Negative Effects Of Being Lonely

In the world we live in today, social media usage is increasing over time and individuals consider social media a key component in their life. Undoubtedly, social media is a useful tool for everyone to communicate easily, yet it can have a harmful impact on individuals. When making a social media account a person is under the belief that it will allow them to engage with people more and enhance their relationship with their friends and family, but with that comes other problems. This research paper will examine how social media can cause individuals to become lonely, which age group and gender is most likely to be affected, how loneliness from social media can have negative outcomes in people’s life and why lonely individuals are more likely …show more content…
According to the authors, T. Ayas and M.B. Horzum, children and adolescents are undergoing complications in making a face to face interaction and becoming lonelier, since they are utilizing the internet too much (2013). A study conducted in Turkey found that youngsters that use the internet exceedingly for online surfing, emailing, online games and instant messaging had displayed a higher mean score of loneliness than those adolescents who do not the internet as much (Erdoğan, 2008). For the adolescents of today, communicating through the internet is essential as that has become the most common and popular method of communication, but it can cause social isolation (Ayas & Horzum, 2013). On the other hand, when it comes to males and females using the internet, there is a higher frequency of internet usage for web surfing and online games among males and they are lonelier than females; however, females have a higher rate of emailing (Erdoğan, 2008). Furthermore, the same study revealed that men are much more comfortable with using the internet than females as men and women view the internet in diverse ways and use the internet for different purposes (Erdoğan, 2008). Besides, it is anticipated that the internet is more “male-biased” technology, and males are more likely than females to use the internet (Erdoğan, 2008). As stated by researchers Morahan and Schumacher, “males are more prone to pathological use of the internet, because they are more likely to use applications such as Internet games, netsex, and Internet gambling which are associated with more compulsive use” (Erdoğan, 2008). What is more, it has not been acknowledged often that loneliness can affect any type of individuals, no matter what their age, gender or race is (Harris,