Benefits and Costs of Social Media: A Sociological Perspective

This essay examines the multifaceted impacts of social media, highlighting both its benefits and costs, particularly on adolescents. It references studies that show how social media facilitates peer interaction, boosts self-esteem, and provides opportunities for self-disclosure. However, it also addresses the negative aspects such as cyberbullying, mental health issues, and exposure to risky behaviors. The essay concludes that while social media offers significant advantages in terms of communication and self-concept, it also presents considerable risks that need to be addressed.

Running head: BENEFITS AND COSTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA 1
Benefits and Costs of Social Media
Name:
Institution:

BENEFITS AND COSTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA 2
Benefits and Costs of Social Media
Social media is a term used to refer to computer-mediated systems of technology which
facilities are sharing of information across networks. In this case, there is sharing of expressions
through virtual communities. The social media users access the services through web-based
technologies on computer systems. Alternatively, those with smartphones can download the
functions in the form of an application for proper functionality at their own convenient time. A
highly interactive environment is created which enables individuals and organizations to share
information and post online. Nowadays, social media has manipulated the way in which
organizations interact. Social media ranges from paper-based media such as magazines and
electronic media such as the current television broadcasting. Facebook is the most widely used
social media by most people across the world. The social media site has facilitated sharing of
ideas, pictures, and information from one person to another. Consequently, other sites and
applications include Linkedin, Instagram, WeChat, and Whatsapp. The purpose of this paper is
to point out the benefits and costs of social media as illustrated below.
Zhang, J., Brackbill, D., Yang, S., & Centola, D. (2015). Identifying the effects of social
media on health behavior: Data from a large-scale online experiment. Data in brief, 5, 453-
457.
Zhang argues that social media tools are always available in the current state and have
become more accessible to assess on Smartphone (Zhang et al., 2015). Most American
youths use social media most of their time. Peers interact with each other and make
friends across the globe. The author reveals that social media are associated with
adolescents’ behavior both positively and negatively.

BENEFITS AND COSTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA 3
Social media affects the health of their users. The social media affects the mental well
being of the youth (Zhang et al., 2015). They feel that they should interact with each
other and make new friends.
Rey, P. J. (2012). Alienation, exploitation, and social media. American Behavioral
Scientist, 56(4), 399-420.
The youths use social media at the critical adolescent stage for peer engagement which
impacts positively on their lives. Rey states that adolescent seeks peer intimacy on the
social media by reflecting their offline lifestyles (Rey, 2012). Most peers spend most of
their time on the social media which implies positively in their lives. The use of social
media boosts the self-esteem of most youths in the United States of America.
Additionally, social support and an opportunity for self-disclosure are realized through
the consistent use of social media. Ultimately, the process involved in social media
contributes to healthy growth. According to Rey, the adolescents use social media to
maintain a friendship (Rey, 2012).
Thomas, V., Azmitia, M., & Whittaker, S. (2016). Unplugged: Exploring the costs and
benefits of constant connection. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 540-548.the
Thomas states that one of the benefits of social media is that the search for coherent sense
takes place online and offline by sharing different aspects of life (Thomas et al., 2016).
Additionally, social media can be sued by the youth for impression management through
the control of other people’s view about life. The author argues that adolescents who use
the social media for communication has a more significant self-concept than those who

BENEFITS AND COSTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA 4
are don’t use the social media (Thomas & Whittaker, 2016). The social media has always
provided a platform that allows the users to practice skills such as self-disclosure. Social
media also offers the benefits of learning to the youth who may have difficulties. The
youth tend to feel less lonely and more confident when they are online.
Pomerantz, J., Hank, C., & Sugimoto, C. R. (2015). The state of social media policies in
higher education. PloS one, 10(5), e0127485.
Pomerantz argues that social media has a negative impact on the lives of the youths
during the adolescent stage (Pomerantz et al., 2015). Cyberbullying is a negative impact
of social media which creates mental disorders. The user can also receive negative
feedback online that makes them disoriented in their lives. Social media users leave their
phones on at night, and therefore they lack sleep which is a health hazard.
Gilbert, C. (2014). Vader: A parsimonious rule-based model for sentiment analysis of social
media text. In Eighth International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media
(ICWSM-14). Available at (20/04/16) http://comp. Social. gatech. edu/papers/icwsm14.
Vader. Hutto. Pdf.
Gibert argues that social media profiles contained a high-risk behavior r such as sexual
activity and drug abuse (Gilbert, 2014). Any person with a cautious mind will admit that
most of the pornographic materials are acquired from the social media. Additionally, drug
abuse is generated from the social media platform. The new press can expose sexual
content and alcohol to the adolescent who is an evil to the society.

BENEFITS AND COSTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA 5
In conclusion, the social media has both the positive and negative impacts to the youths
across the world. Most American youths use social media most of their time which enable the
peers to interact with each other and make friends across the globe. Therefore, those who use the
social media for communication have a more significant self-concept than those who are don’t
use the social media in their lives.

BENEFITS AND COSTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA 6
References
Gilbert, C. (2014). Vader: A parsimonious rule-based model for sentiment analysis of social
media text. In Eighth International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM-
14). Available at (20/04/16) http://comp. social. gatech. edu/papers/icwsm14. vader.
hutto. pdf.
Pomerantz, J., Hank, C., & Sugimoto, C. R. (2015). The state of social media policies in higher
education. PloS one, 10(5), e0127485.
Rey, P. J. (2012). Alienation, exploitation, and social media. American Behavioral
Scientist, 56(4), 399-420.
Thomas, V., Azmitia, M., & Whittaker, S. (2016). Unplugged: Exploring the costs and benefits
of constant connection. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 540-548.
Zhang, J., Brackbill, D., Yang, S., & Centola, D. (2015). Identifying the effects of social media
on health behavior: Data from a large-scale online experiment. Data in brief, 5, 453-457.