Social media addiction draft

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Social Media Addiction- Draft
Instagram, a part of the most used social media apps as stated by Price (n.p) includes
Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and LinkedIn among the top ones. In a published article by Dean, it
has been reported that there are 3.96 billion active social media users in the world (Dean). These
numbers are only increasing each year. Increased internet access, better speed, and the
introduction of new and innovative applications will only lead to an increment in these
numbers. As evident from the numbers, there will be only an increase in these numbers
gradually.
The urge to know what others are up to and the need to be constantly aware of their
whereabouts. This urge coupled with the incessant checking of the same applications over and
over again leads to social media addiction. I.e., being overly concerned about social media in
such a way that it hinders your normal daily functioning as defined by Hilliard and Parisi.
Social media addiction can impact people at every age group and can affect any domain
and sub-domain of health be it either psychological or physical. The thesis statement for this is
the “Impact of social media addiction on the academic performance of undergraduate students.”
Social media addiction has been earlier defined, now we would focus on academic
achievement. Steinmayr defines academic achievement as the performance outcomes that
indicate to us the extent to which a person has accomplished the goals which were the focus of
activities in educational institutions such as schools, colleges, and universities (Steinmayr et al.).
In this current scenario, we will be narrowing our focus only to undergraduate students.
Azizi conducted a research study to evaluate the effects of social media addiction on the
academic performance of medical students (Azizi et al.). There were gender-based variations in
their results. Male students had reported a higher level of social media addiction as compared to
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their female counterparts. There was an overall significant negative relationship between the use
of social media networks and students’ academic performance.
Now here it boils down to the responsibility of the intended audience as described in the
proposal such as instructors and parents. As evident students’ academic performance suffers or
takes a back seat due to the use and over-use of social media applications. Most of the time this
comes at the expense of their academic achievement thereby threatening their future in the longer
run. It is then imperative that authorities either parental or institutional take significant
intervention steps to inform students about the use and over-use and their consequences as well.
The steps could be further intended for the ones who are facing addiction or a drop in their
academic performance. This would require extensive screening but the results would hold
practical implications in the future.
There is no doubt that technological and digital advances have paved easier pathways for
our lives. But we cannot deny the side effects or harmful effects that accompany them. But to
look only at the detrimental effects and ignore the bigger picture is also not a solution. Social
media addiction does have an impact on our lives but the extent to which we are surrounded and
dependent on devices cannot be denied as well. The approach used for exploring this
phenomenon matters a lot.
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Works Cited
Azizi, Seyyed Mohsen, et al. “The Relationship between Social Networking Addiction and
Academic Performance in Iranian Students of Medical Sciences: A Cross-Sectional
Study.” BMC Psychology, vol. 7, no. 1, 2019. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359019-0305-0.
Dean, Brian. “Social Network Usage and Growth Statistics: How Many People Use Social
Media in 2022?” Https://Backlinko.Com/, 10 Oct. 2021, backlinko.com/social-mediausers.
Hilliard, Jena, and Theresa Parisi. “Social Media Addiction.” Addiction Center, 17 Dec. 2021,
www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/social-media-addiction.
Price, Dan. “The Top 20 Social Media Apps and Sites in 2021.” Https://Www.Makeuseof.Com/,
MakeUseOf.com, 25 Oct. 2021, www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-social-media-apps-sites.
Steinmayr, Ricarda, et al. “Academic Achievement.” Education, 2014. Crossref,
https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0108.
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