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Meron Kahsai

ENGL 115

Professor Rodrick

1 December 2019

The Positive Side of Social Media

The technology of our time has had an impact on many of our lives in ways that we don’t

even notice. It has become such a natural thing to many of us that we don’t even think of how

much of an influence it has created in our lives. Though many people know about the harms that

come from it, there are many things that has caused a positive impact on the world and our

society. One form of technology that is known throughout the world is social media. Social

media is websites and applications that allow people to share information and content or take

part in social networking. This form of technology has created an environment where people can

support one another and share awareness with the rest of the world. Although technology has

created problems like cyberbullying and has caused mental health issues, it has also helped

improve the way mental health is viewed and has strengthened communities and societies.

When many think about the influence that social media has on mental health, their minds

usually go to the negative side of it. It is known to many people how social media has created

problems like cyberbullying and has caused mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

Although social media has created these negative influences on the mental health of some of its

users, it has also created a positive impact on our society when it comes to mental health. Social

media has created an environment where people can share their thoughts and feelings without the

fear of revealing their identities. This anonymity has encouraged many people to find help and

support online in a way that they may not have had the courage to do in real life. In Maggie
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Guinta and Rita John’s article Social Media and Adolescent Health they discuss how social

media can be both a positive and negative influence to the health of adolescents and pull

information from Naslund et al. to support their writing. Naslund et al. states, “Individuals with

serious mental illnesses report benefits from online communities that include enhanced social

connections, feelings of group belonging, and coping with the daily challenges of living with a

mental illness”(Guinta and John). Through these online communities, people are able to share

how they feel with other people who may be struggling with the same things that they are. This

communication helps many people to find help in the real world, learn ways that they can

improve on themselves, and have an outlet where they can share their personal feelings with

others who they can relate to.

In addition, social media has also improved on the way that people view mental health

and created a huge impact on the awareness of it. Over the years more people have been

educated on mental health because of discussions and posts that have happened on social media.

According to a research by Qilin Cao et al. called The Roles of Bridging and Bonding in Social

Media Communities, they discuss about how communities are built up by social media with the

help of writers Ko & Kuo. Ko & Kuo states, “Direct emotional and empathetic support via online

networks can contribute to lowering barriers to self-disclosure, through increased anonymity and

reduced non-verbal inhibitors, thus promoting the help-seeking process” (Cao et al). Throughout

social media, there has been an increase of people who promote the wellness of mental health

and work to bring more awareness to the topic. This increase is a result of our society becoming

more accepting towards mental health and more knowledgeable about what it is. This acceptance

towards this topic has influenced more people to share information about it online and help

support others all over social media.

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Another benefit of social media is the vast amount of communities that are in it.

Communities are a place where people who share something in common can communicate

amongst each other. Social media has made it possible for people around the world to

communicate with others who share similar qualities and create connections with those people.

According to Maggie Guinta and Rita John in their article Social Media and Adolescent Health

they state, “Social media communities have emerged recently as open and free communication

platforms to support real‐time information sharing among members.” (Guinta and John). Social

media has allowed people from different types of social groups to exchange information and

communicate amongst each other. This has created opportunities for people of different social

groups to communicate with each other and learn things about them that they may not have had

the opportunity to do outside of social media. Social media has influenced people to learn about

different cultures and ways of living through posts and communication between people.

These communities on social media can also make a big difference in the world when it

comes to improving society and the different things that are happening around the world. When

big events happen around the world that have a negative impact on the people around it, people

go to social media to share information on what has happened and to figure out solutions to it.

People look to these online sources to find out ways to help themselves and to help out the

people around them. Others also look to social media to find out ways that they can help people

who may be too far away from where they reside. In Guinta and John’s article Social Media and

Adolescent Health they put in a quote by Preece to support their article. In the quote Preece

states, “Communication and a spirit of compassion can help strengthen any community, online

and offline.”(Guinta and John). Social media has helped people to express their compassion with

the rest of the world through online donations, positive communication, and a show of support.
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Therefore, building up and strengthening communities all over the world and making it easier for

different communities to help one another. This helps and encourages communities to fight

against injustice and to make the world a better place.

For instance, people are coming together through social media to fight for justice in the

Hong Kong protests. In Hong Kong there are huge groups of people who are protesting on the

streets and creating mass demonstrations. The citizens of Hong Kong were doing this because of

the Extradition Law, but have now expanded their demand for a better government and for the

police to be accountable for the things they have done. To communicate their plans on protesting

these things, they use online forums and encrypted messaging apps. In his Ted Talk “Is Social

Media Good for You?”, Cliffe Lamp discusses on how social media can be a good thing based

on how we use it. During his Ted Talk, Cliffe Lamp says, “Social media basically makes it easier

to communicate and collaborate--It raises the voice of people who previously were powerless. It

helps people who previously did not have control of the media, to be their own media.”(Lamp

7:28). Before the Hong Kong protests, the majority of the citizens in Hong Kong probably felt

that they didn’t have that much power to go against their own government. These protests have

shown that communities can come together through social media to influence positive outcomes

and to make the world a better place.

Technology has shown us that we can use social media to strengthen communities and

improve on mental health. However, it has also created problems like cyberbullying and has

caused mental health issues for the people who use it. In the article The Negative Effects of

Social Media for Teens by Smart Social it discusses about the problems that social media causes

for teens. The article states, “Research suggests that young people who spend more than 2 hours

per day on social media are more likely to report poor mental health, including psychological
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distress (symptoms of anxiety and depression).”(“The Negative Effects”). Social media can

cause depression and anxiety to it’s users by giving a platform to people who want to use it for

bad reasons. I way that some people use social media it for bad is by bullying other users through

hateful messages or by sharing negative things about that person to other people on that platform.

Overall, social media can be a place of negativity while also being a welcoming

community and have a huge positive influence on the real world. When used in a healthy way it

can not only build up and strengthen communities, but also create awareness on important topics.

It has helped to create and organize many movements and fights for justice throughout the years.

This has helped immeasurable amounts of people from all over the world to find solace during

troubling times and to help them to live a better life. Social media has also provided countless

resources to the people who use it and gives people the opportunity to communicate with others

from around the world. Social media has created an environment where people can create a good

influence and a bad influence to the people and the world around them. In the end, the decision

on if social media is a bad influence or a good one depends on how each and every one of us

chooses to use it.

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Work Cited Page

Best, et al. “Online Communication, Social Media and Adolescent Wellbeing: A Systematic

Narrative Review.” Children and Youth Services Review, vol. 41, June 2014, pp. 27–36,

doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.03.001. Accessed 13 Sep 2019.

Cao, Qilin, et al. “The Roles of Bridging and Bonding in Social Media Communities.” Journal of

the American Society for Information Science and Technology, vol. 64, 11 June 2013, pp.

1671–1681, doi.org/10.1002/asi.22866. Accessed 22 Sep. 2019.

Guinta, Maggie, and Rita John. “Social Media and Adolescent Health.” Pediatric Nursing, vol.

44, 1 July 2018, pp. 196–201,

go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=EAIM&u=csunorthridge&id=GALE%7CA553340727&v=2.1&it

=r. Accessed 22 Sep. 2019.

Lampe, Cliffe. “ Is Social Media Good for You? | Cliff Lampe | TEDxUofM” Youtube, TEDx

Talks, 6 April 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=po01VlNvCcQ. Accessed 22 Sep 2019.

“The Negative Effects of Social Media for Teens” Smart Social, Smart Social, 11 November

2019, smartsocial.com/negative-effects-of-social-media/. Accessed 2 Dec. 2019.