Social Media And The Negative Effects On Teens

Social media has been known to help students develop important knowledge and social skills. “At first glance this may seem like a waste of time; however it also helps students to develop important knowledge and social skills, and be active citizens who create and share content.” (Chen 3). The more time teens spend on social media the more they become aware of their own social side and how to interact with others, especially their peers. “Some types of social media has beneficial effects, like helping adolescents establish some sense of identity and build networking skills” (Riley Davis). Too much time being spent on social media can also exploit teens to some harsh realities that they’ve probably never experienced in their lives before.

Technology has caused too many teenagers to spend number amounts of their time on social media sites. Spending too much time of your cell phone causes you to miss out on opportunities.

Various individuals long for a time when technology did not take over the world. For teenagers, it is difficult to imagine a life without the World Wide Web and its countless perks at their fingertips. Social media consumes young lives more than any other form of technological advancement. Social media has a few pros, but also its fair share of cons.

Recent studies have shown that 23% of teens say that they have been the target of a bully online, and getting bullied can lead up to teen depression. Another 15% said that they were the ones bullying other teens. Most teens sleep with their phones, and most don't go to bed when they’re told to, but some teens do. Because the blue light that comes from the phone is bad for some people's eyes, and most teens are sleep deprived of being on their phones too much at night. Some teens do nothing but go on their phones/social medias, “Kids ages 8 to 12, or teens, are spending about six hours in front of screens.” Yet again a lot of teens are really active and play sports. For those who aren't, most are getting or are obese from not doing anything the whole day, and just being on their phones. Social media can lead up to teen depression, loss of sleep, and it decreases in physical fitness.

Some of the top benefits of social media over the years are that it is free to anyone, the content can get out to resources virtually immediately, and it can be delivered to a wide variety of people. For these reasons, communication through social media has become an extremely accessible and convenient way to communicate. It is also popular for those who need to be in contact with others. One example that comes to mind is a teenager who goes away on a trip to visit a friend or family. They can be hundreds of miles away but still talk to their parents as if they weren’t. Another example is a person who is shy and has a hard time making friends face-to-face, social media sites are a great way to meet people and build relationships.

Social media sites allow millions of people to interact with friends,family and anyone around the world. A large portion of social media users are teenagers; researchers and parents both believe that social media is having a multitude of possible effects on teenagers. This literature review will analyze research of the positive and negative effects social media are having on today’s impressionable youth. Much of the research focuses on the age range of 10-16 from well-to-do families and college students. Understanding the online environment that teenagers live in can help parents relate to their children and teach then about the dangers and benefits of being on the Internet.

They reflect their lives differently from their real life because of desire of popularity in social media. With that lying is becoming a habit. The young people who have not formed social identity easily express themselves with social media. They talk shamelessly and easily convey ideas. They try to be popular in social media to show that they are not alone. They want to have what they see in social media. The things they see in social media cause young people to feel insufficient. For example, when they see a sportsman who has photographed in the gym, they want to see themselves in the same way as they are. The girls learn artificial beauty by not admiring themselves as they see the popular people who make up. Young people become narcissists with social media. The characteristics of people with narcissism cannot tolerate unilateral hearing, selfishness, breaking rules, and criticism. What is the relation between of social media and narcissism? Narcissists often change situations to show themselves, constantly uploading their own photographs, showing everyone their own views. They do not accept criticism. They have a lot of self-confidence. The narcissists have arrogance in their attitude and behaviour. As AJ Agrawal

The use of social media has been around for years and has a tremendous impact on the world and today's generation. The use of social media has changed the world and lives in different ways and affects people differently. People use the media for different things some examples are promoting businesses , clothes , makeup , anything really. As social media grows and exposes the world to different things this can cause negative outcomes , especially towards the teenagers. The phrases " sex sales" or the terms " body shaming" are very real and true. Nowadays social media praises the sex appeal the use of " public figures" on Instagram and Snapchat , Twitter etc . using bras and bralettes as tops and ripped jeans that tear all the way up to the inner thighs. A well as glorifying a specific body type as a message of this is what we are suppose to look like or you will not be accepted in society. Causing them to constantly feel the need to compare themselves and try their hardest to become something they are not. The media has such an impact on the lives of teenagers promoting anxiety and causing teens to fall into teenage depression.

After they have been exposed to the dazzling world of the internet, teenagers tend to live their lives in full view to their online audience. They have been “checking-in” their locations online, posting personal affairs on their social media walls, and sharing their selfies to let people know where they are and what they are up to. For some people and experts from different generations, the idea of doing all these things seems to be odd. One of these experts is Sherry Turkle, MIT professor and psychologist, who studies the opportunities and challenges associated with our digital connectivity. Turkle, in the Tedtalk “Connected, But Alone?” claims that the technological devices, that have been recently invented, have a psychological power that makes their users do things that only few years ago were very strange and unusual (02:20). Although that the social media has brought a new type of interaction with others into our lives, it made many users, especially the teenagers, be less confident about their own identities, and it reduced their interpersonal relationships with other people around them.

Kids of all ages now in days are exposed to technology which scares us all. Although many parents worry that their preschoolers or younger kids are being harmed by this kind of exposure, the kids most affected by technology now in days are teenagers or adolescents. Social media has become so vital to teenagers; consequently, promoting anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, and an unexplainable amount of cyber-bullying.

With the economy the way it is today, most parents have to work. So how do we protect our teens when it comes to social media? They use text, snapchat, and an array of apps that can cause a plethora of issues. Teenagers do not always make the best choices when they use social media, which often puts them in unsavory positions with the individuals that they have shared with. The encounter everything from bullying to suicide because technology has invaded every part of their lives. Instead of the bullies being at school they are now in the homes of vulnerable kids. It’s time for parents to take a stand, educate, and hope that we can get through to these kids so that we can stop the damage that is being caused.

In the adaptive environment of technology and social media, quantifying exact usage of social media by adolescents remains fluid. However, the following statistics are staggering when considering the implications, 7.5 million children under the ‘required’ age of 13 have Facebook accounts, despite the terms of service agreement set forth by the social media network. In addition, on average, 11-18 year-olds spend 11 hours a day exposed to electronic media. (Shapiro)

Social media is a booming new-age industry. With billions of active users, and billions more in ad revenue, it's safe to say that social media is here to stay. This seemingly economically beneficial platform could be detrimental to today's and future generation's to come youth. Social media is harmful to the adolescent mind.

After being asked an important question of how social media affects teenage kids lives, I went in to doing my research. One article stated, “41% say they are ‘addicted’ to their mobile devices, and 36% say they sometimes wish they could go back to a time when there was no Facebook,” (Social Media, Social Life: How Teens View Their Digital Lives, 2013). Teens are too attached to their mobile devices and the outcome has proved it. Facebook has a more negative effect on teenager’s lives because they lack physical connections, miss out on experiences, and no longer hold the quality in friendships.

Social media sites are described as rapidly growing platforms of user-generated content: digital images, videos, and blogs. They encompass a vast majority of contemporary websites and serve as a place to divulge in interesting discussion, reconnect with past friends or family, and even serve as footholds for important parts of one’s life through posted content. Social media sites are sitting on their throne in the fast-paced world of instant communication. However, it is also for this reason of mass communication that bring about the detriments of social media. They can often influence younger minds, specifically teenagers, into partaking in drug abuse through several forms. It is an unfortunate fact that teenagers are exposed to this type of social peer-pressure daily, through a variety of sources such as their favorite music artists. In fact, most modern day “rappers”, consistently post self-glorifying images of themselves smoking marijuana. The social environment of open drug use and advertising on social media sites plays a major component in the recent trends of drug abuse present in teenagers aged 12-17 in the United States through various influences.