Social Media: Enhancing Symbolic Interactionism in Everyday Life - Essay Sample

Introduction

Symbolic interactionism refers to a form of sociological perspective that majors on how human beings interact with each other daily. It refers to this theory as being in continuous flow and that every action has a purpose, and through it, persons use language as a way to communicate their interactions. Social media acts as a bridge for the symbolic interactionism, through social media platforms, persons can communicate freely and interact well (Hemsley et al. 2018, p.76). Social media allows persons to keep in touch with their business partners and also their families.

Postmodernism refers to the type of sociological perspective that emerged when there was an advancement in technology in the early 1970s. It outlays how individuals had freedom, and one was able to shape one's identity. It also tries to forecast how the society has changed concerning technology, in that human behaviour and actions are more uncertain (Chon & Park 2019, p.80). Freedom is one pillar that gets tied to social media through it, and people can express their feelings such as the feeling of love, loneliness or even anger.

Postmodernism also shows how social media has made it hard for humans to understand the difference between real life and the media (Chon & Park 2019, p.80). It tries to state how social media has affected Humans thinking ability.

Feminism refers to a set of movements that strive to ensure women equality in the male-dominated society (Chon & Park 2019, p.82). Social media has reshaped the feminism theory, in that it has encouraged women to fights for their rights through social media aspects. Through this, it has encouraged solidarity and that women share their experiences with the aid of social media.

Problems that May Arise

One agrees that social media has brought about an improvement in how humans interact. At the same time, social media comes with its problems and implications.

Cyberbullying

It refers to when one repetitively uses social media to hurt someone. The bullying effect brings about depression, increases anxiety levels, and also brings about low self-esteem on persons, mostly adolescents. Cyberbullying mostly involves the use of technological equipment such as computers, phones, and even tablets. It includes the sharing of false information, harmful contents, and even the sharing of a person's private information, thus, causing humiliation and embarrassment (Hemsley et al. 2018, p.76). The online bullies mostly use the anonymity technique to gain a person's interest or even trust, and later on, humiliate them on social media.

Cyberbullying occurs in many social media platforms, such as Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter. Cyberbullying tends to harm a person's reputation in many ways since this private information can affect one's job opportunities, and also one can be denied access to a school that one desires (Hemsley et al. 2018, p.77). Many countries have ruled out cyberbullying as a criminal offence and, thus, have enforced laws to curb these issues.

Increased Negative Emotions

Social media tends to affect one's cognitive behaviour, such as affecting one's mood, and this results in increased poor mental status and also arises in symptoms such as anxiety and even depression (Hemsley et al. 2018, p.77). Social media makes one view a person's best life and negatively compare one's own life, thus, making one feel that one has no purpose, thus, increasing levels of anxiety.

Missing Out

Social media tends to cause adverse effects like one develops a fear of missing something or missing out. It refers to increased anxiety level, which makes one develop phobia such as when one gets scared that one is missing an experience of something that someone else is enjoying (Hemsley et al. 2018, p.78). For example, one can check on Facebook or Instagram news feed to see if a friend is doing something or is enjoying oneself without tagging one or bringing one along.

Online Addiction

Social media causes persons to be addicted since one tends to get glued to the phone all day long, thinking about it or checking up on the social media platforms (Hu et al. 2017, p.335). It causes one to get depressed or get a feeling of rejection when one unfollows a person on social media. Also, after one is addicted to using social media, one develops a feeling of anxiety. Internet addiction also tends to cause unhealthy sleep patterns, and it brings about addiction to alcohol and substance use. It also affects how one relates to others, such as close friends and even family members. It also encourages one to inflict pain on others or even oneself.

Pornography

Social media platforms are always prone to the leaking of pornographic content, which is unhealthy for teens or even college students. The leaking of pornography has some effect on one since it brings about increased sexual behaviour, encourages one to have multiple partners or even engage in promiscuous sex activities (Hu et al. 2017, p.340). When one watches pornography based on violent content, one tends to develop aggressiveness, and, thus, one tends to inflict pain on others while having sex; this tends to be a mental disorder always referred to as masochism.

Online Dating

Social media has brought about the invention of online dating through mobile applications or websites. The websites tend to give strict rules that one does not have to share personal information, but persons tend to ignore these rules. Online dating causes persons to explore their sexual interests online daily (Hu et al. 2017, p.340). These have brought about increased sexual behaviours among teenagers and also lead to increased risk of getting sexually transmitted infections because most of them practice unprotected sex when they meet up with strangers.

Sleep Abnormalities

Persons who are generally obsessed with social media tend to develop suicidal thoughts, depression, obesity, and that they perform poorly in schools. Also, studies conducted show that the light that is generally emitted by the screens results in disruption of one's sleep patterns (Arendt, Scherr & Romer 2019, p.2423). To avoid the use of phones and get enough sleep to avoid developing any forms of depression or complications that may arise from obesity.

Advice one can give in response to concerns about the effects of social media

Limit Time

One needs to limit the time they spend using social media. For example, some applications such as Instagram can come in handy with settings that show one how many times one has used the application daily (Ryan et al. 2017, p.76). One can also set simple rules such as no use of social media for a given hour (Gibson & Trnka 2020, p.241). One also can put away the phone when eating with all persons since it is a form of table etiquette (Gibson & Trnka 2020, p.245). Through this, one will build an ethical boundary with the use of social media.

Use of Social Media for Inspiration Purposes

One can use social media for developmental and inspiration purposes such as involving oneself with business groups, support groups, and also create healthy relationships with strict boundaries (Szolnoki et al. 2018, p.109). Through it, one will always feel connected and have a purpose in life and, thus, quickly push out persons bringing about negativity in one's life.

Unfollowing Technique

One needs to unfollow persons on social media, especially those that spend most of their time posting things that can make someone feel bad about oneself. Social media tends to affect one's behaviour and also self-esteem levels (Hu et al. 2017, p.340). Therefore, the elimination of bad accounts can be a way of self-empowerment, and, thus, one can never feel better about oneself.

Control

One needs to be more careful and control how to uses social media. One should also consider social media use patterns and limit the time used when using social media (Gibson & Trnka 2020, p.241). The moment one knows all these, one can easily manage the bad comments and adverse effects that arise when one uses social media.

Is Switching Off an Option

Switching off social media is an option. Since social media tends to depend on one's moral uprightness, for example, and some persons tend to switch off from social media to reduce anxiety and also depression. At the same time, some use social media for something constructive such as conducting businesses.

Conclusion

The sociological perspectives influence social media on various backgrounds. The use of social media also comes with its limitations and its human to get involved in interaction through social media platforms. One needs to invent ways on how to slow down the use of social media.

Bibliography

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