Social Media Argumentative Essay
Milena Baquerizo
Professor Toohey
ENG170:13
Argumentative Essay
28 September 2021
Social Media: Does the good outweigh the bad or vice versa?
Since the creation of social media platforms such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, there has been a lot of speculation on whether its use benefit us as the users. This started with websites to connect with friends, relatives, or individuals with the same interests. But as these sites started becoming more popular, the market began to become more saturated, and the main purpose of the “original sites” began to shift. We started looking at the other side of it and began questioning. If social media simultaneously draws us together and pulls us apart; does the good outweigh the bad, or vice versa?
Let’s start with the ‘good side’ of social media. Since the beginning of the internet, media platforms have made us feel that we have a voice, even if in our personal lives we didn’t. It helped us feel connected to the world around us and as humans in a society it has had an impact on our mental health and how we coexist. Something that has been proven over generations before social media was developed. Stated in the article from Help Guide “Being socially connected to others can ease stress, anxiety, and depression, boost self-worth, provide comfort and joy, prevent loneliness, and even add years to your life.” (HelpGuide). Currently it is easy to forget the good social media has done over the years. The lives it has changed, the opportunities people have gotten, and most importantly, the fact that at the start it was made as an opportunity to feel closer to those we love. Like Tim Kendall (former Facebook executive, Pinterest former president and Moment CEO) states “It’s easy today to lose sight of the fact that these tools actually have created some wonderful things in the world. They’ve reunited lost family members. They’ve found organ donors. There were meaningful systemic changes happening around the world because of these platforms.” (Kendall, 00:02:30). These systemic changes are still happening to this day. We live in a society where we won’t tolerate injustices anymore, and a huge part of this, is the contribution that social media has on speaking up and letting our voices be heard on socio-economic issues. Issues that probably wouldn’t have had a lot of coverage in traditional media before either because of our race or the fact that we aren’t public figures, and wouldn’t have been considered important as they should be. As stated in the article Social Media: How it provided the voiceless with a voice “Historically, women have been a powerless group and today this social marginalisation still exists. Yet over time, we have seen the power of the establishment of social media, providing a platform of exchange for those discriminated against to share their experiences with the rest of the world – giving a voice to the voiceless.” (Social Media: How it provided the voiceless with a voice by the editor). Social Media may not be the perfect place but
With everything that has a good side, there’s also a bad side. As social media platforms started to evolve, so were we as a society. Society started experimenting with the downsides of everyone being able to express their opinion freely and post whatever they would like. It became a way of showing whose life was more perfect, who’s pretty on unrealistic standards, or giving your opinion when it’s not needed, this is a whole new way of harming our mental health. Even though its damaging and deteriorating for our mental health, it is addicting, and we can’t stop using social media. Especially Millennials, Gen Z’s and newer generations that are growing up, having this addiction, and having FOMO as a new norm for them. Researchers and articles support this by saying how now we are at a point where we are more present online than in real life. “Human beings need face-to-face contact to be mentally healthy. The more you prioritize social media interaction over in-person relationships, the more you’re at risk for developing or exacerbating mood disorders such as anxiety and depression.” (Social Media and Mental health; Robinson). The fact that social media was supposed to be a platform that benefits society but instead started unleashing this whole new way of thinking and feeling without any planning ahead is truly scary. It has been mentioned previously that, “Certainly, when it comes to our wellbeing, there’s an argument that social media is the new smoking. Sounds laughable? Well, just consider that Justin Rosenstein, the engineer who created Facebook’s “like” button, has equated Snapchat to heroin; Shirley Cramer, the chief executive of the UK Royal Society for Public Health, said in a statement that “social media has been described as more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol; Instagram has been accused of manipulating exactly when users receive likes on posts in order to keep them hooked; industry kingpins have admitted that certain features have been explicitly designed to take advantage of our neurological vulnerabilities; and that the vast, vast profits from this culture of addiction are lining the pockets of Silicon Valley’s very few. Sounding more familiar?” (Ormerod, p. 85-86) This dependency that is often compared with drugs, and alcohol even by the same head executives and creators of these same platforms is truly astonishing and shows us in which direction as a society we are heading. This goes to show that with everything else in life, we need a balance with social media. If we have it, we should try and take a step back sometimes and not be influenced by it 24/7 as it could become a serious problem and we won’t be able to get off of.
To conclude, social media has both its good and bad things like any other platform, and situation in life. It has helped people in many ways, and it has had a negative impact on others too. But the important thing about the essay that we should take with us is that we have choice. Just because we are young, and our peers have it doesn’t mean we should and vice versa just because the people in our surroundings don’t, doesn’t mean we should feel pressured onto joining these platforms. Either decision we choose, we should be cautious and remind ourselves not to revolve our lives around it, and if we feel it’s taking a toll on our mental health, we can just take a step back.
Works Cited
-Ormerod, Katherine. “Why social media is ruining your life”, Casell, 2018.
-Robinson, Lawrence. Smith, Melinda. “Social Media and Mental Health”, HelpGuide, teen issues, July 2021, HelpGuide, https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/social-media-and-mental-health.htm , date accessed: 26th September, 2021
-Jeff Orlowski, director. Larissa Rhodes, producer. Vickie Curtis, Davis Coombe; writers. The Social Dilemma. By Netflix, 2020.
–The Editor. “Social Media: How it provided the voiceless with a voice”, NuhaFoundation, youth, 1st October, 2019, NuhaFoundation, https://nuhafoundation.org/home/blog/bloggingentries/2019/youth/social-media-how-it-provided-the-voiceless-with-a-voice/#.YVsb1y-B1sM, date accessed: 23rd September,2021.