Social Media Impact

Project description: 

For this project I reviewed social media stats, took a social media quiz, and read about social media’s impact on society and myself. The point was to pull different aspects of social media and analyze them to see how they affect me, what else the world experiences, and see how the two compare.

Social Media Addiction Survey:  

The social media quiz was pretty accurate for me. It stated, “You have a healthy relationship with social media-Well Done!” 

Some of the questions didn’t have answers pertaining to me, so I had to choose the best option. Social media is not a daily activity for me. I probably frequent it a few times a week, for less than an hour. 

Social Media’s Impact: 

Social media has ruined our youth, in my opinion. When I was a teenager, I wasn’t curled up with my face down looking at a device while scrolling through videos and pictures that had nothing to do with me. We ate dinner as a family at home and restaurants and carried conversations about our day, which I still do with my kids. There was no worrying about what another kid at school publicly posted on Instagram or Snapchat that could ruin my life or demoralize me. I have three kids, and the youngest is 13. She specifically does not have a phone and does not have social media on her ipad. She hates me for it, but protecting her from the meaningless banter of what kids post, who have no filter or thought processes of repercussions of their action is my only goal. My son is in college and came home and told me, “Mom, my friends told me to tell you to keep up what you are doing. They said phones have ruined them and their siblings and think you should stick to your guns to protect Haley.” 

I wish they were little again and would go play outside and experience the joy of living, breathing fresh air, and thinking for themselves.  I understand technology will always progress, but too many kids want instant gratification and things done for them that they can't focus on a task and want to learn new things. Or even entertain the thought of physically working with their hands on projects, or taking a break from a computer of phone. They are also too worried about what other people think and do and have to keep up appearances with fashion, vacations, and extreme tricks. Having to stay connected to the whole world all the time is not healthy for our brains or bodies.

Lesson Learned: 

The eye opener was the social media statistics chart. Not only did YouTube take me by surprise as the leader in social media, but I was also surprised at how far down the chart tiktok, Twitter, and Snapchat were. I suppose they all serve different purposes and what is trending on a specific day. 

Citation: 

“America’s Social Media Use” from the Pew Research Center: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/01/31/americans-social-media-use/