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Karyme Ramirez

Professor Ortega

Sociology 101

12 April 2020

Social Media Hurting Mental Health through Sociological Perspective

In the video “Is Social Media Hurting Your Mental Health?” by Bailey Parnell, published

by TEDxTalks is about Bailey describing how social media has a negative impact on its users. In

fact, studies have shown that social media use is linked with anxiety and depression. Most users

are from ages 18- to 24- year olds which are seen as the most vulnerable. The most common

stressors on social media are the highlight reel that’s a collection of the best and brightest

moments, where we show are best side of ourselves. The second being social currency which is

determined by the likes, the comments or the shares. The third stressor is known as F.O.M.O

which stands for fear of missing out which is an actual social anxiety that contributes to the fear

that one is missing a potential connection. At last, the fourth stressor being the worst is online

harassment in which 40% have experienced. When micro moments like this happen over and

over turn into a macro problem. Even though it's harmful there’s no way that absence is even an

option therefore, individuals should control the amount of time spent on social media. For

example, Twitter doesn’t make people write hateful posts rather than the user itself. In a

sociological perspective, social media can be seen in different perspectives through Comte’s

ideology, Durkheim’s beliefs and Marx’s perspective.

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First, sociology was taken into consideration because of Augustus Comte’s as he is

known as the founder of sociology. He is known for his philosophies as a way of looking at the

world based exclusively on scientific evidence; his three stages the theological stage, the

metaphysical stage and positive stage. He would look at social media in a positive way since it's

a stage of purely scientific thinking which has been done to identify how much social media has

harmed us in such a way that we know 40% of online adults have experienced harassment.

Comte laid down the foundation for modernists philosophy. If it wasn’t for his ideology, research

over how social media is harmful and the statistics of it would not exist since he’d view this in a

positive way through scientific measure, in order to see how far social media has affected its

users negatively.

Second, Durkheim ideology is similar to Comte’s since he believed in scientific method

as a discipline. It advocated the use of systematic observation to study sociological events. His

ideology could be linked to social media being harmful to describe​ how values, culture, and

norms control the actions and beliefs of individuals and society as a whole.​ In other words,

people use social media based on what’s trending and what people would consider giving a

“like” this is seen as social fact since it’s known the more content that’s appealing to viewers the

more likes you’ll receive. It has values such as currency likes the more likes the picture gains the

more it’ll be seen as valuable. He would also see it through Functionalism as even though it’s

harmful for the users since they compare themselves to others like instagram, it also gives

equilibrium as they get to see the unrealistic side of a person living in a real world.

At last, Marx’s perspective which is most presented in the concept of the video could be

seen as, he believed that social conflict exists especially class conflict which could be shown
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through social media being hurtful to people who cannot afford to “flex” their items which is

solely the whole purpose of having an instagram to show off what others cannot afford those

being the bourgeoisie. As for the people who cannot afford to buy expensive items to show off in

the eyes of Marx’s perspective it is seen as proletariat since they are exploited by the powerful to

believe that the life they live is superior to theirs claiming their power. He claimed that a

society’s economic system decides people’s norms which is evidently seen as instagram tends to

promote what is seen as beautiful in society which could also strike as unsettling for those users

who compare themselves to people who use photoshop or have enough money to get surgical

procedures to enhance their beauty which could also be seen as the bourgeoisie. Marx’s ideology

could be linked to how social media is harmful in a bourgeoisie and proletariat perspective.

In conclusion, sociology is the study of how people interact to one another, the study of

interaction, social norm and values. It was founded by Auguste Comte and later inspired Marx

and Durkheim to create their own perspective in how society functions. With that said, the

youtube video “Is Social Media Hurting Your Mental Health?” published by TedxTalks

transcribes how social media is a very toxic environment especially to those who do not live up

to an opulent lifestyle. Therefore, Marx’s perspective relates more to the topic since it has to do

with social class conflicts. As for the the other philosophers it was harder to relate it to the topic.

At last, social media can be seen as harmful in different sociological perspectives.

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Works Cited

Parnell, Bailey, director. ​Is Social Media Hurting Your Mental Health? ​. ​0:04 / 14:44 Is Social

Media Hurting Your Mental Health? | Bailey Parnell | TEDxRyersonU,​ TEDxTalks, 22

June 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czg_9C7gw0o.