The Power of Social Media

Social media is one best ways to reach out to young people. Yet, many people do not know the risk and negative impacts it had done them as well. Not only does social media play a part in your physical, mental, and social- well being. It helps provides a basic foundations for issues such as cyber-bullying, stalking, hacking, identity fraud and suicide. These to most people don’t get a chance to talk about until it's too late. Even by then social media is their only “safe haven” because people started to lack the basic form of communication to start and open a relationship, weather that be with a family member, friend, or even teacher.

Sitting in a room surrounded by individuals who you “know”. Perhaps you believe you know them because you follow them on instagram and twitter. Or you believe your friends because of facebook and snapchat. There’s this “connection” because you know eachothers names, and not their real name but the name they're known as weather it's “badgalriri” or “cutiepie 226”. After a whle you realize you never said two words to them ever, but you find it okay because your followers are high . But then you start to judge them because in the pictures they post their appearance is different, and you thought you were gonna have a enjoyable time tonight. Only because these individuals make it look like they’re having the time of their livies at every function, and now you're witnessing the picture posing in the corner. After the pictures the eyes attract the attention of their phone, and you realize you have been there for maybe three hours, and the only conversation you heard was maybe one sentence long. These words consist of “follow me on..”, or “let's dance” and not one single person asked your name. Not because they didn’t want to, but they probably figured they would get your instagram, twitter, or number so you can converse outside of the first form of commmunications. Which is face to face interaction. It’s “easier” to get to know each other when you don’t have to answer on the spot. More the less it’s easier to create the “picture perfect” you, when you can hide behind such a powerful thing. By then you have anyone and everyone knowing things that you want them to believe, and it’s okay because no one ever questions the lifestyle that was suppose is known as the “best” lifestyle.

The average person spends more time on an electronic device, than they do sleeping. In an article shared with Turbo Future, Nick McGillivary analyzed the negative aspects of social media which included work/school, privacy, crime, social determinants, misinformation, advertising and it being a waste of time. He states that “criminals use social media to stalk, assault, and commit  robberies and fraud through social media”. This all possible because users sometimes share more than what they need to. Such as sharing personal informations like their locations, family members, and where they received their education. Rachel Ehmke a writer for Childmind claims “social media and texting is promoting anxiety and lowering self-esteem”. Texting creates indirect communication which “creates a barrier to clear communication”. When you don’t have face to face communication, you’re able to keep your guard up at all times. Simply because you can’t  see the effects of your worlds, and you have a longer time to think about what you believe is the “right thing” to say rather than saying what you actually want to say. Social media is allowing society to create a “picture perfect human being”, which affects both genders but mostly females. “Girls are socialized more to compare themselves to other people, girls in particular, to develop their identities, so it makes them more vulnerable to the downside of all this” says Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair, a clinical psychologist and author of the The Big Disconnect. Females are pressured into looking like someone else so they can be noticed by males. Being that we live in a society where females are expected to aspire marriage, making all of their life choices based on knowing that marriage is the most important. Perhaps she is comfortable with her body, but others continue to knock her down. As Alessia Cara states“she praises an image she prays to be, sculpted by the sculptor”.

Growing up you loved everything about you. When you were younger and got teased you went home and your parents were always there to comfort you. Then you grow up and you distance yourself from your family and start to lean more towards your friends. Now you believe your parents don't understand you, but you never give them a chance to. Your parents see you changing yourself, but you don’t want to hear what they have to say. The only way they know what you're up to now of days is if they follow you on your social media. They see that you're having fun, and you friends love everything about you. So you trick yourself into thinking this is right. But one day you realize it isn’t you. One day you stand in the mirror looking at just you, and you realize that you only became accepted because it wasn’t you. You're not you, your them. Because you have the same interest as everyone else, and you're starting to have that picture perfect lifestyle that's suppose to make you happy. But then you ask yourself are you happy? You're not, but you pretend like you are so you don’t get treated like those who aren’t like everyone else. You realize that you have this painted face on, and you're hoping somebody ask you “how are you doing?”. But the only things your friends ask is if you're going to the next party, or talk about what the next person posted. So you go home hoping someone in your family would ask a question. Perhaps it’s too late because they got use of the routine of you being present, but you not actually being there. Now you can’t show how you feel because that is shown as weakness, and you was thought that weakness gets you nowhere. So you go on with life because everyone else seems to like the lifestyle so you should to. After days and weeks you say to yourself  “I can’t take this anymore”, and you go through the day hoping something will change. But it doesn’t. The next day nobody notices anything changed. Until dinner time, and your sibling has to go in your room to get you because you're not responding. What they see isn’t pleasant. Now you're gone, and everybody blames their self, because your last words were written on a piece a paper. Those last words were “Nobody asked.”

Now of days social media has taken a huge part in our life. With the benefits of fingertip access, and global communication, however, it comes with risk and negative impacts. The addiction to technology affects people physically, mentally, and social-well being. Physically because children no longer interact with each other outside, the network. As for adults they choose to network themselves to make them more presentable and acceptable to the outside world. This cause weight problems, because your body isn’t getting the right amount of exercise if one is just sitting around all day.  Mentally because some people are “learning” to not love the way they look, live or act because society handle on topic such as. Meaning everything must go one way, and if it doesn’t do that way you're a “failure”.  Lastly social-well being because young males and females are not obtaining the correct verbal and social skills. Everything is an acronym, and new words are being made that are not in the english dictionary. People aren’t connecting emotionally because everyone has a guard up, and they afraid of what people may say. If everyone could just control what they do and say. Perhaps even share positive messages to motivate people. If you show the real you. Maybe it will spread. At least show one person you care about them, and not what they want you to care about. We need to teach people that everything doesn’t need to be broadcast. We all need to remember what Betty Jarrie Chung said “Comparison with myself brings improvement, comparison with others brings discount.” We need to think about how the options ways out because not everything is con, social media has pros too.