Name
Capella University
PSYC FPX4210
Prof. Name
December, 2024
Implications of Social Media
Social media has changed the way individuals, groups, and communities interact with one another and seek information. Modern social platforms such as Facebook Messenger, tweet, Instagram, and LinkedIn can spread information, form a network, and bring about social change (Torous et al., 2021). This is a transformation medium that also carries very complex implications: It says it is personal as well as professional. Thus the preparation and dissemination of this information is achieved through social media and yet social media itself poses its own set of problems that include privacy invasion, spread of fake news, and affecting mental well-being (Liu et al., 2022). Misinformation spreads widely throughout the networks, and decentralization occurs in society; the constant search for curation profiles that are not real life consistently harms the users’ self-esteem and well-being. An evaluation of the advantages and risks it spotlights will help in getting a clearer perspective on how to harness its opportunities to the greatest extent while at the same time avoiding its possible threats in the contemporary milieu which is to such an extent interconnected.
Physical & Psychosocial Impacts Regarding Social Media
Physiological effects will be highly noticed from using social media which is linked to too much time spent sitting in front of the monitor and screen, according to research (Usmani et al., 2022). Long time spent on daily social media usage also leads to other adverse effects such as sedentary lifestyles which lead to diseases related to overweight, posture disorders, and musculoskeletal diseases. Another physiological concern associated with sleep disorders is that each time these screens produce blue lights, they suppress the release of melatonin, the sleep-inducing hormone in the human brain, and results in disruption of sleep and quality sleep. This will impact general well-being, and reduce intelligence levels while developing susceptible systems within the body.
Also, there is pressure from the body image of your sexual partner that is believed to make people indulge in those unhealthy comparisons, which results in reduced self-esteem, and enhanced body dissatisfaction (Sherer & Levounis, 2022). Furthermore, hate speech and cyberbullying are likely to cause the sufferer psychological disturbance, particularly among teenagers and other adults. In contrast, social media provide an avenue for support networks and mental health whenever the users feel they need them as well as post their experiences. The idea is to maintain people’s awareness of these adverse consequences while using them only to the extent that will benefit everyone and thus, the negative tendencies will be eliminated, while the positive ones emphasized.
Current Issues Regarding Social Media
Social networks are being investigated actively due to the presence of fake news and fakes. Misinformation and disinformation rise at light speed particularly when exclusively driven by engagement algorithms, in a way, pollute people’s opinions on a wide range of topics like health, politics, and climate change (Morris, 2021). As a rule, in a pandemic situation like the COVID-19 case, fake news about the existing vaccines and treatments appears. Such an issue of poor content moderation when escalated on most of these platforms fills the user with information that merely reinforces his/her existing beliefs, thereby enlarging existing societal cleavages.
The second emerging pressing issue is the loss of privacy and other information security. Many of the available social media apps operate within a mechanism that relies on data acquisition from the users for advertising purposes, which triggers several concerns about informed consent and user sovereignty over personal data (Schyff et al., 2020). The users’ data, for example, in the situation with Cambridge Analytica, as well as several large-scale attacks, revealed shortcomings in such systems. Exposure to created content consistently would bring unrealistic expectations; it increases instances of anxiety and depression, more so for young age users (Miller et al., 2023). There is child and teen bullying or even cyber harassment even though there are very few protection measures that allow youths to avoid it. More changes come constantly and should be fixed by policymakers and technology companies with the help of the users involved to make the online space safer and at an ethically higher level.
A Rationale for Proposed Research
High growth rates and increasing penetration across societies also warrant more studies to capture the diverse effects on the person and the wider community (Dwivedi et al., 2021). On the positive side, social networks reversed the approach of communicating and getting information; on the negative side, they posed several problems including fake news, privacy violations, and distorted mental health. Such challenges are timely because digital arenas actively constitute various domains of human existence: practices in professions, reasonings in politics, and interactions in relationships. Studies have confirmed that the potential benefits of community building and access to resources are on the positive side, however, potential risks are mitigations, which must be developed. Such insights will be of enormous use to educators, policymakers, or tech developers who are striving to launch a more ethical and sustainable digital culture.
PSYC FPX 4210 assessment 4 Conclusion
Social media has become an integral part of people’s lives nowadays (Liu et al., 2022). It provides so much communication, collaboration, and information sharing but in its mass application comes many possibilities of wrong information, violation of privacy, and general unwellness. Therefore, it will be important to argue that eradicating these problems will call for an improved understanding of the emancipative and detrimental fundamental to social media’s utility. In other words, yes one can minimize their exposure to social media and be benefiting from it with the help of research and collaboration.
PSYC FPX 4210 assessment 4 References
Dwivedi, Y. K., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D. L., & Carlson, J. (2021). Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: perspectives and research propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 59(1), 1–37. ScienceDirect. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102168
Liu, M., Kamper-DeMarco, K. E., Zhang, J., Xiao, J., Dong, D., & Xue, P. (2022). Time Spent on Social Media and Risk of Depression in Adolescents: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(9), 5164. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095164
Miller, M. E., Nwosu, C. O., Nyamwanza, A. M., & Jacobs, P. T. (2023). Assessing Psychosocial Health Impacts of Climate Adaptation: A Critical Review. New solutions : a journal of environmental and occupational health policy : NS, 33(1), 37–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/10482911231173068
Morris, S. (2021). The museum of misinformation: an interactive exhibit illuminating the effects of social media algorithms on cognitive bias and the spread of misinformation. Masters Theses. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/822/
Schyff, K. van der, Flowerday, S., & Furnell, S. (2020). Duplicitous social media and data surveillance: an evaluation of privacy risk. Computers & Security, 94(101822), 101822. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2020.101822
Sherer, J., & Levounis, P. (2022). Technological Addictions. Current psychiatry reports, 24(9), 399–406. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-022-01351-2
Torous, J., Bucci, S., Bell, I. H., Kessing, L. V., Faurholt-Jepsen, M., Whelan, P., Carvalho, A. F., Keshavan, M., Linardon, J., & Firth, J. (2021). The growing field of digital psychiatry: current evidence and the future of apps, social media, chatbots, and virtual reality. World psychiatry: official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 20(3), 318–335. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20883
Usmani, S. S., Sharath, M., & Mehendale, M. (2022). Future of mental health in the metaverse. General psychiatry, 35(4), e100825. https://doi.org/10.1136/gpsych-2022-100825