KIT311 Assignment: Analyzing Damages on Humanity by Social Media

This essay examines the multifaceted damages inflicted upon humanity by social media, drawing upon various academic sources and perspectives. It delves into the detrimental effects on human well-being, including lower self-control, changes in brain function, and the hindering of imagination and abstract thought. The essay explores the impact of social media on self-esteem, truthfulness, and the rise of cybercrimes. It analyzes how social media influences independent thinking, peer pressure, and social relationships, leading to feelings of isolation and envy. The essay also discusses the phenomenon of "Facebook Depression," stress, and the cultivation of false intimacy. Furthermore, it addresses the role of social media in cyberbullying, criminal activities, and its contribution to both utopian and dystopian viewpoints. The paper concludes with a discussion on the necessity to analyze the benefits and drawbacks of social media to mitigate its negative consequences.

Running head: DAMAGES ON HUMANITY BY SOCIAL MEDIA
Damages on Humanity by Social Media
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

1DAMAGES ON HUMANITY BY SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media refers to computer-mediated technology that can help in facilitating the
sharing of the idea and the information. It helps in creating innovative ideas with the help of
the virtual communities and the networks. The networks that are formed with the help of
social media can help in changing the manner in which the groups carry out the interaction
and the communication. They can help in introducing pervasive changes in the area of
communication in between the individuals and the organizations (Hudson et al. 2016). Online
social networks helps in influencing the social control that acts as a crucial mechanism for the
maintenance of the social order. This essay throws light on the damages that are caused on
the humanity owing to the influence of the social media.
Social network has a detrimental effect on the aspect of the well-being of the people.
It causes people in exhibiting lower amount of the self-control. This proves to be true in the
case of the current generation of the adolescents who are the major users of the social
networks. Social media has effect on the human brain along with the human identity. An
important trait of the human brain is malleability that helps the human brain in adapting to the
outside influences (Miller et al. 2016). Ability of the human brains in making the connections
shifts the human from the sensory world into the one that has cognitive context which can be
called identity. Influence pertaining to the new technologies can change the young people that
can prove to be problematic for the identity. Continued interaction with the multimedia
environment can help in predisposing the brain to the shorter attention span that can prove to
be harmful for the human beings. It has been found that there has been rise in the cases of the
ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Social media affects the ability of the human
being in developing the imagination and it hinders the process of formation of abstract
concepts of the human being. Social media can help in paving the path for the sensory
experiences that can change the manner in which the human beings perceive themselves
(Simon, Goldberg & Adini 2015).

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The social media have an influence on the aspect of self-control that helps in the maintenance
of the social order. The people try to present positive self-view with the help of the social
networks. It increases self-esteem in the users who try to lay focus on the close friends. This
causes them to exercise lesser amount of the quality of self-control.
The social networks paves the path for the individuals in taking the liberties with the
truth without any kind of consequences. The social media can pave the path for the lies and
the deception that can prove to be harmful for the human beings. Cybercrimes are taking
place in the present due to the advent of the social media. Anonymity proves to be a problem
in the case of social media and there are certain websites that allow the students to download
the content. Web enables the people in faking the individual mental effort and the software
that is created for combatting plagiarism can be said to be partly successful (Grégoire, Salle
& Tripp 2015). Social media influences the ability of the people of thinking in an
independent manner. The people become more prone of being subject to the peer pressure
over the medium of the social media. A study carried out has pointed to the fact that the
advent of the online recommender systems can help in changing the choices that are made by
the individuals in the society. The opinions that are made by the other people can help in
swaying the choices that are made by the people (Miranda, Young & Yetgin 2016). The time
that is spent by the people in making the decision can help in predicting whether the decisions
would be reversed at a later point of time.
Use pertaining to the social media has an influence on the aspect of the social
relationships. It hinders the social well-being of the individuals and the time that is available
for the human beings in taking rest. There is an integral relationship in between social well-
being and the use of the media. The media multitasking can be said to be associated with
various range of the social indicators like an individual not feeling successful in the social
arena (Anderson & Jiang 2018). It can help in bringing about the intense feelings towards the

3DAMAGES ON HUMANITY BY SOCIAL MEDIA
online friends as compared to the in-person friends. Face-to-face communication can be said
to be negatively associated with the aspect of the media multi-tasking. The results bring out
the fact that an individual can be socially successful in the event of carrying out the face-to-
face communication. It can help in bringing about the positive social feelings on the part of
an individual. It can help an individual in becoming socially successful and it helps in
facilitating interaction in between the people (Lenhart et al. 2015). Online communication
helps in opening up a social world but it proves to be detrimental for the emotional
development of the people.
The social media is instrumental in providing a platform that creates the way for the
social comparison and the envy. It can be said that the event of the passive following can
reduce the satisfaction of the users in the long term. It can trigger the aspect of the upward
social comparison and bring about the invidious emotions of the individuals. It can bring
about the narcissistic behaviour of the individuals that can prove to be harmful for the human
beings. “Facebook Depression” is the name of a phenomenon that is developed in the event
of the individuals spending a large amount of time on the sites of the social media (Herring &
Kapidzic 2015). The people start to show the classic symptoms of the depression in the event
of being active on the platform of the social media. The constant engagement that takes place
in online world triggers depression within the people. Depression can be said to be an
inadvertent consequence pertaining to the use of the social media.
Social media has become the medium in the present age for the constant discussions.
It allows constant rehashing of discussion over the problem of the girls that causes them to
become obsessed over a problem. In the previous times, the girls used to write in the journals
or talk over the phone about the problems that they have in life. The problems are the minor
issues like being self-conscious about the appearance and worrying over the aspect of the
peer acceptance (Dunbar 2016). In the event of a person sharing things online, it cannot be

4DAMAGES ON HUMANITY BY SOCIAL MEDIA
taken back even when posts are deleted. The posts can be found somewhere else on web or a
screenshot can be taken on a device that can plunge the sender into the anxiety and the
depression. Study has pointed out to the fact that the individuals who engage themselves in
gaming and the texting become more prone to facing depression (Bányai et al. 2017).
Social media is also instrumental in causing stress for the users. The chronic stress
can give rise to depression and the anxiety on the part of the individuals. The stress is
produced on account of the fact that an individual tries to project an unachievable perception
of the perfection that can hamper the life of an individual. Constant stress arises owing to the
fact that an individual wants to project image of the perfection (Cookingham & Ryan 2015).
An individual wants to have perfect career and a marriage that releases the stress hormone of
a person. It causes damage to the gastrointestinal tract of the human beings that has
inflammatory response in body and the brain of an individual.
A bad effect pertaining to use of the social media is experiencing of the false
intimacy. Social media helps people in putting up facade that speaks of the success that an
individual has attained in life but not about the struggles that an individual has to encounter in
the deeper level. The people try to portray a happy façade that has negative consequences on
the other people who are viewing the posts (Sales 2016). The profiles of the individuals on
the social media reflects how an individual wants themselves to be perceived as compared to
honest picture regarding themselves. It does not help in the developing of the real life
relationships. The superficial connections can cause psychological problems for the
individuals in the long term (Chassiakos et al. 2016). The difference in between the genuine
friends and the acquaintances is getting blurred in the present age. The users spend a large
amount of time in maintaining the relationships in the present age about which they do not
care.

5DAMAGES ON HUMANITY BY SOCIAL MEDIA
The people focussing a great amount of time on the networks of the social media can
neglect the real life relationships. The close members of the family suffer on account of the
fact that a large amount of effort is spent in putting up an illusion on the medium of the social
media. It can be stated that the personal costs of that of the excessive usage in relation to the
social media can leave an individual open to the anxiety along with the depression. The
criminal activities are augment by the increasing use of the social media (Vandenbosch &
Eggermont 2016). There are irresponsible people in the society who take the benefits of the
freedom of the social media in lying and hurting other people in various ways. The criminals
take advantage of the social media in hiding the identity and they commit various kinds of
crimes like the cyber bullying and the cyber terrorism. Cyber bullying has become an
important issue in the present age among the young people and it has increased aggression in
the individuals of the society (Radovic et al. 2017). The youths in the present age face many
kinds of emotional problems and this is an important side effect pertaining to the usage of the
social media. It has been found that there exists a link in between the incidence of the online
bullying and the suicide that poses great amount of threat for the individuals in the society.
Utopian technology can rise in the event of the emergence of the new technologies
like the telephones and the airplanes. Social media has become an indispensable element in
the lives of the individuals that can help people in carrying out communications in the global
arena. The utopian perspective in relation to social media is created on account of the fact
that it helps people in staying connected in the present era of technology (Miranda, Young &
Yetgin 2016). There are various social media websites like Linked In that allow the people to
create the individual pages that lists their goals and the achievements. It can help an
individual in achieving success in life. It can however be stated that social media can
contribute to creation of the dystopia. Cyber bullying results on account of the excessive use
of the social media that can prove to be harmful for an individual living in the modern

6DAMAGES ON HUMANITY BY SOCIAL MEDIA
society. This on the other hand points out to the fact that social media can prove to be
disastrous for the human beings.
Cyber-utopianism refers to belief that the online communication can prove to be
emancipatory for the human beings. Internet plays an important role in favouring the
oppressed instead of the oppressor that proves to be disastrous for the coming future. Cyber-
dystopia centers around the principles that individuals are losing control in the present age
that would pave the way for the destruction of the human race (Bányai et al. 2017). The elite
people in the society makes use of the technology so that control a large group of the people.
Technology can help in presenting false hope that can cause pain for the individuals in the
society.
In the future society, the artificial intelligence would advance to point in which the
quantified self-movement can help in joining physical along with the digital realm. It can
pave the path for the stealing of the data that can prove to be disastrous for the individuals.
The news on Face Book is becoming intertwined with the consciousness of the individual and
Face Book acts as a machine that dominates the thought process of an individual. The
suggestions are made in the platform of the social media websites that can limit the choices
for an individual (Cookingham & Ryan 2015). The social media website called Twitter
possess the strong guidelines and it makes the user to report about any kind of deviant
activities. Twitter plays an important role in exposing the political sentiments of the users that
can cause harm to an individual.
Social media has played an important role in transforming the manner of circulation
of the news. The people become more prone to the peer pressure in the event of using the
social network (Grégoire, Salle & Tripp 2015). The people spend a large amount of time on
the social media platforms and they feel inadequate as they involve themselves in comparing

7DAMAGES ON HUMANITY BY SOCIAL MEDIA
their lives with that of the other people. The future generations would recoil with horror on
account of the unpredictability of the real-time interaction taking place on the platform of the
social media. It can hence be said that the use of the social media would create the way for a
dystopian future.
Social media is indicative of the digital technology that can assist sharing of idea
along with the information. It aids in the creation of the innovative ideas that can help in
bringing people together in the present age. Social media has bad effect on the people and it
causes people to exercise lesser amount of self-control. The adolescents are adversely
affected in the present age owing to the negative effects of the social media. Social media
makes people take the advantage of the liberties that can be injurious for an individual. The
social media has increased the number of the cyber-crimes in the present age. Online
communication proves to be detrimental for emotional development pertaining to the people.
The people spending a large amount of time on social media have the tendency of neglecting
the relationships of the real world. An individual has to face the negative effects of
depression in the event of being attached to the social media. Social media makes people face
the peer pressure that can have a negative effect on the individuals. It can be recommended
that social media can be used for planning of the meetings that can be beneficial for the
human beings. It can help in the creation of the meaningful connections that can help in
bringing rewards for the human race. An individual exercising wisdom and the common
sense can prove to be useful in curbing the negative effects of the social media.

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