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Chelsey Gehring

Dr. Heather Johnson-Taylor

English Composition II

2 August 2020

Research Essay

Social media is a huge part of the world today and every year it seems to get bigger and

bigger. Each generation had their own uses of social media for their own needs, but are they all

the same apps and websites or for the same reasons? Everyone has certain reasons for using these

sources even if it’s just for work or connecting with friends. Some people may just want to meet

others who have the same interests as them or use their talents to create something unique to sell

or give to others. Since it is such an impact on the world we live in today, how does social media

affect different generation, especially the younger children and how they act today?

Although it is thought that social media is just available on apps and different websites to

post pictures or comments about what is going on in people’s lives, there are many other things

that can be used through this powerful creation. There is Instagram and Facebook which is a

standard place to post recent pictures of what’s been going on in your life to update your friends

or followers. Snapchat is a way to communicate with friends or family through taking pictures in

the moment. VSCO is an app where you can edit and post the pictures you take, and all of the

likes can only be seen by you which is a great improvement to the social media world. This helps

people to not worry about getting more likes than someone else because you ae the only person
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who can see the activity on your page. All of these apps are basic social medias that promote

your life and what’s going on.

There are also other social media that can involve different things. There are dating apps

like tinder and bumble where people are looking to find people who have the same interests in

them and may one day be able to start a relationship. Skye is a way to be able to video chat with

different people in order to stay in contact with them. Poshmark and Mercari are ways people

can take their older clothes that they don’t need or want anymore and sell them to people who

will upcycle or re-wear the items. Although all of these apps or websites have different services

and actions, they are all considered a type of social media. Just because you have one of these

apps does not mean you have to have them all. Each person has their own preference of what

they are looking for or what they want to do through their own personal social media accounts

that they have created.

“Over 70% of the US population with internet access also has an active social media

account. Social media morphs into a space where users connect with brands and influencers,

conduct research, share content, and even purchase products” (Durfy). Depending on when you

were born determines how much you need to rely on social media and how much of a

relationship you have with it. Baby Boomers with access to the internet have about 82% of their

generation on some sort of social media platform while Generation Z have at least 44% of kids

checking their social medias every hour. There is such a big change between these two
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generations because the boomers have experiences the least amount of time with social media,

but Gen Z has never experienced a world without it so it is natural for them to be so hung up on

anything having to do with social media.

When looking at what apps and websites each generation uses, there is a different based

on their ages and how they have grown up. Baby boomers did not have any social media until

they were already creating their own careers and lifestyles. The social media platforms that have

the highest rates with this generation are LinkedIn and Facebook. This gives them a perfectly

split way of focusing on both their work life and their personal life. Generation X is known for

having most of leadership positions having to do with business. They adapted to using social

media very fast and do a lot of research before purchasing things they may need. Millennials are

the first generation to use social media as one of their main ways of communicating with others.

They are open to putting both their professional and personal lives out there for everyone to see.

They are very influenced by who they follow on social media and what they see those people

doing or saying. Generation Z have never been without the world of social media. This means

that social media is a main source to them for receiving different entertainment and other forms

of media. They are very open with their lives and are not afraid to post anything. This shows

how each generation are different and unique in their own way through social media. They each

have different and specific reasons for using it and it shows throughout each whole generation

that their reasoning is universal.


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“I genuinely believe that preferred social media platforms have nothing to do with age

and everything to do with personality” (Cox). Although social media and its habits are usually

driving by each person’s personality or interests, the age of each person has a factor on that

because it can affect which channel they are led towards or interested in. Each generation has

their own personality based on how they were raised and what they had while they were growing

up. As time goes on, there is more and more technology being produced in the world and that

effects how each generation is raised. The baby boomers are primarily on Facebook to connect

with their friends and keep up to date with their friends, while the younger generations are on

Instagram or snapchat constantly throughout the day talking to each other. To some younger

generations, social media is their only way of contacting friends and keeping in touch with them

so that is why it is a constant necessity for them to be active on their accounts.

Having the younger generations being born into social media being so popular has some

positive effects to it. Using social media is a new way of learning for the younger kids. There are

many tablets that provide different apps or games in order to help children learn in a new and fun

way. They are able to watch cartoon videos and TV shows to help them understand the material

they are being taught. Social media can help to improve the moods of younger children and it

also helps them to learn how to solve problems that they are facing. A big factor of this for

children is virtual empathy. Virtual empathy is taking part in someone else’s state of emotion

and being able to comfort others. This act can be portrayed in conversations through the internet,
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which is what this new generation is used to having. There are other many important factors to

the positives of social media and younger generations, but there are also some negative factors

that take part.

The downside of the younger generations being so connected to their social media

accounts is that they have such a large impact on what people are posting and what others see.

“Media experts define fake news as factually false information, delivered in the context of a

supposedly true news story that is deliberately designed to deceive readers or viewers” (Gale).

With the power the internet has given us through social media, people are able to create and

release rumors, or fake news which in the end can hurt others or the person who released the

information. This has been seen all over different platforms of social media and has also been

seen to ruin careers or people’s lives. People with social media have all the power in the world to

find personal information about others and releasee it for other people to see. The main issue

with this is that it is not always possible to find out who is trying to hurt you by releasing the

information. Social media users have become very good at covering up their tracks in order to

take people down. The drama this creates is a part of the darker and more destructive side of

social media, but there is always the darker side of things when something is so positive for

people in their everyday lives.

The darker size of social media has shown a large effect on adolescents and their mental

health. “There has been a lot of worry about adolescents and social media with new studies and
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reports raising questions about mental health and vulnerability, sleep and suicide” (Klass). Most

of the younger generations are likely to have an Instagram account where they can follow

whoever they want and post pictures about what they are doing in their life. Although this app is

great for keeping up with distant friends or family, it has been known to cause many issues,

especially with children’s mental health, due to things people have posted. There are many

celebrities that use the app in order to show their millions of followers their everyday lifestyle

and to keep them updated on what’s going on. Some people may see these accounts and the

perfect lives that come along with being a celebrity or bring popular and become jealous. “They

want to be like the girl in the photos with the perfect body and have all the likes they can

get”(PBS). When people can’t do these things, they get down on themselves and think they are

not good enough just because they aren’t that one specific person. This leads to mental health

issues and problems with younger generations being okay with who they already are.

Another negative side of social media comes with cyber bullying and causing others to

feel as if they don’t fit in or they don’t belong. Cyberbullying has become a very big concern

recently in the younger generations side of social media platforms because these generations do

not understand how powerful or hurtful their words can be. There have been movies and TV

shows made to being up the importance of cyberbullying and the effects it has on people today.

This issue is one of the biggest problems of social media and creates a toxic environment for

users to be around. A simple offensive post about something can cause someone to feel ashamed
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of who they are or what they like. Not everyone may fit the specific stereotypes that society has

made, but that does not mean that they are not good enough. This type of bullying can be seen in

all different ranges of ages and generations, but a majority of it is involved with teens. About

60% of teens have been bullied or harassed online and a similar share says it’s a major problem

for people their age (Anderson).

The most common type of cyberbullying is offensive name calling, but that is followed

by spreading of false rumors, which is a huge part of teens on social media today, receiving

explicit images they didn’t ask for, and physical threats. Some of these tendencies have been

seen throughout younger aged kids when they don’t know much better, so they call someone a

mean name. Social media has made cyberbullying possible to tear someone down without them

knowing who is saying false things and sending the threats. Both teen boys and girls are victim

to being bullied and teased online, but girls are more likely than boys to have false rumors spread

about them and unwanted and personal information leaked out about them while boys are more

likely to receive abusive and physical threats toward each other. Teens know that online

harassment is a huge issue, but when they bring it to teachers and social media companies,

nothing is done to change the issues.

Through the positive and negative sides of social media that have already been presented,

there is also a side of common misconceptions of social media. Some popular misconceptions

about social media as a whole are “Social media is just for younger generations. My customers
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are older”, “There is no need for social media in my industry”, “I need to be on every social

media channel, or it isn’t worth it”, or “More followers are always better” (Favs). Each of these

misconceptions can be seen as true by many people who are serious about their social media

platforms, but these apps are much more important than just the amount of likes you may get on

your post or how many social media accounts you have. Although the misconceptions talk about

everyday social media accounts, they can also relate back to companies and the age and

generation of the buyers.

The first misconceptions stated says that social media is only for the younger generations,

but this time of our lives is basically known as the digital age. Every person no matter their age

or generation is probably on a site or form of social media at this time in life. If your customers

are of older age, then you should be promoting your products or brand on a social media where

that generation is more prominent on like Facebook. You will always be able to promote your

brand to those who need it, you just need to find the right platform for your branding first. This

statement also goes along with “There is no need for social media in my industry”. Social media

has a large part in any industry by providing information about the products being sold and

promoting of what is being created. With so many people using the internet every day in order to

research certain products and to look for what they need, it is a positive effect on your brand or

industry to be on social media because it helps to have people find what they are looking for. It

helps to show off your brand and the expertise you have for the product you are trying to get
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people to buy. No matter what age your customer is, they will probably use the internet and

social media to purchase your product.

“I need to be on ever social media channel, or it isn’t worth it” is another part of social

media that is a misconception. When people are on multiple platforms of social media, they may

have different people on each in order to keep them all updated. They may be posting the same

photos to each account because one is for family and another is for their friends and other

followers. Just because that one person has tons pf different accounts does not mean you do too.

People can be so addicted to social media and feel the need to create an account for ever site

possible. It is easier to just keep a couple of your favorite platforms and update them whenever

you need for the people you are friends with instead of positing all your information everywhere

online. The last misconception that was stated is that “More followers are always better”. People

on social media, especially teens on the platforms, believe having the most followers possible is

the best for not only their personally accounts, but their popularity in their everyday life. People

live to increase the number of followers they have on their accounts because it helps them to feel

more confident in what they are posting and how they look. This misconception can also go

along with the amount of likes someone may get on one of the pictures they post. People tend to

compare their amount of followers and likes to other people and when their numbers are lower,

they try harder to increase them, but this also causes mental issues for these users because they

feel as if they are not good enough as the other account who receives more activity.
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Throughout all of these sources, it is seen that social media has a huge impact on every

generation and can also be affect the future ones to come. There are both positive and negative

effects to these platforms, but there is no way of changing one or the other. IT has been seen that

there are many different types of social media platforms for different reasons like dating apps,

starting businesses, and talking to people you may not be able to contact a lot. Each generation

has specific use of social media based on their age and the personalities that they have based on

where they came from. There are many positive effects of social media on the world and

especially through younger generations that have never known a world with social media in it.

There are also many negative parts of social media dealing with harassment, bullying, and

rumors spread by people we may not even know. Many misconceptions come into play with

these platforms because not everyone knows how to use it or where to promote what they are

trying to do. All of these factors come into play with the fact the social media has affected

different generations and how they have been affected.

It has definitely affected different generations in many different ways based on what

social media is used for and how much it is used. Learning about each generation and their main

usage of social media has shown how important it is and how much of a benefit we have

received from using it. Although it hasn’t always been around, it still impacts everyone today in

different ways, but since the newer generations have never experiences a time without it, they

will always rely on it. The difference this could make on them and future generations to come is
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hard to tell now, but there can always be improvements with all of social media and how the

world views and uses it.


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Work Cited

Anderson, Monica. “A Majority of Teens Have Experienced Some Form of

Cyberbullying.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center, 30

May 2020, www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/09/27/a-majority-of-teens-have-

experienced-some-form-of-cyberbullying/.

Cox, Toby. “How Different Generations Use Social Media.” The Manifest - Small Business

News, Data, and How-To Guides, July 2019, themanifest.com/social-media/how-different-

generations-use-social-media.

Durfy, Lauren. “Social Media for Every Generation.” PostBeyond, PostBeyond, 19 Sept. 2019,

www.postbeyond.com/social-media-generations-2/.

"Fake News on Social Media." Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2019. Gale

In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link-gale-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/apps/doc/OBOYIA996440220/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=66b992a1. Accessed 9 July 2020.


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Favs, Save My. “14 Common Misconceptions About Social Media.” Medium, Medium, 12 Mar.

2018, medium.com/@savemyfavs/14-common-misconceptions-about-social-media-

cf63ec7cefb2.

“Generation Like.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 18 Feb. 2014,

www.pbs.org/video/frontline-generation/.

Klass, Perri. “When Social Media Is Really Problematic for Adolescents.” The New York Times,

The New York Times, 3 June 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/well/family/teenagers-

social-media.html.

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