If social media has yet to negatively impact your life in some way, it will eventually. Whether it's because your ex posted a picture with their new boyfriend/girlfriend, your best friend uploads that embarrassing video of you at a party last weekend, or someone you dislike posts something rude about you on Twitter for everyone to see, an experience similar to this is bound to happen. There are issues from social media that may not be as severe, but can still be just as hurtful and embarrassing to someone, which causes greater issues. It is extremely important that we as a generation realize that whether we like it or not our lives are public for everyone to see once something is posted on the Internet. We as a generation are so obsessed with advertising what we are doing, where we are, and whom we are with at all times, that we almost forget to just simply live our lives. The problems of social media are on the rise especially in today's world; therefore adolescents especially need to be well aware of what is posted online. Social media has not only been proven to cause minor problems, it also is the leading cause for depression and anxiety for adolescents in today's world. One wrong post has enough power to ruin an entire reputation and future, which is why it is so detrimental to our society. Our generation has become solely reliant on checking different news feeds religiously, which makes trying to lower the amount of people who use social media in their daily lives impossible. When people post all about their lives and document the things they do this causes an increase of other people to judge and criticize the person's post, which causes self-developmental problems for adolescents. More problems than expected arise from the use of social media, such as sexting and cyber-bullying (Gabriel). People live for that Instagram like, or that Twitter favorite, but is one inappropriate caption worth not being able to qualify for your dream job? Social media negatively impacts our society in multiple ways including, causing depression/anxiety, jeopardizing future opportunities if not careful, and unrealistic depiction of life that could lead to low self esteem problems.

Depression and anxiety have been directly linked to social media, and in Sreedhar's article he found that 54% of students reported that they are "experiencing overwhelming anxiety in the past 12 months and that 32.6% felt so depressed that it was difficult to function"("Is Social"). The statistics of adolescents who have felt depressed or suicidal because of social media is scary, but we can only blame ourselves. Depression can arise from social media in different ways, such as cyber-bullying or even just feeling bad about your image because of how others portray themselves to be. This past March over 1.4 billion people worldwide had joined Facebook, and in June 316 million people were on twitter. This obsessive amount of people is the reason the depression levels are able to keep increasing. The more popular these social media sites become, the higher risk of people that will soon be affected by the negative results to being apart of social media. The term "social media depression" comes from being so involved and obsessed with what people are posting, that we forget how unimportant it actually is(What is social media depression). It is so easy to get caught up in what others are posting that we find ourselves consumed with the Internet and moving farther away from reality. Not only does seeing a good picture of someone make you jealous, but it makes you question your own looks which leads to a lower self confidence and can trigger a less intense form of depression. There have been studies done that try to reduce the amount of time people spend on these sites in order to lower the statistics of people affected by depression and anxiety, but it the end it is up to us to control our levels of usage. Health professionals have done research that has proven that children and teens are more sensitive to media influences, and even though depression affects both sexes, women are more commonly diagnosed with the condition than men ("What's social media"). This information was not shocking to read just after personal experiences. Social media obviously does not discriminate based on race, but girls are more susceptible to fall into the trap of how social media has the ability to negatively portray who we actually are. Filters, editing apps, and whatever else there could possibly be are definitely where girls become most insecure. Social media allows insecure people to hide behind their phones and use filters, or certain apps to convert the way you look into something you are not. The ability for us to hide behind our phones allows there to be a higher risk of cyber-bullying and doing whatever else on the Internet that people would be too afraid to do in real life. An article called "The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals" breaks up the article into four different sections, a false sense of connection, cyber-bullying, decreased productivity, and privacy. Each section contains evidence to support my argument and help add to the ethos of my paper. The article stresses that the more time and energy spent on social media the more our more important relationships and connections will weaken. "According to Cornell University's Steven Strogatz, social media sites can make it more difficult for us to distinguish between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through social media" (Jung) This quote is crucial because often times I find myself seeing someone I only know through the internet which makes personal interaction almost uncomfortable. Social media relationships will never compare to real personal relationships, but sometimes we will only ever know someone through the Internet. Under the category of cyber-bullying it is brought to attention that "The devastation of these online attacks can leave deep mental scars. In several well-publicized cases, victims have even been driven to suicide." (Jung) Cyber-bullying is a real problem that happens every single day; a survey was taken stating that 42% of kids have reported being cyber-bullied. "While many businesses use social networking sites to find and communicate with clients, the sites can also prove a great distraction to employees who may show more interest in what their friends are posting than in their work tasks."(Jung) This next quote in the article is a great problem that our generation faces by distraction to online use during work. Social media is supposed to be used to enhance work productivity, but instead it causes distractions, and decreased levels of productivity for businesses.

The amount of effect and power that a social media site contains is terrifying especially if you are young and naive and think that posting a picture with a beer underage will not affect your future in anyway. Lack of parenting maybe could be an excuse for this problem, but even other inappropriate pictures posted could affect you in the future when it comes time to interview for jobs. The good thing about social media: stalking, this term is not literal stalking, but online stalking comes in handy when you are trying to figure out what kind of person you are about to deal with. Having the ability to just search someone's name is amazing and terrifying. Anything that was once posted online can still be found even if it is deleted right away (Iwanski). It is vital that this is taken seriously, especially for adolescents who actually want to have a successful future. All it takes is one poor judgment to end up online for the entire world to see and have access to. There is nothing private once something is posted to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. Although you may think because your friends account is private that no one else will be able to see or have access to it, that is entirely false and can still be traced.  "Sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ allow employers to get a glimpse of who you are outside the confines of a resume, cover letter, or interview -- while they offer job seekers the opportunity to learn about companies they're interested in; connect with current and former employees; and hear about job openings instantaneously, among other things. That's probably why half of all job seekers are active on social networking sites on a daily basis, and more than a third of all employers utilize these sites in their hiring process." (Forbes) This except from Forbes magazine is a current article, which is exactly what employers do when they are scouting out future employees. It is critical to be extremely cautious when posting any status, picture, or opinion on any social media site, because people form judgments based off of those choices. An excerpt from The Carolina Rhetoric contains an article called "The Web Means the End of Forgetting" which talks more about how critical it is to watch what is posted online. "Four years ago, Stacy Snyder, then a 25-year-old teacher in training at Conestoga Valley High School in Lancaster Pa., posted a photo on her MySpace page that showed her at a party wearing a pirate hat and drinking from a plastic cup, with the caption "Drunken Pirate" (Rosen 51). Her supervisor found this photo and said Snyder was "promoting drinking in virtual view of her underage students"(Rosen 51). This one photo caused Stacy Snyder to not be able to graduate and earn her teaching degree just days before she was suppose to. This is a perfect example of how one poor decision online can lead to an entire future ruined. 

Jealously is prevalent in everyone, but social media sites make it easier to envy everything that others have, and everything that we do not have. Hiding behind a computer screen or phone allows people to be whoever they wish, the problem with this is that someone can make their life seem perfectly fine, when in reality that person has struggles and problems just like everyone else. This causes major self-esteem problems, and can lead to unrealistic expectations of life. Not everyone can get a brand new car as their first car, or have the perfect body to be able to flaunt to their followers. The idea of "perfect" is formed based off of who gets the most likes on their picture, and our society lets this determine who we are and how we view others. Social media is known to cause depression and anxiety, and In this article it is further proven, "Nicky Lidbetter, CEO of Anxiety UK, noted in a 2012 article that for those already prone to anxiety, it seems that the pressures from technology act as a tipping point, making people feel more insecure and more overwhelmed"(Social Media And Insecurity). For people who are already prone to having anxiety social media acts as an assistant that adds to the additional stress. Lidbetter goes on to say "social media is now a breeding ground for distrust in relationships" which is not an uncommon thing to hear for today's society. (Social Media and Insecurity). Not only does social media make our generation question our own personal appearance, and self-esteem it makes us question everyone else around us too. This is something that cannot be fixed, because jealousy and insecurities are a natural part of life, but social media enhances the ability of people to have insecurities. It is extremely common to form a natural distrust to the people we are the closest to, because of what social media allows us to do. When adults and people of the older generations think of Facebook and other social media sites they may use, most of the time they have good intentions for using those apps, such as keeping in touch with family members and great ways to communicate. This is what we should use social media for, but sadly it has turned into chaos. Every moment of someone's life can be recorded and posted online for the world to see, which is so unnecessary. Social media allows us to feed off of other people and become so wrapped up into other people's lives and business we should not care about or even be interested in. 

Like any argument there is always another side, yes there are positive aspects to social media, which can actually be beneficial to people of all ages. Some advantages include, guaranteed meeting places, keeping in touch with family, professional networking, and staying informed about the world. There is more to social media than just the bad articles and pictures that are posted. Social media is a great way to be informed about the news, since newspapers are on the decline, and we cannot always watch TV and wait for the nightly news to air. The most common form of social media is staying in touch with family and friends and social media is definitely a great way to do so. Catching up with family online is less personal, but if it is the only opportunity, than it is a great way to feel as if you are not even missing that person. One of the biggest advantages of social media is the connection it provides, whether it is job opportunities, or promoting your own business, it is an effective way to reach out to people and grasp people's attention. Businesses thrive off of and rely on social media in order for their companies to do well. Without social media it would be harder to advertise events, and spread the word about certain things that need to be known by large groups of people. Communication is key in our society, and it is so important that we maintain the capability to communicate with each other properly. Without certain social media sites it would make communicating more difficult. We as a generation rely heavily on having these forms of communications that without them we would struggle adapting without it. Social media is a great tool, but sadly our generation has abused it into causing more harm than good. All forms of social media were created to be beneficial such as Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but it the users who have created the problems. For any problem that is prevalent with an issue there is not always a clear-cut solution. Dr. Duke and her colleague suggest a solution that parents should monitor their children's time spent on social media, in order to prevent problems in their adolescent lives. (Extension Daily) The more that is monitored at a younger age, the better off the child will be in the future. Learning how to control the amount of time spent on Social Media sites will help solve multiple problems such as, how much we as a generation rely on those networking sites. 

As seen throughout, social media causes more harm than, good. Although a great idea, we as a generation have abused its connivance and made it into something that can do more harm. If social media was controlled better by its users, then our society would not be struggling so badly with the repercussions that come from the abuse. Since it has been proven above that the negatives outweigh the positives, people really need to take this into consideration. 

