“On May 27, 2014, a young girl from North Dakota named Abby Sletten was out on a drive. While driving, she decided to update her Facebook status and ended up rear-ending a SUV at 85 mph, killing the elderly driver.” (Winsor) Did Abby enjoy social media? Yes. Was she addicted? Most definitely. Social media addiction is an addiction to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. It can take over someone’s life just as much as drug addiction. These days, it’s hard to walk into a restaurant or a mall without seeing someone on their cellphone taking a selfie and uploading it on Facebook. Parent view social media as a harmless way for their kids to make friends. All parents want their kids to be safe and use caution when …show more content…
They allow teens to, “accomplish online many of the tasks that are important to them offline: staying connected with friends and family, making new friends, sharing pictures, and exchanging ideas” (O'Keefe). That’s good and all, but ever hear of too much of a good thing? If a person makes one wrong move on a social media site, they run the risk of being cyber-bullied. Cyber-bullying can cause “profound psychosocial outcomes including: depression, anxiety, severe isolation, and, tragically, suicide” (O'Keefe). There have been cases where cyber-bullying have led to suicide, especially with LGBT youth. While social media can make catching up with friends easy and fun, it can also ruin a person’s life. While a person is catching up on their Facebook feed, they might notice another benefit of social media, advertising. A person can’t scroll down the newsfeed without seeing an ad for something on there. Facebook uses recent searches and Amazon wish lists to display products the person might be interested in buying. It increases impulse purchases and it helps a company “become more humanized by interacting in social media channels” (DeMers). When a person creates a social media account and agrees to the terms and conditions, they are allowing the website to sell their information to other companies. Parents should go over the terms and conditions with their children, just to make sure they know what kind of information they’re