The Impact of Social Media Addiction

In my social media class, we are watching a documentary called The Social Dilemma, which talks about the impact social media addiction has on our daily lives. One of the things that stood out to me in this documentary the most was that social media addiction impacts people of all ages, not just kids. Even the adults on the documentary admitted to being addicted to their phones, and most of them owned or helped design the social media platforms. That concept alone amazes me. It also got me thinking: if the designers of the programs have a hard time, what does that mean for the average person? 

Think of the young children who have access to social media and lack the emotional maturity and discipline to say “no” to their phones. How are they impacted by social media and screen time? Parents might not know how to work with their kids on these topics because the concept of social media and its impact on young kids is relatively new. We don’t have decades of research and past practices to refer to. 

I only have one social media downloaded on my phone, and it can even be difficult for me to manage how often I am on the app. I can only imagine what the temptation must be like for those who have multiple social media apps on their phone. I wonder if they feel pressure to constantly be opening up each app and seeing what the new updates from their friends are. 

Anyways, I am excited to see the rest of the documentary in class today and learn more about the detrimental influence social media can have.

See you next time, 

Evie