. “We have never been more detached from one another, or lonelier. ” Says Stephen Marche. Facebook is basically larger than the global coffee industry. Globally, almost everyone has a Facebook account.

Last summer, it became the first website to get 1 trillion page views in a single month. In a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in D. C. , women reported being more stressed than men. Twitter was found to be a “significant contributor” as it increased a person’s awareness of other people’s stress. (Brown) As an active twitter user, I can stand behind this 100%. Seeing other people tweet freely and rant about their stressful lives, makes me want to tweet about my personal stress all the time. It helps one feel as they aren’t alone, but at the same time, we care way too much about what other people are going to think about that post. “…Twitter also acted as a coping mechanism – and the more women used it, the less stressed they were. ” “Overall, the researchers concluded that social media use was linked to “modestly lower levels” of stress. ” Social media is not only a stress-reliever for some, but it’s everything to many people. Social media is the only way people can connect with their family and friends that are far away from them and keep them close. “I don’t get to see him [his son] all the time. He’s growing up in two houses, as I did. But recently I handed down my old iPhone 3G to him to use basically as an iPod touch. We both installed an app called Yak, so we could communicate with each other when we’re apart. ” Says Josh Rose, author of the article “How Social Media is Having a Positive Impact on Our Culture”. This is possibly the only way people who live in a different state/country than their loved ones can stay in touch. Again, this hits close to home. I can only talk to my cousins in Mexico through social media (Twitter, Instagram), and my mother and I talk to my grandmother through FaceTime every single day. This is when social media is doing good for the society. According to surveys, 39% of respondents reported feeling closer to their friends because of social media, while 26% of the sample felt that they had more friends because of social media.

Social Media is also very useful when it comes to job duties. For example, I need to use social media and other apps for work. I am up to date with whatever my job is doing that month/day through Twitter and Instagram. I also depend on GroupMe to stay in touch with all of my coworkers and managers and make sure everything is good at the stand. There are so many different instances in which social media can be extremely helpful, and bring us together instead of pulling us apart. It really is no lie that technology has connected us with other people around the world more than ever. We still have the ability to connect with others in the blink of an eye, but this is also literally breaking us apart. Social media has changed how we relate to one another, and we are losing the art of face to face communication faster than ever. A lot of people feel the need to post something, anything, on social media ALL the time. They are quite literally glued to their phones 24/7. Though this may seem like it’s an awful way to live, it’s not all bad.