Social Media Ruining Social Skills Analysis

Imagine a world with no social media in which people can revert back to real life connections. No more Internet trolls, safeguard bullying, or your teenage daughter crying because Betty Smith bashed her on social media for everyone to see. There's no denying that along with the perks of connecting people across the globe, there will be baggage to carry. The downside of social media is the simple fact that our teenage years are so delicate and vulnerable to another's opinion. Especially when it comes to teenage girls, as one simple use of the word “ugly” or “fat” can go racing through this innocent, developing mind. This destroys any peice of confidence she was able to build prior to social media and the bullies that follow. She has just been

Phones have become “smart” consequently dumbing down their counterpart, humans. Just as journalist Justin Rojeski, in his article, “Social Media is Ruining Social Skills,” explains that one can too easily avoid actual face-to-face interactions and uncomfortable situations at a convenience. This is not how we develop communication skills, but how we diminish them. There is no denying that social media is forever changing our interactive and communication skills. The question is, how much? According to journalist Daniel Naomi from, The Downward Spiral for Cognitive and Social Skills, Social media has major effects on the brain in several ways including attention span, addiction and social skills. More people are turning to social media rather than a great wholesome face-to-face

Social media is no help to this problem as it only encourages more reasons to compare and contrast with no limitations. In other words, social media has the tendency to be addicting while also granting access at any time with no repercussions. This is a dangerous situation for someone who is showing signs of depression or even suicide.

Considering there is so much emphasis on girls to act a certain way, the pressure is on ten fold. School gets put on the back burner while teenage girls main focus and concern is her attractiveness and attire. Studies show that young girls spend much more time on social media then boys. (See figure 1) This chart demonstrates that the majority of young females clearly use social media more than their male counterparts. This can only indicate why social media and female depression correlates so well with one another.

Young females who use social media occasionally are more prone to depression than boys due to the way each gender communicates. Boys have sports and cool toys to unite each other while girls have bodies, hair, and clothes to compare. From the article, Depression Hits Teenage Girls, free lance writer Patti Neighmond