That is a lot of people commenting, tagging and liking photos on a daily basis. Although there are many positive influences towards Facebook use, there are many negative connotations to Facebook use among youth. Recently, researchers have noted the correlation between an individual’s mood and their Facebook usage. According to the Centre for Appearance Research, “In the Australian 2013 student census, social networking sites, such as Facebook, were the most common use of the Internet for female high school students” where 87% of its users were between the ages of 15 and 24 years old (Faroudly et al., 2015). Similarly, in the United Kingdom, about 90% of its female users were between the ages of 16 and 24. Young adults and children are extremely impressionable since their brains are not yet fully formed and matured. By making online profiles and avatars on websites like Facebook, they are more impressionable to negative comments that might be posed their way. Researchers used a single blind audience to conduct further research on how the participants’ moods would ultimately change after exposure to Facebook. First, the researchers told the participants that they were researching the effects of media use on memory skills. However, they were really measuring whether websites like Facebook actually affect people’s moods after exposure to the website. They split the participants into two groups; half of them were exposed to an …show more content…
Each of the researchers touched upon the negative aspects that social media has on today’s youth and young adult population. It has been proven that men and women are adversely affected by a lack of body satisfaction, negative moods, dwindling self esteem, and high amounts of body comparison due to social media’s profound presence. All of these aspects are related to the many exposures of what society deems to be a “perfect body.” Although social media does have many negative effects on society, social media is never going to leave. It has already penetrated an untapped market for virtual reality use. Although there are so many people online that are conditioned to seeing people with what society deems as “perfect” bodies, it is important for individuals to recognize people with different body types and genetic variations. If users were exposed to more individuals without a stereotypical “beautiful” face, they would most likely not lower their perception of their own