Benefits & Negatives

When doing research, I made a survey for people to fill out so I can know how they feel about this topic. I put it on social media sites to get the best results; these sites were Discord, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter/X. Because of doing this surveys, I got very many kinds of responses from people who mentioned the positives, negatives, or both. I learned a lot about other people experience other than just my close friend or my own, which was very eye opening about how important this issue and how many people go through very similar issues though from the outside it may not see as though.

Throughout this I will be putting some quotes from the survey about how Social Media has effected them!

Positives of Social Media

Connecting: Social media allows people to stay connected with friends and family, no matter the distance. Along with meeting new people.
- “Social media effects my mental health is a good and bad way because half of the time when I’m at work I just sit around all day and it helps pass the time. I do find it a lot easier to keep in touch with my family sending stuff about sports and such, especially when I go out to sea and there isn’t internet so whenever I do get service again they got me with all of the updates that happened with Philly Sports.”
Information Sharing: It provides quick access to news, educational content, and global events making it easy for anyone to get information and or stay up to date with current events.
Community Building: Platforms, like Discord and Reddit, help people find communities with similar interest or hobbies as themselves. Along with these platforms can offer support if you need it!
- “I have found lots of joy in collecting and joining a community of people who enjoy the same things that I do. I think as long as you find your people you’ll find some solice!”
Creativity and Expression: Social media enables users to showcase their talents, share ideas, and express themselves which in turn can help others to be creative and get ideas.
Opportunities: It can be a tool for networking, job hunting, and promoting businesses or personal projects. TikTok specifically has changed so many small business for the better by creating opportunities that wouldn’t be possible without it.

Negatives of Social Media

Mental Health Impact: Being on social media an excessive amount has been proven that it can lead to or worsen anxiety, depression, not feeling like your enough or your not doing enough because many compare themselves to others.
- “Social media portrays an unrealistic way of life that influencers live and can lead to depression/anxiety when you constantly compare yourself to other people.”
Cyberbullying: Social media has frequently let to harassment and bullying of others, especially in comment sections but can also lead to private messages.
- “Social media affected my mental health through comparison (their life/appearance looks perfect despite only seeing a photo or short video about them). Social media also affected my mental health through the hatred pointed towards people all the time. The amount of hatred that can be seen or experienced online is not normal and incomparable to the amount you actually experience in person.”
Addiction: The constant need to check notifications or scroll can become addictive, affect attention spans, and over all well-being for always needed to check your phone.
- “honestly i think being as attached to my phone as i am had impacted my mental health tremendously. i doom scroll a lot and its a way for me to procrastinate easier”
Privacy Concerns: Sharing personal information can lead to data breaches of people getting your passwords, getting into your account, getting your information, and seeing all of your personal messages to others. Some people also share too much information which can be dangerous especially when you have bigger following can lead to it’s own concerns.
Misinformation: Social media can spread false information quickly leading to confusion, believing something that is ultimately not true, or possibly even harm. Most people find social media more interesting and engaging, which makes them more likely to pay attention to the things they find on social media compared to more credible and traditional sources.