The reality of Social Media-Jhosimarth

 The reality of Social Media

 A sparkling eye can mean many things. A sparkle in someone's eye means that the person is special. The sparkle is like a key, and it opens the door to who we are. When you see the sparkle, things will change for sure. That sparkle is a good sign. You don't see that sparkle in just anyone's eyes. Don't let that chance to see who they really pass you by. Today, many people around the world have social media to connect to. Our private lives become more public and those sparkling eyes pass right in front of us without us even knowing. Selfies have become a norm on people's agenda, but for some of these people, their life revolves around selfies and it seems like they can't escape this cycle. While others see these icons on the media as a standard for life, they are a false image of the true reality. Think about how private some of the things you post really are, but now it’ s out there for everyone else to see. Posts on the social media often show the better of a person and the reality is covered by a filter and a fake smile that is not shown.

Problem: Why social media affecting our daily lives in negative ways?

 The underlying assumption of this argument is that the social media proceed to make many socially reclusive people place too much emphasis on virtual interaction and ignore the real world outside. In other words, the social media users should seek to get off their screens and see what they are missing out on.  The social media world of Facebook, for instance, is supposed to offer the opportunity for people to reconnect with their old friends and colleagues, make new friends, trade ideas, share content and pictures, and many other activities. The reality is that there are many negative things to the social media. For example, identity theft happens all the time where fake accounts are made to pose as another person or even steal from the person. In the article "Identity Theft on Social Media: Are You at Risk?" there is an infographic that talks about identity theft. The infographic we can see it states "with a recent study from the Javelin Strategy and Research showing that more than 12 million people in the United States were victims of identity fraud in the past year, it is apparent that people need to be stricter about their private information ". Therefore, many lives are ruined because an identity has been used for a bad deed.

Many businesses have lost money just over social media. An article written by Jenny Q. Ta states, "In fact, studies show that British companies have lost billions of dollars per year in productivity because of social media addiction among employees”, which shows it gets in the way of us being productive. I have also had the same experience where I tend to get tired during studying or doing homework-- then go on social media what I think is ten minutes it turns out to be an hour of being on my phone and I end up losing track of what I was doing. "Nowadays, students are addicted to these kinds of sites which led to low scores on test and quizzes, sleeping in class because of lack of sleep and eventually, low grades". In straightforward terms, social media is affecting our person-to-person interactions. "A 2010 research study conducted in America targeting teenagers showed that 54% percent of teenagers text their friends once a day, and only 33% said they talk to their friends face-to-face on a daily basis". We can see by this study that the number of face-to-face interactions is spiraling down. Social media users around the world make a habit of misspelling and abbreviating words in their day to day life as indicated by the article "Social Media's Negative Impact On Society".

The underlying assumption of this argument is that if a Facebook user posts something the other person may feel depressed; it may reflect something about the Facebook users. There must be a few caveats to this argument, however.  For example, if a Facebook user posts a selfie. There are other more perplexing examples, such as surprisingly, social media also making many people around the world feel more depressed and lonely. Others have found themselves in uncomfortable situations they wish they could undo, but unfortunately social media can still keep a record of it making it more difficult to leave in the past. Both are clearly acceptable forms of a status update. Nonetheless, the author would exclude them from our Facebook page.  By contrast, a post that insipidly relates a user to another and their life is presumably acceptable.

                                                 

"People need to learn how to live in the moment and not always be distracted by their         phones."

                                                

"It's frustrating that there are people that drive while being on their social media, definitely a huge danger to other drivers"

                                          

"Being on your phone is a huge distraction even when you are walking in large crowds, you can bump into other people and also I experienced people stepping on my shoes because of this"

Why does it matter to me?

• I used to get eyestrain from staring at screens for too long. Also, I was staying up too late on social media, meaning I was losing valuable sleep. Social media can cut into the time I might otherwise be spending outdoors or exercising. One of the most dangerous potential consequences of social media addiction is driving while being distracted. As recent stories have confirmed, you can even get hurt texting and walking.                                

                  It may be interesting here to examine the negatives of social media from a different point of view. For example, I knew a person that was being bullied because someone had posted a video of him throwing up at school on another student. This student was made fun of every time even if the video was taken down immediately. Many people have already seen what had happened. He felt depressed as to the point to miss school for whole months and then ended up moving. This shows the effects of cyberbullying which now always seems to never end. Users also feel depressed as they see others and they feel more unpopular. Furthermore, these users begin to compare themselves to other users, making them feel even more depressed. Depression fills in the blanks with fantasy allowing absurdity to consume truth. This is why some people compare themselves to others in social media even if they are only showing the good in their life, not the bad.  The underlying assumption of this argument is that Facebook posts make others jealous. Those who brag about their accomplishments and craft their self-image with Facebook posts are violating this basic principle.  However, many issues result from this faulty premise.   "According to Moreno’s study, which evaluated the status updates of 200 college students, despite the potential for the stigma associated with reporting depression, almost one-quarter of publicly available Facebook profiles displayed one or more references to depression symptoms that met DSM criteria”. 

This notion of face-to-face interaction is remarkably enchanting that you get to know more from a person than by texting or talking on social media and is also more direct.At this point, I would like to raise some objections that have been inspired by the skeptic in me. Others feel that I have been ignoring the advantages of social media.  “People have formed online communities that allowed them to get support, education, and even promote and sell products. You can connect with people from school and learn about news that is happening in other parts of the world,” others say to me, “Social media acts as a source of employment". Others arguments seem valid. When they say social media helps create a process for enterprise-wide implementation--new skills needed for success in social media literacy. There are several difficulties, however.  Principally, the disadvantages may hurt how people communicate with each other. Secondly, users spending too much time on social media sites have lower academic grades. Thirdly, social media is the cause of less face-to-face communication. There really is not much to dispute in the analysis I have offered of negative repercussions of social media. 

             The real question concerning these issues has to do with is there a way to remove or diminish the negative out of the social media.  Put simply: why are there so many negative parts of social media?  Further, what can we do to help improve the productivity in working places? 

Resolution:

To answer this question, we can turn to the following authority that social media is a horrible drain on workplace productivity. Instead, "Research from the University of California, Irvine, shows productivity rises in the late morning around 11 a.m. and peaks between 2 and 3 p.m.". During these times, we should try to work on the most difficult tasks so we can get more done and commit to not social media unless is related to work purposes. A research led by the University of California, Irvine, said that people with more rote tasks are happier and feel more accomplished when completing a large amount of work. Instead of using social media to waste time we can also use it for a better purpose. For example, use Post planner for Facebook which helps us with scheduling, but it also using Post planner content discovery engine you will save a ton of time. We can also use social media as a place to find help when we need a better understanding of something. The negatives on social media come with people opinionating about others or taking an action before thinking about how can it affect others and us. In a word, before we take any actions to what are we going to do on social media we need to think about how can it impact us from all aspects.

Citations:

Hindenach, Jeff. “Are We Revealing Too Much About Ourselves on Social Media?” NEXT ADVISORY BLOG, 2 Apr. 2013, www.nextadvisor.com/blog/2013/04/02/are-we-revealing-too-much-about-ourselves-on-social-media/. 

Ta, Jenny Q. “What Impact Has Social Media Truly Had On Society.” Business 2 Community, 13 Aug. 2014, www.business2community.com/social-media/impact-social-media-truly-society-0974685. 

Moreno, Megan A et al. “Feeling Bad on Facebook: Depression Disclosures by College Students on a Social Networking Site.” Depression and anxiety 28.6 (2011): 447–455. PMC. Web. 18 Apr. 2018.

Pozin, Ilya. “4 Surprising Truths About Workplace Productivity.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 17 Apr. 2014, www.forbes.com/sites/ilyapozin/2014/04/17/4-surprising-truths-about-workplace-productivity/#724d4943abf6.