apa formatted FINALE research paper 1200 word min due due 10/11

SOCIAL MEDIA AND TEENAGERS 5

Social Media Impact on Teenagers

Donavan Croom

FIRST DRAFT OF PAPER

Social media has become a significant part of our day to day lives and the young generation has never been more involved. Technology has made multitasking more efficient and easy. People are using smartphones for work, school, personal and social lives. Social media enables connectivity with friends and family, banking, and paying bills has never been fast and effective, marketing, quick access to information, employment opportunities, civic engagement, and forming new relations. Platforms associated with social media include Facebook, Whatsapp, Tik Tok, Instagram, Snapchat, and Tumbler among many others. This great platform has its good sides, bad and the ugly sides. Despite all these positivities, there is reason to worry about the effects of social media platforms on the young generation especially teenagers. Acknowledging the bad and ugly sides of society is the main concern of this paper such as cyberbullying, mental effects, communication issues, sexting, pro-eating disorders, and self-harm.

Cyberbullying and internet harassment is a major concern for all social media. Multiple teen suicides over the years have made people aware and also raised concerns on matters of cyberbullying. According to (Reid & Weigle, 2014) common ways of cyberbullying include: sending hate messages, spreading rumors, profile creation, webpages, or videos to humiliate another person, sending threatening or hurtful messages, and distributing inappropriate videos or photos. Biracial and multiracial, obese, and disabled students are at higher risk of experiencing bullying. "One out of four teens are bullied, while up to 43 percent have been bullied online while nine out of ten LGBTQ students experience harassment in school and online," (Dalomba, 2020). Victims of online cyberbullying have low academic success since they concentrate less in class and are also prone to committing suicides.

Social media has also been linked to mental health issues among teenagers. The ability to access information online through social media is no doubt that it broadens the skills of teenagers but what other effects does it have on the mental health of teens and students. Depression and anxiety are some of the issues that have been associated with social media usage (Gordon, 2020). Teens tend to create friendships online which leads to social depression and anxiety is a result of trying to mimic and being on the same page as the people they are associated with. There are times that we all get carried away by many things such as chatting, this also happens to teens where many ends up sleeping late. This causes sleep deprivation because they have places and classes to attend in the day but they did not get the recommended amount of sleep.

Social media platforms can influence teens to indulge in sexting and risky behaviors. Teenagers tend to post their daily activities such as getting intoxicated at a party, indulging in sexual activities or drug abuse. Posting such images or videos is risky for students especially to their academic life. According to (Reid & Weigle, 2014) these posts are public thus easily shared and viewed by others hence college admission committees and job recruiters may pass negative information. This could cause some to miss out on college applications or get fired from work. Teenagehood is a time associated with body exploration thus teens might get involved with sexting. "Sexting refers to the sending or receiving of sexually explicit images or videos via cellphone," (Reid & Weigle, 2014). The risks associated with sexting is that the messages, images, or videos can be sent to the public which might result in cyberbullying and harassment.

Social media can cause eating disorders and self-harm. As discussed earlier, social media platforms can cause depression and anxiety which are precursors of mental health issues. This arises because teens especially girls want to be like someone they see on these social platforms. As a result, they restrict their eating and exercise more to achieve that slim body that everyone might think is perfect. According to (Escalante, 2019) girls with Snapchat and tumbler accounts as well as boys with accounts on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat were significantly linked to eating disorders and over-evaluation of shape and weight. The amount of time spent on social platforms also contributes to how teens eat and check on the diet thus amounting to eating disorders.

Social media has very many positive and negative effects on teens. Risky behaviors such as drug abuse, involvement in sexual activities, and sending and receiving sex pictures and messages. Teens get an eating disorder and also experience self-harm intentions such as suicide. Cyberbullying and internet harassment is also another negative effect of social media on teens which causes high chances of suicidal thoughts and low academic performance. Mental problems such as depression and anxiety have been linked to social media effects among teenagers. All these problems are associated with the teenage use of social media platforms. It is therefore imperative that parents learn how to instill good behavior in their children in addition to educating them on the dangers of social media on their health, academics, and social lives.

Reference

Dalomba, F. (2020). Social Media: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Lifespan. https://www.lifespan.org/lifespan-living/social-media-good-bad-and-ugly

Ehmke, R. (2020). How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers. Child Mind Institute. https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/

Escalante, A. (2019). Does Social Media Drive Eating Disorders? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shouldstorm/201912/does-social-media-drive-eating-disorders

Gordon, S. (2020). 5 Ways Social Media Affects Teen Mental Health. Very well family. https://www.verywellfamily.com/ways-social-media-affects-teen-mental-health-4144769

Reid, D & Weigle, P. (2014). Social Media Use among Adolescents: Benefits and Risks. Adolescent Psychiatry. 4. 10.2174/221067660402140709115810.