Social media is widely used nowadays. Most people have shifted to social media for different purposes. When the Covid-19 pandemic was discovered, most businesses were closed, and movement was restricted. Therefore, many people started working online to avoid overcrowding in workplaces. Business people took advantage of online and started selling their products through social media platforms.
Similarly, schools decided to use online instruction and continue with the curriculum since students were restricted from attending school. Since the onset of the pandemic, many people have shifted to online and social media platforms are the ones that were mostly used. Despite all the benefits of social media, there are also various disadvantages. One of the largest disadvantages of social media is the breaking up of relationships. This paper discusses the negative impacts of social media use on human relationships.
There are different ways in which social media can affect student relationships both in school and at home. The first negative effect of social media that affects student relationships is reduced face-to-face interaction (Abbas et al., 2019). The use of social media increased during the pandemic when students were instructed to vacate from school premises to avoid congestion and overcrowding. When students started learning online, they got used to interment and started communicating through social media platforms, reducing face-to-face interactions between teachers and other students. Social media communication weakened the relationships that could have been strengthened if the student were to meet with other students or a teacher and discuss questions (Abbas et al., 2019). Generally, social media has hindered the formation of meaningful relationships.
The second impact of social media that has affected student relationships is negative self-image. When students use social media, they started comparing themselves and their images with those of the people they see on the internet. Students who do not have good body figures feel embarrassed when they compare themselves to others. In turn, affected students suffer from low self-esteem, depression or anxiety which ruin their relationships with others (Braghieri et al., 2022). Misformation is the third effect of social media that affects student relationships. Students and youths are the people who are most addicted to social media use. Most students tend to post things which happen on social media without even confirming whether it is true or false. Once students hear certain information about other students or teachers, they post them. Posting false information usually leads to mistrust among students, ruining their relationships (Braghieri et al., 2022). Even though the information posted is true, it can ruin the relationship since the victim’s reputation is spoilt. The final effect of social media use that affects student relationships is addiction. Once students are affected, they spend much time online and fail to perform important tasks like assignments (Abbas et al., 2019). Please do assignments to maintain the relationship between teachers and students, as students can fail their exams.
Social media use has negative impacts on adult users, affecting their relationships in the community. The first effect of social media that can affect adult relationships is addiction (Hou et al., 2019). There are different ways in which addiction to social can affect relationships. First, when people are addicted to social media, they spend most of their time on it and neglect their partners, parents and even their children (Hou et al., 2019). Once people have been neglected, the relationship is automatically ruined. Another effect of addiction is a lack of engagement. When adults are addicted to social media, they spend most of their time online and forget their roles and responsibilities. People forget to engage themselves, leaving others to feel isolated.
The second effect of social media use on adults is relationship conflict. There are several ways in which social media use can lead to conflicts in a relationship. First, conflict can occur due to misunderstanding (Bao et al., 2021). Misunderstanding can come through posts and messages people post on social media. For instance, one partner can post something on Facebook or WhatsApp, and the other one can feel attacked by the post. This will automatically lead to quarrels among the partners. Second, relationship conflict can occur due to suspicion and jealousy (Bao et al., 2021). When people use social media, they usually interact with others. Suspicion and jealousy arise if partners interact with people of the opposite sex. For example, if one partner has got more friends of the opposite sex, the other partner can have jealousy and feel that he is being cheated on. Finally, conflict among adult partners can come through different opinions and beliefs. Once partners use social media, they normally get exposed to different beliefs (Wu & Chiou, 2020). The different beliefs in things like politics can lead to conflict and arguments in a relationship. Secondly, some partners like posting their proceedings on social media, while others do not. Some believe that posting things on social media is wrong since they expose your privacy. Therefore, such things can also cause conflict in a relationship.
The final effect of social media that can ruin relationships among adults, especially married people, is comparison (Wu & Chiou, 2020). When married people use social media, they get exposed to people with different shapes, which they wish they could have or their partners could have such shapes. For instance, when women see people on social media platforms, especially those doing gym advertisements, they wish that their husbands have such shapes. Similarly, when men see ladies in social media, especially those modelling, they wish their wives could have such shapes. In turn, when they come to talk about it with the other partner, they can cause conflict and ruin their relationships.
Like students and adults, social media use can damage employees’ relationships with their bosses and other colleagues in the workplace. The first effect of social media that can ruin employees’ relationships with their bosses and colleagues is distraction (Cao & Yu, 2019). When workers use social media, especially at work, they can be distracted from their core objectives. In turn, this can lead to poor productivity in the work assigned, affecting the relationship between the worker and the boss or the manager. Additionally, a distraction which is an effect of social media use, can also affect the relationship between the worker and other colleagues (Cao & Yu, 2019). Most companies assign workers to work in teams or groups. In that case, the effort of every employee is needed for the team to succeed. If one employee in a group is addicted to social media, he can get distracted by it and affect the performance or productivity of the team. In turn, this will affect the relationship between this work and other employees in the team.
The second effect of social media that can affect employee relationships is miscommunication and misunderstanding. When employees communicate on social media, there is always miscommunication or misunderstanding of messages (Cao & Yu, 2019). For instance, social media communication does not have nonverbal cues that will lead to a better understanding of the message. Secondly, people understand the messages differently. An employee can send a message to a colleague or the boss. Since he is not there to clarify his meaning, the message can be interpreted differently, affecting the relationship between the two parties (Bao et al., 2021). Finally, social media platforms like WhatsApp have to autocorrect. When an employee is typing a message, especially in a hurry, the platform can autocorrect some words in the message, and the text will convey a different meaning. If the meaning is bad, it can ruin the relationship between the two parties in communication.
Another way social media can affect the relationship between workers and their bosses is through delayed replies or responses (Cao & Yu, 2019). It is undeniable that social media depends on internet connectivity for it to function. Sometimes the internet may be unavailable during the communication, and an employee will get the message late. If the messages are from the boss, for example, the boss can think that the employee has ignored his message, which will ruin the relationship between the boss and the worker (Cao & Yu, 2019). The final effect of social media that can ruin employee relationships is addiction. When employees are addicted to social media, they spend much time online and forget to perform their obligations, leading to poor productivity.
Conclusion
From the discussion above, it is clear that social media has got several negative impacts on human relations, including students, workers, and adults in the community, especially married couples. It is undeniable that social media use can affect the relationship between students and teachers and amongst students. Similarly, social media can affect the relationship between workers, their bosses, and colleagues. Finally, social media can affect the relationship between adults and other adults in society and between married couples. There should be severe research on mitigating these effects before they continue adversely ruining human relationships.
References
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Hou, Y., Xiong, D., Jiang, T., Song, L., & Wang, Q. (2019). Social media addiction: Its impact, mediation, and intervention. Cyberpsychology: Journal of psychosocial research on cyberspace, 13(1).
Bao, T., Liang, B., & Riyanto, Y. E. (2021). Unpacking the negative welfare effect of social media: Evidence from a large scale nationally representative time-use survey in China. China Economic Review, 69, 101650.
Abbas, J., Aman, J., Nurunnabi, M., & Bano, S. (2019). The impact of social media on learning behaviour for sustainable education: Evidence of students from selected universities in Pakistan. Sustainability, 11(6), 1683.
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