How Social Media Affects Society
Social media has become an important aspect in the lives of many people in society. The popularity and significance of social media has gradually increased over the years and continues to do so. Today, people all around the world have built a reliance on social media that is taking over their life. According to statista.com, 79% of the U.S. population has a social media profile. Social media is regularly used and can negatively and positively affect the way society acts, thinks, and feels.
For many years, it has been proven that social media significantly impacts the mental health of people using it. Influencers, celebrities, and everyday people post their videos and pictures for the world to see. A lot of the time, what influential people decide to post on social media causes everyday people to feel pressure on what they should look like. But what they do not see is that these influential people post what society wants them to see. One psychology professor at San Diego State University discovered that teens who spend five or more hours a day online were 71% more likely to have at least one risk factor for suicide compared to teens who spent only one hour a day online. Being constantly pressured to look a certain way affects the mental health of every day social media users.
Due to social media, it has become easier for people to keep in touch with their families and friends. Popular apps like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and many more offer an opportunity to share and communicate with others with only a click on your screen. A Nutley High School freshman, Leah Navarra says, “ I use social media every day. I talk to my friends on there and see what is happening in the world. I use it to pass time and laugh.”
Social media offers a platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, and influencers to share their projects. Entrepreneurs and companies use the advantages social media brings to them in order to reach the public. It makes marketing and getting the world to know you exist easier, cheaper, and more efficient. Apps like Youtube and Instagram have even become a platform for people to get jobs. The title of being an “influencer” has become a full time job for people with huge platforms on social media. It allows companies to work with influential people and promote their product. Some popular influencers today include The Kardashians, David Dobrik, Stassiebaby, and Emma Chamberlain.
It is hard to not become addicted to something that places everything at your fingertips. Now, more than ever, society has built a reliance on social media because it makes everything easier and faster. It allows people to look up things they would never know, interact with people they would never meet, and gives people easy access to the world around them.
Freshman Miguel Sanchez from Nutley High School says, “I use my phone on a daily basis. I actually use it so much that I lose track and I do it so much without noticing. It's just a normal part of my life.”
Social media is evolving and will no doubt continue to do so throughout the upcoming years. We live in a society in which the upcoming generation will not know a world without technology and social media. The effects that social media has on society has caused a revolution that changes the way people interact and feel every day. The importance social media plays in today’s society will forever affect how everyday activities work.
