Negative Impacts on Society Due To the Internet

        Internet addictions are harmful to society due to the fact that these addictions can lead to children/ students getting sleep deprivation, social withdrawal, and mental illnesses. Young people stopped “living in the moment” a long time ago due to the internet and the effects it has on most people. According to the video “The Dangers of the Internet” from The School of Life, people around the world are starting to get addicted to social media, their phones, their tablet, laptop and any other smart devices due to the internet. Most people won’t go out take a walk and enjoy what’s in front of them, they’ll prefer staying in front of a screen as long as they can. Less people should stop worrying about everything that’s happening on the web and look forward to events that are happening in their lives. For example, a family member is getting married, they having a girlfriend/ boyfriend, their friend scores on a game, and etc. There’s various events to enjoy in life if every individual paid more attention to them. Therefore, always being on the internet is not the best lifestyle to live in.

        Most people love using the internet, exploring websites, watching videos and etc. But is it always the best thing for them? Everyone knows the positive outcomes of the internet but never the negative. Some people like an old friend of mine, prefers using their phone, tablet, and even their laptop instead of going outside and seeing how the community is. Even if his friends and family members tell him to go out and have fun, he would prefer to stay home just to know what’s going on the internet. Throughout the school days, weekends, and even on vacation, Justin preferred staying indoors or at least having his phone with him everywhere he goes. He wants to be on the internet all day long to know what’s the latest trend going on in social media. He doesn’t prefer being part of what is happening right in front of his eyes but instead he want to be part of what was going on on his phone. When you would physically come to him and try having a conversation, Justin would just pretend you weren’t there or he would be too focused on what he’s doing on a device to even pay attention to everyone who surrounds him. Even for his own mother to ask him to put his phone down and help her with something, there would be an issue. His mother each time she wanted his attention, had to take away any device he was using in order to at least have a minute or two to talk to him. In the short period of time his mother would try to speak to him, Justin would start getting impulsive, try getting the device back, and start agreeing with everything his mother was saying to see if he’ll end up get the device back as soon as possible. Justin seems to be very addicted to the internet, if he couldn’t put his phone down not even willingly.

        The internet can lead to social withdrawal mostly starting from an early age, Antonio has experienced social withdrawals various times. For instance, one time Antonio broke his phone and had to last three days without a phone until it got fixed, Antonio states, “. . .  everyone was on their phones and I was the only one who didn’t have one so it was a bigger awkward silence and awkward moment for me.” He didn’t know how to act or how to feel at the moment so he just started looking around, trying to distract himself from how awkward he felt being with his friends and not knowing how to start a conversation with them. If Antonio wasn’t so socially withdrawn, he could have figure out how to have a conversation with his friends and they would of joined in. When a person is used to and prefers communicating with other people online through text or call, like Antonio, they usually start getting more socially awkward because they prefer using a device to communicate to one another than doing it themselves personally. Being a social person, is developed over time, it doesn’t appear from night to morning. In order for Antonio to develop these skills, he’ll have to stop being addicted to the internet and start being more social, either with his friends, family, or any person at all.

        In addition, Internet addictions are never the best, it could lead to sleep deprivation which is never a good idea when it comes to dealing with teens and young adults’ sleep. Sleep deprivation is when a person doesn’t get enough sleep throughout the night. The sociologist Francesco Billari from Bocconi University, who participated in a study called Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization with Luca Stella from Bocconi University and Osea Giuntella from University of Pittsburgh. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization talks about how the internet causes sleep deprivation and is shown by a survey about sleep duration. Most people between the ages of 13 to 30, end up having sleep deprivation because of all the time they spend on computer games or watching TV or videos in the evening. My classmate, Tahlya and my friend, Antonio, have both gone through sleep deprivation themselves due to them being on their phone looking through the internet, social media and/or streaming platforms like YouTube or Netflix, looking at anything that catches their eye until they falls asleep. Some people prefer to lose hours of sleep in order to know what’s going on on social media and the latest news on the internet. Most kids, and young adults are using the internet all day long, nonstop, as if their lives depended on it. This is never a good sign when it comes to daily basis learning students.     

        Internet could lead to young teens and young adults having mental illnesses. The more an individual uses the internet and prefers using the internet over anything else could lead them into having depression, anxiety, and more. In particular, Antonio has suffered through some of the symptoms of having a mental illness. He has gone through anxiety and depression due to how much time he spends on the internet and on social media. It’s not healthy to be in Antonio’s situation because throughout time his symptoms can worsen or he could get more symptoms. It’s best to try solving the issue with time then letting it progress until it becomes something critical for him.

        Some people like Antonio might argue that the internet and social media doesn’t have negative impacts on society because of all the good things about the internet. For example, being able to communicate with other people like friends and family through text message or call, watch videos on YouTube, being able to search anything online on Google or any search engine, watch pornography, watch movies, and etc. He only views the positive impacts because Antonio is addicted to the internet, he doesn’t pay attention to the 12 hours he spends daily using the internet and being on social media. In the other hand, Tahlya states that, “Even though I spend a lot of time on the internet it’s because I use it to escape having to deal with how I feel a lot. I’d rather sit and watch people play with slime, then deal with how I feel about things so in a way I guess it helps me manage my stress and anxiety, but sometimes it actually affects a lot of how I feel because being on social media for a long time can end up making me feel insecure about myself and I get into these dissociation periods where if I feel like I’ve been on my phone too much I don’t use my phone or talk to anyone at all until I feel better.” On a daily basis, she spends 4 hours and 18 minutes using the internet and social media on her phone but when Tahlya realizes that she’s feeling a certain way that isn’t anything close to positive, she decided to get off social media and distract herself with something else. The internet and social media can be addictive and harmful to different individuals, it is best to find other ways to distract ourselves. Even if it might be the littlest thing like watching someone play with slime, doing a puzzle, or etc because if being on social media cause someone to feel uncomfortable/ insecure about themselves it’s not worth staying on social media and feeling worse about themselves.

        To conclude internet addictions have a negative impact on society because of all the issues it causes upon a person who doesn’t know how to control themselves when it comes to being on social media and using the internet. Usually the more time an individual uses on social media and on the internet per day the more likely the person is going to be considered addicted to the internet. There’s many symptoms that are related to the a person having mental illness because of the amount of time they use to be on the latest trend. Therefore, internet addictions will always have a negative impact on society if the issue is not fixed.

 

Sources

        “The Negative Effects of Internet Addiction.” Lowenstein and Associates,

drlowenstein.com/2014/05/19/the-negative-effects-of-internet-addiction/.

        “Broadband Internet Causes Sleep Deprivation, a New Study Finds.” Phys.org – News and Articles on Science and Technology, Phys.org, 

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-broadband-internet-deprivation.html. 

        “Child and Adolescent Mental Health.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/child-and-adolescent-mental-health/index.shtml.

        “Internet Addiction Disorder – Signs, Symptoms, and Treatments.” PsyCom.net – Mental Health Treatment Resource Since 1986, 

https://www.psycom.net/iadcriteria.html.

       

 

 

 

 

 

Research Reflection

        Throughout this essay, I have learned various topics that have been helpful to me in both this class and also my research class. I used to and still do struggle with writing essays mostly if it’s not a specific way I’m used to writing in. For this Freshman Composition class, I had to figure out how to lingerie onto ideas, using stories in our essay to help the reader understand the topic, using a different type of hook and etc.

        In my previous writing classes, I’ve always been good at writing the certain way they expected me to write because I have had previous years of experience. When I have to change my whole writing structure to something I haven’t tried before I end up struggling a lot because I don’t know how I’m supposed to change my writing techniques into something I haven’t seen before. Even though I was struggling writing this essay, I have learned many different things that have caused me to overthink my writing techniques and apply instead. I used to just write a quote and explain it, now I look at the evidence and paraphrase it and add on to it way more then before. I have learned how to add tension to my writing, but I still am not sure if I’m doing it in the best way.

        Freshman Composition has been a great class for me because in class everyone has to participate in order to get any good feedback. I’m not much of a participator, but when I did share a bit of my essay, I did enjoy feedback that was given to me because it helped me to shape my essay in a good format. Therefore, this class has helped me succeed in the sense that I don’t struggle with certain things anymore.