How Social Media Affects Youth

What comes to your mind when you hear the word social media? Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook Messenger, Reddit, Snapchat, Video Calling Apps and more, I am sure these social media platforms must be running around in your mind right now.

What is Social Media –

Social media is a general term used for all websites, applications that help people from all over the world to connect with each other using the Internet so that they can share content, chat, make video calls. and express their views or feelings on these platforms. To be a part of any social media platform, the user has to first create an account on that social media platform, then sign in to that social media account so that he/she can enjoy the features offered by these social media platforms like chatting, Voice calls, video calls, share photos and videos, share your thoughts and feelings etc.

Various social media platforms are used around the world. These social media platforms are quite popular among teenagers and youth. Various research also supports the claim that teens and youth use social media platforms the most. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook Messenger, Reddit, Snapchat are very popular and used by most people around the world.

Just as technology evolves every day, these social media platforms are also evolving. Since most people are using these social media platforms, today's youth and teenagers are heavily influenced by these platforms. Its effect can be easily seen in our daily life. An average person spends around 2 to 2.5 hours a day on various social media platforms, as social media platforms have become an integral part of our daily lives. It will not be an exaggeration to say that in today's time there are many such youth and teenagers who forget their given work but do not forget to follow social media.

There are many teenagers and youth all over the world who are using these social media platforms without thinking about how these social media platforms are slowly-slowly manipulating and harming their lives. Social media is a great place where a user can chat with people, make new friends and learn about them and their culture, educate themselves, learn new things but at the same time social media can discourage us, can cause depression, and demotivation also.

Therefore, social media has a positive as well as negative impact on our lives. It’s on us how we use social media so that we can get positive results, not negative ones. But unfortunately, most of us are so influenced by social media that we have become addicted to it. Social media is a kind of illusion because in today's time we do not talk to those who are around us but wants to get appreciation from those whom we never met.

In this last decade, social media has evolved and expanded exponentially to every corner of the world. Many types of research have been done and some are going on that how these social media affect our teens and youth. Researchers have found that social media platform are changing the lives of teens and youth by causing behavioural, moral changes.

So here are some Positive and Negative impacts of social media on today’s youth and teens: -

The positive impact of social media on today’s Youth and Teens –

• Using social media, we can get current information from all around the world. It always feels good to know about anything with just one click.
• We can be in touch with our friends and family at any time and know what’s going on in their lives using social media.
• Using social media today’s youth and teens can share their thought and feelings with the world.
• Social media helps the user to build social skills and makes new friends.
• Social Media Platforms are a good place for online marketing so Youth can advertise their business and work and get money and business from there. Social media can be useful for finding a job too. Due to social media thousands of new jobs have been created.
• Using Social Media platforms user can learn new skills.
• Social Media Platforms can be used for educational purpose. Using social media, a teacher can easily communicate with the students and their parents. Students can learn and get access to tons of information online.
• Social Media Platforms can also be useful to encourage creativity and can be helpful for innovative thinking etc.
• Social Media platforms can be used for social movement.

The negative impact of social media on today’s Youth and Teens –

• Social media which should be a friend have become a foe due to our addiction towards it. Youth and Teens spent too much time on social media platforms nowadays. Family, friend and study should be in the priority list but instead of that social media has become the priority of today’s youth and teens.
• On social media, people tried to become what they are not. People try to lives like others. Youth and teens just want to please everyone on social media and for that, they can do anything.
• Many teens and youth have become the victims of cyber-bullying which may lead to a person to depression or can put suicidal thoughts in their mind sometimes.
• Youth and teens get easily influenced by so-called social media influencers and blindly follow them without checking the authenticity of the information they provide. But when someone dares to fix these fake social media influencers, their blind followers harass or cyber-bully them by making false comments on their account who tried to tell the true facts to their influencer.
• The variety of content provided on social media has become the reason for the social media addiction in youths and teens.
• Social Media become the reason for the failure of many students because students are spending more and more time on social media in the name of studying. As per a study, it is found that students who used social media got fewer percentage marks compared to those who don’t use it. 
• Social media has become the reason for the less productivity among the employees of the age between 25-40 years.
• People share their personal information on social media which may lead to exploit their privacy.
• Nowadays social media is used to spread misinformation and false propaganda among the community and people.
• Excess use of social media is also harmful to our health. We are inviting unwanted diseases.