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The Effects of Social Media on YOUTH
What are the effects of social media on young people
The Effects of Social Media on YOUTH
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There is no secret that a modern day teenager’s life is built around the usage of technology. As a result of society’s heavy reliance on technology, social media has become popular amongst people who are “technologically advanced.” Though there is a wide variety of social sites that can be accessed through modern day technology, a few have become very popular. Social sites which have become widely popular among teens include Instagram, Tumblr, and Snapchat. These social networking sites provide instant social connection and emotional support while letting teens post and send pictures of their everyday life. Many teens look towards social media for emotional support and social acceptance. The continual usage of these sites are negatively impacting the self- esteem of teenagers worldwide since they heavily rely on social medias to portray images of what they believe is acceptable for the society we live in.
According to K. Nola Mokeyane, a professional writer who wants to pursue graduate studies in social work, “It's no secret that media has had an increasingly negative impact on the way teenage girls measure their personal image and beauty standards”. Social media such as Instagram, are mainly based on pictures of oneself and others. According to Joan Stern, an ABC news technology editor, there are about 150 million users on Instagram, this social app that is mainly based on followers, comments and likes on a picture. Instagram allows people to share their every moment through pictures and small captions, its like an ongoing documentary of ones life. This social app allows one to share and manipulate their photo through ‘filters’. This would give the impression that each and every user on instagram is judged based on their pictu...
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...al pictures. With the proper usage of Social Media one can successfully network with other and build up their reputation for future opportunities. When using social media one should be held to certain responsibilities and now the proper usage.
Works Cited
Edgington, Shawn Marie. The Parent's Guide to Texting, Facebook, and Social Media: Understanding the Benefits and Dangers of Parenting in a Digital World. Dallas, TX: Brown Pub., 2011. 6. Print.
Mokeyane, K. Nola. "Media's Positive & Negative Influence on Teenagers." Everyday Life. Globalpost, Web. 21 Jan. 2010.
Stern, Joanna. "Teens Are Leaving Facebook And This Is Where They Are Going." ABC News. ABC News Network, Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
Victoria, Woollaston. "Selfies Are 'damaging' and Leave Young People Vulnerable to Abuse, Claims Psychologist." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 23 Aug. 2013. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
Additionally, Instagram is also a contributing factor because in a journal article by Maria Lally (2015) focuses on the influence of Instagram selfies. Lally describes Instagram as “a way of life. They want to document everything and want to look perfect while doing so (Lally 2015).” She suggests that a lot of these public figures on Instagram makes their life including their appearance look presentable so they can get a high following mass and numerous of likes on their photo. It sets a standard that an individual must look a certain way in order to obtain all that and if they cannot, others will not notice them. It affects some in a negative way leading them to feel low self esteem and want to lean towards cosmetic surgery to enhance their
The 21st century has been marked by the rise of social media and Internet use. Social media and its impact have been coming to the forefront of academic discussion and studies in many different contexts. One of the standout discussions is that of social media and its impact on civic involvement and voice. As will be demonstrated in the forthcoming literature review, academics agree that among the majority of users, social media has a tendency to increase civic engagement. The discussion however does not examine the question of gender and how the frequency of use of social media affects the amount of civic organizations women are engaged in. Women have historically been at the lower end of all kinds of civic engagement, especially
Social media and its effects continue to expand as technology becomes more advanced. One of its drastic effects is the way in which using mobile applications such as Instagram can have a damaging influence on people, especially on young adolescents. Instagram is a mobile social networking site and mobile application that allows users to edit and share photos as well as videos. Instagram is mostly used by teens and young adolescents with more than half of Instagram’s base ranging from 18 to 29 years of age (Instagram & TechCrunch, n.d.). Interestingly enough, as of September 2017, the site has reached 800 million monthly active users. Plus, with over 40 billion photos shared ever since its creation in 2010 and over four billion photos being
Not everyone uses these technologies in the same way. Some teens are like those interviewed by boyd; using social media exclusively for communication and sharing with their friends across multiple platforms. And some use these technologies in the ways Marwick suggests, to broadcast themselves to a mass audience by emulating the tactics and practices of celebrities to become ‘Instafamous’. However different the analyses of teenagers and youth by these authors, it emphasizes the importance of not believing the hype. Youth are not one dimensional followers simply being led by company created subcultures and media applications, the ways in which they use their various medias depends solely on the individual and, the changes between this generation and the last is not substantial enough to incite feelings of moral
Ninety percent of American young adults (ages 18 to 29) use social media (Pew Research Center, 2015). According to Pew Research Center (2015), women are more likely to use social media than men. It is important, then, to consider the impact of young females’ presence on social media networks such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook and how these platforms influence decision making processes.
Consequently, this means more adolescents have access to technology and its applications. Teenagers are obsessed with social media to a point where, “talking about oneself [...] activates a pleasure sensation in the brain usually associated with food, money and sex” (Sinek). The need to be validated causes feelings of entitlement to rise within teenagers because they believe that they deserve the praise. Teenagers believe they are entitled to the likes and retweets that they forget that the social media relationships are meaningless. They are constantly on their phones, checking social media for the acceptance of strangers while ignoring the people that they are with.
Social media create an environment where one is constantly worrying if they are saying or doing the right thing, or even if they are representing themselves in the right way. Sherry Turkle interviewed adolescents regarding building of online profiles. One girl Mona, says that she “worries that she does not have enough of a social life to make herself sound interesting…” Another girl says “I really want to only have my cool friends listed…” Due to this constant worry, “the years of identity construction are recast in terms of profile production” (Turkle).
Every day, millions of people are judged based on body type, followers, likes, and comments. Social media has imprisoned the hearts of young adults. Adolescents are held captive in a virtual prison, chained to the idea of presenting a false utopia. Instead of presenting this falsely idyllic life, young people should band together to remove social media from day-to-day life. Social media has increased suicides and depression among teens, it has decreased self-worth among teens, and it has promoted over-sexualization among teens.
The increase in social media is creating more pressure for girls to be physically attractive and perceived as perfect, resulting in feelings of insecurity for girls. Multiple studies show that a higher percentage of females use social media and are also more dependent on it than men. According to Dr. Holmes a San Francisco based psychologist, women outdo men when it comes to digital participation in social media. Since women are the majority of social media users, assuming that women suffer feelings of insecurity from the content on social media should not sound like a far stretch. Let’s discuss what kind of social media content is pressuring girls, why, and how women are dealing with their feelings of insecurity.
There has been controversy as to whether parents should limit the use of social media by teenagers. Teenagers feel that there is no need to limit the use of their social media networking, but on the other hand parents should feel the need to limit their use and also keep track of their teen’s social networking. Social media has allowed to be connected with their peers, teens who post positive status are more likely to be involved in extracurricular activities, and to many teens putting up “selfies” is a self confidence boost; however, too much social media can affect students GPA in school, cyber bulling can affect social health. Social media networks can give out personal information.
No matter how great their selfie is they may be measuring their worth on how many “likes” or “comments” the selfie gets. Social Media is a virtual world where you can transform your image the best way possible with filters. This turns the selfie into an addition and a determiner of teenagers’ beauty, worth, popularity and validity. If a selfie doesn’t get a lot of likes or receives a negative comment they may assume they are ugly, stupid, worthless, not good enough or feel people don’t like them”( PhD Campbell ). In fact, “ 35% are worried about people tagging them in unattractive photos, 27% feel stressed about how they look in posted photos, and 22% felt bad about themselves if their photos were ignored” (Knorr 1).
...he Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families. Retrieved May 14, 2012, from Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/127/4/800.full
As the time passes, social media has held on today’s youth, and not in ways the world would have hoped for. Teens are being revealed to picture perfect images all over their timeline, leaving the question if they will ever look like those people online. Seeing picture perfect bodies and faces lowers all self esteem they have. Staring at an image of something so unrealistic damages one, it leads to things such as self harm, eating disorder, and huge drop in self esteem. As social media grows so does the issues associated with it.
As social networking increases in popularity, more and more people join these websites. Ian Daly states, “Sure, it’s difficult to resist the allure of a site that everyone with Internet access seems to have embraced with open arms” (Daly 481). People, especially teenagers, quickly go to social networking websites because it is the cool thing to do. Teens often run to these websites to fulfill their desperate need to fit in, because no one wants to be labeled a loser. Many teens feel the need to amass hundreds of friends and follows on Facebook and Twitter to assert their popularity. From the most popular kids in school to the least popular, most teenagers engage in social media to connect with each other outside of school. Adolescents who are connected to social networking websites often ridicule those who are not. For example, teenagers who are not on Facebook or Twitter are commonly treated as social outcasts. Social networking has also made gossiping about the teens who are not connected easier. Thus, encouraging teenagers to conform to the normalcy of social networking, or suffer the consequences.
Social media is a controversy topic in today’s society. Some people think that social media destroys human interaction and real life human relationships. While others think that social media is a bless to humanity. Social media makes human interaction much more convenient and much faster than real life human interaction, it makes globalization a reality, it gives a chance for introverted people to express themselves, and it also benefit develop international relationships whether its business or social.