MICHAELA OSAYAN

BSIT – A203
Argumentative Essay | PC

Social media brings us together and pulls us apart; Do you believe that the great
outweighs the bad or vice versa?

We all know that social media has a significant impact on our lives, particularly because individuals utilize it to
keep in touch with friends, family, and other communities. There are advantages and disadvantages to using social
media, not only for interactions and entertainment but also because some information or content that can be shown
on social media can also be triggered and also affects the relationships of people. Does social media remain the
same as keeping entertaining people and close the relationships together or is it also pulling them apart that the
fact is the term ‘friend’ in social media is a weak shadow of traditional friendship? Is it continuously that social
media can post not relevant information that can harm and unacceptable content for people who read it? Social
media, therefore, encourages people to value "social media friendships" over real-life friendships but real friends
actually know each other, frequently interact face to face, and have a personal bond. People cannot harness the
potential of information without a way of disseminating it. In today's society, social media has a good impact on
information delivery but at the same time, there is still spreading disinformation where the perpetrator intends to
deceive others with false information.

Teens are commonly high percentage using social media. Teens benefit from social media because it expands
their social networks and keeps them in touch with their peers as well as far-away friends and family. It also serves
as a creative outlet. More than a quarter of kids said "social media is 'very' or 'very' vital for them for expressing
themselves artistically," according to the Common Sense Media research. According to a 2018 Common Sense
Media research, 81 percent of kids use social media, with more than a third saying they use it numerous times per
hour. These figures have climbed considerably in the last six years, owing to increased mobile device availability.
A growing interest in the impact of social media on teen cognitive development and psychological well-being has
accompanied these statistics. But there are also risks. The Common Sense Media survey found that 13 percent of
teens reported being cyberbullied at least once which can be caused by relationships and connections between
people on social media. At the same time, it also has the potential to tear people apart by damaging relationships,
causing isolation, and decreasing productivity rates.

According to a BBC Future (2018) study involving 60 adults, social media caused participants to experience
negative feelings – primarily frustration – with jealousy being the primary cause. This was triggered by comparing
their life to others, with other people's travel images being the main offender. Envy generated an "envy spiral," in
which people react to envy by posting more of the same type of stuff to their profiles that made them jealous in
the first place. Aside from that, misinformation also triggered people who do not agree with the content of the
information that is spread on social media. Misinformation continues to spread rampantly across social media.
According to a Pew Research Service study from January, more than eight-in-ten U.S. adults (86 percent) said
they get their news from a smartphone. It is easy to see why misinformation continues to spread. “While we may
expect, even demand that the social platform's crackdown on misinformation, there is little likelihood that
Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube will ever stamp out it. One reason is that it would take full-time policing of
virtually all content, but then there is also the fact that these platforms depend on continued use. Simply put,
misinformation gets clicks. We see so much misinformation because the platforms have no real interest in
deterring it," explained the technology and telecommunications analyst Roger Entner of Recon Analytics.

Social media indeed has a big impact on our lives, there are advantages and disadvantages, and also continuously
needed in our lives. Based on some pieces of evidence and study about the impacts of social media in our lives,
commonly seen in social media are the social issues and problems of individuals and society. Yes, social media
brings us together and it entertains us to be more productive but the opposite of that is social media pulls us apart
for different reasons and issues and that was also seen as vice versa. However, the research suggests that social
media has varying effects on people based on their pre-existing conditions and personality features. Excessive
use, like eating, gambling, and many other modern-day temptations, is probably not recommended for some
people. However, it would be incorrect to conclude that social media is universally harmful because it definitely
provides numerous benefits to our lives. Furthermore, as more people have begun to incorporate social media into
their daily lives, the loss of physical connection has diminished as a result of online talks. The lack of face-to-face
interactions has increased despair and anxiety, as well as challenges with self-esteem. The rise of social media
shows how it can become an addiction to avoid dealing with real-world issues and to feel more at ease online than
in person. Addiction to social media can lead to a rise in materialistic values as well as increased exposure to
drinking culture and sexual references.

REFERENCES:

Ben, L. (2021, September). Social Media. https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/social-

media?fbclid=IwAR2NsVTBWp7327Zcu5XsmFLVifFckDzNFgHQjXy1lwB91XagYRH7ccEog1g

Summer, A. (2019, September 20). Social media's growing impact on our lives.
https://www.apa.org/members/content/social-media-
research?fbclid=IwAR1WrcpPZlYATPZ5E_RF8et04ijqLREWJ3DoXoskVHKxLF3W7K5jWICwQgA

Peter, S. (2021, August 2). Spotting Misinformation On Social Media Is Increasingly Challenging.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2021/08/02/spotting-misinformation-on-social-media-is-increasingly-
challenging/?sh=59b1ec2e2771