What global issue are you most passionate about solving?
How social media influences negatively in teenagers.
Hello everyone!
My name is Nashla and I'm a 9th grader in American School.
I would like to start with a quote that says:
"The influence of social media is unbelievable. It's sad to see - It's a fake life that some people live" - Virgil Van Dijk
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat; do any of these sound familiar to you? All of them are parts of social media, but do you know what social media is?. Social Media are websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. You can get access to it pretty easily through smartphones, laptops, computers, tablets, and other mobile devices. This is why people find it as a very important part of their lives or daily basis, communicating almost all day by texting, email or any other way social media provides. Thanks to all the popular social media has gained, it became a new norm of communicating in all societies but in the most part teenagers. Not only communicating but also as emotional support to some teenagers, helping them to overcome difficult health issues or just finding someone to talk about your problems and listen to you; obviously we can not forget about how people find social media as a way of self-expression by makeup or clothes, finding confidence and loving themselves in their own way.
Sadly, everything is not as beautiful as it seems. Everything has a bad side and social media doesn’t escape that rule. I know many of you have heard about cyberbullying, anxiety, depression; these are just a few of the various negative effects that include poor sleep quality, dissatisfaction with body image and FOMO (fear of missing out); of social media in teenagers' mental health. These effects can cause teenagers to not only fall into depression but to even consider taking their own lives just to end up suffering.
According to an article from CNN: Dorian A. Lamis, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University School of Medicine/Grady Health System, theorized that use of social media and cyberbullying may affect teenage girls more than boys, resulting in rising suicide deaths among older teen girls. "Some research has suggested that the timing of puberty in girls is a contributing factor for the increased suicide rate," said Lamis.
I’m not making this up, important organizations such as UNICEF have already spoke about this topic.
“Too much passive use of social media – just browsing posts – can be unhealthy and has been linked to feelings of envy, inadequacy and less satisfaction with life. Studies have even suggested that it can lead to ADHD symptoms, depression, anxiety and sleep deprivation. ” –UNICEF
I want you to imagine the next generation for a quick second, they will grow up wired by life online, even us as teenagers are already living like that. What I mean by that is that taking into account everything I’ve said and stated before, those negative effects are going to keep increasing and maybe by the time we’re all grown up and have kids, social media is not going to be a place for emotional support or self-expression anymore. That’s something I really want to change. Let’s post more inspiring things on Instagram or Twitter, stop caring about how other people live and instead feel motivated to grow bigger and bigger each day, recognize the talent that others have such as drawing or dancing and say nice/good things to those people; me being a dancer myself and seeing other people enjoying what I do, believe me, is an indescribable feeling when someone says good things. I would like my kids to have that feeling or to let other people feel that.
“You can either allow social media to be helpful for you or it can be harmful. I like to let it be helpful.” - Ciara
By Nashla Puerta, Step 9
