What Negative Effects does Social Media have on Teenagers?
What Negative Effects does Social Media have on Teenagers?
By:Ashton Marshall
Introduction
The speed of social media's progression is at an alarmingly high rate. New Yorkers received tweets about an east coast earthquake thirty seconds before they had even felt it. To older generations, this social media explosion seems unfamiliar and strange; however, this has become custom for teenagers in their everyday lives. That being said, social media can have great effects, both negative and positive, on teenagers in today's society. For example, research that would have once taken a student countless hours in a library can now be done in a matter of seconds on Google. With smartphones and wireless access, these social media sites can be reached anywhere, anytime. But with this freedom comes a great negative impact, specifically regarding teenagers; it goes to such extent that teens are more concerned about their follower to following ratio on Twitter than any economic or political issue.
Today, teens seem to find difficulty in ‘disconnecting’. Social media has given teens a medium in which they can create a new life for themselves, all from the palm of their hands. At the age of identity crisis' and uncomfortable changes, this creates major bullying problems. For instance, anonymous messaging on Tumblr allows teens to hide behind the keyboard instead of facing their problems in person. This also brings suicide and depression rates up, as there is no escape from the bullies over the internet.
Social media has also made teens less sensitive to unacceptable behaviour. Sexting is a perfect example of how comfortable teens are online. Sexting can be defined by Urban Dictionary as “Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit messages and/or photographs, primarily between mobile phones” . Many teens today are more than comfortable to participate in sexual activity online with someone. Social media applications such as Snapchat (an
By:Ashton Marshall
Introduction
The speed of social media's progression is at an alarmingly high rate. New Yorkers received tweets about an east coast earthquake thirty seconds before they had even felt it. To older generations, this social media explosion seems unfamiliar and strange; however, this has become custom for teenagers in their everyday lives. That being said, social media can have great effects, both negative and positive, on teenagers in today's society. For example, research that would have once taken a student countless hours in a library can now be done in a matter of seconds on Google. With smartphones and wireless access, these social media sites can be reached anywhere, anytime. But with this freedom comes a great negative impact, specifically regarding teenagers; it goes to such extent that teens are more concerned about their follower to following ratio on Twitter than any economic or political issue.
Today, teens seem to find difficulty in ‘disconnecting’. Social media has given teens a medium in which they can create a new life for themselves, all from the palm of their hands. At the age of identity crisis' and uncomfortable changes, this creates major bullying problems. For instance, anonymous messaging on Tumblr allows teens to hide behind the keyboard instead of facing their problems in person. This also brings suicide and depression rates up, as there is no escape from the bullies over the internet.
Social media has also made teens less sensitive to unacceptable behaviour. Sexting is a perfect example of how comfortable teens are online. Sexting can be defined by Urban Dictionary as “Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit messages and/or photographs, primarily between mobile phones” . Many teens today are more than comfortable to participate in sexual activity online with someone. Social media applications such as Snapchat (an