There was a time when only official people use social media websites for communication purposes. Those days, limited people were using smartphones, computers, and the internet. But nowadays, everybody has smartphone and internet access to connect the world.social networking websites have become a part of our lives. Initially, it was just used for communicating purpose but now its vision has changed.
But every day our youth surf and spend most of the time on these social media websites (like Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.) to check the friend’s status, messages, photos, news updates and more. They stay engaged with this stuff the whole day and even in the night as well which is not a good thing for behaviour and personality. 88% of 18-29-year-olds teenagers and younger that use the internet for social networking. It is good to use technology for study, research, and conversion with your friends for a limited time. So today I will discuss the positive and negative effects of social media on students, youth, and teenagers.
Positive Impacts of Social Networking Sites
It is estimated that half of the world population is on social media (Around 3.03 billion active Social Media users). It is important to know the reason why people like to spend time on social networking sites:
1. Connecting the World
The first main positive point of social networking sites, connect us to other people in the world. You can stay connected with your school, college, job friends, family, and relatives.
2. Helpful for Education and Sociology
Another good thing about social media sites, they provide free and unlimited text and multimedia services all over the world. It just required an internet activated on their device. Many students and skilled persons are taking advantage of this feature by studying and developing professional skills from sites like Google, Youtube, Linkedin, etc, and an easy way to collaborate with teachers and experts. The new startup can also do video conferencing abroad and learn new skills.
3. Make New Friends
You can also make a new friend to an unknown person which is the most interesting feature and make it most popular among the youth. Mostly girls and boys love to chat with each other using this feature. You can send and receive text easily. You can also add someone to your friend list.
4. Get Friends and News Update
Yes, you can also check your friend’s photos, video, and their activities direct in your timeline or feed. Youth love to share their life moments and current activities. Social sites have become a popular place for that. Your account newsfeed also provides the latest news, products or services updates direct from the company pages (which pages you have liked or followed). You can learn new skills and inspire yourself by watching creative and informative content. You can also check the trending stories and videos and re-share them.
5. Share Your Comments or Opinions
Social media is also a good platform to share the things going around you. Millions of posts are shared every day and people have the option to like, dislike, and comment on them. They can give their own view on any social, political, economic, and technical matters.
6. Good for Business Promotion
Despite conversion and content sharing, use social media as a learning tool, read education content, identify business opportunities, and market your business. Whether you are a startup, small business or large, it helps to grow your business faster, increases your web traffic, brand awareness, and reputation. Nowadays, most of the businesses have their company pages on the top social media sites and millions of people are following them for product and services updates. You can send me the query if you don’t know how’s to do business promotion through this social media.
Negative effects of Social Networking Sites
The social network has its negative side as well. Normally we look at the positives things and shy away from the negatives. Research finds: “girls more negatively affected by social media than boys. The main negative impact points are highlighted below:
1. Waste of Time
A study tells that teens log on to social media sites more than 10 times a day. Most of the users on social media websites are young boys and girls who either studying or working. The young generation is spending hours chatting with unknown friends, having discussions on entertainment, politics, & sports matters, watching unnecessary photos and videos instead of study, and developing new skills. Following statistic reveal how many current users of the top social media websites.
User Count Report on Social Media by Statista
| Social Channel | Number of users |
|---|---|
| 2.072 billion users | |
| 330 million users | |
| 800 million users | |
| 500 million users | |
| 200 million users | |
| Snapchat | 178 million daily users |
| YouTube | 1.5 billion users |
| Google+ | 111 million users |
It seems that half of the world is living the virtual life and our youth future is not bright. So don’t waste your time by watching other photos and video to whom you don’t know.
2. Social Networking Addiction
Social media addiction usually means excessive use of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and other forms of social media. The average time spent on social media is 3-4 hours per day by the youth and an additive person spends 7-10 hours daily. The most addictive thing about social media is making new friends – chatting and calling with them, then meeting and dating. After this, reading news and current events, finding funny or entertaining content, and sharing photos, videos, and opinions. I never thought this thing will become a disorder that will be treated by doctors and counselors. Social media rehab centers are opened in many countries to recover from social media addiction.
3. Destroy the Relationship
It is another effect of social media. Most of the people use these online channels for chatting, talking, flirting, and dating because social media is an easy way to contact and attract his/her. It comes to see many online friendships are converted into real friendships in which some are unmarred and married. This act also leads to an extra-marital affair which is the main cause of the divorce. The Wall Street Journal report reveals that 1 in 5 marriages are ruined by Facebook, Some more facts about how social media destroys relationships:
- It reduces the time that you spend together with your partner.
- It allows people to reconnect with their ex-boyfriends or girlfriends
- It breaks the privacy when you share your personal life with strangers.
- You constantly compare your relationship or partner with others.
- People doubt their relationship because they have found his or her on Facebook.
4. Reality to Virtuality World
Nowadays our youth talk less write more. Have you ever realized how much time do you spend talking with your parents, wife, and children? A social media addictive or a person who lives in the virtual world, don’t think about it. Normally it comes to see that when a person is at home, traveling, or walking with friends, he/she constantly checks for the updates no matter where they are. They don’t aware of what going on around them. Two decades ago, people were not tech-savvy. They spent most of the time in the real world that why life was easy, healthy, unstress, and happy. Nature made us for living in the natural and social environment, not for the computer-generated environment and artificial world.
5. Security Issues, Fraud, and Scams
Our youth don’t care much about their personal data and sensitive information. Social media companies may share the user personal information with other agencies as did by Facebook – Cambridge Analytica Data Leak. Clever mind people can hack your profile and steal your personal details which could affect your lives. So be aware of such hackers, fake friends, and identity thefts.
6. Health Issues due to Social Media
The excess usage of social networking can also have a negative effect on the mental and physical health such as angriness depression, sleep problems, irritation, sadness, eating issues, changes in self-esteem, weight gain, posture problems, eye strain, and vision problems, lead to jealousy and increase suicide risk.
Conclusion
Every day, millions of users visit social media websites to stay connected with friends and family, share the content, and discover what is going on in the world. It can be an enjoyable and healthy activity if you take advantage of social networks to stay connected with old friends, family, and relatives to share interesting and important aspects of their lives. Otherwise, it can be harmful and dangerous if you misuse it and spread negative things. It is a fantasy world that attracts our youth and teenagers very quickly.
So youth need to limit their time to spend, watch the good and educational content, only text and talk with your circle and take care of your privacy. Parents also need to check what their children or teenager are doing and watching on social media channels regularly. So that we can create a better online and offline world.
In the end, I would like to give my personal opinion about social media. People say “social media connects and engages us with the world but I will say it is making us lonely and unhappy. People have 500, 2k, 3k friends but they share a status “I am feeling lonely”. It is the world of the show-off and negative things.
Please share your comments with us on the ‘effects of social media on youth and teenagers’ discussion in the below section. How many hours do you use it and for what purpose?
