Social media has become an important and very common factor in our society. It helps us keep up with others, share our own lives, and waste time when we feel awkward standing alone. Social media has grown rapidly over the years with new apps and updates constantly coming out. Social media can be a good thing, but it can also be a very bad thing. Social media is starting to become more of an obsession than just a simple distraction. It has led to a negative impact for our generation and future generations in many ways.

1. Social media can lead to stress and depression problems.

Social media is a good way for people to update others about what they’ve been doing, their opinions, and for people to share whatever they want with others. The problem with this is that it can cause dramatic issues. Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter are all places where people can constantly compare themselves to others. If someone posts a picture, other people may look at it and begin to stress about why they aren’t as pretty or skinny or funny. This constant comparison of us to others leads to stress about our lives and is proven to lead to depression.

2. Social media is decreasing face-to-face interaction.

Over the past years, instead of meeting people face to face the new thing is to “chat" on Facebook or “direct message” each other on social media pages. What is the need for face to face interaction when you can Snapchat people pictures of exactly what you’re doing? Social media is causing us to lose touch with personal relationships. Having personal relationships with others gives you a sense of comfort and support and because of social media, personal interactions are at an all time low. Meeting people doesn’t seem as important when you can add them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. This has become a huge issue because we are losing our connections on a personal level with others and encouraging social isolation.

3. Social media inhibits productivity.

Social media is an easy way to distract yourself from any task you have. People in school or at work tend to decrease their productivity by spending valuable time checking all of their social media pages. Over 50 percent of people access their social media accounts while at work. Spending just 30 minutes on social media a day could cost a 50-person company 6,500 hours of productivity a year. Only 30 minutes a day could do that. This decrease in productivity leads to laziness and lack of concentration. Jobs are being done poorly and student’s grades are going downhill because social media is taking time away from the important things such as studying and doing your job.

4. Social media makes it easier to personal information to be spread.

Once something is on the internet, it is almost impossible for it to be deleted. If you post your phone number on Facebook or your address, that information is out there for good and anyone can have access to it. People’s private information is no longer very private, even if they do delete it. This spread of information has led to an increase in hacking, identity theft and viruses.

5. Social media has a negative effect on our mental health.

Social media is proven to have a negative effect on people’s mental health. The use of social media can be correlated with ADHD, addictive behaviors, social problems, and the need for instant gratification. This can lead to loneliness, depression, and anxiety. People don’t realize that social media exposure is negatively impacting their mental health. This can lead to fatal problems such as a rise in eating disorders and suicide rates. These effects are not worth the obsession with social media.

Overall, people need to take a step back from social media and realize what it is doing to our generation. We are a generation obsessed with technology and social media and it is harming the well-being of our population.