If one were to look at any history textbook, it is evident that the rate at which our world is developing is extremely rapid. We have come so far; from first discovering fire in caves, to sending pictures to the Cloud. Us as a society used to work together to develop, create, explore, and think. Villages and towns communicated to one another every day and grew to this worldwide, modern world. The way in which we have developed has led to our society’s introduction to smartphones, and particularly, social media. The way in which social media has started to lead our lives is negatively affecting us as a society and the way we are functioning. There is significant statistical evidence that suggests that there is a link in the rising rates of teenage depression, anxiety, and eating disorders and the rising rates of social media usage in our society. Time Magazine, one of the world's largest circulation for a weekly factual and credible news, writes that “Instagram is the worst social media for mental health and wellbeing, according to a recent survey of almost 1,500 teens and young adults. While the photo-based platform got points for self-expression and self-identity, it was also associated with high levels of anxiety, depression, bullying, and FOMO, or the “fear of missing out” (MacMillian). While I believe social media can be used for good, like self-expression and connection, ultimately our society puts too much of an emphasis on social media in our daily lives, which makes it not a useful aid in our lives, but instead, it powers our lives. I urge our world to develop ways in which we can lean off social media altogether, or find alternative ways to not rely on it, because it is detrimental to our mental health and the way we interact. I believe that on the opposite end, if we didn’t do anything about the way our society is headed, regarding social media, it can very well negatively affect the mental health of our society, the communication in our society, the false information in our society, and in general, create an atmosphere of false reality and in-genuineness that this society could not function in. Technology seems to be controlling the ways we live our lives and if we continue this path, it could lead to a society that puts only an emphasis on things for the purpose of social media and technology. By educating ourselves on the effects of what too much social media can do, we could alter the track we would be headed, and get ourselves off our screens and back to reality and the incredible world a phone camera could never truly capture.

First, we can look at how our society came to be so dependent on technology and social media. Social media is very useful to our society, and does indeed hold many benefits to our development. The first example is how social media and technology can be extremely useful in classroom settings and help us learn new and updated information. In a study done Yazan M. Alghazo and Julie A. Nash titled “The Effect of Social Media Usage on Course Achievement and Behavior”, it analyzes how social media usage in a classroom can influence the material they learn and how they process that information. Alghazo is an assistant professor at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, with an emphasis in math education, elementary education, and international education, making him credible in this study that is being done on students in the classroom environment. The study showed that technology did have a positive influence on the students in the class, with results indicating, “In relation to the second research question of the study, the findings suggest that students in the treatment groups demonstrated behavior more conducive to class success than students in the control groups. More specifically, students in the treatment groups had lower numbers of absences and lower numbers of missed assignments. This finding is expected since all students in the treatment groups had more convenient direct access to the instructor using their mobile devices. Also, reminders about class assignments due dates were sent out through the WhatsApp groups, which means students would receive the reminders automatically on their cell phones, rather than having to log into blackboard or their emails to check for announcements” (Alghazo). This study illustrates how using technology in the classroom can give motivation to students, especially to keep up with assignments outside of the classroom. The convenience of social media and apps can lead to many positive effects towards the rising generation of students. Another example of the positive effects of social media on this generation is to take a look at how college-aged students are using it in situations outside of the classroom as well. In this scholarly article written by Danielle Gentile, she describes the many benefits of social media as a way of communication through college aged students, and gives various case studies and examples of the benefits described. By correctly citing sources and explaining how useful they are to the written work, it solidifies the credibility of the source. The study emphasizes how much of an influence social media can have on a mass population, by explaining that “The high volume of retweets of emergency alerts posted by DT (Drinking Ticket, an Twitter account that updates college students about campus news) reflects students’ endorsement of the platform to quickly distribute messages to the broader campus community. Institutions of higher education should become aware of how similar social media platforms can enhance emergency communication” (Gentile). Again, this study shows another benefit to the use of social media in our daily lives. The article highlights ways in which social media is preforms the task the broad idea was originally designed to do, which is to add ease, convenience, and connection to one another in our everyday lives. Forbes magazine has written on this topic, also and agrees with this stance that social media does more good than harm. It illustrates the many ways that social media in the form of news outlets, helpful corporations, and people who can change the world and give back to the community. “Using social media allows teens to follow organizations and causes that they believe in. It makes them feel like they are a part of something, even when they feel like an outcast in society. Increased teen awareness is important. Social media is one of the best outlets to reach the minds of young people to make a real difference” (Agrawal).  Especially because teenagers are the major demographic using social media, by directly communicating to them, they can be more easily informed and influenced. However, I do not think that these positive effects of social media outweigh the negative effects. Introducing these positive ideas of social media shed a light on how we all use it in our everyday lives, but this paper will continue to explain the ways in which social media has transformed our society and controls us all, to a certain extent.

When reading these positive accounts of social media, it is easy to identify with these viewpoints. We experience social media daily, and the connection and convenience it can give to our lives can influence us to overlook just how much we rely on it. Teenagers, who are the main demographic living with social media, have developed overwhelming rising rates in depression and anxiety, and due to the rising rates of social media usage among teenagers, the evidence that links these two rates together is more than just a coincidence. Our minds create a game of comparison when viewing these online lives we have created for ourselves, the game has gone too far. “According to a recent study by UK disability charity Scope, of 1500 Facebook and Twitter users surveyed, 62 percent reported feeling inadequate and 60 percent reported feelings of jealousy from comparing themselves to other users” (Abrams). Increasingly people can relate to these feelings, and because social media has become a part of our daily lives, these feelings every day has started to take its toll. A study shows that “the effects of Facebook use on mental health, researchers at the University of Missouri discovered that regular use could lead to symptoms of depression if the site triggered feelings of envy in the user” (Abrams). These expectations and unknowing pressures the social media has stirred in our society leaves a real weight in the users of these sites. However, there are ways to combat negative effects of social media, as this article has listed. If you find yourself creating a game of comparison and self-depreciation, there are steps to take to lean yourself off Facebook. The article lists that you can “deactivate your Facebook account (you can always reactivate it later), unfollow your most (seemingly) happy and successful friends, remember that Facebook isn’t a representation of reality, and turn off the computer and go make your own annoyingly happy moments” (Abrams).  The very fact that this source must list out ways to cope with negative feelings that stem from Facebook usage illustrate just how big this epidemic of comparison has become, especially on today’s children and teenagers. A TED Talk by psychologist Adam Alter highlights a daily routine of the average teenager. They tend to sleep roughly seven and a half to eight hours a day, they go to school for eight and half hours a day, they engage in survival activities like eating, bathing, homework, exercise, etc., about three hours a day. Leaving us with “white space” or our free time; this space is personal to us and incredibly important to developing children and teenagers. This is where we develop hobbies, friendships, ideas, memories. However, when Apple introduced the iPhone eight years ago, our free time has dwindled down and been confined to this small screen. Their developing brains are heavily influenced by these screens; Alter explains that “You watched a show on TV, eventually the show would end, and then you’d have a week until the next one came. There were stopping cues everywhere. But the way we consume media today is such that there are no stopping cues. The news feed just rolls on, and everything’s bottomless: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, email, text messaging, the news. And when you do check all sorts of other sources, you can just keep going on and on and on” (Alter).  Our society is overwhelmed with information and apps that never seem to go un-updated. It’s almost like we can’t escape this virtual reality we’re in. Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair, a clinical psychologist and author of The Big Disconnect explains that “As a species we are very highly attuned to reading social cues. There’s no question kids are missing very critical social skills. In a way, texting, and online communicating—it’s not like it creates a nonverbal learning disability, but it puts everybody in a nonverbal disabled context, where body language, facial expression, and even the smallest kinds of vocal reactions are rendered invisible.” Social media is beginning to alter our world of communication and creates a distorted reality of sorts. Adolescence is a time in which people are figuring out who they want to be and aware of the idea of “appearance” and “reputation”. With social media having such a weight of perfection and over-filtered life, screen life and real life become mixed, and failing to separate these two things can lead to more identities to create, and “The more identities you have, and the more time you spend pretending to be someone you aren’t, the harder it’s going to be to feel good about yourself” (Ehmke). Professor Dr. Joanne Davilia at Stony Brook University discovered in a study of a sample group of teenage girls, extreme Facebook usage caused the same group to be more at risk for symptoms of depression and anxiety; following up a year later, re-evaluation of this group proved that the users who frequently “discussed their problems with friends, through social media” displayed higher symptoms of anxiety than the group who did not (Amedie). Another psychologist Dr. Mark Becker, of Michigan State University, explains that his research shows a 70% increase in self-reported depression symptoms among a group of social media users, and 42% increase in social anxiety. This overwhelming statistical evidence points clear to the fact that there is a link in high social media usage and higher rates of depression, anxiety, and negative feelings (Ehmke). The Pew Research Center conducted a study that found “92% of teens go online daily and 24% say they are online ‘constantly’” (Potarazu).  We are wrapped up in technology to the point that are daily lives have some type of social media embedded in them, ruling the way we live and ultimately deteriorating the younger generation of our society. If we don’t change the ways in which we are letting social media influence us, these negative effects can only get worse. 

As we have illustrated above, social media has more negative effects than positive effects, and it is starting to take a toll on our society of young adults and teenagers. Steps should be taken to alter the route in which we are headed. If we, as a society, don’t do anything to help change how we use social media, the statistics of depression and anxiety among teenagers could rise; causing a ripple effect of side effects and leave a strain on the population associated with the usage of social media. However, there is a way in to alter this course we are on. Educating the newer generation about the appropriate and healthy ways to interact online could be huge towards shifting the mindset we have on our virtual reality. CNN, a worldwide news database, has also seen the effects of social media on our society, and has taken initiative to list steps towards change. These suggestions include: creating more structured forms of social media, provide feedback for parents on their kids’ online usage, add school courses about social technology and responsibility, take off the pressure of social media and being noticed all the time, pay attention and be aware and pay attention to symptoms that could arise from too much social media, and offer counseling services for this population (Potarazu). 

Social media was first introduced into our world because it would connect one another and educate one other; invented to be beneficial towards the development of our modern world. However, social media has slowly deteriorated our society, and has become the focus of a self-obsession, comparison, and popularity game that no one seems to win. The draining effects it has on its user have proven extremely detrimental, and will only get worse. By taking steps towards improving the situation this has become, we can alter the course social media seems to be taking, and relieve ourselves of this virtual reality, and step around the screens, to a world they could never truly capture. 
