Essay Sample on Social Media Usage: Four Billion Users Globally and 70% in US

Introduction

Social media use has seen exponential growth worldwide in recent years. According to one survey on global social media usage (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010), approximately four billion users access various forms of social media daily (Olweus 2012). A major reason behind the widespread upsurge in usage can be found in improved internet connectivity across countries and technological advancement that has made accessing various social media sites much simpler for smartphone users. The population that is mostly enrolled in various social media sites is the young population aged between 18 to 25 years (Slonje & Smith, 2008). When one enrols him or herself in various social media sites, one tends to engage in a number of activities such as commenting on other peoples post, liking various posts, messaging friends, and engaging in other interactions such as poking. In some cases, people tend to use a false identity when enrolling into the social media sites in order to achieve a certain objective. The numerous interactions in the various social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram and lack of proper regulations controlling the nature of interactions tend to results or cause increased cases of cyberbullying. According to recent surveys, cases of cyberbullying have increased significantly in various social media sites across the globe (Olweus, 2012). Such cases of cyberbullying tend to be catastrophic since they trigger depression and mental health cases. The aim of this study is to assess whether I am a cyber-bully based on the assessment of the social media site that I tend to use most.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is considered to be the bully that usually occur in various social media sites that are accessed using phones and computers. In most cases, social media bullying usually occur through, messages, images and or in other forums where people can share content or participate. Cyberbullying tends to occur when a certain individual sends or shares a negative, false, and harmful content about another individual. For instance, cyberbullying can involve sharing confidential information concerning another person with the intention of causing frustration or embarrassment. A survey on school crime supplement indicated that among all the students who reported cases of bullying in school, approximately 15% of the students are usually bullied online (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). After reviewing my social media platforms of choice, I believe I do not constitute cyber bullying. There are various reasons that led me to this conclusion; among them being that when using social media I tend to interact positively with my friends. I usually avoid posting humiliating images or any information that is likely to violate the principles or rights of any of my friends. I also try to comment positively on most of my friend's posts without taking sides or highlighting confidential information in the posts. In addition, in order to ensure that I am not considered to be a bully, I tend to use my real credentials so that every individual is aware of who he or she is communicating with.

Secondly, my social media use is against the theory of disinhibition. The theory indicates that people are usually aggressive but they usually have the capability to reduce aggression. However, watching the violence that is portrayed on television reduces human inhibition thus making them aggressive (Olweus, 2012). Based on this theory, I have been able to control my aggression in social media despite having continuously watched various violent incidences that are likely to affect or reduce my aggression. In most case, the social media users whose aggression is controlled by the violent incidents that they watch tend to engage in cyberbullying. For instance, they tend to comment on their friend's posts using negative words that are meant to provoke.

Thirdly, my social media use also tends to be against the theory of presenting self. This theory usually focus on the behaviour that tries to portray a particular image or information about oneself. In most cases, the theory of self-presentation is usually activated by the presence of other people. Based on this theory, despite having different kinds of friends on Facebook, I usually do not showcase my presence for instance by trying to threaten my friends (Slonje & Smith, 2008). Such an act of threatening people either by posting confidential information or insulting images is considered to be an act of cyberbullying. When I am interacting with my friends on Facebook, I usually try to handle myself and treat every individual equally.

Conclusion

Cyberbullying has become a global problem, particularly among youth populations. People use various social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram to conduct this act of bullying, although I personally do not consider myself to be one. My social media use habits do not qualify me as being one; my main reason not being one being my positive interaction with friends while using social media as opposed to disinhibition theory. Thirdly, my social media use also tends to be against the theory of presenting self.

References

Feinberg, T., & Robey, N. (2009). Cyberbullying. The education digest, 74(7), 26. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/openview/df7b85db5268ac4d18d07478e8fe197f/1.pdf?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=25066

Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2010). Bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide. Archives of suicide research, 14(3), 206-221. https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2010.494133

Olweus, D. (2012). Cyberbullying: An overrated phenomenon?. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9(5), 520-538. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dan_Olweus/publication/254222937_Cyberbullying_An_overrated_phenomenon/links/58527d8508aef7d030a4e9dc.pdf

Slonje, R., & Smith, P. K. (2008). Cyberbullying: Another main type of bullying?. Scandinavian journal of psychology, 49(2), 147-154. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.532.4885&rep=rep1&type=pdf