Social Media and Loneliness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social Media and Loneliness - Essay Example The irony of situation is that social media has isolated man from man. At one level it has brought strangers across the globe close together and at the same time the social media have dissociated people from their immediate environment. Young Internet users become so engrossed in their virtual social interactions that they are totally unaware of the people sitting around them. This behavior results in isolation and loneliness of the youth. The connection with social media disconnects them from their real life friends, family and other acquaintances. Many researchers, psychologists and educationist have showed concerned towards the heavy use of internet by teens and in this connection, they have, tried to find out the impact of this excessive use on the social life and education of adolescents. Subrahmanyam and SÃŒÅ'mahel cite a study conducted in Pittsburg which collected the data about teen internet users of 93 families and through questionnaires and interviews found out that â€Å" more heavy users of the internet showed a decline in social involvement ( communication within the family and size of people’s social networks) and increases in loneliness and depression† (131). Jordon while looking into educational implications of excessive use of social media by adolescents has also tried to connect it with loneliness and depression of the youth. He has suggested control of such activity by parents and teachers for the proper â€Å" health and development† of young persons (qtd. in Mcwhirter et al. 125). In March this year, the  NSPCC  published a detailed breakdown of calls made to ChildLine in the last five years. Though overall the number of calls from children and teenagers had risen by just 10%, calls about loneliness had nearly tripled, from 1,853 five years ago to 5,525 in 2009. Among boys, the number of calls about loneliness