Over the past decade, social media use has taken the world by storm. Countless hours spent on apps and sites like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other mass media eat up the time of more than half of the U.S. population. For those who are not sure what social media is actually defined as it generally refers to applications or sites used to allow a person to easily network with others. Although social media is the most effective way to convey news and information to others, it has a negative impact on the individual. Several studies have shown that the more time a person spends on social media, the more lonely they can feel. It may seem contradictory to say that social media makes one lonely despite spending the majority of their time socializing with others on the app, but in the real world, it has not than making it more difficult for its users to socialize in the real world. . Not only is loneliness a symptom, but it causes additional problems that arise from it, such as depression and other harmful problems. However, the way in which the social question is considered, whether from a functionalist, counter-theoretical or interactionist point of view, plays a very important role in the way in which this question is determined. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Out of the majority of the population affected by this problem, adolescents and young adults are the ones who primarily experience loneliness brought on by social media. However, according to National Public Radio, "For young adults, social media may not be so social after all." Among people in this age group, heavy use of platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram was associated with feelings of social isolation, a study found” (npr.org). This study describes the entire subject of the social issue, but the age group that it affects the most is those between 15 and 25 years old. In recent years, the number of diagnoses of depression and suicide among adolescents has increased. These growing statistics seem to have a strong correlation with social media and its cause of loneliness. Loneliness can, however, lead to many different pathways to other problems. For example, the Huffington Post states in its article that many websites and pages on these apps are sometimes entirely devoted to feelings of depression, isolation, and loneliness (Huffingtonpost.com). These feelings can come from various emotions one experiences during their daily time on social media. An example from Menshealth.com provides an example of feelings and emotions, if a student who comes from a family below the average poverty level and spends a lot of time on Twitter watching their wealthier, more affluent friend post about its amazing vacation and wonderful vacation. fancy dinners can damage one's self-esteem and even the friendship between the two because of envy. These are real situations that social media is affecting (menshealth.com). Finally, social media can make one feel even lonelier because it makes users feel even lonelier than before. This erases the need for real human-to-human interaction. socialmediaweek.org says: “The problem with social media is that people only share the good things in their lives. This constant barrage of good news causes aa vicious cycle in which people post the great things that are happening, which leads their friends to only share the good things that are happening in order to keep up. It kills any sense of vulnerability, of authentic shared experiences that were so crucial to emotional closeness between friends. Allowing someone to see you embarrassed/vulnerable makes people like you; but with social media banned, how will people ever be able to connect? (socialmediaweek.org). To elaborate, social media leaves room for no connection because people are so busy trying to maintain a positive appearance that they don't realize that the situations or events that shape relationships the most are the most negative. Despite the many research statistics or evidence that can be found, there is still a division between those who strongly believe that social media creates loneliness and those who believe that it does not. In this case, it is mainly young people who believe that social media cannot actually make a person lonely and it is the older generation who believe that it is possible. Indeed, the two generations belong to two different generations who used communication in different ways. Today, the older generation believes that the key to communication lies in personal contact. For them, there is no real interaction unless it is over the phone, on a call, or face to face. However, due to technological advancements over the years, the new generation believes in efficiency and speed. From their perspective, the sooner they can communicate with someone, the better. Additionally, the fact that they are able to communicate with different people on a daily basis and not have to make an extra effort is an advantage to them in their belief that it is positive. In their minds, they are already communicating with someone, so why would that be considered lonely. While the older generation believes that real communication happens in person and one will feel alone until one learns to interact outside of social media. This is an ongoing debate on the social issue that seems never-ending. To view the social issue of social media from the three main perspectives of sociology which are: functionalism, conflict theorist and interactionism, one must first be aware of what the perspective means and how it applies. To begin, functionalism can be thought of as the theory that involves how small parts of society contribute to the main society (Cliffnotes.com). Therefore, if we look at social media from a functionalist perspective, we might not consider it to make us lonely. This is because they are able to follow others and network with each other. From this perspective, they grow as individuals while continuing to contribute to society, even if it is now predominantly online. The second major perspective on society is conflict theory. Conflict theory generally implies that there is competition between groups and that there is always a difference in how a higher rank controls a lower rank in society (Cliffnotes.com). Now, if we look at social media and its impact on loneliness from the perspective of a conflict theorist, we will notice that there is competition between almost everyone who uses apps like Twitter or Instagram. This competition can come from whoever can receive the most likes on a photo or post or whoever has the most.