SOCIAL MEDIA

The most known form of internet connectivity is social media. Social media has emerged as one of the most popular things to do on the internet. People have fallen in love with the ability to stay connected with friends and family around the world. Social media can be used for a large number of things including; advertising, donating, connecting, etc. The wide variety of possibilities with social media leads it to be so popular.

However, most people are attracted to the connectivity. As of 2018, about 2.13 billion people are on Facebook. Facebook is by far the most popular form of social media consisting of about 30% of the world’s population.

According to a study conducted by Thierry Penard, a professor at the University of Rennes in France, there is “a significant negative relation between the non-use of the Internet and life satisfaction.” He found in his study that people who had less exposure to the internet and social media, they reported that their lives were less satisfying compared to others surveyed.

Also in this study, Penard found a correlation between happiness and people using social media daily. The happiness from social media comes from users seeing pictures of their loved ones. In most cases people get seperated and are forced to move away from their loved ones. The long distance has caused people to lose touch with the ones they left behind. Social media provides a more connected long distance relationship. The distant relatives can view pictures of their nieces and nephews from thousands of miles away.

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Being able to connect with your relatives from all over the planet provides a sense of family and comfort to people. Social Media allows people to feel like they are an influence in their relatives lives even if they live thousands of miles away. This level of connectivity is what makes social media special.