The List of Common Negative Effects of Social Media

Nowadays, social media has become an inseparable part of most peoples’ daily routines. People naturally like to share the details of their lives and compare it to that of other people around the world. As humans, we look for approval and acceptance from those around us. It’s important to most people that they “fit in” to normal groups. In this way, social media has brought many positive benefits to our lives, but there is a darker side created by these services that I believe outweigh any positive gain.

One of the most obvious negative effects of social media is cyber bullying. One of the problems, when people communicate through technology, is that we are detached from the other person. They are not physically in front of people, as a result, people often say the most negative, hateful comments. Because of this detached feeling, there is no remorse felt by the bully, but the comment can have a huge impact on the victim. Cyber bullying affects people even in their off-line life. Cyber bullying has the potential to be even more impactful than bullying of the past. Victims of cyber bullying can become so depressed that they may take their own life. According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 13 percent of teenagers told us somebody posted a lie about them online, and another 13 percent said somebody sent them an intimidating or offensive note, IM or text message. About 6 percent of online teens told us that without their permission, anyone posted an embarrassing picture of them.  For example, 18 years old Tyler Clementi took his own life after his roommate secretly filmed him kissing another man and outed him on Twitter. This example shows the seriousness of this cyber bullying situation.

Today people are using their phones more and more, in some cases leading to addiction to their device and social media. Social media does not seen to be going away any time soon, so other solutions will be necessary. When people are working, even people put people’s phone away from people, people still will have the be impetuous to check the message on people’s phone. Sometimes people will feel so distracted by the little number up on the app. The social media not only will influence when we are working, but the people using it might also be addictive. To give an example, Kate Caroll, a junior history major at the University of Maryland, College Park, said she checks her smartphone “pretty incessantly,” inside and outside of class. “The phone never leaves my side, wherever I am,” said Carroll, 33, who has connected with online friends since the mid-1990s, when she frequented web-based bulletin board systems. “Even if I’m at home watching TV, I’ll have the phone in my hand, and at the very least, I recheck Facebook during every commercial. I’ll also check it at every red light while I’m driving, and every stop sign if there isn’t anyone behind me.” While the overall percentage of Americans use Snapchat is less than that of Twitter, about 49 percent of Snapchat users say they're using the service many times a day. All informed, about 63 percent of Snapchat and about 60 percent of Instagram users say they use these sites on a daily basis. 

Social media might also not be as safe as we thought it was. Recently, the issue of fake news or misinformation has been spreading on many social media sites. The most site requires little to no verification of whom the user is before being able to past news and information online. People can be easily tricked into thinking that someone is a reliable news or information source and they quickly spread that fake information on to others. In particular, in 2016, Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton and her chief of staff, John Podesta, conducted a child sex ring out of the basement of a pizza parlor in Washington, DC via one fake email. What started as a baseless internet rumor soon turned into a social media phenomenon. The #pizzagate trend went popular when thousands of people posted 'proof' for and against the case. Many of these messages come from outside the US, with disproportionately large waves originating from the Czech Republic, Lebanon, and Vietnam. Shortly after the election, this futuristic internet tale rendered a terrifying cross-over into the physical world as one of the followers of the novel, Edgar Welch, traveled with an assault rifle to Congress. He stormed the pizzeria calling for the cellar to be seen and fired three bullets. This took a terrible turn to what began as internet propaganda.

People have been actively working to find a way to help fix them, but there is still worked to be done. When it comes to cyber bullying, people have started support groups for victims and campaigns aimed at reducing people doing the bullying online. For instance, The Cybersmile Foundation delivers direct resources, support, and advice to anyone impacted by cyberbullying, as well as hate campaigns involving families, kids, educators, and caregivers. In the website's advice and guidance section, people will find important information about cyberbullying as well as links to many other organizations that all offer different ways to help with cyberbullying issues. To reduce screen time and social media addiction, the company has been developing APPs to limit the amount of time that can be spent on certain websites or other APPs. As an illustration, Screentime is a very useful application. This app can help the parent to manage the screen time of their kid’s electronic product. The spread of fake information has been harder to combat, and many companies are still struggling with solutions. Many people are calling for stricter verification when signing up for social media sites, going as far as needing a government-issued ID in order to able to post. So far, many of the most popular sites, like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, have not done this, so the problem of fake information is still a problem of these sites.

Social media is a very important part of our modern people’s lives. However, there are still many issues that didn’t solve yet. If it is not handled appropriately or effectively, it might influence our normal life and even our safety, and people even are not aware. Too many people are addicted to the social media, to the electronic products. Some people they put their time to the social media, but only in exchange for the online harassment. Why they don’t put their time to something more meaningful?