Young People: Social Media Blessing or Curse? - Essay Sample

Introduction

Young people enjoy and suffer at the same time by using social media. They engage with each other in communication, collect learning information, and create their identity. However, the young generation is faced with bullies, distraction, fraud, and peer pressure, among other things. These effects can shape or destroy the physical, spiritual and psychological aspects of these people. Therefore, although the use of social media has negative impacts, it also has significant positive impacts on young people. This paper analyses bullying, distraction, and acquisition of identity for young people through the use of social media.

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Cyber Bullying

Young people are often subjected to cyberbullying (Primack et al., 2017). Cyberbullying is using words that can harm the feelings of another. It may be in the form of name-calling, coercing, or intimidation from other social media users. People who are bullied are often those that are perceived to be vulnerable. Social media has people whose intentions are to target and bully people, especially those who seem to care so much about other user's opinions. Cyberbullying could have varied psychological effects such as depression and low self-esteem. Young people may not present the knowledge of what to and what not to share on social media. For this reason, they may share very personal information hence making it easy for the bullies to attack. Consequently, users may become stressed and may develop mental disorders like depression. Also, due to being termed as unworthy or of low class, the young social media users may develop low self-esteem. According to Primack et al. (2017), many teenagers have committed suicide as a result of being bullied on social media.

Distraction

Another effect is that teenagers and youths often get distracted when using social media (Coates et al., 2019). Most teenagers have replaced face to face socialization with social media communication. Study shows that at least 70% of the teenagers spend 12 hours on social media in a day (Coates et al., 2019). Now, that is half of a day, yet they have to attend to other activities like school and games. This means that they have little time to sleep or even do extra curriculum activities. These young people spend so much time on media that they forget to eat or they eat late. Besides, they suffer from sleep deprivation. Spending too much time on social media may have effects such as poor school and social performance.

Teenagers who spend all their free time on media have time to do homework or even study. This affects their grades by moving from good to poor. College students may have to retake units due to poor performance. Besides, young people get distracted that they barely pay attention to other things around them. Teenagers who are always glued to their phones may not be attentive when other adults are addressing them. Coates et al. (2019) state that distracted youths suffer from obesity due to reduced movements. Young people who spend much time on social media have time to play or engage in other social activities like sports and exercises hence risking their health life.

Acquisition of Identity

Young people also take time to develop their identities through the use of social media (Thomas et al., 2019). The development of identity is one of the many advantages the youths get from using social media platforms. The young generation develops ethnicity, national, cyber, and racial identity, among others. They explore their cultures, sort out what is important and what is not important. Self-identity is very crucial for young people because it is at their stage that they get inspired and pursue a career of their choice. Also, it is an opening where they emulate successful people and work towards self-improvement.

Cyber identity is essential for young people because they reveal who they want to be perceived online. Also, through identification, they separate themselves from other users by defining their characters. The platforms offer the best chances for the youths to be who they are without being questioned. Most youths create a separate personality for social media use because they want to perceive the world from their preferred angle. Besides, the platforms allow young users to develop good characters, emulate their role models, and examine who they are. Other than self-identity, social media offers platforms for young users to learn and accept their cultures from different dimensions. According to Thomas et al. (2019), many social media users are proud of their cultures and do not hesitate to share their practices. Such individuals influence the young generation to pride in their cultures (Thomas, Briggs, Hart, & Kerrigan, 2017).

Conclusion

Young people become distracted, bullied, and acquire identity through the use of social media. The social media platforms offer both good and bad influence, but it is all up to the user to pick what they want. Although the negative impacts for the social media users seem to cause so much damage to them, positive effects such as a learning platform and a way of breaking cultural barriers through communication and interactions are overwhelming. However, the level of negative impact could be controlled by both the users and their guardians by following these simple guidelines. Parents should limit the number of hours teenagers spend on social media to reduce distraction and chances of bullying as well as addiction. The young people should not solely focus on social media but spread their free time across all over other activities. Finally, social media platforms should be used as a place for interacting and learning and not bullying.

References

Coates, A. E., Hardman, C. A., Halford, J. C., Christiansen, P., & Boyland, E. J. (2019). Social media influencer marketing and children’s food intake: a randomized trial. Pediatrics, 143(4). https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/143/4/e20182554?sso=1&sso_redirect_count=1&nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3A%20No%20local%20token

Primack, B. A., Shensa, A., Escobar-Viera, C. G., Barrett, E. L., Sidani, J. E., Colditz, J. B., & James, A. E. (2017). Use of multiple social media platforms and symptoms of depression and anxiety: A nationally-representative study among US young adults. Computers in human behavior, 69, 1-9. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563216307543

Thomas, L., Briggs, P., Hart, A., & Kerrigan, F. (2017). Understanding social media and identity work in young people transitioning to university. Computers in Human Behavior, 76, 541-553. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563217304892