The phone’s blue light is reflecting off of you and everyone else has slept in your house 5 hours ago while you are checking social media endlessly. You do this every night and can’t seem to stop which makes you an outcast with friends. With the turn of the 20th century, Social Media has been a daily factor in our lives, but most people are addicted which causes a disconnect in real relationships and less focus on tasks.

Since social media has begun, people don’t realize the spectrum of how many people are affected by social media.  “210 million people are estimated to suffer from internet and social media addictions” (Mediakix). That’s almost the whole population of the United States of America that is addicted. “A recent study found that on average people touch their mobile phones 2,617 times a day. Social media comprised 22 percent of these interactions.”(Schaefer). People are becoming inseparable from their phones and that has caused many negative effects to them and to their surrounding families.

Social media has many negative effects that will hurt you in the long run and it causes a disconnect with friends and family. “Looking at the list, I was saddened to think that, at her sister’s bachelorette weekend, for example, she had spent more time fixating on the perfect hashtag than focusing on an adorable guy trying to buy her a drink.” (Blumberg) She focused more on her online friends instead of making real-life positive relationships. As well as a persons’ experience asking if social media hurt them stating, “ My attention span is shorter. I can’t work for long periods of time without wondering what is happening on my social media.” (Erin) Social media makes people prioritize the media over others, making people not disconnect from it. This, I hope, makes sure that you can see what will happen if you have your attention on Social media at all times but you can stop it. 

There are a variety of positive effects related to letting go of social media that will help your life which will make sure you don’t suffer from the problems that other people have faced. “My productivity, attention span, and clarity of thought all increased greatly with living without social media for a month. I felt like I broke bad habits (refreshing feeds and checking notifications) in a very short period of time. ”(Wandering Aimfully).  Refreshing feeds and checking notifications make people stay on social media for a long time and by stopping she had more time for herself. Whenever you don’t use social media, “(y)our self-esteem improves. Social media can lead many of us to compare our lives and achievements with everyone else to see how we measure up”(Parenta).

“I’m not addicted I use it normally for productive purposes.” you might say. In reality, social media is bad when it turns into addiction but it doesn’t have to turn into addiction in the first place and it could be beneficial. You can use social media to talk to friends and see what they are doing. But if you want to have a positive social media life, you need to use social media for a set amount of time and stop when you need to.  You need to also turn off notifications. “When we get a notification, our brains release dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes us feel good. And since our brains crave dopamine, we’re wired to find fast fixes of it, like those from notifications, so we’ll unconsciously keep repeating those behaviors.”(Blaschka) This hardwires us so we are prompted to check our phone whenever a notification pops up. If we turn them off we can be more productive when it comes to work.

Social media can be a negative influence on our lives that we need to take seriously and manage properly. If you don’t want to fall into a recurring problem you need to turn off notifications and also limit your time.  Tell your friends and family, and try to connect with them offline. Social media addiction is a real problem and we need to take every precaution to get rid of this as soon as possible.

Works Cited

Blaschka, Amy. “This Is Why You Need To Turn Off Social Media Notifications.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 21 Sept. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/amyblaschka/2020/09/21/this-is-why-you-need-to-turn-off-social-media-notifications/?sh=48f943de6690. 

Blumberg, Perri Ormont. “Help! My BFF Is Addicted to Her Phone.” Glamour, www.glamour.com/story/best-friend-addicted-to-phone-social-media. 

C, Erin. “Social Media Addiction: A Personal Story.” Medium, Medium, 30 Dec. 2018, www.medium.com/@cunnine/social-media-addiction-a-personal-story-ea2dc2514c88.

“7 Amazing Benefits of Doing a Social Media Detox.” Parenta.com, 6 Jan. 2021, www.parenta.com/2017/05/05/7-amazing-benefits-of-doing-a-social-media-detox/. 

“Social Media Addiction Is Real: How to Take Your Life Back.” Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {Grow}, 16 Jan. 2018, www.businessesgrow.com/2017/11/15/social-media-addiction-2/. 

“The 8 Social Media Addiction Statistics Everyone Needs To See.” Mediakix, 7 Aug. 2019, www.mediakix.com/blog/social-media-addiction-statistics/. 

“What I Learned From a 30-Day Social Media Detox.” Wandering Aimfully, 31 Dec. 2020, www.wanderingaimfully.com/social-media-detox-recap/.