Essay Sample on Social Media Impact on Human Wellness: Exploring Health Effects

Introduction

Media incorporates almost everything from radio, television, games to even films, social media outlets, i.e., Twitter and Facebook and advertising (Jamner, 2008). All these are prone to a significant impact on the population as well as individual health. Media exposure, especially to the youth, may affect the behaviors of health, for instance, sexual activity, substance use and eating habits. In this case, an emphasis will be made on the social media impact on human wellness both in the negative and also positive sense. Most people get into social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook Instagram among other sites almost daily (Jamner, 2008). This is not a big deal since there has been advanced technology in smartphones which makes social media readily available to everyone. This eventually results in addiction to it and thus have an impact on the development of the mental health

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There are many cases of negative impacts on human wellness as a result of social media use. First, it makes it more tempting to loose productivity both at home and at work. It not only distracts one from what they should be doing hence leading to missing out of other important things for instance, exercises. There urge always to be connected every time is something detrimental. From the previous studies, people have reported difficulty in sleeping and even relaxing after passing through the sites of social media. People tend to have a feeling of anxiety or worry concerning their various encounters or their inability to have access to their respective media accounts when they are down.

Besides, other negative impacts from social media use include superficial relationships, narcissism as well as increased stress particularly in cases where the frequency of the use of the platforms is high and for an excessive amount of time (Sundar, 2011). Also, social media in greater access to it can present other risks since people will start comparing themselves to many users across the globe. The communication content in the media between the participants is crucial to the human effect of wellbeing. If the people's interaction is negative so will it be the effect.

On the other hand, social media use can present positive impacts on users. It has the capability of increasing happiness as well as nurturing of one's social circle. Internet and social media were initially used for checking on strangers but it later became a platform that lays a foundation for development and also cultivating the existing relationship (Mastrodicasa, 2011). In modern society, the networking sites of social media like Instagram and Facebook have made it easier for people to keep track of their common acquaintance and also have made it easy for them to have access to information significant to their social life.

Conclusion

The media, in some cases, could be used as a tool for spreading happiness. This is creating through the art of people posting encouraging, happy as well as uplifting posts which may induce others to do the same. Also, it is a good platform especially for the family or friends who do not live near each other to keep up with what is happening in their lives (Mastrodicasa, 2011). In this case, the aspect of hearing from family and friends will increase one's feeling of being loved. Generally, media can also help in the identification of certain mental illnesses and maybe develop a remedy against them. This can be given by the example of social anhedonia which involves one's inability to enjoy some of the common enjoyable activities. Thus, media can be depicted as an endless stream of information.

References

Jamner, M. S., & Stokols, D. (Eds.). (2008). Promoting human wellness: New frontiers for research, practice, and policy. Univ of California Press. http://media.johnsonmemorial.org/effects-social-media-on-health-wellness

Sundar, S. S., Oeldorf-Hirsch, A., Nussbaum, J., & Behr, R. (2011). Retirees on Facebook: can online social networking enhance their health and wellness?. In CHI'11 extended abstracts on human factors in computing systems (pp. 2287-2292). https://partner.sciencenorway.no/forskningno-norway-partner/how-does-social-media-affect-your-well-being/1454613

Mastrodicasa, J., & Metellus, P. (2013). The impact of social media on human wellness. Journal of College and Character, 14(1), 21-30. https://careersinpsychology.org/impact-media/