Isolation Through Social Media

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“We curate our lives around this perceived sense of perfection, because we get rewarded in the short term signals- hearts, likes, thumbs-up, and we conflate that with value and we conflate it with truth. And instead, what it is is fake, brittle popularity that’s short-term and leaves you even more, admit it, vacant and empty than before you did it...Think about that, compounded by two billion people.” (Wang). Our generation is being consumed by social media everyday with unlimited access to it at all times. It has become a part of our daily lives that we do not even think about anymore. While social media is a useful tool that allows people to connect with others and provides a wide access to information, it should be used with caution …show more content…

People who use social media are more prone to feelings of isolation. The act of mindlessly scrolling through social platforms gives you a perceived sense of social isolation because it makes you feel excluded from the people you see who are connecting in real life. Not only do these feelings of isolation affect a person’s mood, but it also triggers the stress hormone cortisol, which can cause inflammation and learning or memory problems. When we look around at our peers there is a good chance they are on a device; social media causes people to spend less time interacting face-to-face, leading to feelings of loneliness. “It takes actual social interaction (not virtual) to keep up friendships. A virtual friends doesn’t give you the same therapeutic effect as time with real friends do. Getting real social support is important.” (Walton). Heavy social media use can slowly damage your mental health over …show more content…

“Social media can lead to stress and offline relationship problems. A 2016 study found that the overuse of social media as an adolescent may decrease success in relationships later in life.” (Overusing). People who have grown up in the age of multimedia know how to communicate more online with strangers than they do talking to people in real life. “Online communication hinders social and developmental cues.” (Overusing). This anxiety people experience with social interaction can make it hard to communicate with your significant other or make it difficult dating. Social media becomes an issue when partners spend more time checking their phones than interacting with one another face to face. “Those with a phone in eyeshot were less positive when recalling their interaction afterwards, had less meaningful conversations and reported feeling less close to their partners than others in the study who didn’t have a phone present.” (Brown). Furthermore, the social web can cause jealousy and mistrust between couples because it is so easy to get caught up online instead of in the present moment with your partner. It also creates a private space where the other person may think you are hiding something or being unfaithful due to the fact that they cannot always see what you are doing online. “People felt the Facebook/social media environment created these feelings

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