Since the digital revolution, you would be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t have a smartphone. And it is very likely that on that phone there is at least one social media application. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram, people nowadays are communicating via these websites – they are no longer seeking out face to face conversations. This, of course, comes with many problems, including cyber-bullying and cyber-crime. With the rapid rise of online communication, the question arises: does social media do more harm than good?
The main advantage of social media is that it is an incredibly fast and effective means of communication. 92% of social media users use it to keep in touch with family and friends1. Teenagers especially …show more content…
Smart phones are small, and easy to carry. It is much easier to carry around a mobile phone than a laptop. There is free Wi-Fi everywhere now – from McDonalds to Woolworths. As a result, people can use online messaging apps all over the world. For example, my father has been overseas for almost two months now. We have communicated with him solely through the use of the phone call option on Facebook messenger. It means there is no sky-high phone bills – it’s …show more content…
With 52% of Australians using the internet more than five times a day2, our time in front of screens has increased steadily with the digital world. In 2010, a study was conducted that identified disorders directly relating to texting. Textiety is one of those – it refers to the anxiety one feels when they haven’t received or haven’t sent any texts. This is rooted in the feeling of loneliness – if no text is received they feel like they have no friends and are being ignored. Another similar disorder is Textaphrenia. This is when a person thinks their phone has gone off, but it actually hasn’t, and are constantly checking their phone for messages. Both Textiety and Textaphrenia are directly linked to the addiction to smart phones. With the inability to switch off, many teens sleep patterns are disturbed. As well as being kept up late scrolling through social media, the blue light emitted from the phones actually disrupts the body’s biological clock. It stimulates brain activity and boosts attention- not what you want when you are trying to sleep. Now, Apple has introduced a ‘night shift’ option on their iPhones. This is supposed to limit the amount of blue light given off by the phone, hopefully taking a step towards people re-gaining their sleeping
The main advantage of social media is that it is an incredibly fast and effective means of communication. 92% of social media users use it to keep in touch with family and friends1. Teenagers especially …show more content…
Smart phones are small, and easy to carry. It is much easier to carry around a mobile phone than a laptop. There is free Wi-Fi everywhere now – from McDonalds to Woolworths. As a result, people can use online messaging apps all over the world. For example, my father has been overseas for almost two months now. We have communicated with him solely through the use of the phone call option on Facebook messenger. It means there is no sky-high phone bills – it’s …show more content…
With 52% of Australians using the internet more than five times a day2, our time in front of screens has increased steadily with the digital world. In 2010, a study was conducted that identified disorders directly relating to texting. Textiety is one of those – it refers to the anxiety one feels when they haven’t received or haven’t sent any texts. This is rooted in the feeling of loneliness – if no text is received they feel like they have no friends and are being ignored. Another similar disorder is Textaphrenia. This is when a person thinks their phone has gone off, but it actually hasn’t, and are constantly checking their phone for messages. Both Textiety and Textaphrenia are directly linked to the addiction to smart phones. With the inability to switch off, many teens sleep patterns are disturbed. As well as being kept up late scrolling through social media, the blue light emitted from the phones actually disrupts the body’s biological clock. It stimulates brain activity and boosts attention- not what you want when you are trying to sleep. Now, Apple has introduced a ‘night shift’ option on their iPhones. This is supposed to limit the amount of blue light given off by the phone, hopefully taking a step towards people re-gaining their sleeping