Harmful Effects of Social Media

Harmful Effects of Social Media
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Harmful Effects of Social Media
Social media is a wonderful platform to connect friends and family members over vast distances, promote businesses, and provide entertainment. People from different parts of the world have at least one social media account. However, along with the good, social media also has its share of negative effects for some people. The harmful effects of social media are cyberbullying, a reduction in face-to-face interactions and can cause depression and anxiety. As such, it is important to recognize the downsides and take steps to reduce their severity.
Cyberbullying is one of the most common harmful impacts of social media. The aspect of cyberbullying is common among teens and celebrities. Teenagers have reported having been harassed, embarrassed, or threatened on social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram due to their looks. Such bullying has resulted in substantial cases of suicide on the affected parties (Van Hee, Jacobs, Emmery, Desmet, Lefever, Verhoeven & Hoste, 2018). It is challenging to control the levels of bullying on social media platforms because people have the freedom of expression. People can also open accounts without disclosing their identities, making it easy for them to bully others. Therefore, the harmful impact of cyberbullying on social media platforms will continue taking place not unless strict measures are implemented.
Social media also results in reduced face-to-face interactions, thus affecting the ability of people to make reliable friends. A teenager will boast of having many followers or friends online, yet they have never met them. Social media platforms create a virtual world that people tend to co...