Galindo1

Elizabeth Galindo
Professor Lewis
English 113A
Friday, December 11 2015
Social Media Apps a Severe Problem to Society
Social Media Apps like Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat and many others have
been responsible for greater communication between people all around the world.
However, they have their dark side, as well. Social media apps can result in negative
outcomes such as, less face-to-face interactions with family or friends, self-centered
attention-seeking issues, and even sexual harassment because of all the information that it
is being shared around all these social medias apps.
Most people in the United States uses at least one social media app to
communicate with a friend, lover, or family member. Twitter has become one of the most
famous ways of communication not only here in the United States but around the whole
world as well. It is used to communicate with people you want to talk to, send pictures to,
and even cyberstalk to, but most of the times it is used as a way of interaction with one
another in a very short and fast way. About 320,000 Tweets are sent every minute
according to Twitter.com. The use of Twitter has become a problem because people are
too focus on being on Twitter, tweeting everything that is going on, and it is causing
them to be isolated from their family, friends, and everyone in general. Many people
dont realize the problem it becomes when a person spends numerous hours on Twitter or
any social media app. According to an article titled Are Social Networking Sites Good
For our Society?, a January 2012 Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg

Galindo2

School study, found that the percentage of people reporting less face-to-face interaction
with family in their homes rose from 8% in 2000 to 34% in 2011. This statistic is
showing us how our society has become too blinded by all of these Social Media Apps
that we are forgetting the importance the littlest things like making eye contact with
someone, reading body language and even the tonality when having a conversation in
person. Some people can debate on this topic saying that Twitter is just a fun way to keep
you entertained and yes, it entertains you so well that all you want to do is being
onTwitter. People take advantage and overuse it and that is when it becomes a problem.
We all need to spend time with our families and friends,that is what makes us humans..
As days go on, the use of social media apps like Twitter increases and less face-to-face
interaction increases too. It is unfortunate for society to behave this way. It makes us all
wonder what would be of this world in the future, maybe people wont even talk at all,
well become silent and social media apps will be our only way of communication. It
frightens me just thinking about it. I believe there should be a balance to everything,
therefore there should be a balance for the usage of social media in order for it to have a
positive impact instead of a negative impact in our world.
Another negative outcome that social media apps is the attention seeking.
Instagram its one of the most famous apps people love to be on because you can express
yourself and show off your photographic skills, well sometimes. Instagram launched as
an iPhone on October 6,2010. By December 2010, Instagram had one million registered
users. (10 Facts About Instagram. SeeMyCity.com). When Instagram first launched, you
could only use it to share pictures with whoever followed you. After one of their new
updates, the DM or Direct Message icon was brought into the app. This icon changed

Galindo3

everything because now you can actually messaged people through this so called DM.
Since Facebook has grown a little outdated or old, Instagram has become the new
sensation of the networking world. However, Instagram also has a dark side. A really
common thing you usually encounter while on Instagram is the attention seekers, and
they are everywhere. According to an article Has Instagram Destroyed Self-Respect?,
by Shala Marks, Instagram became addicted and controlling. You find yourself doing
things just for Instagram, taking pictures just for Instagram because you know theyll get
you likes and not even bothering to take pictures if you know they wont be popular. The
issue of seeking attention has become a problem to many people and it has a negative
outcome. While browsing someones Instagram page, you might find all kinds of people
desperately seeking for attention. Youll find girls posting pictures almost naked or
provocative, there are the ones always trying to start arguments by approaching a certain
topic that they know people will comment and argue back, there are the ones trying to
impress everyone by showing off everything nice they have and constantly posting
pictures, and well the list goes on and on. Not every single person that uses Instagram
seeks for attention, a person can easily recognize the ones that want attention from
everyone. I believe most people dont receive attention at home and that is why they look
for attention anywhere they can. However, it can be a problem if you seek too much of it.
First of all, it is dangerous for a girl to be posing almost naked because you dont know
what type of people look at your picture. Second of all the people you follow you might
get annoyed of all the inappropriate pictures and they can report you and cause you an
even bigger problem. That is when Instagram has a negative outcome, when you are

Galindo4

disturbing individuals by seeking attention. People have to be careful with what its being
shared on social media apps. Not everything is bad but not everything is good either.
Another common app that has recently become famous because of the fast and
fun way you can communicate with someone, is Snapchat. Snapchat allows you to send
pictures as well as videos for up to ten seconds before it disappears. Because of the
disappearance, Snapchat has its downside. Many people especially the younger
generation have become too attached of this app and they use it as a way of sexting
thinking that just because they picture or video disappears, it is all okay. The truth is it
does not completely disappears. At first, Snapchat wouldnt allow you to screenshot
anything. However, with one of their new updates, you can actually screenshot any
picture that people send you. One of the biggest mistakes the youth make is thinking
everything you send just goes away. We need to learn that one, nothing is private and
two, everything you share can last for a very long time. could be helpful when you want
to send something small to maybe family. Everything is okay as long as its not
something that you know could harm you in the future. Social media apps has a negative
outcome in this case because whatever you send can lead to sexual harassment.
According to a 2014 Pew Research study, 40% of all Internet users have experienced
some sort of online harassment. This news is even more troubling when you look at the
demographic of young women between the ages of 18-24. Young women, those 18-24,
experience certain severe types of harassment at disproportionately high levels; 26% of
those young women have been stalked online, and 25% were the target of online sexual
harassment. The past reports stated are proving the danger of Snapchat or any social
media app if people mis usage. It has become a really severe problem to our society.

Galindo5

Almost every day on the news they report girls getting rape or sexually harrass and many
of the time the sexual harassment originates from the information shared on social media
apps. Every single individual should take this as consideration in order for us to have a
better society, a better world.
Social Media Apps like Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram have extended to a
whole new technological world. However they can become a problem to society, to our
people, to us humans if we do not give them the right use. People need to spend time with
their family and have normal face-to-face conversations, people need to stop seeking for
attention the wrong ways and wrong places and be careful to not get sexually harass. All
of these negative things can harm our future generations as well. Therefore there is a need
to use Social Media Apps the right way.

Galindo6

Works Cited Page

"Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society?". ProCon.org, 2015. Web. 24 March
2015.
Russ Warner. "Real Danger in Sharing too Much Info Online". Ikeepsafe.org,2013. Web.
30 April 2013.
Marianne Hope. "10 Facts about Instagram". SeeMyCity.com, 2014. Web. 28 March
2014.