Addiction to social media

Addiction to social media

Addiction may be referred to dependency on certain things. Anyone may be addicted to the social media and internet depending on how they use it. Currently, everyone is accessing information online. This makes it easier for anyone to print the information accessed and read it at his or her own convenience. As far as accessibility is concerned, digital media has improved technological. A smarter methodology would be how people use the resources available.

Many people think that social media sites such as twitter and Facebook are harmless platforms allowing personal expression and social interaction. Other people think that social media is an entertaining form of engaging with others.

Various studies conducted show that social media can make people to be addicted to it. According to a research conducted by University of Chicago, social media was found to be more addictive than alcohol and cigarettes (Osuagwu, 4). This addiction is compelling the urge of one feeling to be connected to the internet throughout. This urge is satisfied when one logs on and becomes social with other people on the internet all over. Social media desires are hard to control as the internet is easily accessible and people think that it is less harmful than drugs.Additionally, people suffering from low self esteem are likely to be addicted to the social media to sites such as twitter and Facebook.  Social media becomes addictive to an individual when he or she checks the Facebook account and twitting regularly. One way to know if the social media has addicted you is the moment you feel worried when you have not accessed either Facebook or twitter.

A research conducted at Cornell University, for instance, showed that half of a class was permitted to use laptops connected to the internet throughout a lecture, however the other half were not allowed to use laptops. Those students having internet connection did worse in the tests as they did not retain the contents of the lecture. This showed how shockingly web surfing would interrupt students. Schools should be cautioned on wiring classrooms with internet cables with the hopes of improving learning (Carr, 2010).

Another study conducted at Stanford University’s Communication Between Humans and Interactive Media Lab showed how a group of researchers gave different intellectual tests to 49 individuals doing a lot of media multitasking. On the other hand, the researchers gave intellectual tests to 52 individuals multitasking frequently (Carr, 2012).  The study showed that the heavy multitaskers’ students did their tests poorly. They became distracted easily, they did not differentiate vital information from trivia and these students had minimum control over their attention. These studies surprised the researchers. Their expectations were that the intensive multitaskers’ students would have acquired anexceptional mental advantage.

But this was not the case. These heavy multitaskers’ students were not good at multitasking. According to Carr (2010), Clifford Nass heading the Stanford laboratory stated that everything distracted the multitaskers. Scientists discovered that the human brain’s cellular structure adapted readily to the tools used by humans. These include tools used for storing, finding and sharing information.  By changing our mind habits, every new technology toughens othe.............