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Patrick Moreno
Professor Noh
English 114A
30 November 2015
Social Media: Harming Us Day By Day
In the society of 2015 there have been many important technological advances. One of
these advances is in social media. Social media all began with a website called SixDegrees.com
back in 1997. This website allowed users to connect with family, friends, and acquaintances. On
the site users could send messages with who they are connected with and post on the websites
bulletin board. Since SixDegrees.com was created there have been many more websites and apps
created such as: Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Instagram, Snapchat, and many more. These
websites are now being used for various things such as posting pictures with friends or of events
an individual is at, connecting with family or long lost friends, play games, the list goes on and
on. Whenever something new is brought into our society controversies are created along with it.
Social media is being used by many companies and schools to connect more people to whatever
that company or school wants. However, social media is not always as good as it may sound.
These websites and apps are creating many negative aspects to a persons life due to the chronic
use. The uses of social media should be less broadcasted by companies and schools because the
increased use of these websites and apps by their supporters can be destructive and negatively
affect ones psychological health aspects such as raising someones anxiety and depression
levels.

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One argument that people continue to bring up for social media is social media can create
an awareness for a specific disease or health issue. An article from The Times of India(online)
talks about how social media can create trends to show support for various movements.
Muthanna brings up, getting people to post videos and pictures of themselves sporting
mustaches, pouring ice over themselves or wearing bizarre shades of lipstick - all depending on
the cause they're supporting(Muthanna 1). Social media can be used for many different ways
like spreading awareness for an illness. One area that keeps getting talked about on social media
is cyberbullying. More and more types of programs and videos are being shown on social media
and spread around by social media users. However, social media is what created cyberbullying in
the first place by allowing users to freely comment and post whatever the individual may feel.
Before there was social media there was no such thing called cyberbullying. Even though she
people may believe social media helps by speeding awareness for different movements this is
wrong because social media is creating harmful movements of its own.
Social media affects a persons everyday life in many different ways. An article online
called, Social Media At Night Causes Teen Depression, was written dealing with one of these
issues. The author brings up how an individual feels the need to be available online 24 hours a
day. This causes, a lack of sleep among teenagers who are spending the late night hours on
social media can cause depression and anxiety(1). Social media is causing people to stay up
later and later every night checking new status updates and new pictures posted causing a lack of
sleep. Not only does it cause a lack of sleep, but it also causes poor sleep quality when an
individual actually finds some time when they are not on social media to sleep, also stated in the
same article. These sleepless nights and poor sleep can lead to many major issues in life. People

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have an increased level of anxiety and depression due to this poor sleep. Also a lack of sleep also
can lead to poor driving habits which causes an increase chance of accidents for a driver. A
persons everyday life can be changed negatively in many different ways due to the use of social
media.
A simple Google search of, social media bad, comes up with many different types of things. One
of the top images that comes up is a picture of six nuclear bombs labeled as different social
media websites and apps such as Twitter and Facebook. Also the image has the words, Weapons
of Mass Destruction, written around all of them. There are a few different aspects that are
associated with the images of nuclear bombs. Nuclear bombs are known for their mass
destructive capabilities. Also, another thing that viewers may think of is the use of nuclear bombs
in World War II or the scare that the U.S. had during the Cold War due to these weapons of mass
destruction. The creator of this picture used these ideas associated with bombs to make the
viewer think that social media can be as destructive as nuclear bombs. Now when an individual
sees the Twitter logo or the Facebook logo or any of the other ones shown in the picture that
person will think of this image. The constant reminder of this image will make the viewer second
guess the uses of social media and if social media is as good as it is made to be.
As a human being there are already a lot of different outside forces causing an individual
anxiety and depression. There is an article online discussing these types of side effects due to the
use of social media. In this article called, Experts Find Link between Social Media use and
Mental Health Issues in Children the author interviews Robert Portnoy. Portnoy is the director
of counseling and psychological services at UNL. Portnoy brings up the issue of people on social
media feeling the need to follow the life of everyone online so that the individual feels like they

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too are living that life. However, this excessive need to follow other people constantly leads to,
increasing levels of anxiety and depression(Kirby 1). Celebrities and friends of an individual
post pictures of glamorous, new goods that one may buy or receive as a gift. Also celebrates and
friends post pictures of wild, fun parties they go to creating this perfect lifestyle that is being
conveyed to their followers. The people following these accounts want to live in this fun,
exciting lifestyle so an individual follows the people living the life that the person wants. This is
creating the need to constantly check a persons status or new pictures posted so that the person
believes they too live in this lifestyle. However, when the individual realizes that they do not
have the exciting, glamorous lifestyle causes the person to fall into a depression or raise their
anxiety levels. Side effects of social media use are not always positive ones and lead to increased
feelings of depression and anxiety.
Due to advancements in technology children are getting electronic devices at younger
ages now. An online web article was created talking about the effects of social media on children
at young ages. In the article, How social media influences health, the author interviews Susan
Greenfield. Greenfield is a neuroscientist who focused on Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's
disease. However, she is now focusing on the impact of technology on the brain as well. In the
article she brings up how the internet and social media creates a shorter attention span for
children. Later on in the article the author points out, shorter attention spans could potentially
harm cognitive skill development(Greenfeild 1). Children at young ages are very
impressionable. This time period for a child is the most important time in ones learning process.
In the society of 2015 children are starting to use the internet and social media more and more.
This is creating harm to a childs learning development because a child can no longer focus on a

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topic for a long period of time. Not being able to focus on a topic causes the child to not fully
grasp the subject being taught or learned leading to a poor academic career. Later on in life this
child could have more issues because their cognitive development was harmed at a young age
such as not being able to get a degree from a university due to lack of concentration.
Technological advancements are causing children to put their cognitive development in danger
due to being able to access various types of social media at such a young age.
The use of social media needs to be less broadcasted by schools and other organizations
because the use of social media can destructive and causes major health issues for ones life.
Companies and schools keep pushing for social media and use them to lure other individuals
onto a companys or schools particular website or page. In the society of 2015 there are many
different types of websites or apps being used for social media. Each year more and more people
create new apps and sites for social media to improve on a site or app that was popular. An
example of this is Facebook coming out just a year after Myspace was created. An endless cycle
has started of trying to out due current apps and websites for social media. These social media
apps and sites can be used in many different types of ways. On these pages or apps the creator
offers exclusive deals for their followers. If an individual does not follow the page that person
cannot receive this offer. Therefore, the user feels the need or obligation to get on social media
and follow these pages forcing that individual into a harmful situation.

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Appendix A

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Works Cited
DeMatteo, Ann. "Hospital Promotes Awareness with Social Media." New Haven Register: 4. Oct
21 2010. ProQuest. Web. 8 Nov. 2015 .
Gileame. Social Media is Bad. Digital image. Boston College, Carroll School of Management.
Wordpress.com, 30 Jan. 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.
"How Social Media Influences Health." Kashmir MonitorOct 25 2011. ProQuest. Web. 8 Nov.
2015 .
Kirby, Jane, and Health. "Experts Find Link between Social Media use and Mental Health Issues
in Children." The HeraldOct 21 2015. ProQuest. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
Muthanna, Anjali. "When Social Media Stood Up for Health Issues Health News]." The Times of
India (Online)Sep 24 2015. ProQuest. Web. 8 Nov. 2015 .
"Social Media at Night Causes Teen Depression." The Western Morning News: 16. Sep 11 2015.
ProQuest. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.

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