The Effects of Social Media on Interpersonal Relationship
According to statistics published by Kemp (2023) on the website DATAREPORTAL, the number of social media users is now 4.80 billion, which accounts for 60% of the world population. What’s more, 150 million new users have come online within the last 12 months. While bringing benefits such as keeping people in touch or enabling more efficient communication among people, the following negative effects of social media is indeed a matter of concern.
The first issue is lack of privacy. Lots of social media users enjoy sharing their life to the world. A couple of pictures of you visiting a famous tourist attraction once in a while might be fine, but what about posting the specific time, place, and people online every minute possible? Take the Netflix series YOU for example. Beck is a college student who has several public social media accounts using her real name and overshares her life online. Joe, a creepy man who fell in love with her at the first sight, found out every piece of
*Joe stalks Beck's social media platforms
(from the series YOU)
information about her in detail just by stalking her Facebook and Instagram accounts. Joe got to know her friends’ company location, her ex-boyfriend's name, her college major and grade, and even her apartment address within a few clicks. This situation is a perfect example of why privacy is deprived on social media platforms. Users often reveal too much personal information online unconsciously while neglecting the potential danger of doing so.
The song "jealousy, jealousy" by Olivia Rodrigo perfectly described the anxiety of comparison on social media
Next, it’s the anxiety resulting from the endless comparison. Social platforms have become a place where people get to showcase themselves. Undoubtedly, everyone wants to put their best side on the Internet as that’s what others see most of the time. It might sound positive, but in reality, some users tend to care too much about those seemingly picture-perfect images online; for instance, bikini pictures that are photoshopped in order to create the illusion of having a flawless body. If you perceive those photos without being aware of the possibility that they can be fake, anxiety may be upon you after. Another example could be the Instagram stories of someone who parties or travels abroad frequently. Their content creates the image of having a carefree life or having no pressure at all. However, it’s just not the actual case since they don’t show the bad parts of their lives. In short, the constant fear of feeling not good enough or worrying about others being better than you are two major negative emotions caused by the unnecessary comparisons on social media.
Last but not least, social media addiction is a big problem as well. Me, a 19-year-old teenager who is a self-proclaimed social media addict, spend an excessive amount of time on those platforms every day. Based on the screen time calculating function on my phone, my last week’s average screen time per day was 9 hours 39 minutes, and social media apps took up 5 hours 25 minutes. In other words, more than a half of my screen time was on social media. In my daily experiences, picking up my phone to see if there’s a new notification every 5 minutes is a subconscious behavior for me as I can’t resist the urge to keep up with what’s going on right now. The problem behind that is, the time that I interact with people in real life decreases drastically. Instead of actually going out with friends, scrolling through Instagram seems more appealing to me. Even if I hang out with them, I’d still be distracted by those social media notifications popping up on my screen. The situation in which people seldom connect with others face-to-face can further give rise to friends or families starting to feel not as close with each other as before.
my screen time calculating function showing my screen time from Sep. 24 to Oct. 1
Issues addressed above can all lead to concerning results: safety concerns caused by lack of privacy, anxiety and low self-esteem due to nonstop comparison, and less face-to-face interaction owing to social media addiction. Yet, with the rapid development of social media, we are inevitably being influenced in various aspects. In my perspective as an Internet user, these negative effects should definitely be talked about more by the public. We should be able to have a stable mindset and be conscious when using social media, so that we won’t be easily controlled by it.
References
Kemp, S. (2023, April 27). DIGITAL 2023 APRIL GLOBAL STATSHOT REPORT. Data Reportal. Retrieved from: https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2023-april-global-statshot