Active social media users of Carver have noticed that instagram and the new “notes” feature is affecting friendships. This is because of disagreements starting in person and being escalated to social media.
On December 13, 2022 Instagram announced a new feature called notes, to allow users to share thoughts and see what your friends are up to. But as the usage of notes progressed it has caused many people to have trouble in their friendships because of miscommunication. Engineering and Science 11th grade student, Paris Porter, has noticed its impact on her and her friends' friendships.
“When you put something messy on your note and your friend sees it, it can get messy because they think that you're talking about them,” Porter said.
According to Pew Research Center 64% of users say social media has a mostly negative effect on users. Users like Engineering and Science 11th grader, Halimah Roache, have noticed signs of overthinking, thinking negatively and constantly questioning the status of the friendship.
“A lot of stuff gets into your head. You overthink. You start seeing stuff, there'd be a lot of negative stuff on there”, Roache said.
According to We thrive Together, The lack of non-verbal cues in online communication can lead to misinterpretations of tone and intent, resulting in misunderstandings or arguments. the curated nature of people's online profiles leading to comparisons and jealousy, and the lack of non-verbal cues which can lead to misunderstandings about tone and intent. Engineering and Science 11th grader, has noticed signs of animosity because of the lack of communication.
“I think a lot of people, instead of communicating with their friend, they go to social media and like it shows that they have secret animosity against their friend”, Grant Said.
Many of the carver students who argued with their friends on social media realized that they weren't really friends. According to Pew Research Center Study, 58% of teens who use social media have unfriended or unfollowed someone they used to consider a friend. Engineering and Science 11th grade student, Sanaa Huggins feels putting issues on the internet made it worse.
“I wasn't friends with them anyway. It makes the beef worse, "Huggins said.
According to psychotherapists at SIU School of Medicine, Communication is so much more than the written word; when we rely on Facebook and texts to communicate for us, we’re missing out on 70 percent of the conversation. Ingram says. "It will never be as effective as face-to-face, and this can put a lot of stress on people."
“But you don't know if your friend is going through with somebody else , or if it's about you and you feel guilty,” Roache Said.
According to students at Wiregrass Ranch High School Social media sites have become a huge aspect of many teens’ lives, and have even more of an impact when it comes to the connections they’re forging with peers.it also has been proven to harm deep relationships, cause insecurity, and set unrealistic standards “They need to spend more time together physically and not just in an online presence.”.
“You can make stuff really messy, when you're into social media, I feel social media can ruin it, because then we're posting stuff and everybody's just in your business.”Porter said.
The constant confusion on Social media regarding notes, posts and subliminals have caused Users to question their friendship. According to Pew Research Center a Third (32%) of teen social media users have unfollowed, blocked, etc their friend because of social media posts. “Social media can tell you if that's really your friend or not” Grant Said.