Trisha Savino English 1102 Professor Padgett April 3, 2014 Research Paper While todays generation is very familiar

with all the different types of technology, it is something foreign to older generations. Todays college students have grown up with this technology. 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. Walking around any college campus, you are guaranteed to see the majority of the students with their cell phone in hand. Even more that are texting while walking to class or even 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, 2011). With their popularity rates, it is obvious that there are some positive aspects of these networking sites. However what most people do not realize is that social media negatively affects college students in different ways. Some of these consequences can be very serious and they need to be addressed before they become even worse. 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 even harder, and practically impossible, 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
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is a term used term to describe when a person wishes to be on social media sites constantly because he is afraid the he will miss out on what is happening (Przybylski, 2013). This term explains why so many young people have the urge to constantly check on these sites excessively. They do this because they do not want to feel left out. While that is an understandable feeling, there are others ways to solve the fear of being left out rather than always staring at ones phone. 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 start missing out on things going on in their real life. 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 it studying or working on papers. Many students think that they can successfully use social media sites or text while they are studying. These students are overestimating their ability to multi task. 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 and Cotton, 2012). Also when a student is on social media sites or texting during a class lecture they are much more likely to do worse on the exam on that material that exam (Wood et al., 2012). College students have enough trouble staying on task while studying without technology is making it worse. In a study done it was shown that most students cannot stay on task for more than ten minutes, and when they switched tasks they are most often switching to fulfill this need to check up on these technological devices (Rosen, 2013). The gratification a person feels when they get a text message from a friend or
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loved one often carries over to a persons study time (Rosen, 2013). While college students think that nothing is wrong with the social media sites that they use multiple times a day, they are actually negatively impacting their school performance. Social media gives individuals a way to express themselves however they want. 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. 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. There is nothing wrong enjoying the feeling of someone boosting your self-esteem, but when you cannot stop posting on these web sites because that is the only way that you can feel confident, that becomes a problem. While it may seem drastic, social media can be addicting. 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. This often unfortunately causes students grades to drop, as mentioned earlier. Not only does this addiction to the Internet negatively effect the person who is addicted it also affects their friends and family because they often neglect them. Increased usage in social media has also contributed to the existence of cyber bullying. Cyber bullying, which is making fun or being bullied online, 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 bullying is an embarrassing and emotional thing to experience. It is also something a person cannot escape form because even if the victim is not at the computer, the bully could still
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be there spreading even rumors (Brock, 2009). This is difficult for the student because he cannot feel safe even in his own home. Since this bullying is happening not in school the school or university often does not get involved. Less than 53% of directors feel as if the school should get involved if a student is bullying another student over the Internet (Williams, 2013). 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, people have even committed suicide because for them being bullied was too hard to handle. Cyber bullying is a serious issue and social media only 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 impossibleincredible amount of schoolwork , and not to mention, a timeand decision making that determines what a person is going to do with the rest of their life. All of this could be why 15 to 20% of college students claim to be depressed (Youn, 2012). The prevalence of social media is not helping with that statistic either. In a study done on depressed college student, 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, 2012). 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. They found that greater use of the Internet was associated with declines in family communication and size of the local social circle, as well as increases in loneliness and depression. Says Sook Jung Lee, the author of an article called Online Communication and Adolescent Social Ties: Who

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benefits more from Internet use? 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 gets bad when people compare them to their friends and start to feel bad about themselves. These comparisons make each person more self conscious about themselves 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. As serious as college is, it is the time for students to learn for themselves the difference between what is right and what is wrong. College, for most people, is the first time in a persons life where they are out on their own with no parents to hold their hand. Because of this, it is not rare for a person to go out and make stupid mistakes without even thinking. Social media creates a place for pictures of these mistakes to be posted so that everyone can see. This includes faculty at ones college, parents, and even futures employers. Once this picture is posted, it is on the Internet forever. The mistake might be over and forgotten but the picture evidence is not. Nevertheless, college is a very important time in life where everything a person does greatly affects his future. Social media can be very beneficial to these students, however it comes at a cost. Most people do not know these consequences or their severity. This technology can cause 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 to realized the truth and cut back before it is too late.
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Works Cited Afsar, Baris. "General Hospital Psychiatry." ScienceDirect. Elsevier Inc., 4 May 2013. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. Brock, Cathy R. "Cyber Bullying." The Family Journal. N.p., 2009. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. Junco, Reynol. "The Relationship between Frequency of Facebook Use, Participation in Facebook Activities, and Student Engagement." The Relationship between Frequency of Facebook Use, Participation in Facebook Activities, and Student Engagement. Elsevier Inc., Jan. 2012. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. Przybylski, Andrew K. "Motivational, Emotional, and Behavioral Correlates of Fear of Missing out." Computers In Human Behaviour. Elsevier Inc., Jan. 2013. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. Stern, Steven E. "CyberPsychology & Behavior." Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., 28 Jan. 2009. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. Williams, Lee. "The Appropriate Use and Misuse of Social Media in MFT Training Programs: Problems and Prevention." Springer Link. Springer, Dec. 2013. Web. 07 Apr. 2014. Youn, Soo Jeong. "International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology." Elsevier Inc., 6 July 2012. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
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