Social Networking Site
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Institutional Affiliations
Introduction
Social networking helps people to connect across the globe. Through social network sites, people can interact anytime deposit their geographical location as well as increase business connections in various geographical areas. Social media possesses a vast form of people’s interactions as well as a communication platform that permeates the aspect of the modern world. The trend of using social sites is currently an integral aspect of people’s lives. As a result, the milestone has been achieved in modern technologies and the continuous evolution of the communication process thanks to social media. The social sites are such as Twitter, Instagram, Myspace, and Facebook, among others, that are used to enhance communication and human interactions. The study seeks to exemplify the application of Facebook as well as discuss the issues of using social media such as addiction and the approaches that can be used to mitigate the problems.
Social media addiction scrolling and checking have become a progressively popular activity over the last decades. The majority of people that use social media have no problem with their addiction. There is a small percentage of users that has fallen in the arms of it driven by an uncontrollable urge to use or log on social media by engaging in compulsive or excessive use, by this dedicating so much effort and time to social media that it impairs other important life areas (Parveen, 2011). In America, an average of 10% is affected, according to a psychologist. Like other disorders, addictive social media use will look like that of any other substance use disorder, including salience, withdrawal symptoms, conflict, relapse, mood modification, and tolerance.
Just like in recreational drugs and gambling has the effect of neural circuitry, social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook affect keeping its user. The study conducted, constant like share and stream of retweets from these sites, has impacted the brain’s reward area to trigger the same kind of chemical reaction as other drugs. According to neuroscientists, social media affects the brain. A new study conducted indicated self-disclosure on these social media sites light up a similar part of the brain that ignites when taking addictive substances such as cocaine. Social media use has become problematic when individuals view these social media sites as an essential coping mechanism to relieve depression, stress, or loneliness (Brenner & Smith, 2013). For many reasons, social media use provides endless rewards that they are not received in real life. This leads to engaging in the activity more and more by its users. This continuous use of social media eventually leads to numerous interpersonal difficulties, such as ignoring school, work, physical health, and real-life relationships. When an individual consequently becomes addicted to social media, it repeats this cyclical pattern of relieving undesirable moods with its users.
Social media addiction and impacts
Social media is at the core of every person online nowadays. It is essential to extend to daily life for businesses. Individuals have a choice in terms of social media. My personal preference is Facebook, which I find more convenient and easy to use to easily connect with friends, colleagues, and the rest of the world. It is also fast to connect with what is going on worldwide in terms of news, entertainment, advertisement, marketing, interaction, business-wise, and the list is endless.
For instance, if personally pick the differences between Facebook and Twitter, it is clear that it is not that cut and dry. However, the same platforms have a vital role in reaching out to their audience. In optimal times for posting, a different study shows Facebook status update starts to be active from noon, which gets more attention, while Twitter, at around five, seems to be the optimal time. Saturday seems to be more popular on Facebook posting, while Wednesdays are more prevalent on tweeter. It is also clear that Twitter is more of news, and content versus Facebook is for entertainment factor (Brügger, 2015). Social media platforms have also resulted in increased incidences of cyberbullying. The incidence is since the perverters can be able to hide behind the keyboard and use the platform to abuse, demean, and tarnish the name of other people without the fear of being noticed.
Possible solution
The solution to social media addiction and the rampant vices is through ensuring there is minimal use of social platforms. Teenagers are the most affected by social media use and addiction, which can be solved if parents and guardians can control them. Moreover, the government can also initiate directives for joining these social platforms such as age (Jelenchick et al., 2013). Another aspect is limiting the time using media platforms. This can include setting a time that aims to limit the time that one spends on social media. This involves choosing a limit that will depend on addiction severity that equates weekly. The solution can include searching for new hobbies that will help a person overuse social media platforms.
References
Brenner, J., & Smith, A. (2013). 72% of online adults are social networking site users. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Brügger, N. (2015). A brief history of Facebook as a media text: The development of an empty structure. First Monday.
Jelenchick, L. A., Eickhoff, J. C., & Moreno, M. A. (2013). “Facebook depression?” Social networking site use and depression in older adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 52(1), 128-130.
Parveen, N. (2011). Use of social networking sites (Facebook) in making awareness among the library and information science professionals of university libraries of UP: a case study. International Journal of Digital Library Services, 1(1), 9-17.