Reel. Story. Post.
These are the words that didn’t exist in the vocabulary of teenagers until a couple of years ago. Social media has now become a necessity -almost a necessary evil -for the youth. A large number of teenagers these days are using different kinds of social media apps – Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, WhatsApp, and more. The list is endless.
Technology, as they say, can be used for good or evil. Youngsters use social media to stay tuned to the latest updates from around the world, learn new skills, entertain themselves in their free time, and stay connected with their loved ones.
However, unregulated use of social media can also negatively affect teens by distracting them, disrupting their sleep patterns. It also exposes them to bullying, rumour-spreading, unrealistic views of other people’s lives, and peer pressure. Therefore, it is important to educate and make the youth understand the difference between the right and wrong usage of social media. Social media should be a tool for new positive learnings and not become so overpowering that it starts to rule the lives of the youth, as is becoming the case now.
The earlier generations used to play in the playgrounds, go outside and enjoy with their friends in person but nowadays social media is the new playground for the youth. And friends exist in the virtual world – without a personal human touch. We teenagers find it easier and more comfortable to just text our peers and entertain ourselves on social media. We get so consumed by the virtual world that we lose interest in real-time happenings, which causes a lack of emotional and social health. It creates a huge distraction for the school and college students.
Teenagers are prone to go through frequent mood swings because of the use of social media. Many teens worldwide become very self-conscious seeing so many perfectly figured women and men with beautiful and clear skin, gaming tricks and ideas, etc. Seeing these things makes a person feel very insecure and grumpy about not having the things others have. An unhealthy comparison sets in.
Many people on social media just put up good pictures of themselves, their house and their friends to show off what they have to the world. However, we viewers don't realise that half of the things on social media are fake. People do lots of things online for views and content. Seeing people have things that we don't possess makes us lose our confidence level.
Numerous teens get scared from showing themselves on social media as they think they are not perfect while the reality is that everyone is beautiful in their own way and that is why we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others in a way that harms us.
When social media is used for social upliftment, learning, teaching, and other such positive activities, it can provide several positive outcomes for school and college students. Nevertheless, we need to analyse the fake and the real content on social media.
Reports say that due to the excessive use of social media, plenty of teens have deviated from their educational, personal, and career goal development. It is important to advise and inform the youth to learn how to balance out using social media and take good advantage of it.
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