How Has Social Media Impacted American Culture In Modern Society? (Essay Sample)

Student’s Name Course: Institution: Date: How has social media impacted American culture? Social media has greatly impacted the communication phenomenon in the modern society. The existence and development of various forms of social media have enabled connection between individuals and organizations. Mobile phones are dominating as a means of communication throughout the country with people ever busy talking, texting, browsing, emailing, and so on. Direct communication has lost its value in American society with people concentrating on interacting through the social media. The Internet provides dating apps which do not require people to meet physically. Social media addiction is, therefore, developing addiction especially to young adults, especially in decision making. Social media is currently of great impact on the modern American society affecting people’s perception toward relationship and also facilitating cyberbullying as discussed herein. Most of the current relationships are developed online with no physical meeting, which would be considered as the lesser impact of social media in our society. Software developers are increasingly providing dating sites which are progressively increasing the rate of online dating. This has caused many individuals to do away with their real-life relationships in appreciation of online dating. As Stonard, Erica, and Walker (2015) stated, “Mostly individuals with low levels of satisfaction seek to join in social media in order to approve their physiological well-being”. Individuals are currently concerned with responses they receive from social media concerning their lives. People will always post their positive sides or achievements on social media thus creating a challenge to less fortunate, creating dissatisfaction within them and feeling inferior in their relationship achievements. As people feel dissatisfied with their current or real-life situation, they tend to turn more on social media thus facilitating to more of online rather than physical relationship. “Spending more time on the internet to keep away from life dissatisfactions is seen as a significant factor increasing the possibility of problematic internet use” ((Sahin, 2017). Increase in social media connection among individuals increases physical disconnections among individuals. The issue of cyberbullying among youths is increasing at a higher rate in modern American society. In the world we are living in, people are highly appreciating social media approvals more that they consider their real-life friends. This is the main cause of cyberbullying as personal life is shaped on the basis of social media. “It occurs among individuals whose relationship is characterized by power imbalance” ((Stonard, et al. 2015). The social media and real-life balance are developing as a major problem among young adults. It is even becoming hard for the family to come together and discuss matters patterning them due to social media effects. Cyberbullying and negative feedback from social media always lead to negativity and low self-esteem among youths. Social media poses a challenge among individuals as one try to think that they are better than others, damaging their ego and positivity toward life. The major challenge America is currently facing is in trying to campaign on balancing the social media and personal relationships. Many people have been taking social media as a leisure activity especially when they are bored and want the day to go fast. Social media is a platform to observe other people’s progress, forgetting to concentrate on issues affecting our relationship. “Social media addiction is an important viable in predicting life satisfaction” (Sahin, 2017). Many people will prioritize social media relationship while putting off the aspect of real-life relationships. As it is said, one will highly invest in terms of time and resources on issues that impact their lives. “There is a negative relationship between life satisfaction and social media addiction” (Stonard, et al. 2015). In most cases, individuals with online relationships being intimate or even normal friendship end up leading to negative results with greater impacts on their lives. “They can also place young people at risk for problems like increased risks for sexually transmitted infections and pregnancies and relationships that include dating violence abuse” (Sahin, 2017). Many teens get themselves in social media relationships with negative perspectives or motives as they think they are right. “Studies shows that since more teens are involved in online sexual relationships, it put them more at risk for unhealthy or abusive dating behavior” (Stonard, et al. 2015). Major impacts associated with online bullying are depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts among individuals. Some online relationships have negative impacts from the partners which may lead to account deletion. Social media should not posse the minds of individuals such that they end up thinking there is no existence of real life. Opposing argument On the other hand, many people will think online relationships are good and helpfu...