Teenagers are children moving into adulthood who are within the age of 13 to 19 years of age children within this age range they need intensive care, attention and protection from themselves and from the world too.
Teenagers within this age mostly act out of impulse as they are open to trying out new things that they see around them and also, they are influenced by what people around them display.
Social media is an application or platform that aids users to communicate between communities and networks and share information across the globe, it also aids in the sharing of contents on the online platforms. Examples of social media includes Facebook ,WhatsApp , twitter and YouTube.
Effects of social media on teenagers .
There are some good ways which social media affects teenagers :
Educational system there are many educational contents on the internet that aids students in learning ,and most schools now send their students assignments over social media thereby making it less stressful for them and the students .
Information there are a lot of information that are available on the social media and add to the knowledge they have already.
Creativity teenagers are bright minds and are talented in so many ways we can't even imagine and social media encourages them to learn more about their talents and get creative in so many things like robotics and science projects.
Enchanced communication, i will use my younger ones as examples here most of them have android phone because they have communicate with their classmates and also in WhatsApp group chat for group work and assignments.'
Just as we have the good effects of social media on teenagers we have the bad effects too and they include :
Inferiority complex and unrealistic comparison this happens when teenagers start comparing themselves to those they see online and most times they are not in the same economic status as them, and then this makes them feel less of themselves thereby plunging them into inferiority complex that will affect how they carry themselves amongst their peers.
Addiction as a result being exposed to unfiltered write ups and content involving sexual contents, drugs and so many others teenagers get addicted to drugs , masturbation and displaying of the bodies online just to get attention from the public. And if it's not looked it can make them go wrong in the future.
Anxiety, bullying and depression most teenagers especially the females are victims of sexual harassment and stalking by manipulative individuals waiting to prey on them ,the teenage boys are bullied by that peers or older ones to either drink ,smoke ,take drugs or perform sexual activities that are not appropriate for them. Some give in and fall in depression and get anxiety disorder due to the effects on their mental health.
Improper time management teenagers use up too much screen time that it distracts from reality and addicted to their phones.For us who never had phones in our teenager years we invested our time in better things.
The mental health of our teenagers should be looked into by parents and parents should set parental control on their teenagers phone to monitor what they go through on the social media.
Social media is good and bad how we use it is determined by us.So let try to use it positively and also aid our teenagers who need our support on how to use it to their benefit.
Thank you.