Spending Much Time in Social Media: Impact on Physical Isolation and Face-to-Face Communication

This thesis evaluates the impact of spending too much time on social media in terms of causing elevated levels of physical isolation and a lack of face-to-face communication in the society. It highlights the negative effects of social media on mental and physical health and interpersonal communication skills and relationships. The paper also explores the benefits of face-to-face communication and recommends measures to reduce social media addiction and mitigate the negative impacts.

Running head: ACADEMIC WRITING
Spending much time in social media may cause elevated levels of physical isolation of
people and a lack of face-to-face communication: Introduction
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Thesis topic: Spending much time in social media may cause elevated levels of physical
isolation of people and a lack of face-to-face communication
Social media has become an integral part of life for people all across the world. People
tend to spend a majority of their time in daily lives on the social media, such as, Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram etc. However, as the usage of social media has increased rapidly, fueled
by the rapid advancement in technology, it has brought about both benefits and disadvantages on
the physical and mental health of people, as well as on interpersonal communication skills and
relationships (O'Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson). The thesis aims to evaluate the impact of spending
too much time on social media in terms of causing elevated levels of physical isolation and a
lack of face-to-face communication in the society.
Bolton et al. highlighted quite a few disadvantages of social media, such as, too much
engagement with social media leads to mental illness or addiction, which hampers the daily life.
It also causes depression and anxiety among the young people, causes lack of energy, stress and
fatigue due to isolation and also results in poor eyesight of the young generation. The author
stated that, the young generation has the access to the modern technology, that is, personal
computers, smartphones, tablets, mobile internet, wifi etc. which helps them to explore the social
media at anytime and from anywhere. The glitz and glitter of the social media, the addiction to
connect with known and unknown people and reason price have contributed in increasing the
number of social media users, especially the young generation (Al-Tarawneh). Hence, rather
than having face-to-face communication, the tech-savvy generation prefer to stay connected in
the virtual world. They also prefer to play the virtual games, than playing on field. Lack of
physical activity results in the lack of energy, fatigue and stress. Another significant
disadvantage is people prefer to post their happy pictures or updates on the social media, which

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can cause a negative impact on those, who face more challenges in life. They tend to feel
depressed and anxious and this hampers their personal lives as they indulge in comparison.
Wallace also stated that, since the devices emit harmful blue light, which is not good for
eyesight, spending too much time on the devices can result in poor eyesight.
On the contrary, there are some benefits of social media. According to Lupton, social
media helps to establish connection between people across the world. This has helped many to
reconnect with their friends and family after long years. These connections have no geographical
barriers and have led to job opportunities for many. It is time and cost saving as it requires only a
device and internet connection. Ventola highlighted that social media has reduced physical
efforts of going out and meeting people on a regular basis. It has made social connections easier
and convenient for the people with a busy life. Similarly, Selwyn pointed out that the social
media has become a very effective medium of learning for students. As it has a reach over all
types of subjects across the world and a better connectivity, it helps the students to gain a vast
range of knowledge without spending much time, money and effort.
However, as the social media have some negative effects on the mental and physical
health of the young generation, some measures should be taken to reduce the usage of social
media in an excessive manner. Social media has contributed significantly in increasing the
obesity problems among the youth. They do not get involved in physical activities, rather they
prefer to sit and enjoy the social media and games, and consume a large amount of junk and fast
foods, which leads to obesity and various related diseases (Yao and Zhong). Reduction of social
media addiction will lead to increase in outdoor activities, which would have a positive impact
on the health of the young generation, and would help in practicing a healthy lifestyle. Increase

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in physical activities is beneficial in reducing diseases like poor eyesight, obesity, and the
addiction towards the virtual world.
This thesis paper will explore the aspects that can be accomplished by reducing the
addiction of social media. The benefits of face-to-face communication should be assessed to
highlight the negative impact of social media. Measures will be recommended to implement
ways to reduce the social media addiction and mitigate the negative impacts.

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References
Al-Tarawneh, Heyam A. "The influence of social networks on students’ performance." Journal
of Emerging Trends in Computing and Information Sciences 5.3 (2014): 200-205.
Bolton, Ruth N., et al. "Understanding Generation Y and their use of social media: a review and
research agenda." Journal of service management 24.3 (2013): 245-267.
Lupton, Deborah. "‘Feeling better connected’: Academics’ use of social media." (2014).
O'Keeffe, Gwenn Schurgin, and Kathleen Clarke-Pearson. "Clinical report—the impact of social
media on children, adolescents, and families." Pediatrics (2011): peds-2011.
Selwyn, Neil. "Social media in higher education." The Europa world of learning 1 (2012): 1-10.
Ventola, C. Lee. "Social media and health care professionals: benefits, risks, and best
practices." Pharmacy and Therapeutics 39.7 (2014): 491.
Wallace, Patricia. "Internet addiction disorder and youth: There are growing concerns about
compulsive online activity and that this could impede students' performance and social
lives." EMBO reports 15.1 (2014): 12-16.
Yao, Mike Z., and Zhi-Jin Zhong. "Loneliness, social contacts and Internet addiction: A cross-
lagged panel study." Computers in Human Behavior 30 (2014): 164-170.