Social Media and the Effects on the American Adolescent is present in American adolescents today. This is an effect that has become increasingly present within the past decade. With the advent of social media and the internet becoming more a part of everyday life, people can develop issues associated with stress and other emotional issues. However, positive issues such as a decrease in social isolation are also associated with the presence of social media in today's world.
Per Time, an article claims that the majority of adolescents feel that they are always connected online and can never seem to truly get away from social media. Millennials are the first real generation that has grown up with social media. Unlike generations before them, Millennials learned the rules of social media and how to behave and act in this foreign world. With learning this new world, many stresses arose as they tried to figure out how to act and conduct in this world.
Video Social media and the effects on American adolescents
Social media have some positive contributions to the lives of adolescents. Positive aspects may include feelings of inclusion, access to friends one would have never met otherwise, or possibilities of romantic relationships. As studied in the paper Social anxiety and technology: Face-to-face communication versus technological communication among teens, those that have social and emotional issues can feel more included with social media and online activities. In addition to a feeling of more social inclusion, the effects of social media go further to change how people interact in public spaces; a study conducted by Keith N Hampton, Lauren Sessions Goulet, and Garrett Albanesius found that even with rise of mobile phones and social media in the past thirty years, people have become less socially isolated and more likely to linger in public spaces. The article goes on to explain exactly how social media has changed the ways that people are able to interact in public spaces including how it gives people that are alone a way to communicate with friends and family. In addition to explaining how social media brings people together in these places, the study focuses on how mobile phones appear less often in spaces where there are more groups. Mobile phones are ubiquitous, but people largely understand when it is and when it is not socially acceptable to use them.
Social media can be a great way to make new friends and stay connected to them. People who use social media tend to be more outgoing and interact with people more not only online but in person as well. Their friends can range from their friends at school to Hollywood celebrities. Social media also provides options for privacy giving you more comfort and reassurance that your private things will not be seen by everyone. You are able to choose who and what can see. As well, most social media apps give you the option to delete or edit what you have already posted. It can also provide a chance to see and meet people from all across the world beyond just your local community. Beyond just what teens can post and who they can meet it is a proven facts that being involved in social media helps improves teens communication skills, social connections, and technical skills. For students they can use social media to help with homework, share due dates or even just ask for help on projects.
Social media can have a positive effect on weight and obesity. A study conducted on many adults showed that obese people reacted positively to healthy food images on social media. "Therefore, it seems appropriate to encourage obese individuals to establish and maintain social network connections with others who routinely post images of healthy food in their social media feeds. This helps to provide constant exposure to images that reinforce a lifestyle change." Seeing healthy images on social media can help influence viewers to make healthier decisions.
Using social media for learning purposes can have positive effects on students and instructors. A journal posted in the British Journal of Educational Technology provides evidence of the positive correlation. "An Australian research study on various education projects using social media during 2006-2009 shows: social media enables students to learn actively and progress rapidly; social media led to better performance and a higher likelihood of students completing tasks; social media ensure student engagement and motivation for completing tasks; and social media raise student achievement levels (State of Victoria Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2010). The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies of European Union also reported that students had positive experience using social media applications through content enhancement, creativity experiences, connectivity enrichment and collaborative engagements (Redecker et al, 2010)." This study shows that students have a positive relationship with learning through social media.
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Negative Aspects of Social Media
According to the Social comparison theory, people establish their personal value by comparing themselves to others and seeing where they fall on the social ladder in relation to those to which they are comparing. There is a study that has shown that regardless of making an "upward" or "downward" comparison, determining if one is better or worse than the one they are comparing themselves to, one will feel worse than they did before making either comparison. These social comparisons and related jealousy, paired with the addictive nature of social media platforms, leads to the development of symptoms of depression in users.
The negative aspects of social media seem to stand out more. These can include ostracizing and cyberbullying an individual. Cyber bullying is another aspect of social media that is harmful to young teens. Bullying in any form is dangerous to teens. It can have lifelong repercussions on the victim. Cyber bullying is the new way that teens have found to brutally victimize other teens. "There is a consistent relationship across studies between cyber bullying and depression among children and adolescents." A study done on many middle and high school students confirmed the negative effects of cyber bullying. They concluded that depression is a direct repercussion of being bullied online.
A study claims that there is a high correlation between the amount of time an adolescent spends online and their overall mood function and behavior. The more the individual spends online, the worst their mood and function seems to become. The average teen is spending approximately nine hours a day on social media platforms. Not only is there a positive correlation between time spent on social media networks and mental health state, but there is also a concern with the number of platforms utilized. Those who use multiple social media platforms are more likely to develop mood alterations. However, there is also the argument that young adults who are already battling depression may be using social media networks more than unaffected individuals.
According to results of a survey conducted by Cigna, a healthcare company, the average loneliness score for Americans on the UCLA Loneliness scale is a 44. However when specifically looking at Generation Z and the Millennial generation, that loneliness score rises to 48.3 and 45.3 respectively. While it is easy to blame our reliance on our smartphones, according to the survey that is not the only predictor of loneliness . Respondents of the survey that indicated they were "very heavy users of social media" scored 43.5 on the loneliness scale, while those who said they never use social media scored a 41.7."Rachel Simmons, a leadership development specialist at Smith College, mentioned in a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune that students often confide in her when they are lonely She often tells students to confide in a friend. However the most common response she gets is that they simply do not have time. With this response, she has come to the conclusion that they simply '"don't want to fall behind.'" There is this mentality that '"if I don't work all the time and if I don't keep up, I'm not going to be smart, I'm not going to have a good life, I'm not going to be successful.'" This mentality ultimately tying ties back to social anxiety phenomenon of having a fear of missing out.
It seems that while making friends is possible on social media, the validity of those friendships seems to be put into question. A study claims that while social media can be good, some affects that may come from it include the individual feeling alone and making friends is an illusion. Often, it seems that people have to worry if friends are truly genuine or not. Parents have many fears about social media. They have heard horrific stories of unsuspecting teens being targeted by sexual predators and people simply wishing to cause harm. June Ahn states "while parents remain fearful about safety and effects on their children's social development." Parents fear for their children's safety. Social media is a realm most parents do not fully understand. There are many dangers in this world but parents tend to fear the ones they can't see the most. If the parents do not realize there is a threat because it is on their child's private account then they can not protect them.
Social media is affecting our interpersonal relationships in many different ways. We are so dependent on social media to the point where it is affecting the way we even solve our problems. We run to social media to look for updates and to share our feelings, therefore it is jeopardizing the way we interact with others. As technology upgrades the way we social changes as well. Computers, cell phones, and all the technology we have been able to have access to has developed a new way of making and keeping friends as well. It seems as if social networking is the only way we know how to communicate, but really we do not know how to communicate anymore. Effective face to face conversations are also no existent because of the heavy rely on technology.
Social media can have many negative effects on how young women view their bodies. Young women see these models that have been retouched and edited and want their bodies to resemble those they've seen. That is an impossible standard placed on young girls. Richard Perloff states "The interactive format and content features of social media, such as the strong peer presence and exchange of a multitude of visual images, suggest that social media, working via negative social comparisons, transportation, and peer normative processes, can significantly influence body image concerns." His article provides many good points about how social media can have a negative effect on young women. Young women are easily influenced by the images of models and women on social media. The women presented on magazine covers and models on social media are shown as the perfect people. Young girls see these "perfect" women and want to strive to be them, however, those photos have been retouched and look much different than the original.
Using social media to close to going to bed can have a negative effect on sleep. A study was done on college students who proved the negative relationship between length of social media use and sleep. While using social media during the day may not have as drastic as an effect, using social media two hours before bed can seriously effect sleep quality. "A longer duration of digital media use was associated with reduced total sleep time and later bedtime..."
Physical Reactions to Social Media
The anxiety that comes from a negative experience on social media, can affect the person in the real world. An article from Time discusses how a girl inflicts pain on her based on what she sees from social media. The stress that is associated with social media can be taxing on the individual. What happens online can translate into the real world. Such as self-harm or other forms of harm against the individual.
An article from US News claims that people are posting images of bulimia and anorexia online to encourage others to not seek treatment and that it is okay. Studies have been conducted contending that the 'thin ideal' is created and reinforced by a number of social influences. Among these, the mass media have been identified as the most persuasive and the most powerful. Combined with some of the negative effects of social media, the physical harm that it can do to an individual can be noticed. Not limited to normalizing eating disorders, but also other aspects of physical ailment can appear as well.
Additionally, Facebook depression occurs when people who spend a significant amount of time on social media platforms develop symptoms of depression. There are some researchers who believe that the "Facebook depression" phenomenon is a gateway to other sites that will ultimately put teens and young adults at risk for a number of dangers. The sites that teens and young adults are led to can teach its lonely viewers about substance abuse, unsafe sexual practices, and aggressive or destructive behaviors. However, some researchers suggest that these sites aren't teaching its readers how to practice safety, rather they are teaching them how to perform these acts of harm.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia