By Marisa Latinville
In today’s society, social media plays a major role in our everyday lives. Individuals from across the globe use social media. The idea of communication has changed since social media has existed and now plays an important role in our lives in terms of who and when we talk to people. Social media communication increases your urge and timing of sending or receiving messages. It becomes instantaneous and is available to you at all hours. There are many positive and negative effects that come with instant communication with others. Social media communication gives you the ability to communicate with others a great amount more in general, it allows easy access to get in contact with others from around the world and can give you a sense of comfort and safety knowing that you can always reach out to someone by just the click of a button. The negative effects of social media include losing a sense of “real” life communication, your reaction to emotions and social cues and jealousy and distractions in relationships. Although social media does come with benefits, the negative effects that come along with it overall makes for a toxic environment for individuals, especially those of a young age.
Social media communication can lead to more communication in general. When typing behind a screen, people can have the confidence to say things that they most likely wouldn't have the courage to in person. This is especially true for people who are anxious or shy. Social media can give you the courage you need to ask someone to hang out, whether that be asking someone out on a date or asking to catch up with an old friend. Feeling less anxious on social media also applies to posting. According to The Conversation Eva Buechel, “We found that people who felt apprehensive or anxious about social interaction were actually more likely to post or tweet on social media sites. In one experiment, half of the participants were asked to write about a time they were at a party and felt anxious about interacting with others. The other half were asked to write about a neutral topic.We then gave participants the opportunity to use their favorite social network for a few minutes, and afterward we asked what they did while online. People who had written about their social anxiety were more likely to microblog (tweet or post a status update) than those who had written about a neutral topic. Importantly, our follow-up studies show that while experiencing social apprehension or anxiety increases microblogging, it decreases face-to-face sharing. Indeed, when we asked people about how they preferred to communicate with others, the ones prone to experience social anxiety were more likely to choose microblogging over reaching out face to face.” Social media eases the anxiety and shyness because you can post what you want and not see how others are reacting to it.
Another positive to social media communication is how easily accessible it is to get in contact with whoever you want. Finding someone’s contact information can be easily done with social media. Individuals are able to send direct messages to others just by a simple click of a button. This is beneficial in any situation when you are trying to get in contact with someone whether it be to plan a large group gathering or a small one. This also can be done with individuals all around the world. Given that you can connect with others from across the globe, this also gives a sense of comfort knowing that you are able to connect and stay in touch with others no matter where you are.
A major positive to social media communication is knowing that you can always have someone with you even when you are alone. For safety reasons, this benefit is major and could save your life. According to Techonomy, “Some social media platforms have developed free or low-cost disasters alert services around the world. The use of such systems by Facebook have played a vital role in recent weather disasters in India, for example. They send vital messages to alert people of danger and thus prevent harm. They also help monitor and organize rescues, and inform family and friends when individuals are safe. Preliminary data already documents the effectiveness of such social media disaster technology services.”
Social media can be used as an outlet to ensure your safety. You can easily connect with someone if you are alone and don’t feel comfortable or if you are in a situation where you cannot verbally express the issues you are going through and need to communicate with someone via your phone.
With social media communication also comes negative effects. According to The Daily Evergreen by J. Franklin, “When people communicate with others solely through social media, it does more harm than good.” Although it is a great thing that anxious and shy people can use social media as an outlet to encourage them to reach out to others, it can lead to major social anxiety if overused. As you become more dependent on communicating via your phone, you lose sense of what real life interaction is like which can cause major social anxiety and sometimes depression.
Social media communication also affects the way we react to emotions and social cues. Communicating through social media differs from real life communication because we lack emotion through text. Even with the use of emojis, the “real” life reaction is still lacking and always will be unless you are face to face with someone. This lack of face-to-face reaction can lead to individuals lacking the ability to realize social cues and one’s true emotions.
Social media communication can come as a major distraction in relationships, whether it is a romantic relationship or a friendship.
As per Mbd Relationships, “A 2013 study found that, among couples who had been together for less than three years, spending more time on Facebook was linked with more Facebook-related conflict and more negative relationship outcomes. One study found that those who are dating people who overshare on social media tend to have lower relationship satisfaction (though positive posts about the relationship itself every now and then seemed to mediate that effect).” Social media constantly creates this distraction for us that can lead to couples or friends not having the ability to trust each other because they are constantly on their phone. This distraction can create jealousy or negative feelings about the other person which can lead to failed relationships. This also affects relationships because it gives easy access for "non faithful” individuals to talk to others online.
Social media is a leading cause for one’s entertainment in today’s society. Social media communication has many lasting effects that can be positive or negative. It gives individuals the ability to communicate with whoever they want whenever they want which can ease tension or anxiety. However, being dependent upon social media can cause individuals to lose sense of reality and have an overall negative effect on your mental health.
Comments