Trisha Savino

English 1102
Professor Padgett
May 4, 2014
Smart Phones and Dumb People
While todays generation is very familiar with all the different types of technology, it is
something foreign to older generations. The students that are in college have grown up with
technology such as cell phones, laptops and iPads and the associated social media sites. When
these children were in elementary school they were already familiar with using computers. While
older adults often have trouble figuring out how to use these devices it seems as if it is second
nature to teens and young adults. This younger generation naturally knows how to use
technology, while older ones need to be taught how. Walking around any college campus, you
are guaranteed to see the majority of the students with their cell phone in hand. Many of these
students are texting while walking to class or scrolling through their social media sites instead of
interacting with other students. Social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Vine, and
Facebook are very prevalent among college students. Facebook is the most common social media
site with at least 85% of college students using it (Junco, 162). However, what most people do
not realize is that social media negatively affects college students in many different ways. Social
media negatively affects college students by causing them to become addicted, cyber bullied, and
even depressed. Some of these detrimental consequences are very serious and they need to be
made more known before they become even worse. The problem is that social media is
consuming these students lives and overshadowing the more important things in life.
Trying to balance keeping up with schoolwork, having a job, spending time socializing
with friends and getting enough sleep is a tricky thing to master for college students. Adding
social media to that mix makes it much more difficult for the brain to take a break. This
generation spends every moment they get checking these sites in order to know what is going on
in the world and their community. The fear of missing out, or often called FoMO, is a term
used to describe when a person wishes to be on social media sites constantly because he is afraid
that he will miss out on what is happening (Przybylski, 1841). This term explains why so many
young people have the urge to constantly check on these sites. They do this because they do not
want to feel left out. It is human nature to want to feel involved, but there are others ways to
solve the fear of being left out rather than always staring at ones phone. These social media sites
are damaging these students view on life by making social media more important than their real
life. Young people need to realize that this cyber world is not as important as they think it is.
They should stop paying so much attention to their social media sites before they actually do
miss out on things in their real life.
People can tweet about their day on twitter, post a video of themselves on vine, write a
paragraph about their feelings on Facebook, and post a picture of themselves on Instagram.
Doing these things keep people constantly connected with each other because they do not like to
feel alone and because they do not want to miss out on anything. People are even encouraged to
keep posting these things because they get likes or favorites. The more people acknowledge
these posts, the more a person wants to use these sites. While it may seem drastic, social media
can be addicting. It starts with a person regularly checking their phone so that they do not miss
anything going on in their social circle. Next people start to like feeling of when they get a lot of
likes or favorites on a post. Then it becomes a destructive problem with people becoming
dependent on these sites to boost their self-esteem. When a person is addicted to social media he
or she: looses track of the time spent online, gets distracted and has trouble finishing schoolwork,
becomes isolated from family and friends, and feels guilty about computer use. Unfortunately,
this causes students grades to drop, as mentioned earlier. Not only does this addiction to the
Internet negatively affect the person who is addicted, it also affects their friends and family
because they often neglect them.
It is no secret how difficult and competitive college is. Yet, while these sites are supposed
to be helpful, they often only cause more problems to the already stressed out college students.
Spending so much time on social media sites obviously is not a good thing, especially when
students should be spending their time on more important things such as: studying, working on
projects, or even spending quality time with their friends. Though many students think that they
can successfully use social media sites or text while they are studying, these students are
overestimating their ability to multitask. While these things might make homework more
bearable, they are actually negatively affecting the students without them realizing. Studies show
that college students that are using Facebook and are on their cellphone while studying and doing
homework have lower grade point averages (Junco, 163). When a student is on social media sites
or texting during a class lecture, they are much more likely to do worse on that exam. (Rosen,
949). College students have enough trouble staying on task while studying without technology
distracting them. In one study it was shown that most students cannot stay on task for more than
ten minutes, and when they switched tasks they were most often switching to fulfill this need to
check their technological devices for updates on social media sites (Rosen, 955). The
gratification a person feels when they get a text message from a friend or loved one often carries
over to a persons study time (Rosen, 955). Getting a text message from a family member or a
Facebook notification a friend is a reminder that someone is thinking about you. Students are
switching tasks because of the human need to feel loved, but it becomes a problem when a
person needs to be reminded so often that it is affecting their ability to focus on schoolwork.
Multi-tasking is very ineffective especially while studying. While college students think that
nothing is wrong with the social media sites that they use multiple times a day, in actuality, they
are negatively impacting their academic performance.
Increased usage in social media has also contributed to the existence of cyber bullying.
Cyber bullying, which is bullying done through the Internet or social media, has recently become
a big problem in schools. While it is most common among middle and high school students, it
also happens in college. Some examples of cyber bullying are: posting inappropriate or ugly
pictures of friends, commenting rude things on peoples pictures, or simply saying mean things
on Twitter. Being cyber bullied is an embarrassing and emotional thing to experience. It is also
something a person cannot escape from because even if the victim is not at the computer, the
bully could still be there spreading even more rumors (Brock, 193). This is difficult for the
student because he cannot feel safe even in his own home. Since this bullying does not happen at
school, the school or university often does not get involved. With schools not intervening, cyber
bullying continues to happen and the victims are left helpless. Even though a student is not being
physically bullied, he is getting psychologically bullied which is just as bad, or even worse. It is
something very difficult to go through, and people have even committed suicide because being
bullied was too hard to handle. Cyber bullying is a serious issue and the abundance of social
media websites makes it easier.
People often say that college is supposed to be the best four years of a persons life.
While that saying should be true, and may be true in some cases, that is definitely not true for
everyone. College is an extremely stressful time in life that is filled with an incredible amount of
schoolwork and decision making that determines what a person is going to do with the rest of his
life. All of this could be why 15 to 20% of college students claim to be depressed (Youn, 75).
The prevalence of social media is not helping with that statistic either. In a study done on
depressed college students, it was found that when a person was diagnosed as depressed or
having depressive symptoms only about 40% of them wanted to seek help. The main reason for
them not requesting help was that they thought they were too busy (Youn, 78). Social media is
not helping with the number of students that are depressed in college. In actuality, it is adding to
it. Social media is a known contributor to depression. There are many different ways in which
social media causes people to become depressed. Since social media can be a cause for a drop in
college students grades and GPA then that can make a student upset. Also, if a student is being
cyber bullied then it is very likely that he will become depressed. When a person frequently
contacts his friends through social media, personal contact is greatly decreased which leaves the
person feeling lonely. Facebook and these other social media sites are a great way to keep in
touch with loved ones, but unfortunately they are also a great way to compare oneself to others.
It is practically impossible to log in to Facebook and not end up on someones profile looking
through all of their pictures. That is where the problem starts. There is nothing wrong with
browsing through a persons pictures, but it can have a negative effect when a person compares
his life to his friends and start to feel bad about himself. These comparisons make each person
more self conscious about themself without them even realizing it. There is always going to be
that one person who is more attractive, funnier, or nicer than you and social media just rubs that
in its users faces. The most serious way that social media affects college students is by being a
main contributor to depression.
College is a very important time in life where everything a person does greatly affects his
future. Social media comes at a cost and most people do not know these consequences or their
severity. This technology causes students grades to drop, be bullied, become addicted, or even
become depressed. Since this generation has grown up with this technology it is hard for them to
believe that it could be harmful to them. However, it often times is harmful and students need to
realize the truth and cut back on the usage of social media before it is too late.

















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