Is Screen Media Harmful To Adolescents?

Screen time in high quantities can have negative health consequences for children, but are still used because of their positive effects. This assignment is relevant to Technological influences as schools and homes are now implementing electronic devices for learning and entertainment, using them for almost all aspects of life. Children are becoming addicted to them and parents are starting to give in to children throwing tantrums by giving them a device in order to prevent a scene. These devices are resulting in many developmental and health issues for children.

Did you know social media can change you? Social media can cause problems with your health? In the article, “Student examines negative effects of social media on teens” by Aurelie Krakowsky and “The Upside of Selfies: Social media isn’t all that bad for kids” by Kelly Wallace talks about social media, but clearly it’s harmful to people. Social media is for people to enjoy on a daily basis and be updated on what is happening in the world; however it can be harmful to your health and even your education. It can lower kids self esteem and make them feel uncomfortable about themselves. It can also cause health issues and distant yourself from the people around you.

Social media can also lead to an unrealistic idea of life. Many people like to show off on social media, for example, showing off money or a new expensive car. When it comes to unrealistic ideas of living it could make people feel envious and jealous. Some people can become obsessed with taking selfies or overly “perfect” pictures, whether it be editing out imperfections or spending an hour trying to get the perfect picture. People can get anxiety from the fear of missing out. When people post about going put every weekend or about how perfect” their lives are, it can make people feel depressed. It can also show unrealistic body standards and lead to eating disorders. A website called National Eating Disorders (2016) has said, “Numerous correlational and experimental studies have linked exposure to the thin ideal in mass media to body dissatisfaction, internalization of the thin ideal, and disordered eating among women”. For example, the social media website

Social media creates an ideal body image in an adolescent’s mind that affects them in various ways. Having an ideal body image can lower self-esteem in some adolescents’ creating eating disorders, and this idea of getting plastic surgery as they get older. Social media is steadily increasing and has heavily influenced adolescent’s to be more aware of their body figure. As a result, many adolescent’s have developed low self-esteem due to the fact that social media continues promoting fit women and creating the idea that women need to be thin to be loved or accepted by society; this can cause harm to adolescent’s because they feel the need to fit in to society.

As technology editing tools have become even more prevalent, many feel the need to excessively use photoshop before they share an image online. In a pervasive world where images of unrealistic standards fuel the media on how one should look, social media has one of the most significant impacts on body dissatisfaction. Throughout the last decade, social media has become one of the most common and favored ways for people to communicate, connect, and share. Thus, there have been many debates and discussions on whether the media has a positive or a negative impact on the way an individual perceives him or herself. As the rapid growth of smartphone usage among adolescents and adults has increased, social media has become an essential part of one’s daily life. In today's society, when most adolescents and adults turn on their smartphones, often times, the first thing they will refer to is a social media site. It has become a place where they are exposed to news, images, and expectations. Often times, these images, ideals, and expectations are ingrained in their brain and bombarded with what is considered to be beautiful. Moreover, these unrealistic standards will often lead to a form of comparison, influencing them to take extreme measures. Although social media serves as a platform where people can connect, communicate, and share, it has a negative impact on one’s body image, because it can lead to a lack of self confidence and severe

Social media sites are a few of the most visited sites every day. Everyone wants to know what everyone else is up to. People can follow their favorite celebrities every move and see what their friends are doing with every update. Few people go days without checking their online profiles on popular social media sites such as, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Many people joined these networks to keep up with old friends from the past and keep contact with everyone in their life and young people use them every day to check status updates and post selfies. In the article, " The upside of selfies: Social media isn't all bad for kids", Kelly Wallace claims that social media has a positive effect on young people. However, research shows that social media impacts young people’s emotional health negatively.

Approximately 14 million U.S. teenage girls don’t like how they look. The number of women who feel confident in their bodies is dwindling quickly and is being fueled by edited pictures they are comparing themselves to on social media. The Time magazine article “How Social Media Is a Toxic Mirror” by Rachel Simmons tells of the risk for everyone to feel self-conscious about their bodies. However, those most at risk are teenage girls who spend a significant amount of time on any form of social media. In response to the article, I agree with the negative effects social media has on the body image of teenage girls because I have seen girls trying to change their bodies. I also see the effects logos and pathos have on the strength of the article and what would make it a stronger and more credible source for information on teen body image.

As a result of the pressures to obtain the image portrayed in the media, we start to develop low self esteem and body related issues. For instance, the models and movie stars on television all influence our mindset believe or not. We see their clear skin, thin physics and idealize them. Some become obsessed with the idea of “perfection” and start to alter their own appearance to reach it. Eating disorders have dramatically increased over the years due to the media’s effect on people’s minds. Examples of negative teen body image are everywhere. There are several forms of media; such as television, print, broadcast, radio, talk, and the internet. Social network sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and even YouTube are all outlets teenagers go to

After debating whether social media has a positive or negative effect on teens, it has been concluded that social media has a negative impact on the developing teenager. Social media can be a great tool at times, by being a means to communicate with friends, classmates, and family members; It can also help spread your ideas, hobbies and life experiences. But after reading the article Studies Offer Mixed Messages On Social Media’s Effects On Young People, By The Baltimore Sun, it explains how social media has a negative effect on teens by causing them to compete (to have a better social media feed), change their body to fit into society (the ideal body shape) and the way it can makes someone feel.

Living in a world of technology, media use is always increasing. Cell phones, tablets, televisions, and video games can be found in nearly every US home. Children of this generation are exposed to a variety of media and most incorporate it into their everyday lives. “A national survey in the US found that children aged 8 to 18 years had an average media usage time of 7 hours and 38 minutes every day” (Agarwal & Dhanasekaran, 2012). With this much media use, a child is sure to be influenced in some way by the excessive screen time. Studies show that too much screen time can have harmful effects on a child’s emotional, social, and physical capabilities.

Social media continues to grow in popularity as more websites and applications create various ways for people to share their lives through pictures and words. It has become increasingly popular among teenagers and college students, resulting in everyone having the opportunity to judge and compare others to themselves. This creates the problem of if social media can lower or raise the self-esteem of teenagers. As they spend more time looking at various profiles, people will feel positively or negatively about themselves and their body. Even if someone is following a friend or another person with good intentions, it can begin to affect the person negatively as he or she compares themselves.

With the advancement in technology it has become common for infants, toddlers, and young children to be exposed to electronics such as televisions, computers, and videogames for hours at a time. Environmental factors affect children in significant ways. The effects the media and screen time children are revealed to influence their physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Television and media can both hinder and encouraging their growth. It is important for guardians, caregivers, teachers, whomever has a child they look after or care for, to make accommodations to construct the best possible environment for children to flourish in. At such a young age, these young humans are like sponges, they absorb much of what surrounds them. Because of this, the importance of trying to make it possible that they are mainly witnessing things helpful to the development of the child and thereby, benefiting them later in life.

This view is supported by Webster-Stratton who described television as “rendering children passive” and referred to research indicating that excessive exposure to television and computers “place children at risk for harmful effects on their physical, social and psychological development”. As a way of mitigating this, she suggests watching television or computer games with the child in order to address any issues that might arise or to identify inappropriate content (2006, p234-236).

For years, many researchers have done individual studies on how media affects children. A review, which analyzed 173 of the strongest papers over 28 years, found that “80% of researchers are in agreement that heavy media exposure increases the risk of harm to children, including obesity, smoking, early engagement in sexual activity, drug and alcohol use, attention problems, and poor grades” (Szabo).

In today’s society, the public is exposed to technology at even younger ages than ever before. Everywhere you go these days you see kids even as little as three holding their parent’s phones or even their own, watching videos or playing games. But as said in the article Does Social media impact on body image by Philippa Roxby, as kids start becoming teenagers their technological uses advance and they start to rely on social media sites for new sources of communication, and their main channel to the outside world. Based on studies conducted by psychologists they have come up with a conclusion that social media has a direct relationship to body image concerns. I believe that in today’s society we should focus on promoting self-confidence as most of the adolescents have a very low assurance of their own bodies. Although a study conducted in the article The Upside of Selfies: Social media isn’t all bad for kids by Kelly Wallace says that a survey which resulted in 52% of the teens saying that social media positively influences them. Even though social media platforms have some beneficial aspects such as they make people want to go on diets, exercise, and eating healthy, the teenagers don’t really look/understand the negative aspects of it. The impacts that are carried with social media are mostly negative such as fancying teenagers to lose confidence in themselves and has become a toxic mirror to them. The visual platforms impact