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The effects of social media on young adults
Social medias effect on young adults
How social media affects young adults
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It is a fact that every generation tends to have its unique behavioral patterns, values, and ways of thinking. There are several issues related to this fact, which may include the misunderstanding between people of different generations and differences in values according to each generation. These issues normally go beyond family relations, into spheres such as social, hierarchy and work environment. The Generation X and Generation Y have over the years accounted for a larger percentage of the US population. However, recently, a new generation emerged, Generation Z, also known as the ‘Selfie Generation,’ born in the late 1990s and early 2000s, have been noted to be completely different from the other generations that came before. This essay claims that the 'Selfie Generation' might be different from its predecessors, …show more content…
All these signs only point to one thing, “the level of narcissism among the Selfie Generation has reached an all-time high” (Twenge 19). This is why the rise of tweeting mostly characterizes this generation that also includes planking and duck-faced egoists who are only concerned with the number of followers and likes they receive in their social media accounts. Moreover, sharing a lot of selfies could also make teenagers more concerned about their appearance rather than their personality and other positive attributes. In fact, Wang et al. (276) note that the average girl today is constantly under pressure to look and act like celebrities, a necessity they can fulfill with talking selfies and receiving likes. However, when they receive negative comments, few likes or silence about their selfies on popular social media sites, it can often have a huge negative impact on their confidence and self-esteem. The resulting effect can be prolonged stress or even
There you are holding your camera an arm’s length away from your face, posing in the most flattering position to capture your best angle. There you are taking a photo of yourself to share with all of your Facebook friends. Taking a self-portrait photo, also known as a selfie, is something almost everyone has done in this new generation. This action is typically done without a second thought. In Alex Williams’ article “Here I Am Taking My Own Picture” that second thought is provoked through exploring the quickly spreading trend of self-portrait photography. In the article while Williams’ provides interesting examples on a changing generation as this trend progresses through social media and modern technology; Williams also leaves something to be desired within the article due to a lack of direction in the author’s stance on the topic.
I feel as though more and more teens of this generation are using social media in order to seek approval of attention of others. Since they are expected to use social media in a way to create an online audience, they post pictures of themselves and activities so that they can get a “yes” or “no” response from their audience. If someone posts a picture online and someone who is considered a “friend” makes a positive comment on the photo, then they have received approval of their actions. If someone makes a negative remark on the photo, then they have received disapproval. She uses various examples of how young adults use social media to create a persona of themselves, such as when girls post sexualized pictures of themselves and create avatars of themselves (Orenstein, 448). This means that how they are seen online will affect how they act in real life. When Orenstein says that “the self, becomes a brand”, she means that young adults have to act in a way that is perceived to be socially acceptable by their peers, and the image of how everyone sees you. So many people today use social media, and the biggest one that is being used is Facebook. Profile pictures, albums, and statuses are things that gets posted up for anyone to comment, like, or dislike. Your “friends” on
In the article “What Your Selfies Say About You” by Peggy Drexler, she talks about self-portraits also known as the “selfie”, and how it has taken over social media and added a manifestation to society’s obsession with looks. Taking a self-portrait can be positive in the sense that you are proud of your image and are not scared to share it with others helping boost up your self-esteem. Although this may help others by persuading them to not be ashamed to share their true image, Drexler believes this can also affect other individuals whose focus is only on looks making them feel self-conscious about their looks. A recent study out of the UK found that the selfie phenomenon may be damaging to real world relationships, concluding that both excessive
Social media has become one of the most popular sources of communication for the upcoming generation. For young people growing up in today’s society, social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have provided pictures and news that have become the first thing that their eyes see in the morning and the last thing that they see before bed. These pictures have provided unrealistic standards as to what is considered beautiful in today’s society. As young people refer to these images as a form of comparison, it has created harmful circumstances. These influences on the lives of young people have forced them to take extreme measures and in some cases, has been the cause of death. Social media in today’s society has proven to have a negative impact on the way young people, specifically females, view their bodies. Unrealistic beauty standards, dangerous comparisons and disorders have all been a result to the increase in social media and the impact that it has on the lives of young people.
Today, our culture demands us to be perfect, thin, powerful, successful, smart, extraordinary, but when people begin to try achieving them, we start labeling them as narcissists. The problem is that it is impossible for anyone to please everyone. Brown defines narcissism as simply a “fear of never feeling extraordinary enough to be noticed, to be lovable, to belong, or to cultivate a sense of purpose” (22). Before giving out labels, it is wise to practice asking ourselves questions to clear the intentions and reasons of someone’s behavior. For example, teenagers posting pictures of themselves online to gain some attention reveals that the culture has taught them that they are as lovable as the number of likes and comments they get on social media. Negative feedback roots into negative thinking about vulnerability and causes them to shut themselves down and never show their real selves again. Encouraging others to believe that they are perfect as themselves, will plant a positive attitude in them and push them to pursue their goals and visions to fulfill their dream of a happy
Moreover, Wortham understands the selfie as ‘a kind of visual diary, a way to mark our short existence,’ a dairy of our pictures of our precious moments and memories in our day-to-day lives that we are sharing and putting them up for everyone to see. It is naturally a major role in society today. Selfies have become something of a main factor in the world of social media, which means it’s safe to say that society is getting to a point where the real world and the virtual world overlap almost
Millennials are accused of being tough to manage, behaving entitled, unfocused, lazy, narcissistic; however, they seek to have a purpose that they love and make an impact. Yet, the more they receive, they are not happy. Sinek jokingly states that they could be offered “free food and bean bags, because that is what they want, and they will still not be happy.” According to Sinek, there is a missing piece for millennials, furthermore, he goes on to say there are four characteristics that make millennials the way they are, “parenting, technology, impatience, and environment.” (2016).
Although Rachel Simmons in “ Selfies Are Good for Girls” and Erin Ryan in “ Selfies Aren’t Empowering. They’re a Cry for Help”, both agree selfies can show accomplishments. However, Simmons believes selfies are a way for young women to boost their pride whereas Ryan defines them as a way to gain social approval confirmation. Simmons believes selfies are empowering, and increase self-confidence levels of young women. According to Simmons “selfie is a tiny pulse of girl pride - a shout-out to the self (P4)”. In other word, she believes self-portrait gives teenage girls an outlet to express pride within themselves. She explains how selfie not only express pride, it is also a way for young women to share their accomplishments, as shown in the
The times have changed, and with them, the customs. Generations of Americans, each with unique cultural influences and identities, have risen and aged over the course of America’s history. The latest generation, in particular, is the product of the past generation’s reforms in civil and individual rights. The Millennials are vastly different from past generations and they are also markedly unalike each other. The conduct of the 21st century contrasts sharply with the lifestyles of the 80s and the 90s, never mind the decades before those. This conduct is the product of innovations in technology that have also led to a heightened sense of both security and insecurity, and therefore have led to a new mentality that is set to the tune of control and regulation.
The author utilizes various articles that target Generation Z in a negative manner, such as “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, “The dumbest Generation: How The Digital Age Stupefies Young American and Jeopardizes Our Future” and “Alone Together”, revealing that this current generation is frowned upon by researchers as well as older generations, labeling them as “internet hungry screenagers with nothing but addiction to social media”. She use that as a backbone to older gen.’s non-stop complaints about gen. Z. She uses various opinions of successful CEOS and researchers to prove why people should put faith in gen.
Social media has taken over the world of communication and has changed the ways in which we communicate on a daily basis. It is extremely influential on our lives because of how easily we are able to access these mediums of communication. I’m intrigued by the effects that social media has on people’s perceptions of their self-worth. Almost all of the social networking sites seem to measure, at least to some extent, the popularity level or status of its users. All have a number of ‘followers’ or ‘friends’ which if there’s a high number of followers or friends that seems to elevate a person’s popularity level or their online status. This in turn could make their self-esteem or ego rise, whereas if their follower level is low it may disappoint or aggravate that user. All of these sites also offer areas where followers can ‘like’ pictures or posts, ‘comment’ on these pictures/posts, ‘share’ the post, and what have you. How important are ‘likes’ and whatnot to our actual self-esteem? Do we value online popularity the same way or more than we value real-life interactions? How could this affect the mental health of those who use these networking sites? Is this kind of online community promoting more narcissistic persons in the community? So many questions… I’m not alone in asking these questions. I’m convinced that social media has a negative influence on the self-esteem of its users.
Susan Smith, a critic, states that the millennial generation is lazy, entitled, obsessed with technology and care less about working hard. Smith believes that our current society will be destined for failure in the hands of the current millennial generation. Smith is not the only one who believes that the millennial generation will lead our current society to failure. Yet the same labels have been said to the previous generation and the generation before them. Each generation does not like the generation that follows them because of how different they are. I believe that we are not lazy and entitled, it’s just that the previous generation does not like how we act and react the same way they do.
They struggle with low self-esteem. They struggle with making independent decisions. They struggle with succeeding in the workforce. However, none of these struggles are their fault. They are the millennials. According to Simon Sinek, millennials are a group of young, ambitious and hardworking individuals currently entering the workforce. Nonetheless, they are encountering hurdles that have been unheard of until now due to several external factors. As there are constant changes in societal expectations as well as personal expectations, millennials often have difficulty finding where they truly belong. Over the course of his discussion, Sinek targets several different factors and how they contribute to the downfall and characteristics of millennials. Therefore, I believe that there is no doubt that Sinek’s depiction of millennials as low self-esteemed and narcissistic
In particular, interest over whether people who use SNSs have higher levels of Narcissism than non-users of such sites. Two reasons have been discovered as to why people who use SNS may have higher levels of Narcissism than non-users. Firstly, Narcissism is strongly associated with forming relationships as an opportunity for self-enhancement (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). Online communities, like Facebook and Twitter, encourage self-absorbed behaviour as they are built on superficial ‘friendships’ and often are used to maintain large numbers of relationships rather than deeper relationships. This allows Narcissists to maintain large numbers of shallow relationships, which constantly affirms their Narcissistic esteem (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). Secondly, these sites offer a highly controlled environment, providing owners with complete power over self-presentation (Mehdizadeh, 2010). This provides an ideal setting for the owner to manage the impression they portray to others and create their “hoped-for possible selves” (Mehdizadeh, 2010). In particular, SNSs can be used to only share attractive photos of oneself or writing posts that are self-promoting, creating a biased impression of themselves (Ryan & Xenos,
In his May 2013 editorial for Time Magazine, “Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation,” Joel Stein explains his viewpoint on millennials, defined as people born 1980 through 2000. Using an occasionally humorous tone, Stein summarizes the typical bleak view that older people have for the younger generation, before offering what he believes is closer to the truth. In the end, he decides that while millennials are not without their flaws and vices, a lot of the fears that older people are mostly due to the advanced technology that we are now dealing with. By the end of the article, it is my opinion that Stein makes a very fair summarization and is correct in his idea that to write off the entire generation is unfair towards younger people.