The Effect Of Social Media On Teenagers’ Social, Academical Life And Health

Imagine if social media was suddenly cut from our life with no warning. You would have huge amounts of people panicking, most of them would be teens. They have become so addicted that their hellos are immediately followed by ‘what is your wifi password?’ That is if they don’t already have their parents paying for their monthly telephone, wifi bills. They are always on their phone, whether they are eating, at social events, studying, and even in the bathroom. Using apps like Instagram and Snapchat, which are some of the most famous social media apps. Teens nearly spend an average of nine hours a day on online media (Common Sense Media, 2015). This amount of time is excessive and needs to be controlled as it has many bad effects on teens. It affects them socially, academically, and it affects their health.

First of all, it affects their social life. These young adults are spending most of their time looking and talking with people online. Their communication skills are built virtually, rather than by experience. As a part of growing up, these teens need to build relationships in the real world. They need to learn how to approach people, how to communicate and solve problems, and how to cope with hurt. Instagram and Snapchat serve the opposite purpose of that. They help you run away from your problems by simply ignoring the messages of people you have a problem with. According to psychologist Dr. Catherine Steiner-Adair, teens are not developing their critical social skills.

Through online communication, they are not able to read body language, facial expression, or vocal tone. These skills are crucial for them to grow up and face the real world. Otherwise, they will always depend on their parents to do things for them just as they were toddlers, unable to speak and communicate properly. Second of all, it impacts their academic life. Social media reduces their focus, as they are constantly checking it every few minutes. According to Chris Crosby, researchers have found that students that check social media at least once during a fifteen minute period get lower grades. It’s like there’s a fog covering their brain. Anytime their apps ding with a notification, they quickly run to check them forgetting whatever they’re doing. They start not caring about the knowledge given them, lazily relying on Google to give them any answer for their urgent questions, which is unreliable at times. It has gotten so bad that teens started sneaking in their phones in classes because of their uncontrolled addiction.

In order for a person to be successful, they need to be able to focus on certain tasks and use their knowledge to produce positive results for their community. Last but not least, social media has a bad effect on a teen’s health. Spending hours sitting and looking at a screen that gives off blue light will eventually harm them. They will gain unhealthy weight from the lack of physical activity. In addition, tests found that excess exposure to blue light causes macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness (BBC, 2014). Moreover, it also affects a teen’s mental health. Instagram and snapchat are based on people showing off what they have. This creates countless trends that many are trying to keep up with, as they think it will make them fit. They start to always compare what they have and what others have making them ungrateful for what they have and often leading them to depression. They start relating their self-worth on materialistic things that are unrealistic to keep up with, making them feel sad and unworthy when they don't have what others have.

For these teens to have strong personalities, they need to understand that self-worth comes from their achievements and not from their physical belongings. In conclusion, the hours that teens spend on social media should be controlled. It has multiple bad effects on their social skills, their academic skills, and their health. The core of this problem is the lack of awareness of parents. Social media are a recent thing coming into this world. These parents did not face these problems during their time growing up. As a result, most of the time they don’t know what their kids are doing online or how to control their addiction. In order for a county to be civilized, it needs a strong youth that is able to do good for their society. For that to happen, more awareness should be made for the clueless parents that do not know how to raise up their children in a digital age.