Let us explore the impact of social media on youth. The positive and negative impact of the social media has been seen on all of us. However, millennials seem to be more influenced for the better (or worse) by the use of the Internet.

Impact of Social Media on Youth – Positive And Negative.

Social media has increased the level of the connection between Worlds. It has indeed redefined our definition of the global hemisphere. However, it seems the population under 30 years are the predominant users of social media today. Some youth cannot imagine their lives without social media.

They are always found on social media platforms all day. Due to this, Social media originally created for communication, and interaction has different impacts on millennials.

The social media impact the lives of youths both positively and negatively.  This article outlines both the positive and negative impact of social media on youth.

The Positive Impact of Social media on youth.

 

Communication

Youths cannot easily communicate with their friends and loved ones from all around the world. They can strengthen their friendships as social media can help them stay in touch with their friends regularly. They cannot be limited to a friend around their locality anymore,  they can now make friends with anyone around the world. 

Access to important information

Youth can get easy access to important information being shared on social media. They can easily get to know about opportunities and can never miss any breaking news. They can learn about an event that is going on around them which they are interested in.

A place to help and be helped

Social media offers an platform to contribute and provide help to the emotional well being of others by giving out good pieces of advice when they are needed. They can slow ask for advice when they need it too and get different bits of advice from others. The social media can also create awareness on certain issues.

Showcase of talents

Social media can act as a place where youths can come and show their different talents and skills. They can share their abilities with their friends and in groups to get wider coverage. They can also FFS o sponsor their post to reach a lots of people.

Keep abreast with the latest information.

Social media keeps youths up with things going on in their environment, school or workplace. They can get news on politics,  business,  entertainment and many other things.  You can know about the emergence of certain blogs that you are interested in.

Educational advantage

Social media can help in school assignments when youths belong to online groups on social media.  They can easily discuss ideas,  share tasks and upload feedbacks on completed works. Social media networks like YouTube can provide youths with videos to learn various skills that can help them in their everyday life.

Building creativity

 Social media can help youths think outside the box. They can exercise their creativity on how to engage their friends and audience. This is initiated by the pattern of communication on the internet. Everyone can speak freely, airing their views on all subjects without fear or favour.

Awareness Development

With the exposure to various social media networks,  youths can develop awareness of the society and the world at large. They are aware of the culture and political behaviour of others in different parts of the world and not just their immediate environment,  this help to bring up socially responsible citizens.

Development of Social skills and Confidence

Many youths are socially maladroit,  social media has helped to build the social skills of some youths. They can enlarge their social circles and develop new friends. It can also increase their social confidence and media literacy and social support. This helps the youths to be able to adapt in the society.

Negative Impact of Social media on Youth.

Wrong sense of body  image

The social media is filled with images of perfect people, with flawless skin,  perfect body shape and hair. Thanks to photoshop, beauty standards are very hard to achieve today. This can lead to the wrong view of body image among youths and this can lead to eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia. This does not only affect the female population but also males as social media can also make them feel less manly.

Read also: 35 Disadvantages of Technology in Education

Increase risky sexual behaviour

Since some youths are just discovering their sexuality so they are more interested in everything sexual. The type and the amount of sex in social media networks make youths confuse. Social media promotes the message of sex without responsibility and this can lead to irresponsible behaviours and lead to unwanted pregnancy.

Low grades in  school

Youths that spend too much on time on social media can lose the sense of time and not study when they are supposed to. Some youths check their social media accounts every two minutes and cannot concentrate on studying.

No Privacy

Social media does not provide privacy to any of its users. Youths can post sensitive and private information online for instance,  where they are at and what they plan to do,  without realizing the associated risks.  Some youths are too open and make their personal information public on social media. Many are not aware of privacy policies and that information can be used by others (like insurance companies,  advertiser and IRS)  or they can be stalked.

Unnecessary Spending

Youths are more vulnerable to overspend and buy products they do not need. The social media can easily influence the youths to overspend through advertisement put there. Many advertisements are quite compelling enough, but with the ease of payment, Millenials pay for things they don’t need without thinking about it, since its just about ” a swipe” or “button”

Depression

When some youths are others who they think are better than them in appearance or talent,  they get feelings of inferiority. They envy these people and end up being ashamed of themselves. This causes them to feel pressured, stressed and depressed.

Fake online personality

Social media can lead youths to portray unreal personality because they want to be liked on social media. This can lead them to live a totally different life on social media different from how they are in real life. They can post indecent pictures and exaggerated lifestyles which can cause envy in others.

Social vices

Social media exposes youths to social vices. They get exposed to indecent post and pornography on social media because it comes without a filter. Even when parents have some security barriers, there are never enough of it to completely keep these young ones away from such contents.

Unrealistic images

Social media provides and depicts unrealistic attributes that can make youths feel inadequate of themselves.  This can lead to low self-esteem and end up causing depression, anxiety and many more disastrous things.

Unhealthy Sleep Patterns

Spending too much time on social media can lead to poor sleep patterns. Because of stress and anxiety as a result of some post on social media,  youths might not be able to sleep well or they might not sleep at all.  This can end up affect youth productivity.

Cheating

Some youths can use social media to cheat during exams.  This is as a result of some applications that allow you to read and copy information from social media. This makes them not want to study any more since they can access materials from social media.

Cyberbullying

Youths have used social media to make their friends more vulnerable to cyberbullying. They create and promote pages on social media to post ugly and promiscuous of their friends. They laugh about their friend hair,  clothes and economic status. Bullying in any form is very harmful and can drive victims to suicide.

Loneliness and Isolation

Social media can make youths feel and isolated from society. Some youths give most of their time to social media rather than to face to face interactions with real friends. They are so glued to social media,  they do not have time for friends and family members.

Read also:

• 20 Effects of Mobile Phones on Students
• 20 Effects of Social Media on Students – Positive And Negative

Causes FOMO

Fear Of Missing Out – FOMO is a form of anxiety that makes youths fear to miss out on any positive experience or emotion. Social media constantly influence this fear because it makes some youths think that someone is having more form than they are having.

Risks

So many youths are socially addicted to social media that they make sure to connect to it no matter what. They chat when they are driving which is a danger to themselves and others around them, they chat while walking,  eating, studying,  they can just do without it.

Messes the Ability to think independently

Social media can stop youths from following their belief in certain things they do love,  due to their peers on social media. This is because they do want to be criticized for liking what others do not like. With such events, youths might lose sight of the bigger picture, which is sticking for what you love without fear of others.

Youths have to think about how the use of social media has been a danger to them. They should reduce the time spent on social media so they do other productive things. However, the step begins with getting them the right sensitization and information about using the social media.

What steps do you think should be taken to help reduce the negative impact of social media on youth?  Please place your comments below, let’s talk about it.