The Negative Impact Of Social Networking Sites Overuse On Youth’s Health
Human beings are rapidly transforming every year in this growing technological world to significant higher extent from social animal to social networking animal. Especially there is significant number of youth increasing every year on social networking sites and spend a larger period of time. Popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, the well-known video sites YouTube are all examples of the social media. These social media sites are medium of social interaction, communication and instant source of entertainment for youth which has been immensely growing due to its popular demand which is also fast paced and Consumption on smartphones, computers and other gadgets. Social media is an instant source of entertainment for youth and also a medium to connect with their social network by engaging in online behavior. Due to substantial overuse and gratification most of the youth spent enormous amount of time on social networking sites that they get addicted to it and develop Internet addiction disorder, Facebook addiction disorder also even they develop obsession about their profile status and looks through updating profile picture and comments very frequently on social networking sites and involve in compulsive behaviors such as checking Facebook again and again for likes and comments that they receive from their online social group, if the likes are less they may even feel stressed and develop symptoms of depression. The researches have confirmed that social media influences the mind greatly and also play an important role in shaping the behavior of youth.
Over engagement on social networking sites can result in disturbing the emotional and psychological state of individuals, such as it influences the self-esteem, well-being and may also contribute in development of stress, depression, odd behaviors like aggression, frustration, impulsiveness and few somatic problems like visual impairment, gastrointestinal problems. In current scenario the youth is majorly involved in instant messaging, multi-tasking and much online behavior that affects their attention, self-control, self-esteem, motor tasks and this may result in development of symptoms of impulsivity. Review of literatureA research was conducted to observe the effect of social media on adolescent’s health. Social sites are used by various users all over the world for different purposes. It can have a good influence on adolescents but these days it is ruining the future and career of youth. For this research a sample of 60 adolescents (30 boys and 30 girls) were selected from Tuljaram Chaturchand College, Baramati (Maharashtra) through purposive sampling. For data collection Adolescent Health Concern Test (2014) and Social Networking Addiction Scale (2013) were used. Low health issues were shown in the adolescents who scored higher on impulsivity, virtual freedom and negative outcomes. Results showed that there is negative relationship between social networking addiction and adolescents health. It was also observed that social media addiction foretells health conditions in adolescents.
Future research should be done with the help of family members so that the youth could understand the value of their health. Parents and caretakers should aware the youth about social media and their negative impact so that they can use these sites in ethical ways. In educational institutions positive ways of understanding and health campaigns would help them to evade these kinds of dangerous communication acts. A research was conducted to investigate the impact of social media on youth.
Social media is in progress from the beginning of the 21st century. It makes the world a global village and users are connected across the world. It is also used for modification and learning purposes. University students has gained popularity due to the use of these social networking sites. Research was conducted in which impact of social media on students was analyzed by using simple random sampling. From Sargodha University, (Pakistan) a sample of 380 students was selected. The result of this study shows that social media plays an important role in improving learning and job opportunities to the students. It has also been seen that excessive use of social networking sites affects our culture and leads to severe health problems. Future research should ban those sites by which society is degraded. Youth should not waste their precious time on social networking sites like you tube, twitter, Orkut, WhatsApp etc. Parents must keep an eye on their children so that they can use social sites in order to enhance their abilities and skills. Researchers carried out a study, the purpose of which was to investigate the impact of social media on youth. This is a survey able research. The sample of the study consisted of 270 youth who were selected on the random basis from four universities of Islamabad and two universities of Rawalpindi. The tool used was questionnaire method. Greater number of defendants were addicts of social media. Whole population was of the opinion that social media had both positive and negative effects on them. Most of the subjects revealed Facebook as the most user friendly social site. In this research it was observed that the adherents of social media had less physical interaction with people and they are agoraphobic. Some users revealed that social media acted as the catalysts for youth as they experienced more confidence, creativity, improvement in communication skills and appropriate socially acceptable behavior. Nevertheless, many youths reported that excessive use of social networking sites caused a no of health problems like poor eyesight, dizziness, headache, depression, backache etc.
Various social networking sites are used by the today’s generation like Orkut, Facebook, twitter, Myspace, yahoo messenger, WhatsApp etc. These sites provide them opportunities in making new friends, sharing videos, pictures, chatting etc. Personal relationships and studies are adversely affected due to excessive use of these sites. This research mainly focuses on the effect of social media on youth and their health problems. Future research should ban those social sites by which the society is degraded and softwares should be developed in order to reduce the negative effect of these social networking sites.
A research was conducted to investigate the effects of social media multitasking on youth. The scope of social media has increased adequately for youth with the inflation of social media. When we use simultaneously two or more types of media or when we are using social media but we are already engaged in other activities is termed as media multitasking. New generation is facing more negative effect of multitasking due to excess use of it. This study mainly focuses on the three domains of youths: academic performance, socioemotional functioning and cognitive abilities. Aim of the study is that today’s generation is more engaged in media multitasking so they don’t have the ability to focus on the single activity. For identifying the studies, three databases were used and 8448 citations were resulted and they met the inclusion criteria. The result of this research shows that there was a moderate negative relationship between the three domains of youth functioning and media multitasking. Research gap was found and the most important was that path of the relationship between domains and multitasking remains unclear. Future research should mainly focus on formulating targeted theories and establishing causality. It should also explain why multitasking interferes with these domains and it should test the hypothesis.
A research was conducted to study impulsivity and internet addiction and to evaluate the relationship between internet addiction and impulsivity amongst male and female students. Goldberg (1996) first coined the concept of internet addiction. He followed DSMIV criteria and defined it as, “very strong urge to engage in the internet”. Sample consisted of 100 students of Aligarh Muslim University hostels and it was done on the basis of purposive sampling. Tools used were Young Internet Addiction Scale (IAT), demographic datasheet and Baratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11). T-test and Pearson correlation was used as statistical technique to analyze the data. The result of this research showed that the significant positive correlation was found between impulsivity and internet addiction and female hostliers experienced less addiction and impulsivity as compared to male hostliers. Research gap found was the technique used for data collection was purposive sampling but during selection of the sample biasness occurs due to which results were generalized poorly. Future research should use maximum demographic data so that information about income of parents, residence and their family type should become the another variable for the analysis.
A research was conducted to check the effect of social media to the next generation of our country, the youth of India. The youth is the pillar of a nation and thus it is essential to study their part of life I. e. social media. Social media connects people all over world and keeps them cultured with the present situation. The study has been conducted to check whether the youth are getting addicted to the social media or not. The sample of study were 150 Delhi University students which were studied whether they are addicted or not. The results showed that 72% of students agree that they are addicted to social networking while only 12% of students disagree with it. Future research should be done by using a large sample size and selection of the representative sample should be better. A research was conducted to explore the tendency of internet addiction in two groups (healthy persons and depressive patients). Depression is a state of mind that produces long term lowering of joy. Loss of interest, reduced energy, mood swings, dizziness etc. are symptoms of depression. The communication between internet use and depression are still different according to the research findings. To cope with depression some evidences shows that media may be a path. A sample of 50 respondents were selected. Standard questionnaires were used to evaluate the value of impulsivity, depressive symptoms, global psychological stress and internet addiction. Independent sample t-test, chi square, t-test and Mann Whitney U test were used to evaluate the relationship. Results obtained were that the depressive patients showed higher scores of addiction and they have impulsive behavior as compared to the control group. Furthermore, depressive patients show higher stress and they have severe problems like maladaptive behavior etc. Research gap about this study was that it cannot verify causality because it was done in cross sectional design. Future research should use large sample size so that the power of study can be enhanced and it should concentrate on broad range of internet use.
A study was conducted to examine the impact of social media on emotional and social development of teenagers. Cell phones and social media controls the days and lives of today’s teenagers instead of this they were using landline in their past times. Today’s teenagers are more addicted to the social networking sites (SNS). Many aspects of youth are balanced by social sites because of the cultural diversity and due to their communication with social media many of their opportunities will be shaped. Due to involvement of teenagers in social media many questions about the impact of social media are emerging on adolescent’s development. For gathering information 15 articles were used to evaluate the effects of social media on emotional and social development of adolescents. The results showed that there are both uses and risks of social media to teenagers emotional and social development. Future research should be done with more number of articles and unlimited research should be done to find out the impact of social networking sites on teenagers. Smartphones let users to retrieve social media sites at any time and at any place they want. Such easily available and accessible sites may increase the addiction to youths. On the basis of Social Cognitive Theory, the effects of outcome expectancies, impulsivity and self-efficacy on youths which use Chinese smartphones gets addictive towards social media sites. 277 Macau youth which use smartphones (116 males and 161 females: mean age=26. 62) fills the ideas of usage of social media sites via smartphones, addiction tendencies and internet self-efficacy. The output of the study states that people who spent more time on social media sites are highly addictive towards it. Future research should be recommended to give educational campaigns so that high risk groups can be prevented and treated.
A research was conducted to investigate the effect of web 2. 0 and social media on youth’s decision making. Social media refers to raise the communication of youths and create interactive discussion due to the use of mobile technologies. Web 2. 0 is also known as participative social web. It is focused to share and collaborate information online based on the ability of people. To change decision making behavior of various organizations, groups and individuals; information technology is providing opportunities. Web 2. 0 and social media are emerging globally. These technologies can positively and negatively affect the effectiveness and rationality of decision making. Within companies’ social media is used by managers and in our personal lives because of its increased availability. The impact of social media in some situations on managerial and personal decision making can be vast suggested by narrative evidences.
Future research should develop theories so that influence of social media on decision making can be understood. Most people are familiar with online social media. On a regular basis more than one billion people use social networking sites. From last few years, addiction to online social media has increased. Social media addiction is same as that of other addictions and they have many similarities like mood modification, tolerance, relapse and withdrawal. To check social media addicts many screening instruments have been developed. It was suggested by empirical and theoretical models that behavioral and sociocultural reinforcements are the factors that shape SNS addiction. It is also related to well-being and impaired health. Results showed that certain interventions and self-defense strategies can be used for the prevention of this addiction. Future research should use powerful research like longitudinal and psychometric studies.
A study has been conducted on social networking to check the development of self-effects related to it and to differentiate it with response effects. Self-effects can be well defined as the impact of messages – the behavior, emotions, cognition and attitude of the message creators/senders themselves. To explain self-effects in environment, four theories were taken into consideration i. e. ; expressive writing, self-persuasion, political deliberation and self-concept change. This study aims to criticize why self-effects can be stronger online. The research is all about to ensure that the online self-effects are stronger than offline self-effects. A model is established based on this study and it explains how online self and response impacts may increase and merge one another. There is the need for combined interaction theories and research for future research. Social networking sites are mostly used by teenagers these days. Youths spend greater portion of their time on social media by messaging, chatting etc. A study has been conducted to observe the impact of social media on youths academic and social development. It has raised many controversies and questions on development of adolescents.
