At the beginning of the 21st century, social networking sites were developed and spread around the world. Since then, social media platforms have become an important part of the lives of especially young people. Many adolescents use social media such as Youtube, Instagram and especially Facebook to build relationships, communicate with the world, share and acquire knowledge and information, build stronger personalities and have a better social life (Boyd, 2007). Mitchell (2002) stated that young people use social networking sites to engage in romantic and casual online relationships. Changing people's behavior has shown that social media has many negative impacts on people. Social media sites help people make social comparisons which increase individuals' psychological distress and, consequently, lower their overall level of self-esteem (Chen & Lee, 2013). Many observers and researchers believe that people have become victims of lower self-esteem and personal growth due to the increased use of social networking sites. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Through social media platforms, people can share and exchange personal information with a larger community of people by posting photos, videos, and blogs (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are widely used by teenagers, young adults, and people over the age of 30 (Wilson, Gosling, & Graham, 2012). Considering all the social media platforms available online, Facebook appears to be the most used in the world, with over 1 billion visitors per month (Facebook Press Room, 2017), including YouTube and Instagram among the most popular social media platforms (Kallas, 2019). Numerous research studies on Facebook refer to positive impacts, such as users' satisfaction with experiences of self-esteem and personal integrity (Toma & Hancock, 2013), an improvement in the quality of existing friendships (Valkenburg & Peter, 2009) and the perception of greater subjective well-being (Kim & Lee, 2011). However, other researchers have found opposite results, providing evidence of negative consequences related to the use of social media, particularly Facebook. For example, excessive use of social media, sometimes recognized as Internet addiction, has been related to high levels of depressive symptoms (Marino, Hirst, Murray, Vieno, & Spada, 2017; Morrison & Gore, 2010). Furthermore, some researchers found that people who used Facebook more frequently reported that others were happier and lived better than themselves (Chou & Edge, 2012). However, these negative psychological outcomes are primarily linked to how people use Facebook rather than the social network itself. For most people, this social medium has no positive or negative consequences, but for other individuals, Facebook use can be a maladaptive way to escape problems or alleviate a dysphoric mood (Cash, Rae, Steel and Winkler, 2012). Media is an aspect of contemporary everyday life and has become a staple in the lives of our young people, with 92% of teenagers aged 13-17 reporting online daily, including 24% who say they go online “almost constantly” (Lenhart, Madden, Smith, & Macgill, 2015, para. 2). The purpose of this study is to explore the positive and negative aspects of social media platforms; Facebook, Youtube and Instagram are three of the most popular and frequently used social media platforms (Kallas, 2019) and how/10.1177/2056305121988931)
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