Technological innovations have blessed human beings with advanced devices and facilities that have become an important part of daily life. The Internet is practically making the world go round by creating more ways for people to collaborate around the world. Unfortunately, the overindulgence of teenagers on the Internet has begun to affect their general well-being.
It is imperative to recognize that adolescence is an extremely vulnerable period that exposes adolescents to different influential aspects of life. The impact that social media can have on teens should be of great importance to all discerning adults. Social networks can accelerate and support learning, but they can also have several harmful effects on adolescents.
Some of the negative effects of the media on teens include:
1. depression
Depression is the most common emotional disorder associated with the use of social networks. Teens feel inferior to their counterparts on social media and often suffer from depression. The need to blend in, be noticed, and be accepted by their prominent friends in the media can lead teens to this type of emotional upheaval.
2. Cyberbullying
Cyberbullies make use of media sites to spread untrue, uncomfortable and unpleasant information about specific users. Cyberbullying is a great evil of social networks that generates cognitive problems such as anxiety, low self-esteem, loneliness and suicidal tendencies in users. Privacy settings on social media accounts are supposed to allow only chosen contacts to see specific content posted by users. But, privacy is virtually non-existent in the media. Social media compromises privacy, exposing young people to issues like image-based abuse and body shaming.
3. Internet addiction
Uncontrolled use of media leads to Internet addiction among teenagers. When young children spend more time online, they are exposed to new ideas and stories that encourage them to explore more. If not handled early, this exploration becomes addictive and can affect children’s personal development, mental health, and academic performance. Internet addiction can cause structural changes in the brain and a reduction in gray matter. Multitasking with the media can be a reason for teens taking longer to complete their homework, which also hurts the quality of their studies and homework.
4. Sleep deprivation
One of the main causes of insomnia in adolescents is social networks. Teenagers are active on Internet sites, especially during sleeping hours. This disrupts your sleep schedule and compounds the risks associated with sleep loss. Social media use can disrupt sleep patterns by forcing teens to stay up at night to see notifications. It is a fact that teenagers need 7-8 hours of sleep and not getting enough sleep can harm their health. They have difficulty learning and concentrating, and they continually feel stressed or restless. They can become irritable and suffer from health problems such as viral illnesses, acne, and weight gain.
5. Low self-esteem
Teenagers come across various images that portray perfection. The internet is full of images showing ideal body types that may have been cosmetically altered. These kinds of unrealistic beauty standards impact the self-esteem of teens whose bodies are undergoing unexpected changes. Images of models flaunting flawless skin and complexion can lead to insecurity among teens. Continued exposure to unrealistic standards can influence how teens view their own bodies. These observations can leave a negative impact on the mental and physical health of the adolescent.
6. Social Skills
Social skills help teens form and maintain friendly relationships with their peers. Since teens spend a lot of time on social networking sites, they end up developing interaction skills that may not be applicable to the real world. While social networking sites have been found to strengthen existing relationships, it is important for teens to learn how to establish meaningful and personal interactions with people. Social isolation in the real world can result in depression and suicidal tendencies. Since teens spend more time on social networking sites than interacting with real people in the offline world, they find it difficult to develop effective public skills and become prone to psychological problems.
7. Sexual behavior
Overtly sexualized images of pubescent women on social media can have a huge impact on adolescent girls who until recently were just girls. The sexually explicit topic is common on various social networking sites. Exposure to erotic content that depicts harmful sexual behavior can negatively influence young people who are about to discover their sexual identity. This can lead them to develop irrational expectations that make it difficult for them to engage in healthy sexual relationships or engage in unsafe sexual behaviors.
Therefore, the biggest approach to reducing the negative influence of media on adolescents is to equip them with a strong ethical system and encourage them to create solutions that allow them to safely navigate user-facing social platforms. It is in the best interest of the young generation for their parents to manage their media exposure in order to reduce its negative effects.
Here’s how parents can handle the impact of media on teens:
Parents might try to empathize with these effects and how it jeopardizes their children’s physical and mental health.
They need to establish good communication with their teenagers to keep them away from the evils of social media.
They can become familiar with social networking sites to understand how it leads teens to addiction.
Parents can install a monitoring app on their children’s device to track social media usage.
If necessary, parents can set some ground rules about using the social platform.
As much as social media is presented as a great networking tool, it is impossible to overlook the damage it can cause to a society. Teenagers are particularly susceptible to the potential risks posed by using social media. If not recognized and managed early, these negative effects of the media can be risky for the social well-being and health of your adolescent children. Parents play an important role in keeping their children of impressionable ages away from the harmful effects of social media.