Taylor Grant Professor Adam Padgett ENGL 1102 2 April 2014 Social Media: Negative effects on mental health

and educational communication While social media can have positive effects on the business community and worldwide connection and networking, it can also have a detrimental effect on our youth. Seventeen years have passed since the creating of the first social media website Sixdegrees.com which started in 1997 and continued till 2001.The site was developed and founded by CEO Andrew Weinreich and was formerly named MacroView. Sixdegrees.com was based on the web of contacts model that current social media and networking sites use. It was named after the concept of six degrees of separation and the site allowed users to list family, friends and acquaintances both on the site and externally. The external contacts were then invited to join the site. Sixdegrees was one of the first manifestations of social networking websites in the current format seen today, but is not well known. After Sixdegrees, Myspace started in 2003, Facebook was created in 2004 and twitter followed in 2006. As of July 2011, Facebook passed 750 million users, LinkedIn had over 100 million members, Twitter had over 177 million tweets per day, and YouTube reached three billion views per day. (Guy 1) These sites have become a huge part of young peoples everyday lives and the outcome is not always good. Today young people in the academic setting struggle with proper grammar as a result of use and overuse of social media. The language shortcuts used in text messages are becoming evident in students' academic writing assignments. (Rankin 1) Social media also has adverse effects on the mental health of young people. Lets face it, youre only going to put the highlights of your life on social media; you

want yourself to look good to all your peers. This leads to constant comparison of others, which lowers the self-esteem of young people. We usually dont post about our lonely nights at home, money issues or saddening relationships. Although, this is not thought about when people start comparing their lives to others and instead end up feeling despondent which can at times even lead to low self-esteem, and depression. We need to realize these effects of social media and how much they are affecting our youth. Ever since social media was created in 1997 it has negatively impacted young adults mental health by many factors and now it also affects education and the learning environment. Education is one of the most important things in a young persons life. Good grades, GPA and getting into college should be on every young adults mind but nowadays students are constantly distracted by social media and dont spend enough time learning what they should, when they should. Many students, even college students, are behind on social skills they should have when dealing with academic and education. For example many of my fellow students dont know how to properly email a teacher. They dont lead with an introduction and use language shortcuts which is unprofessional and unacceptable at the college level. Also I see many students sitting in lecture halls on their laptops, just browsing social media, instead of taking notes or paying attention. As documented in recent research, students and faculty are using these emerging technologies and platforms in all facets of their daily lives, specifically social media; yet, a low percentage of users are engaging in such for academic practice. (Guy 3) This brings up the question, should teachers and professor be using this to their advantage? Posting assignments and reading on the internet is usual for some college professors and even high school teachers, but should they expand that and incorporate social media into their curriculum as well? Or does this reach too far and promote the use of too much social media for educational

purposes? The growing interest in social dimensions of learning has led educators and instructional designers to examine the integration of social media in both traditional and distance learning environments. (Guy 7) Using websites like Moodle or Blackboard for posting assignments is easier for the educator and for the students. While using social media in the classroom might capture more students attention, its not worth it in the long run. Social media is already a huge distraction in a students life and adding onto its use, especially while in a classroom setting, would create an even bigger distraction. Professors are struggling with many things relating to social media in the academic setting but mostly they struggle with their student writing. Students need to understand when to use language shortcuts and when to write in the proper academic format. Social media and these language shortcuts have led to a decrease in properly worded and properly proportioned papers in the academic setting. Language shortcuts, word abbreviations and acronyms have a detrimental impact on developmental students grammar and spelling skills. This is based off the theory that students use what they are most familiar with as they gain new knowledge. The mental health of a young adult is greatly affected by social media and the internet. Young adults already struggle with self-esteem and how society shows us who is pretty and who isnt. This is amplified by social media, immensely. No one is going to post pictures of themselves on social media when they are looking their worst. Most people use social media to show the glamorous and beautiful part of their lives, not the rough times. This fact makes comparison to others on social media increase dramatically, because no one is ever completely natural. Its very easy to get caught up in the image of a person and their life that social media presents. This can then lead to envy, rejections, and subconscious comparisons with our friends.

Another harmful mental health issue with social media is that it lowers attentions spans in young adults. My fear is that these technologies are infantilizing the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment.(Mackey 1) Social media has been linked to a rise in attention deficit- hyperactivity disorder. The reason behind this theory is that the young brain is exposed to quick flashes of the screen, fast action and reaction and speedy interchange might make the brain used to operating within these time constraints. Young adults, especially women, are very much influenced by what the view on social media and their environment. The effect of media on womens body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization, and disordered eating appears to be stronger among young adults than children and adolescents. This may suggest that long-term exposure during childhood and adolescence lays the foundation for the negative effects of media during early adulthood.(NEDA 1) Social media influences young women to think negatively about themselves. Media portray women as size 2-4 when in reality the average American women is a size 12-14. This creates an image in the minds of young girls that they are not good enough or skinny enough. Which leads to them wanting to do anything to fit in and be perfect, like the images they see in the media. Researchers have postulated that the thin-ideal body image portrayed in the media contributes to eating pathology among females.(Stice and Shaw 1) Bulimia and anorexia are a serious problem with young women and social media basically promotes these habits. For example a recent trend is the thigh gap. The unattainable goal is to become so thin that there is a gap between the thighs even when your feet are together. Its said that the wider the gap the sexier the person, which is insane. Experts say that social media forces teen girls into adopting unhealthy eating habits that often lead to eating disorders.(Stice and Shaw 3) Social media sites

are not checked enough. People get positive attention by losing weight on social media sites, which has a seriously detrimental effect on teens and young adults. Social phobias and feelings of inadequacy are also aspects of mental health that are harmed through the use of social media. After associating with and wishing happy birthday or happy anniversary to 50 or more friends or followers on Facebook and Twitter you can feel pretty depleted and hesitant about real, face to face conversation. You can log onto and social networking sites and see births, marriages, job promotions and engagements. Even though people exaggerate on social media, its still good enough news that you are comparing your own life to it. You might be having a perfectly normal day and decide to browse Facebook on your lunch hour. You then come across a picture of your best friend from high school getting engaged and think to yourself, Im older than her and Im still single and alone. Thats enough to ruin someones day, especially a womens. Those social postings have people all around the world comparing themselves against them and feeling inadequate because of it. Fear of missing out and the inability to be alone are also two other negative mental health effects of the use of social media. Fear of missing out is an actual phenomenon (FOMO). This phenomenon keeps people attached to social media because they are afraid of missing out on important events. The inability to be alone happens a lot when it comes to social media. Young people use it as a source to make friends when sometimes its hard for them to make friends in person. There is always someone online to talk to can confide in and some people dont have that in real life, so they turn to social media. When youre always chatting with friends online; its difficult to be truly alone without them. Some people who are addicted to social media find theyre suddenly unable to be alone or enjoy their own company. Basically, we are unable to truly be alone because of social media therefore we are far more likely to be lonely as a result.

In conclusion social media negatively affects young adults and teens body image and overall mental health. Social media leads young people to compare themselves to others and celebrities. Depression, negative body image, anxiety and eating disorders can then stem from these unhealthy comparisons. This affects the overall health of the teen and can produce problems that follow them into adulthood. Social media also affects young adults education. It can stunt them socially so they dont know how to act or communicate in an academic environment. Social media can also lead to grammar, syntax and overall language and communication issues in students.

Works Cited

"Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders | National Eating Disorders Association." Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders | National Eating Disorders Association. NEDA, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. <https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/media-body-image-and-eating-disorders>.

Guy, Retta. "THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR ACADEMIC PRACTICE: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE." Kentucky Journal of Higher Education 7th ser. 1.2 (2012): 121. Http://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=kjhepp. University of Kentucky, 23 July 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. <http://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=kjhepp>.

Rankin, Sherry. "The Impact of Text Messaging Language Shortcuts on Developmental Students' Formal Writing Skills." Diss. Texas A&M University, n.d. Udini. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <http://udini.proquest.edu/view/the-impact-of-text-messaging goid:807418333/>.

Mackey, Robert. "Is Social Networking Killing You?" The Lede Is Social Networking Killing You Comments. New York Times, 14 Feb. 2011. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. <http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/is-social-networking-killing-you/?

Stice, Eric, and Heather E. Shaw. "Adverse Effects of the Media Portrayed Thin-Ideal on Women and Linkages to Bulimic Symptomatology." Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 13.3 (1994): 288-308. Print.