1

Introduction:
The word “Social Media” means collection of applications (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp,
LinkedIn, or YouTube etc.) and websites that link people to share information and aware
people about any event through social networking. From the beginning of the 21st century,
social media is in progress.
People belonging to different age groups use social media. Social media plays a vital role in
life. Information Technology (IT) changed the living standard. These tools provide several
ways of interaction and different opportunities to learn foreign languages through worldwide.
The world becomes a global village due to social media. Users can connect with other people
within seconds and share their ideas and give comments by video conferencing. People of
different culture can also talk on any issue. Social media links the people to their culture by
showing different documentaries.
People also use social media to get information about other countries. Social media influence
adolescent’s life; it has both positive and negative impacts. Students use social media for
learning purpose, for entertainment, and for innovation. Students made and join different
groups on Face book to interact with people and discuss different topics.
Social media provide opportunities to seek for a job. Some companies have online system for
recruitment and selection. Some companies create their group or page to inform their
employees about their company’s situation. Mostly companies use it for advertisement
Social networking sites (SNS) have become popular with the help of digital technologies
(tablet, smartphone, notebook, etc.) and internet recently (Boyd &Ellison, 2007). Social
media is a virtual platform. This platform helps people to make new connections, to improve
friendly relations with other humans, and to exchange information (Coyle & Vaughn, 2008;
Wang, Chen, & Liang, 2011)
Many social networking sites (Blogs, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Youtube, etc.)
are using at the present time. One of the most popular sites is Facebook. The statistical data
showed that there are more than 500 million people with Facebook membership and the
majority of them are members of other social networking sites besides approximately 250
million of these memberships visit Facebook site in each day at least one time (Boyd &
Ellison, 2007).
Social media has really become an integral part of people in daily lives (Boyd & Ellison,
2007; Hakoyama & Hakoyama, 2011). Raacke & Raacke-Bonds (2008), Williams & Merten
(2009) and Raffterty (2009) indicated that people have a social networking sites account
based on difference reasons (making new friends, following famous people, sharing personal
information, commenting the events, etc.). These people addicted to SNS are called as “heavy
users”. Many studies (Barnes & Laird, 2012; Carroll & Kirkpatrick, 2011; Gok, 2015; Nehls
& Smith, 2014; O’Keeffe & Pearson, 2011) were conducted to determine the positive and
negative effects of social networking sites.
The advent of the internet in the 1990s led to major developments in the world of
communication hence the introduction of social networking sites (SNSs). The coming into
being of these sites revolutionized the world of communication and today we celebrate its
 2

improvements ranging from education to entertainment. The evolution of the internet has led
to its usage as the best medium of communication whereby two-third (2/3) of the internet
world‘s population visit social networking sites (SNSs) thus serving as communication and
connection tools. These networking sites are referred to as social media (Boyd and Ellison,
2007).
This research shows that how different age groups use social media. Middle aged and older
adults reported a greater emphasis on using social media to connect with others with common
interests and hobbies, while young adults did not rank that as a popular reason to use social
media. In contrast, younger adults (younger than 30) kept their focus on connecting with
those already present in their lives, such as current friends and family members (Smith, 2011)
A Croatian study (Pantic et al., 2012) found that time spent on Facebook by high school
students was positively correlated with depression. These findings were mirrored by Rosen et
al. (2013), who found that participants who spent more time online and those who performed
more Facebook image management evidenced more clinical symptoms of major depression.
There are also several studies linking social media to anxiety and compulsive behavior. A
recent research study found that 45% of British adults indicated they feel worried or
uncomfortable when they cannot access their email or social network sites (Anxiety UK,
2012). Rosen et al. (2013) found that younger generations (particularly the Igeneration and
Net Generation) are checking in very often (defined as every hour, every 15 minutes, or all
the time) with their messages and social networks. Also, younger generations were scored as
consistently more anxious than older generations when they were unable to check their social
networks and texts.
Four goals involved have been defined as diversion, or an escape from daily routines or
problems, personal relationships, or when media acts as a substitute for friendship,
surveillance, or information seeking for media to assist in an end-goal, and personal identity,
or the ways one can reinforce his or her individual values (McQuail, Blumler, & Brown,
1972).
 3

Statement of the problem:

To find out why people waste too much time on social media. Social media is really useful?