Running head:SOCIAL MEDIA OR PANDORAS BOX

Social Media or Pandoras Box

Jazmin Gamble
English 12- Period 5
April 21th, 2016
West Career and Technical Academy

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Abstract

Social media has the ability to tear lives apart and bring people for across the world together.
Social networking has affected society in many ways but what is unknown is how to cope or deal
with the pressure. Social media has been a storm that is sweeping through society and the
damage known my not compare to the damage that will come.

SOCIAL MEDIA OR PANDORAS BOX

Social Media or Pandoras Box

Social media is the new age version of Pandoras box we have opened it and it is time to
see if only evil comes through or if there is a true happiness at the bottom. Since social media
wedged its way into our lives, new friendships and knowledge has been acceptable by many
although society have come across problem previously unknown.Social media is selling a dream
that is unachievable, social media is selling society the dream of being perfect.
Social media in general can be subdivided into a number of different categories: social
sharing, social blogging, social bookmarking, social news, wikis, forum and opinion sites, and
social networking. Each of these types of sites enables users to create, absorb, and react to
information(social media. 2016). Since social media can be broken down into different
categories it will have different effects on society, from creating healthy and understanding
lifestyles, to dangerous lifestyles. Social media took the Internet by storm during the 2000s. By
2010, it accounted for 22 percent of all time spent online in the United States. A large variety of
user-generated applications makes up what is considered social media(Cooper, Patrick G.
2013). Society in America today have been using social sites more than ever it is an ever
growing platform to express oneself, since this is relatively new compared to the whole human
time line there is not to much history regarding the topic, although in recent news it has been
discussed greatly. New coverage has revealed scams and teen skilling themselves, so can social
media be a good thing?
Social media opens up a new vast area where people find themselves lost or dominating
the field. All the sites that are available in a large majority of countries it helps to bridge a
cultural gap. When people are exposed to different cultures people tend to be more tolerant of
other lifestyles.More and more people are joining social sites for dating and creating

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relationships that last for a long time, finding true love through the internet is an appealing idea.
Social media has created new jobs in the marketing field with so many people spending time on
these sites, processing and filtering through the information it makes it easy for companies to
push product on so many people.With so many companies on the web it is hard to know what is
real and what is a scam, social media makes it considerably harder. Since teens are make a large
part of the group filtering through the information it can lead to some dangers.Social media
creates the perfect conditions for pressure to appear perfect to society. Larger social media sites
like magazines have been photoshopping models to appear thinner for years, leading the public
to believe that unhealthy and dangerous life styles are normal. Because children and
adolescents are in the process of developing cognitive, social, and behavioral traits, media
exposure typically has a greater effect on the psychological, cognitive, and social health of young
people than that of adults (Khor, Ing-Wei. 2009), This can pose a great threat on teens because
social media and these companies are selling the idea of perfection. The idea are placed in the
heads of these teens that they need to be super thin and have an adventurous life, leading teen,
majority being female, to believe that starving themselves and practising dangerous diets
perceived as natural and healthy. Besides leading society down this dangerous path it can also
cause mental illnesses anxiety, depression, and some occasions suicide. Not only are children at
risk from the idea of perfection. Children who use the Internet are also vulnerable to sexual
predators who may pose as children or friendly adults on social networking sites and arrange to
meet in person (Khor, Ing-Wei. 2009), people have gone missing. The appealing ideas of
meeting true love, a best friend or even someone to talk to can be dangerous you never know
who you are talking to.
The true stakeholders in this issue would be the teen or children. These kids are

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processing so much advertising, so much false statements it becomes hard for them to process
information. Social sites are everywhere that it is hard to escape the pressure to be perfect, and
the some who do find the easy way out tend to be more anti-social. Children who spend a lot of
time playing video games or using the computer are more likely to become socially isolated and
withdrawn (Khor, Ing-Wei. 2009), this behavior is bound to become more prevalent in children
and teens. If the amount of socially withdrawn people enter society it will not advance us
because some socially withdrawn people lack basic social skills, the skills needed to obtain a job
or interact in a business world. Children playing these games are more likely to act aggressively
when they fail to get what they want. They are imitating behavior that was rewarded in their
video games(Khor, Ing-Wei. 2009). Kids are becoming more violent with online gaming,
another form of social media, because children see the violent behavior from the game as normal
and it is rewarded. Never seeing the consequences to your behavior will lead society down a dark
and violent path one that no one is prepared for. Steps society can take is to take children and
teens off the internet for one to two hours and day, this will help them see that the world outside
of social networking has a less demand to be perfect. Another is for people to push companies to
show advertizing that is more true and honest about the world, not everyone is a size zero so why
add pressure to be something so unachievable. The last step society can take is to stop allowing
social media to sell the dream of being perfect, make it normal to not share every bit of one's life.
In Aldous Huxley's book Brave New World , the world state does not have social media
but it does have a pressure to appear perfect. In the world state everyone is supposed to be
perfect they condition you to be perfect. From the beginning the world state conditions children
to be what they want them to be each person has a role in society. The world state also values
beauty, much like social media does. When Linda comes back from the reservation to the world

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state the people find her groest and want nothing to do with her. There was a gasp, a murmur of
astonishment and horror( Huxley, 1969) she was outcasted because to the world state she was
not beautiful. Linda i not the only victim of the harsh pressures of trying to be perfect, John
doesn't have the same ideals as the world state. He is regarded as beautiful but does not fit in
with others, the society traps him and refuses to let him go the pressure builds he is unable to be
perfect. John can not keep his morals and be the perfect individual the world wants him to be.
The pressure drives John to break his morals and engage in an orgy, which leads him to take his
own life. Through an archway on the further side of the room they could see the bottom of the
staircase that led up to the higher floors. Just under the crown of the arch dangled a pair of feet.
(Huxley,1969) John killed himself because that was the only way he would be able to escape,
and with the pressure from social media to be perfect mimicking that from Brave New World we
are creating only one way out for people.
The new form of self expression on social has brought new dangers into the world.
Social media has also introduced a new market and new ways to connect to people. There is
nothing that is just good or just evil but will the pressure to apear perfect drive us all mad.Social
media is today pandoras box, we have opened the lid and out spewed the evil but for us will
there be true happiness at the bottom or are bound to end up like the world state.

References
BROOKING, E., & SINGER, P. W. (2016). The War of Social Media. Popular Science, 288(2),
60-65.

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Cooper, Patrick G. (2013). Social media. In C. Belanger (Ed.), The 2000s in America.
Hackensack: Salem. Retrieved from http://online.salempress.com
Huxley, A. (1932). Brave new world. New York, NY: Harper Perennial.
Khor, Ing-Wei. (2009). Media exposure and mental health. In N. Piotrowski (Ed.), Psychology
and Mental Health. Hackensack: Salem. Retrieved from http://online.salempress.com
Ladd, George T. (2009). Teenagers mental health. In N. Piotrowski (Ed.), Psychology and
Mental Health. Hackensack: Salem. Retrieved from http://online.salempress.com
social media. (2016). In World History: The Modern Era. Retrieved April 12, 2016, from
http://worldhistory.abc-clio.com/