WebsiteCompass 11 contribute to feeling left out, and interfere with physical wellness. These effects are felt even more strongly by young people. Presents privacy issues. The social media privacy problem comes in many forms, including hackers gaining access to your personal information and you not knowing what social media companies are doing with your data. Causes information overload. Spend just a few minutes on Facebook and you might see posts about an engagement, a funny dog trick, someone’s job loss, a political rant, and ads about products you may or may not be interested in. Like a meal with too many flavors, that’s a lot of different types of information that can be difficult to digest. Promotes cyber bullying. Bullying via social media is an unfortunate element of the online world and can be harmful. While it’s most talked about between children, it can happen to adults, too. Distracts fromwork and family. Social media has a distractive quality that was designed intentionally. The platforms want your eyeballs for as long as possible, so you’ll see more of the ads that generate their income. However, these distractions can be detrimental to your professional and personal life. How to Safely Use Social Media for News Social media can be a convenient source for news, but only if you avoid the pitfalls that can lead you down the fake news path. Here are a few tips for finding reliable news sources: • Don’t consider every item that lands in your feed to be “news.” If you’re unfamiliar with the source, check it and make sure it aligns with what other sources are saying. • Follow the accounts of news sources you already rely on outside of social media. • Take citizen journalism with a grain of salt. Again, check other sources to make sure people’s stories add up. Social Media’s Negative Impact on Young People You may recall a news story in 2021 about Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen. Part of what Haugen exposed about Facebook was its knowledge of the negative impacts of Instagram (which Facebook owns) on young women. In a recent Time article, Haugen stated, “They end up in this feedback cycle where they hate their bodies more and more.” That’s just one piece of the troubling picture being painted about social media’s effects on young people. The Mayo Clinic points out, “Social media use can…negatively affect teens, distracting them, disrupting their sleep, and exposing them to bullying, rumor spreading, [and] unrealistic views of other people’s lives.” These effects happening during formative years can have negative repercussions that last well into adulthood. Further, some studies have linked high levels of social media use with depression, anxiety, and social media addiction. Like other forms of addiction, this condition can be difficult to treat and can get in the way of normal development. Source: https://time.com/6103645/facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen/ Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/tween-and-teen-health/in-depth/teens-and-social-media-use/art-20474437
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