The article 6 Ways Social Media Affects Our Mental Health from https://www.Forbes.com is an article that discusses the fact that social media is an addictive thing and that the way people use it can possibly be affecting their mental health. I wasn’t really shocked to read that some people can get stuck in a “cycle”  they go on social media as a time waster. Ultimately they come away from it feeling worse about their lives and themselves but yet do nothing about it. Then continue to go on facebook when they have a spare minute and then feel bad again, starting the cycle, it’s a hurtful process yet many people don’t do anything about it. Personally I can relate to this article when the author says “comparing ourselves to others as we scroll through our feeds, and make judgements about how we measure up” because I know that I do that on a daily basis. Girls my age are constantly looking on facebook and instagram “comparing” themselves to the picture perfect models that are plastered all over the internet, targeted at girls our age to idolise but it shouldn’t be this way. In the article it tells us that when you start using social media like a drug you should try reduce the amount you use it. Like a drug social media can be addictive and some research even proves that you can even go through withdrawals if you haven’t scrolled through your facebook feed in a few hours. I feel like if you are going through withdrawals from facebook you should take a long hard look at yourself and your time spent on the phone. I believe the younger generations, my generation and even our parents get too caught up on the online side of life but in saying that we are all guilty of it. Whether I like it or not I would say that I am one of the people that waste hours of my day scrolling on social media. This article just makes me think again that we are too drawn to our phones and the internet and we should all really try being internet free more of the time. People nowadays say how “they can’t live without their phones” which because we have grown so used to having them at all times of the day it is true for some people. They can’t imagine life without a phone but we all can “live” without internet and phones because before phones were round people lived, existed and even achieved great things, things like Newton’s rules. Newton didn’t need the internet to help him figure out how gravity works, so the kids of my generation should be able to come up with a sentence starter without looking on the web.

I’m not trying to say that the internet isn’t one of the best things to happen over the years, the internet has made so many lives, jobs and school life easier with what we can now access within a matter of seconds. I am looking to start a career in the beauty industry and one thing that has helped me on my journey so far is “youtube”. “Youtube” is one of the better things that has come from the internet these days I believe because it lets you access so much and in my case it has taught me everything I know about makeup. Youtubers upload videos so that they can teach others from all around the world. This is a very popular thing to do and there are thousands of videos you can watch. Some of the most famous accounts include, Shannon Harris and Jeffree Star both of these people produce helpful makeup tips and tricks and also have their own successful makeup brands. These tutorials are great and all but that’s not to say that the way that some girls present themselves online isn’t adversely affecting the way others, in most cases younger girls like I mentioned earlier. This shows one of the many reasons why the internet is actually a great thing but we should all recognise that we shouldn’t use the internet too much. We need to be monitoring our usage. 

This article has really helped me to understand the reasons why we get addicted to the internet and social media. It’s also helped me see why it’s so bad that we go online too much. The fact that social media can be compared to an addictive drug is a very big indicator to me that the online world and most social media are in some ways unhealthy. However we should never forget how much the internet and online life has improved life for us as working people and appreciate how accessible information and knowledge is to us now. 

Join the conversation! 2 Comments

  1. 1) Write your response using your own natural language as some of the observations you make draw too closely from the language of the example you read.
    2) Develop your response further in terms of the true implications of social media – both the good and the bad.

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  2. Achievement Achievement with Merit Achievement with Excellence
    Form developed personal responses to independently read texts, supported by evidence. Form developed, convincing personal responses to independently read texts, supported by evidence. Form developed, perceptive personal responses to independently read texts, supported by evidence.

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