By Sarah Hines Y11
Most teenagers use social media daily, and with it being said to be one of the main reasons for the decrease in academic results throughout the years. In reality the impact is more complicated, what impact does social media actually have on teenagers and is it all negative?
First of all, it depends on what kind of content and videos the audience is receiving. It can vary from being age-appropriate to extremely violent, with this obviously impacting the viewers in different ways. Social media can make some feel more accepted and secure, knowing that there are other people out there who are living the same experience as them, but at the same time it can have the completely opposite effect. The posts could create pressure, resulting in the person feeling alone, excluded and different from other people their age. This can result in body-shaming, people going on unhealthy diets, unnecessary spendings, and people doing things they don’t want to do to try and fit in. The reality is that the majority of the videos that we see online are staged and photoshoped, with about 40% of it being fake. On the other hand, social media can also inspire people to try out certain jobs/hobbies with it creating a link in between most teenagers as they can relate to the same videos, share the same humour and it is also another way of socialising.
The main problem with social media is that it is extremely distracting and addictive. Teenagers resort to watching videos instead of the things they should be doing such as studying or just helping out their family and friends. It also has been proved to create certain behaviours such as a shorter attention spans (caused by the videos becoming shorter and shorter). This means that most teenagers will begin their days by studying but will quickly return to scrolling, with them suddenly returning to their phones for several hours. That again is the other big problem, it is extremely addictive. The videos you see keep your attention for a short time, but then make you scroll to the next. Each time you scroll to the next video this gives a small dopamine hit. This therefore means that most teenagers spend hours just looking at 10-second-long videos, since they cannot notice the time passing. In fact, social media has even been compared to an “addictive drug” and as been known to have the same withdrawal symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, boredom and even sometimes mood swings and rapid heart-rate.
Another big part of social media is of course the likes and followers. Each time someone gets either of the them, it also triggers a small release of dopamine in the brain. Sadly, this can also cause great anxiety to certain students when they feel like they are not getting the amount of likes they deserve, or when they don’t have as many followers as their friends. This can result in them posting and saying things they wouldn’t normally do just to get likes, and this of course is a sad and pathetic behaviour.
Therefore, social media has its advantages and its disadvantages towards teenagers. It can cause them great joy but also great sadness. It should therefore not be used all the time, and students should be reminded that there is so much more in the world than just what they see on their screens.
