One main reason is that using social media affects people, especially teenagers in a very bad way. Firstly, using social media increases the chances to get cyber bullied by someone in the social media. To get cyber bullied is something very serious and it gets more and more common to bully someone.1 A cyber bully can choose to be anonymous and to not show its identity. The consequence
Positive childhood development revolves around healthy interactions and habits which may be negatively impacted by technology and social media. Adolescents are surrounded by technology and social media which has many positive and negative effects. In the article Harmful Effects of Media on Children and Adolescents it mentions that media effects adolescents in many ways such as exposure to violence, substance abuse, early sexual initiation, and obesity. Children who are exposed to these things are more likely to be involved in them and access is right at their fingertips. Most screen time is not monitored by adults, so children are watching whatever they want and they begin to mimic the behaviors they are watching because “children cannot discriminate between reality and fantasy” (Harmful).
Social media use should be limited for teens due to unsafe content, increased anxiety and depression, along with dishonest individuals and other dangers. One reason that teens should have restraints for social media is that it contains risky and explicit content, and can make things seem more apparent than they really are in society. Social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, all tend to have advertisements for the selling of products, especially aimed at teens (teenhealthandwellness.com). However, once clicked on, the user could be taken to sites that are possibly unsuitable for teens (teenhealthandwellness.com). Social media is also known to make society seem more supposedly different than it is in reality.
Peer pressure is generated among teenagers because of their desires of being liked. A website organized by The Nemours Foundation in the aim of educating children about their physical and mental health problems, the KidsHealth, advertises that it mainly because they worry whether they will be laughed at if they do not go along with the social group (2017). Besides, teenagers can also cause peer pressure when they are curious about trying new things that everyone around them does. They are especially vulnerable to peer pressure, because they just leave their parents and may have not yet established their own values about human relationships or the consequences of their behavior (Hartney, 2017). Therefore, in order to be fit to the groups, teens maybe willing to engage in some activities to gain positive impressions.
This may be true but Holmes (2012) stated that social networking sites have a number of benefits such as making new friends, keeping in contact, sharing opinions and keeping updated with what is happening with friends. To avoid such problems, parents have to monitor their children more closely and limit their access to these
These exaggerated beauty standards are indirectly pressuring teenagers to focus more on their appearance and popularity. To combat this issue, the writer suggests, “Don’t be afraid to build friendship online which can help build direct communication i.e. talking face-to-face with another person” (“Negative Effects of Social Media on Teenagers”). One of the biggest flaws of teenagers is that they heavily rely on their social media accounts to communicate with others. If this continues, face-to-face talks will be less prevalent and replaced by messenger apps.
These problems are well publicised like cyberbullying and harassment. Often these incidents result in lowered self-confidence and severe mental health issues which are becoming widespread as the number of teen users register with these sites
Social media has supposedly caused people to be antisocial which could lead to anxiety because of the fear to interact with another person. “Ironically, social media is in effect turning us into one of the most antisocial generations, yet. We prefer texting to phone conversations, online chat to a face-to-face meeting, and many have replaced human interaction with convenient platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram” (Amedie 4). However, people still know how to communicate by going to school and participating in extracurricular
Cyberbullying causes more depression. It can be more harmful than physical bullying, not only that but it can affect learning and could cause isolation. Previous studies have found that bullying causes a higher risk of mental health such as low self-esteem, poor school performance, depression, and an higher risk for suicide. Cyber Bullying can lead to suicidal thoughts, sometimes persisting into adulthood. In one study, adults who were bullied as a kid they were three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts or inclinations.
Social networking, who doesn’t do it? There is such a large variety of different platforms of social networks like facebook, twitter or instagram, that it is almost impossible to don’t have at least one social network that you have registered for. However, social networks have a bigger impact on teenagers than adults. Social media has their positive sides but also huge negative sides, also social media expands your social circle and gives you the possibility to stay in touch with ‘friends’ all over the world. Why do social networks have a big impact on teenagers?