Social Media Drives Millennials’ Habits

By VICTORIA HONE

College student Amira Rachouh’s down time is usually spent checking her social media accounts. Whether it’s seeing what her friends are up to or what the latest news is, Facebook and Instagram are her go-to platforms to keep up with all the latest crazes. Like many Millennials, Rachouh’s daily habits are tied to social media.

“I found that social media is really hard to resist. Not being on social media makes things more challenging but I personally try to disconnect myself more and more because it gives me anxiety. Too many conversations, to many things going on.  Facebook has become too emotional and too political,” said Rachouh, 21.

Different types of social media networks are millennials’ main source for news and information. According to the American Press Institute, 88 percent of millennials get their news from Facebook, 83 percent from Youtube and 50 percent from Instagram. In today’s society, social media use goes beyond following the lives of people in your personal life, it has become a place to learn what people in general are talking about and what’s “trending.” This is the number one reason why 43 percent of Twitter users say they use their accounts daily. Forty-percent say their social media use centers around finding things that entertain them such as humorous articles, videos and lists.

Similar to Rachouh’s new perspective of social media and why she’s distancing herself away from it, 86 percent of millennials claim to have changed the way they use social media compared to the past, as reported by the American Press Institute.

In some ways social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have an unsettling control over the mind and are progressively making millennials less social.

Flashgap, an app with more than 150,000 users reported that 87 percent of millennials admit to being too distracted during face-to-face conversations because they’re too busy on their phones and 54 percent fear missing out what is going on on social media if they don’t check their platforms, according to Uptin Saiidi of CNBC. 

“I used to be on pretty much all social media but now I mostly just do Instagram, Facebook and sometimes Twitter. I think one of the biggest things I hate about social media is people who misinterpret things and don’t take the minute to think before they post, or completely shut down others’ opinions. But overall it can be a very positive outlet and can be beneficial to professional and personal life,” said Veronica Bassano, 21. 

“I wish I didn’t need to use social media only because of the people who abuse it, but I find it a necessity now to promote myself like business wise,” said Joe Destefano, 30. 

The use of social media has made its mark on our generation by revolutionizing the way millennials socialize and communicate on the World Wide Web.

[AUDIO: Listen to Jim Phillips, Ramapo College of New Jersey ’17, speak on the current issue of of social media’s role on millennial’s mindsets.]