2. People’s Dependence on Social Media
Amount the average daily
social media user spends
online
- As of 2019 and 2020
145 min
● This is time that could be spent in the
real world
● Companies only get bigger and richer
when more people spend time on their
platforms
Number of social media
users in the world
- As of 2021
3.78 bil
● People use social media for
advertising, entertainment, news,
sports, and other media
Of teenagers use social
media hourly to almost
constantly
- As of 2018
43%
3. So Many Different Platforms
- There are many many different apps and websites that are considered to be “social
media”. All of which are interactive and each take up individual amounts of time from
people.
Facebook has 500
million people use
the website daily, is
the 2nd most
downloaded app, and
users spend an
average of 34
minutes a day on it.
Instagram has over 1.2
billion monthly users
and users spend an
average of 30 minutes
a day on it.
Twitter has 353
million monthly
users and more
than 500 million
tweets are sent
each day
Newly popular TikTok
has 80 million monthly
users, 60% of which
are in between the
ages of 16 and 24
4. Effect on Commerce
There are however advantages in the advancements of social media. Social media outlets are
not just for posting selfies, cute videos, or pictures of you and your family on a luxurious
vacation. The world’s economy, especially America’s, depends largely on online shopping and
advertising using social media platforms.
Instagram
Facebook
5. Social Media’s Relationship with Mental Health
- Our dependence on technology and social media has grown exponentially since platforms
began their start. Most, if not all, people in the world have access to a smartphone and
engage in social media. Teenagers and adolescents are becoming more and more obsessed
with social media as the years go by. Because of the unlimited access on the internet
coupled with the constant fear of being “out of the loop”, social media has had a negative
impact on many people’s mental health. Social media romanticizes life and does not
always show the real truth. People scrolling through Instagram will think that their life
sucks because it looks like everyone else is living the dream online. “Cancel culture” and
the fear of being publicly shamed also has a negative impact on people because of how
easy it is to broadcast someone making a mistake. The advancements in social media have
also increased the amount of cyber-bullying, especially in teens.
- From 2007-2017, suicide rates among teens has increased by 56%
- Nearly 1 in 5 adolescents suffer from a diagnosable mental illness.
6. Future of Social Media
Despite the amount of jobs and money that social media has helped produce for the American
economy, the negative impacts on people's daily lives cannot be ignored. The “fakeness” of
certain platforms has caused many in the world to doubt their own happiness.. While social
media is important and essential to our lives whether we like it or not, especially millennials like
myself, it is important not to let these platforms affect your happiness and deter your ability to
get real human interactions. It’s good to take breaks from social media for a while, go outside
more and enjoy nature, limit the time you spend on your phone, and remember that life exists in
more places than a 5.8 inch screen. Social media is here to stay but that doesn’t mean we should
just give in and let it control us.
7. Works Cited
Auxier, Brooke, and Monica Anderson. “Social Media Use in 2021.” Pew Research
Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center, 9 Apr. 2021,
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021/.
Devgan, Shivam. “100 Social Media Statistics for 2021 [+Infographic]: Statusbrew.”
Statusbrew Blog, Statusbrew Blog, 29 June 2021,
https://statusbrew.com/insights/social-media-statistics/.
Nesi, Jacqueline. “The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health.” North Carolina
Medical Journal, North Carolina Medical Journal, 1 Mar. 2020,
https://www.ncmedicaljournal.com/content/81/2/116?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=
cpc&utm_campaign=North_Carolina_Medical_Journal_TrendMD_0.
