Facts and Figures
Let's get into detail about how social media has developed through the years, how it's affecting our daily lives, and why it can have a negative influence on us.
What is Social Media?
​Social media is computer-based technology that allows us to share ideas and information through virtual communities and networks.
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The earliest method of communicating across great distances was letters. The first postal services date back to 550 B.C., and primitive delivery systems became more prominent in future centuries. In 1792, the telegraph was invented, which was a revolutionary way to convey information quickly. Afterwards, the telephone was invented in 1890 and the radio was invented in 1891. This enabled people to communicate across great distances at the same time, which was something humans have never experienced before.
Technology started to develop at a more rapid pace in the 20th century. Once the first computers were invented in the 1940s, engineers experimented with building networks between the computers and this led to the creation of the internet. By the 1960s, the earliest forms of internet and email had developed, and by the 1980s, home computers became more common.
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The first social media site was born in 1997. SixDegrees.com allowed users to set up a personal profile page, create lists of connections, and send messages within networks. Sites such as LinkedIn and MySpace gained popularity in the early 2000s. Youtube was invented in 2005 followed by Facebook and Twitter in 2006. These sites still remain as some of the most popular social networks.
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Today there is a large variety of social networking sites, and they continue to evolve. It seems pretty clear that social media will exist in some form as long as humans are alive, so it's important that we are aware of its effect on our daily lives. ​
Social Media's Impact
01/
Depression and Anxiety
Because social media shows the best part of people, you unconsciously compare the negatives in your life with other people’s best moments. This can cause a lot of stress and anxiety. Cyberbullying is another aspect that causes depression and anxiety. Social media can empower certain individuals to say offensive words without much consideration. Consequently, online assaults can leave mental scars, and in worst cases can lead to suicide.
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Negative Body Image
Social media exposes you to pictures of people with toned bodies wearing expensive clothing and jewelry. Studies show that 88% of women and 65% of men compare themselves to images they observe on social media, which shows the severity of this issue. Some influencers encourage you to go on a certain diet without providing any scientific evidence. This is problematic as it can lead to lower self-esteem, unbalanced diets, and eating disorders. Try to unfollow accounts that may have a negative impact on your mental health, and stay connected with the people that give you positive vibes :)
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Physical Health
Using your phone for too long can strain the tendons of your fingers and wrists. It could also cause eye strain, which may result in bad eye sight. Furthermore, excessive use of the mobile phone at night can lower the quality of your sleep, leading to fatigue and insomnia. Spending too much time on your phone also gives you less time to be active, and when this is continued for a long time, your muscles may deteriorate and cholesterol levels could rise. Lastly, excessive use of your mobile device could help develop poor posture, such as round shoulders, spine curvatures, and neck pain.
4 Common Stressors
These are 4 main reasons as to why we get stressed using social media.
We tend to struggle with our insecurities because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel. A highlight reel is a collection of the best moments. For example a sports highlight reel would be a collection of an athlete's best performances in a game. Similarly, social media acts as our personal highlight reel where we can display moments in our life that are interesting and special. Therefore, comparing our day to day appearance with other people's brightest moments could be unhealthy.
The Highlight Reel
Social Currency
Currency is a system we use to attribute the value of goods. In social media, likes, comments and shares have become the social currency. This is a problem because we are essentially the product being sold. Have you ever taken down a post just because it didn't get as many likes as you anticipated? Do you take hundreds of selfies to get the perfect one? Do you wait for the perfect time to post? This kind of behavior of following the social currency is changing our identity because we judge our self-worth based on what others think.
The fear of missing out ​is a social anxiety where you feel that you are missing an opportunity or connection.
In fact, a collection of Canadian Universities found that 7 out of 10 students would have deleted their social media account if it weren’t for the feeling that they would be left out. I think it's true that a lot of us have considered deactivating our social but hesitated due to the concern of being excluded.
F.O.M.O.
Perhaps the worst stressor on social media is online harassment. Almost 60% of teenagers in the United States have experienced a form of cyber bullying. This includes offensive name calling, spreading false rumors, and physical threats. Remember that time when you sent your friend a snap with the intention of it being private, but they posted it on their account for everyone to see? You may have laughed it off and moved on, but did you really feel okay about it? We need to start paying more attention to small instances like this before they turn into major incidents.
Online Harassment
In our community...
To find out how people in my community are dealing with social media, I collected some responses from students in grades 6 through 10 anonymously. Obviously everyone has a different point of view, and the scale of the data shown below is too small for us to generalize the findings, but still it could help us obtain a better understanding of how social media may impact students in our community.
