Over the last decade, there has been a significant change in technology with the emergence of media which has resulted in a shift in how people perform activities. The most affected people are the youths, and it has drawn the interest of the scholar and the public to understand the effects that social media causes on the teens. Despite the desire to understand the implications that social media creates on the youths, it is undeniable that there has not been a precise definition of the effects of social media on children. The differences are attributable to the increased change of the mechanisms in which the youths use social media platforms. In the early 1990s, teens spend a maximum of four hours on media, but in the modern world, they devote more time to media than they do in school. There is no precise definition of the effects of press on children and pre-teens, but there exist myths and facts from fiction about the way media affects youths.
Media Causes Addiction to youths
The changes in media do not only arise from the development of new media platforms but because of the repurposing and support of the traditional media forms. For example, youths, pre-teens and also the adults have changed the patterns in which they watch Television. Children spend most of their time watching cartoons and other children related programs thus increasing the risk of addiction even when they grow to teenage. For example, the modern use of television has changed significantly from the way they used to watch social media in the past decade (Richards et al., 2015). As people watch a television program, they also have access to online content where they record and replay the same material which was presented in the television programs. In situations where teens find particular content so compelling, they have an opportunity to record such information and use it for several periods. Since social media is believed to cause addiction, the changing technology in the media patterns has increased the number of hours that children usually spend on media. Media and changes in advertising mechanisms also have changed the marketing and consumption mechanisms, and this forms the basis for the myths and facts that people usually have regarding the effects of different media platforms.
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With the emergence of technological changes in media especially the social media platforms, there is a possibility that press causes addiction to the users. Habit is shared among the youths especially in circumstances where children find it difficult to skip a day without posting or reviewing postings in the social media. From this view, addiction appears to over involvement in an activity that the press enjoys participating. However, obsession leads to over involvement such that the victim forgets to perform other offline activities. According to Richards et al., (2015) media especially has created a new form of addiction rather than known alcohol and other drug addicts. Youths spend most of their time on social media where they update features and review commodities that were initially presented only through the television such that they forget some of the activities that they ought to perform daily. Since addiction becomes a compulsive thought that an individual finds it difficult to live without the action, it causes more harm than benefit to the individual. For example, many youths have shown characteristics of social media addiction, and the effects reflect through various forms such as divorce, exam failure, or adverse impact on health.
Though there has been an argument about the media being a potential cause of addiction, it is undeniable that some scholars overemphasize the issue of addiction. There is an agreement that youths spend most of their time on social media and that they forget doing other activities. However, the change in behavior does not qualify to be perceived as an addiction because people enjoy and devote their time on social media platforms. Understanding effects of drug addiction, it is evident that drug addiction such as alcohol cause both mental and physical damage to the victims and it has been confirmed that drug addiction can be rectified through expert intervention or engagement in rehabilitation centers. In the case of media addiction, there is no evidence of physical damage caused by the individual as it is the case in alcohol and other drug substances. For example, alcohol addiction can cause damage to the liver and ultimately lead to death. This impact is observable, and it makes some sense for people to argue that alcohol addiction is harmful to the health of individuals. This argument leads to the fact regarding the impacts of media on youths and pre-teens.
Poor Time management
Continuous exposure of children and pre-teens to media makes them develop poor time management skills which they display in the future. In circumstances where youths convert most of their time to media activities, it is perceived to be poor time management rather than it is assumed to be a form of addiction. All the analysis regarding the effects of media platforms reveals through the change in behavior such that the victims forget about other activities such as education. However, the use of the term addiction has been criticized, and people focus o using the term poor time management among the youths. If the teenagers convert most of their time on social media platforms, it means that they have sacrificed time that could have otherwise been performed over that time. Even though the forgone activity may be having been helpful to the victim, there is no existence of a tool that could be used in measuring the loss. Some people recover the time lost on social media by working until late in the night as well as avoiding sleep. Despite the problem of time management, there exist some adverse effects on the health of the youths who spend most of their time on social media platforms.
Youths and pre-teens spend the majority of their time on the screen and this lead to a cause of health problems among the children. Media, especially with the emergence of video games and other online activities, has changed how the majority of the youths spend their leisure. In effect, media platforms such as video games and television programs have attracted the interests of the majority of the children and they spend most of their time on the screen. Increased time on the screen among the youths reduces the time that they could use on physical activities that enhances body fitness to an individual. In countries where there is a high rate of involvement of children on social media, it is evident that there are increased health issues related to obesity and overweight. Assume a situation where a child spends three-quarter of a day on the screen either watching a television program or playing video games. The other quarter is spent on constructive and meaningful activities such as learning. These individuals will not have the adequate time needed in engaging in physical activities such as athletes and football which could assist in burning the calories capable of causing health impacts of social media. In this case, it is not the device to blame but the content that is presented on the media devices.
Health Effects
The effects of spending most of the time on media also increase the chances for mental health issues and unhealthy consumption. For example, in a circumstance where people grow their time on social media, there is a possibility that children and pre-teens will not have adequate time to prepare and feed on a balanced diet. As a result, most of the youths have time to spend their time feeding on fast foods responsible for causing health issues (Kabali et al., 2015). The increased consumption of such foods is also associated with increased access to social media where manufacturers of such foods increase their rate of advertisement on social media platforms and television. This information indicates that media platforms have direct and indirect effects on youths. They change the nature of consumption of people especially in food and beverage industries which may have health effects on users. Direct effects occur in situations where people change eating habits because they have little time to spend on preparing meals while indirect effects arise as a result of influence on media advertisements. Based on the nature of the problems and publications associated with an increased concern of consuming high-fat content and foods rich in calories contributes to the high rate of obesity in countries such as in Canada.
Despite the adverse effects associated with the advertisement that has positive impacts on the lives of youths and pre-teens, it is evident that there are facts that media advertisement usually has positive effects on the kids. Though most of the arguments show social media hurts children, the ads have a proven educative impact on the youths. For example, most of the beer and alcohol advertisements show the risk of drinking and driving by showing images of accidents which lead to death. There is an assumption that the developmental stages of a child play an essential role in advertisements and this makes it possible that media advertisements are educative. For example, children tend to transform whatever they learn in early childhood to real-life situations. For instance, if children learn that drinking and driving are dangerous at their young age, they are likely to avoid such behavior even when they grow up. The changing nature of parental nature in modern society allows the media to take control of the practice of children. For example, there exist television programs that are explicitly designed to be educative and entertaining for the youths.
Though the programs are beneficial to the children, there is little control of the activities programs that youths have to watch. The educative nature of advertisement is limited to the people who are in a position to distinguish between programs made for education and entertainment. For example, children who are at the age below eight years are less associated with the benefits that result from the use of media platforms. However, it cannot be ignored that the increased advertisement and presentation of features on products on social media remains influential on the youths (Kabali et al., 2015). In most cases, teenagers to dot follow the advertisements to understand the content of the ad. Instead, they focus on getting attracted to the images which lead to the change in the general behavior of students. For example, food and beverage industry takes an opportunity to represent exciting pictures of the food and cartoons which attract the needs of the youths to change their harmful habit. The effects of television programs and access to social media accompanied by the changing nature of technology also lead to the creation of immoral behaviors on children especially the youths.
Media Contributed to immoral Behaviors
Media platforms especially social media and some television advertisements encourage the youths to engage in unethical behaviors. For example, beer advertisements that occur on social media and television programs especially in Canada circulate the message that real men drink. The increased rate of using social media shows that teenagers come across more than 1000 adverts that encourage people to change their attitudes towards consuming beer. Though the increased concern of the press to protect and discourage teens from using beer, there is no control of the content and effects that such material usually has on the youths. They exclude only teenagers at the age of 16 and 18 which is still a lower age for people to engage in using drugs (Hamm et al., 2015). The quoting of the years indicates that people have attained the years are capable of using drugs which increases the rate at which the youths get addicted to drugs. For example, most of the teens at the ages of 19 to 21 years old are perceived as juniors since a majority of the people are in schools such as universities and colleges. However, media advertisements for drugs quote such as children and teens as eligible to drug users. Addiction and other related health issues that may end up ruining the lives of the youths.
The problem results from the failure of having control of the time t which to present the advertisements as well as lack of control over the kind of content that should reach the youths. For example, there is a possible exposure of teens to premarital sexual behaviors which lead to sexual misbehaviors. For instance, music video played on the televisions or the social media platforms exposes teenagers to sex videos thus creating an opportunity for youths to imitate the actions on such media platforms and make it possible to increase their exposure to sexual abuse. Approximately 75% of the total music presented on social media have sexual content or have violent videos which change the behavior of the children (Hamm et al., 2015). For example, continuous exposure to videos showing violent actions by men against women increases the possibility for the teens to demonstrate violent behaviors in the future making it impossible for youths to embrace change among the life of the individuals. The problem of overexposure to free social media activities also results in the presentation of other content materials such as cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying occurs in situations where the actors in a video or movie usually struggle for power. The challenges arise in circumstances where the intended audience is the adults (Albertson et al., 20180. Since there is an absence of mechanisms for controlling the kind of content that should reach the youths, kids find their way to such videos which contribute to the change of their behavior. Though parents take a chance to control the kind of content that reaches the students, the defending and establishment of the protection mechanisms for protecting youths from the videos, the effectiveness depends on identity and definition of the video. However, parents have not been in a position to identify all the possible video contents that need to identify all the inappropriate materials that should be exposed to youths. For instance, in circumstances where people have access to pornographies, they educate the teens on sexual behaviors thus increasing their vulnerability to such actions which increase the rate of sexual abuse in the country. The increased immoral activities displayed on social media re attributable to the increased exposure of children to social media videos that show sexual content.
Though the online videos are associated with adverse effects related to the adverse effects and immoral behaviors that affect the youths, it is evident that video games usually have positive impacts on the kids. For example, some video games such as PS and online video materials are designed to ensure that children have access to knowledge about the existence of the real world situation thus improving their motor skills. Most video games are educative, and they create an opportunity for a child to relate different activities that help in boosting the mind of the child (Albertson et al., 2018). Similarly, some television programs especially those designed to serve the interests of the young children usually seek to increase the view that children typically have about the phenomenon under discussion. For example, there exist television programs that create a chance for youths to make calls and contribute their ideas to the topic under discussion thus creating know-how regarding the effects of the subject.
Similarly, social media platforms such as facebook and twitter connect people from different geographical locations thus changing the world into a village. In effect, youths receive warning regarding the impact of a particular activity thus taking precautions about the issues associated with dangers. Most of the information posted on social media platforms use real-life examples, and since most of the youths spend their life on social media, they come across such information which acts as a warning to a particular kid who intended to take that course of behavior.
Increased use of social media platforms also increases the vulnerability of youths especially young girls and teens to sexual predators. The emerging social media platforms create an opportunity for children especially teenagers to develop social network connections with people from different regions. Though the creation of social network may help sharpen the lives of the kids by creating job opportunities, approximately 93% of parents have a fear that their children especially those in college has an excellent chance for meeting strangers on social media platforms (Breuner et al., 2016). The arguments are based on experience since social media has created an opportunity for people to share ideas and also engage in a relationship which later turns such a link into a love affair. Since people have little information about the background information of the partners, they end up experiencing adverse effects in their life which makes it challenging for people track the background information related to the causes on child molestation. This behavior has been experienced in real life situations where the majority of the youths especially girls experience miserable deaths that even surprise their parents. This adverse effect is associated with the increased use of social that increases the probability for people to get exposure to predators and molesters who perform these actions.
Media Leads to Isolation Problem among the Youths
Social media is also changing how teens interact in society. In most cases, social media and other media forms such as television are viewed as fundamental reasons behind the changing nature of the interaction. Assume a situation where a child spends the day in school and immediately when they reach home; they turn their concentration on phones or television programs. Whenever the individual is free from pressing issues such as completing homework, they spend their time posting and viewing images on media platforms such as Instagram. In other cases, youths convert their leisure to playing video games which are usually entertaining. The effects arise in a situation where interaction with other tends and also parents are minimized to a significantly higher level (Sampasa-Kanyinga & Lewis, 2015). For example, the majority of the youths in colleges usually share ideas on social media to strangers whom they do not have face contact in their life. This change may be beneficial by extending the social network, but it becomes an obstacle about physical interaction as the majority of the youths will have developed an isolation behavior which minimizes the positive impact of the issue. The problem of increase time spends on social media and posting of images creates a chance for coming across celebrities who contribute to a significant change of behavior by the majority of people.
Media has contributed to the development of body hatred among the youths especially young girls. Television programs and various media groups expose youths to come into contact with celebrities who appear to have the desired body figures. Rather than positive impacts that people usually have when using social media, it is evident that youths especially young girls post images on different social media platforms to get feedback from views. As a result, they use the comments and like to evaluate the presentation on their body images on the public thus deciding on the right path to change their lives. Body figure hatred occurs in circumstances where an individual fails to achieve the intended number of likes thus changing their eating habits and engagement in physical activities to change the shape of their bodies. The condition worsens in circumstances where people come across the photoshops that lead to the creation of ideal images for celebrities presented on the social media platforms or the television programs (Breuner et al., 2016). Under such circumstances, people strive to achieve such body figures, and this may expose the youth to health problems such as depression.
Though people in the community usually see media especially the emergence of social media as a way for reducing the ability of children and pre-teens to develop skills that undermine their interactive nature, youths know the effect of this argument from a positive view. For example, pre-teens and young children usually spend most of their time playing games and accessing different forms of computer and television programs. This behavior reduces their exposure to so many people who know their problems as well as making friends with people who might share their issues. For instance, with the development of technology witnessed in modern society, most children spend their time indoors and their eyes on the screen thus preventing boredom that could lead to exposure unacceptable behavior (.Albertson et al., 2018). As they grow up, they learn to keep most of their issues private and get connected to peers from where they can get a response to their problems. From this view, it is evident that social media creates some form of privacy to children even when they grow to teenage as they find it easy to share their problems to strangers than to people they know.
Effects on Academic Performance
There has been an existence of a myth that associates the increased use of media such as television, and social media hurts the academic performance of student at all levels (Richards et al., 2015). Based on this argument, there is an assumption that media and increased access to devices such as phones, laptops, and computers have occupied most of the time for students living little time to concentrate on academic activities. For example, college students have been associated with spending more than five hours a day on social media as well as using the press in an unproductive manner. For example, a majority of people keep on posting images that are of less importance and non-academic.
Similarly, the teens in high schools level, as well as those in the lower education levels, spend most of their time playing games living inadequate time for study. The effects of this change in behavior reflect through poor academic performance in most of the subjects. Based on this information, media is perceived to be an enemy for educational, and people need to be careful regarding how they use media.
However, this assumption undermines the positive contributions of media on academic performance among the youths. For example, college students find the emergence of technological advancement as some of the tools that ease their academic achievement. For example, the development of Whatsapp, facebook pages, and other forms of social media have created an opportunity for students to share information related to the class schedule, posting of class assignments, and updating information related to exam timetables (Lin et al., 2016). This information is always helpful in circumstances where people need to have access to such information. The posting of such information helps students to save time that could otherwise be used seeking that information.
Similarly, possession of internet tools such as laptops and phones does not mean that the owner negatively uses such devices, sometimes college students use such instruments to contact research that adds knowledge beyond what is learned in class. Therefore, the effects of using social media on academic performance depend on the way the student uses media platforms. In the case of pre-teens, media helps children develop both descriptive and analytical skills that are needed to approach real-life situations.
Though the positive and adverse effects of social media reflect at the youth age, how a child is affected by media depends on the control that such children usually receive at a young age. For example, parents can take control of all programs those pre-teens watch and limit the use of media to particular times of the day. For example, children can only concentrate on watching children related programs and avoid issues such as advertisements which may be harmful to the youths (Lin et al., 2016). For instance, in situations where parents to take full control of the content that children view, it is evident that they will end up imitating undesirable behaviors such as sexual and consumption of products that are harmful to the health of the children. In some circumstances, children even those at the age of 10 years and below have access to technological tool especially phones and they have all the skills needed in creating social media accounts. In other cases, they use their parents’ minds, and they are likely to reflect such behaviors in their youth and old age.
Conclusion
Media has both positive and adverse effects to children and pre-teens, but the results depend on the control that parents, educators, and caregivers usually have on the children’s access to media tools. Though might be the case, the adverse effects of media on children are severe than its positive impact. The results may be direct or indirect as the media also affects people perceived to be caregivers who translate such impacts to the children. For instance, most youths are addicted to social media such that they forget other activities such as preparing meals for the children thus leading to the development of adverse health impacts. Though this might be the case, the problem associated with this issue is associated with increased poor time management rather than the proclaimed addiction since people enjoy the use of social media. The impacts of press on pre-teens and children only occur in situations where children grow to the youth age, and they are expected to be independent.
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