In our daily lives, multitasking has become a recurrent topic. It’s amazing how we handle everything. It’s important to knw about the good and bad of social media.
For work, education, our personal lives, and our social life, we rely on our smartphones. When was the last time you walked out from home without your phone? Our daily lives now include a large amount of online activity. Likewise, social media. And it is affecting the teenagers of today.
Social media usage by generation
Only approximately 5% of American internet users were using social media in 2005, when it was still in its infancy. This percentage increased to almost 70% in 2019.
- Early in 2019, Pew Research Center conducted a survey of US adults’ popularity and use of social media. According to the survey, kids prefer SnapChat and Instagram while adults choose YouTube and Facebook. TikTok is apparently the fastest-growing social network among younger users, while teens prefer Snap Chat and Instagram.
- Nowadays’ teenagers almost all use social media. According to Pew Research Center, 97% of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 utilize at least one of the seven major online platforms.
- It’s amazing how much time people spend on social media. According to one study, teens aged 13 to 18 spend an average of nine hours a day on social media, while tweens aged 8 to 12 spend about six hours daily.
- Like other things, utilising social media has its advantages (the good), drawbacks (the bad), and risks (the ugly), which can lurk and have an impact on many people’s lives, but especially those of teenagers.
The Good and Bad of Social Media
Why is social media good?
Technology and social media provide us with more connectivity and convenience:
- Keeping in touch with distant relatives and friends via email, SMS, FaceTime, etc.
- We have instant access to banking services and bill payment information.
- Online education, career training, and content discovery (YouTube)
- Participation in civic engagement (fundraising, social awareness, provides a voice)
- Excellent marketing tools
- Distant employment opportunities
Social media can be beneficial for kids, but if they ever feel uneasy about something they read or see there, they should trust their instincts and talk to an adult, such as a parent, teacher, or other respected adult. Social media bullying, threats, and brutality are all indications that the perpetrator needs support.
Why is social media bad for you?
The evil comes with the good. Despite all of its advantages, social media has a number of potential drawbacks:
- Online vs Reality
- Increased usage
- Social Media is addicting
- Fear of Missing Out
- Self-image issues
Online vs Reality
Not the issue is social media per se. It is the manner in which individuals substitute it for genuine communication and face-to-face socialization. Social media “friends” might not genuinely be pals and even be strangers.
Increased usage
Spending more time on social media can increase the risk of cyberbullying, social anxiety, depression, and exposure to inappropriate content.
Social media and addiction
When you play a game or do a chore, you try your best to do it well. Once you achieve your goal, your brain releases dopamine and other feel-good chemicals, making you joyful. When you upload an image to Facebook or Instagram, the same technique is at work.
You’ll unconsciously recognise it as a reward once you start to see all the alerts for likes and supportive remarks flashing up on your screen. But social media is also rife with activities that might alter mood.
The fear of missing out
The fear of missing out has emerged as a widespread motif and frequently encourages constant social media site checking. Your mental health may be impacted by the notion that you might lose out on something if you are not online.
Self-image issues
Social media platforms offer features that enable users to compare themselves to others and gain praise for their appearance. It may be connected to worries about one’s body image.
The most susceptible to this are “selfie addicts” and those who spend the majority of their time uploading and scrolling. In actuality, the majority of undergraduate girls who log onto Facebook at least five times every day are likely to associate their worth with their appearance.
Social media doesn’t cause the fundamental issue; it merely serves as a platform for it, which exacerbates the issue. Additionally, it encourages others to act in a similar manner.
Social media and bullying
Sadly, everything that technology has to offer has a negative side. Bullying is nothing new, but social media and technology have elevated it to a whole new level.
Cyberbullying develops into a more continual, ever-present threat. Bullying and cyberbullying are defined in the State of Rhode Island’s anti-bullying legislation and regulations as follows:
“Bullying” is defined as the use of any combination of written, verbal, electronic, physical, or physical acts by one or more pupils directed at another student that:
- Causes physical or emotional harm to the student or damage to the student’s property
- Put the student in reasonable fear of harm to himself/herself or of damage to his/her property
- Creates an intimidating, threatening, hostile, or abusive educational environment for the student
- Infringes on the rights of the student to participate in school activities
- Materially and substantially disrupts the education process or the orderly operation of a school
Bullying that involves technology or any electronic communication is referred to as “cyberbullying.” This includes, but is not limited to, any exchange of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, texting, or intelligence of any kind that is transmitted entirely or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photo electronic, or photo optical system, including, but not limited to, electronic mail, Internet communications, instant messages, or facsimile communications.
Social media and suicide
Sadly, the negative effects of social media can harm young minds. One of the primary causes of death for children under the age of 14 continues to be suicide. Most often, young individuals hang themselves to death:
- The American Association of Suicidology reports that over the past three decades, suicide rates among 10- to 14-year-olds have increased by more than 50%.
- According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide rates among kids aged 10 to 14 are incredibly low but are gradually rising.
What can parents do?
There are things we as parents can do to enhance our kids’ lives both offline and online.
- Make an effort to emulate the behavior you want to see.
- When you give your child their first phone, set limits the appropriate way.
- Having access to their credentials, set parental controls on their phone.
- When charging at night, phones should be taken out of the room and turned off an hour or two before bed.
- Talk to your kids about why certain topics should be kept private.
- Spend some time interacting actively with your children in person.
- They learn how to read social cues through this interaction, both vocal and nonverbal.
- Without looking at your phone, converse with your children.
- Look for chances to engage in real conversations rather than lectures.
- Be mindful of difficulties with cybersecurity and privacy.
- We now live, work, and interact in a different way because to technology.
- But it can’t take the place of parenting.
Conclusion
As we know technology has a great impact on Today’s Era. But everything has it’s good or bad sides and effects. So in today’s world Social media is an important part of everyone’s life. It has many features that benefits us in many ways, but on the other hand it is also bad for us and specially for teenagers. In this article you will find both The good and bad of social media. I hope it is valuable for you.
