By Richard MacTough

SC Contributing Writer

Social Media is conquering modern society, and continues to demolish the fundamentals of social interaction.

Creating a memory with family and friends is becoming less about the hippocampus storing long-term information; taking many photos and sharing on a social interface, do the job for us, creating an idealistic relationship.

But, these assumptions are false and creating the idea that men, women, & children are perfect with very little problems.

“Social Media sites can make it more difficult to distinguish between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through Social Media,” Steven Strogatz, a professor from Cornell University said.    

Many fights that occur are shared over the internet promoting violence to commonly young adults.

Aniah Ferguson, 16, attacked a 15- year old girl nearly to death in a Brooklyn McDonalds restaurant. Many witnesses, including employees, videotaped the fight on their cell phones. Many failed to report the assault to police. The video received thousands of shares on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

The terrorist group, Isis, has promoted tortures that ended in many fatalities. Many members are joining over the globe through social media.

Are relationships constantly shared on social media too good to be true?

Many users take several photos of them with their significant other, however, the relationship may not be as strong as you think. Creating memories should between a couple for intimate purpose.

Now, many teens feel the need to document everything of their boyfriend or girlfriend. Typing “I love my girlfriend with all my heart” is mistaken as chivalry.

The truth of the matter, it’s for egoistic recognition, persuading many they are a good hearted person. Couples admit to monitoring their lover on social media destroying the foundation of trust.

Interestingly, high school students will report on social media, their grades will improve.

They convince themselves a goal is already met, when actually nothing has been accomplished. Saying “we did it” is different from actually doing it.

Productivity is decreased, users make time for the web, instead of breaking in to a study habit.

Commonly, teachers report that social media is a problem in the classroom. Classmates give answers through social media, making cheating easier, and depriving the process of learning.

USA Today posted an article not too long ago about the negative effects of social media in the business world. We live in a world where we type out our bad or good experiences online, and a good amount of people view what we have to say.

I can see how that would aggrivate a company, but it does help in some aspects.

Sure a bad review isn’t what businesses want to hear, but if that is how the customers or visitors are feeling, they should take it with a grain of salt and use it to fix some potentional problems.

On the bright side of social media sending negative waves to businesses, there is a such thing as a good review!

On a more serious note, suicide has increased over the years, many influenced over social media. Ask.fm allows users to anonymously post to whatever they want to a peer.

In the summer of 2013, Hannah Smith, 14, hanged herself in her bedroom after being harassed on the website. Many users told her “cut yourself” or “go drink bleach.”

Unfortunately the newest and strongest type of bullying is cyber-bullying. Only a small number of laws have been passed about this issue, and that is a big problem.

The world needs to be more aware of how harmful social media can really be, and parents need to lay down rules for each one of their children.

Many teenagers think its ok as long as they don’t get caught.

Social Media continues to crash society, and it may be too late for the globe to rise to the occasion.

Email Richard at:

rmactough@live.esu.edu