The Error of Social Media

Social media has made it possible to connect with friends and family members across the world. Since early life, humans have found ways to keep in touch with others through writing letters from one person to another. Postal services was one of the first methods of communication with others who lived across long distances. After the telephone and radio were discovered in the late 1800s, humans continued to dream of more convenient and creative ways to communicate. 

Technology continued to boom in the 20th century with the development of the internet in the 1960s. Soon after, the earliest forms of internet chats and blog sites became popular. Social media sites such as MySpace and Facebook later became prominent in the early 2000s. Today, there are endless amounts of networks and apps we use to connect with anyone around the world. These sites have not only made it easier to communicate to others, but now have become advertising platforms, news sources, and an outlet to express the  first amendment. From the opposing view, has social media implemented a positive impact within society to us social animals or is it just a big bully that controls our lives? 

Fear of missing out, or FOMO is a social anxiety. FOMO is a consuming feeling that makes you want to be connected to what others are doing. FOMO syndrome has caused thousands of driving accidents since people can not just disconnect themselves from their phones. Leisure activities that allow us to “live in the moment,” are now interrupted by taking pictures or videos to share on the social media platforms. The idea of “living in the moment” has become a foreign concept in society today.

      The usage of social media from younger students enrolled in grade school has shown an increase of bullying on social media. From bullying on the internet, an uprising number of students have been diagnosed with numerous mental illnesses; such as, depression, anxiety, paranoia, suicide, etc. With students using social media as an outlet to share rude and derogatory statements of their fellow classmates, bullying has become a prominent issue that has resulted in anti bullying laws. 

The people in society have seen a “need” to publicize their everyday lives. We post about anything and everything just to try to show people that we are socially connected. The respect of privacy for others is now interrupted by recording and sharing with social media outlets. The social media and the bystander effect proposes that distant problems shared on social media present the ideal conditions for lack of action. For example, a prevalent occurrence in society is witnessing someone hurt or in need of help and rather than taking action, we take out our phones because we want to be the first ones to share a video. 

 Social media and the internet are both important creations in our lives. Hopefully we continue to learn from our mistakes and make the internet a better place.