Mr. Yue

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Theme III: awareness, perspective, & wellness

by Michael X. Yue

July 15, 2020

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The Good, the bad, and the ugly

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Thank you for checking into my third blog! You must have learned, reflected, and navigated a lot on the internet in the past three weeks! The past two week, I introduced two essential post about digital citizenship and netiquette. This week, I want to expand our minds and perception on the trade-offs of digital activity. In the past two weeks, we have learned about the amazing opportunity that digital devices and the internet has to offer.  However, this week, I want to focus on awareness, perspective, and wellness of social media.

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By this time, you have probably seen things on social media which you have made you feel extremely strong emotions - some good, some bad, and some ugly. When it comes to the personal disfomfort of things we perceive as deplorable, it affects our human body, physiologically and mentally (Coniglio et al., 2007). Ever since the public access of the World Wide Wide (WWW) in 1989 and the scaling of accessible technology, the nature of lifestyle for all sex and age demographics of all has changed immensely in the past few decades, especially among youth (Strasburger et al., 2010). Based on this 2010 study, it highly suggest that long exposure of digital technology are leading to deleterious health effects. Just think for a second, if the average child is spending 7 hours per day consuming social media (Jacobo, 2019), do you think there will be any positive and negative effects? Surely - indefinitely, yes. 

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THE GOOD

You have probably used the internet to learn, validate, or browse recently? Have you purchased anything from Amazon yet? Have you logged into Facebook recently? Have you reviewed your online banking? I know I have. Based on Hackensack Meridian Health and Carrier Clinic (n.d.), the good of the internet can be generalized to three main categories of benefits:

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• Anonymity. Many people find it easier to share problems and feelings openly when there’s minimal risk of identification or “real-life” consequences.

• 24/7 availability. The internet never sleeps, and with the prevalence of cell phones, you don’t even need to be home at your computer to access the resources you need. In the event of a crisis, this can truly be life-saving; web-based support communities have been credited with saving people from suicide and accidental drug overdoses.

• No geographic limitations. Location can be an obstacle to participating in traditional support groups that require physical attendance. Online groups pull members from all over and can host larger numbers of people, adding to the pool of knowledge and experience.

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THE BAD

From LifeSpan (n.d), they state that social media and the internet can have deleterious effects such as:

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• Online vs Reality. Social media itself is not the problem. It is the way people use it in place of actual communication and in-person socializing. “Friends” on social media may not actually be friends, and may even be strangers.

• Increased usage. The more time spent on social media can lead to cyberbullying, social anxiety, depression, and exposure to content that is not age appropriate.

• Social Media is addicting. When you’re playing a game or accomplishing a task, you seek to do it as well as you can. Once you succeed, your brain will give you a dose of dopamine and other happiness hormones, making you happy. The same mechanism functions when you post a picture to Instagram or Facebook. 

• Fear of Missing Out. FOMO has become a common theme, and often leads to continual checking of social media sites. The idea that you might miss out on something if you’re not online can affect your mental health.

• Self-image Issues. Social media sites provide tools that allow people to earn others’ approval for their appearance and the possibility to compare themselves to others. It can be associated with body image concerns. The “selfieholics” and people who spend most of their time posting and scrolling are the ones most vulnerable to this. 

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THE UGLY

In addition to the bad, the darker side of the

internet that may be sadistic or immoral such as:

• Child pornography

• Cyberbullying

• Mental Health Disorders

• Digital Hacking

• Suicide 

• Addiction

• Trauma

• Malicious and Illegal Activities

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THE EFFECTS

Undoubtedly, social media and technology plays a integral part of lifestyle and identity to all age demographics. Even Though there are numerous articles, scientific publications, and media releases of the awareness of social media and technology use in the past two decades, there still is much unknown about the efficacy of this commonly available commodity. In 2018, O’Reilly et al. were able to identify three deleterious effects of social media on adolescent, including:

(1) to cause mood and anxiety disorders for some adolescents,

(2) viewed as a platform for cyberbullying and

(3) the use of social media itself was often framed as a kind of ‘addiction’.

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To learn more about the perspective of social media effects, I have embedded a TEDx Talk by Bailey parnell from Ryerson University to talk about the "Is Social Media Hurting Your Mental Health?"

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