Social media is the utilization of electronic media to associate with people socially and as a source of entertainment. It is widespread in the United States and the most category of people using them are young adults and adolescents. Statistics reveal that 90% of the adolescents in the U.S have used social media and a third of adolescents’ access social media networks many times every day. Psychological research show both the negatives and positives of social media. The positive aspects of social media include it is a platform for social connection, which offers adolescents the chance to connect with friends and build a social network. This helps to them to enhance their socialization skills and promote open discourse and creativity. For instance, online socialization can also assist introverted adolescents to acquire socialization skills. In addition, technology is an influential tool that can be used for learning different important things especially health. Although there are various positive outcomes of social networking, there are also significant risks. Multiple studies have found an alarming relationship between online socialization and different psychiatric disorders and negative feelings. The factual association between social media use and mental health is quite a new and complex discipline of research considering the continuously changing technological landscape. Although some research focus on the positive parts and outcomes of online interactions, an increased range of research appears to be focusing on the contrasting assessment. Regardless, the effect social media has on communities, organizations, and individuals cannot be disregarded (Sawyer et al., 2012). This paper seeks to discuss the arguments on the negative effect social media has on adolescents, and the developing brain and while it should be avoided or limited.
Negative Effect of Social Media on Adolescents Mental Health
The advent of social media has generated a different social dynamic to people or groups that are attempting to understand the challenge of adolescence. The prevalence and widespread adoption of social media has exposed adolescents to numerous content thereby making their brain immensely susceptible to the dangers of social media. Social media satisfies many of the human basic needs to feel competent and connected. They feel a sense of allegiance whereby they believe if they imitate what others are doing, them they are fitting, and this is the beginning of problems. Adolescence is a period when children are experiencing a momentous development change. During this period, adolescents display inadequate self-regulation capability and great risk of vulnerability to experimentation and peer pressure (Sherman et al., 2016).
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The harmful influence of social media include exposes adolescents to increased risk of sexual behaviors especially if exposed to online dating, pornography, and sexualized text communication (sexting). Those engaging in sexting and victims of cyber bullying are highly susceptible to risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Other pronounced concerns of social media use among adolescents include addiction to social media, symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), anxiety, decline in concentration, depression/depressive symptoms, a feeling of lack of connection, and decreased self-esteem. These aspects may disturb learning thereby negatively affecting their performance outcomes. Evidence indicates that students in colleges, high school and middle school, who accessed social media at least once during the study period, got lower grades. In addition, adolescents who use social media sites frequently tend to portray narcissistic traits while young adults demonstrate significant signs of psychological disorders including aggressive tendencies, mania, and antisocial behaviors. These psychological health disorders increases their vulnerability to health problems in the future (Sherman et al., 2016).
The rising tides of anxiety among adolescents is something adults are witnessing in our current generation, something the past generations never experience. Nearly all adolescents have smartphones held in their hands constantly checking on the blinking and beeping notifications of social media. Recent studies have revealed that there is a significant rise of depression and anxiety over the past years among adolescents. Adolescents feel pressures from social media and evidence has indicated that these pressures correspond with the development of normal fears around self-expression and social standing. It is evident that social media has the potential to aggravate these anxieties ( Chassiakos et al., 2016).
Several experts describe the increase in dependence, worry, loneliness, and sleeplessness among adolescents. This rise corresponds with the release of smartphones about 10 years ago. The findings of a study point out that 48% of adolescents who spend five hours every day on mobile phones are at risk of at least one suicide factor as opposed to the 33% adolescents who spend two hours per day on mobile phones. Adolescents are able to determine their self-worth through the likes and follows they get from social media. Evidence reveal that adolescents with sadness, mood disorders, insecurity, poor self-esteem, and anxiety have been associated with constant use of social media ( Chassiakos et al., 2016).
According to Bell, Bishop and Przybylski (2015) , many of the behaviors observed among teenagers are not new. These are the same developmental challenges experienced and exhibited by people in the pre-digital times. For instance, adolescence traits such as the process of identifying the version of yourself you would like to be, the idea of the need to fit in, and the way to express themselves are not new. The only difference is that these challenges are occurring is a different space, such as social media due to technological advancements. The social media has undoubtedly intensified these developmental challenges and altered their scale, quantity, and quality, which is alarming.
Various aspects of social media trigger the mental health problems among adolescents. According to Bell, Bishop and Przybylski (2015) , the common social media-induced stressors include someone posting things about you that you have no control over. Others include having the feelings of pressure to get likes or comments on your posts, the pressure to post attractive and positive things about yourself, and seeing the posts of your peers about events that you have not been invited to. These digital stressors are found to be more challenging for teenagers, evoking mental health problems.
Social media hinders clear communication. Although it is argued that social media sharpens social skills of a child, Cheever, Peviani and Rosen (2018) states that social media promotes indirect communication, which makes children to miss very essential social skills. Online communication places individuals in a nonverbal disabled context, where vocal reactions, facial expressions, and body language are invisible. Nor seeing or hearing the impact of your words on the other person strips away most of the personal aspects of communication. Adolescents who are used to texting and online communication may find it hard to have a more direct communication. Having the skills to make friends is the major part of growing up and friendship involves a significant amount of risk taking. Making new friends and marinating friendship requires social skills. For example, when problems occur, it is important for an individual to have the courage, be honest about their feelings, and listen to what the other person has in mind. Learning to cross these bridges effectively is part of what makes acquaintance scary, exciting, and fun. Healthy self-esteem involves having the ability to say what you feel and think even though you disagree with the opinion of others. However, if the teenager is not getting adequate practice connecting with people and having their wishes satisfied in real time and in person, most of them will be anxious regarding the basic means of communication when they grow up. As they grow older, these social negotiations become more risker as they start to transverse through employment and romantic relationships.
Cyberbullying is another huge hazard facilitated by indirect communication. Indirect communication makes it easier for some people to be cruel. For instance, teenagers’ text things that you would never imagine saying to anyone’s face. Evidence notes that this kind of behavior appears to be more common among girls who naturally do not like to differ with others in “real life”. In normal circumstances, teenagers can be taught to disagree without threatening the relationship. However, social media teaches them to disagree in more extreme ways that endanger the relationship. Studies have shown that individuals who exhibit such behaviors have low self-esteem issues and the insecurities are triggered by feeling bad about themselves. The only way they can feel better is by putting other people down ( Leary and Baumeister, 2017).
How Parents or Guardians can Curb Social Media Addiction
The multiple health problems during adolescence associated with social media use can be addressed through recommending parents to advice their children to seek medical help from mental health care professionals. In addition, the mental health issues can be addressed through school personnel and officials, guardians, and obstetrician-gynecologist. Moreover, the affected adolescents can be provided with knowledge resources such as those within the community and schools, which is crucial because it enables the obstetrician-gynecologist to offer support to these adolescents ( Yeager, Dahl & Dweck, 2018).
Parents are advised to individualize their approach. Adolescents also require different type of social and digital support from their parents. Yeager, Dahl and Dweck (2018) suggests that, parents should focus on identifying the causes of overwhelming irritable feelings of their children because social media has been found to contribute to these stressors. It is important for parents to note that making blanket condemnation on the child is not effective way of approaching the issue. Rather, parents should focus their approach to an individual and understand where the stressors of their child lie and determine the best way the child can acquire control and connect with peers in a powerful way. Checking in with your child to find out what is going on will allow parents to offer support and address the problem.
Parents are advised to assess the activities of their children on social media sites and eliminate the connections to people who seem problematic or inappropriate content. Also, parents need to focus on the latest applications, websites, and technologies that their children are using as well as monitoring the online trends. Communication is the root of parenting thus parents need to talk to their children or listen to them to understand their needs and determine how social media is influencing them in every aspect of their lives. Another approach is making digital media a chance for having real-life socialization. Parents can share some of the social media activities with their adolescents. Examples of these activities that parents can do, together with their children, include reading mutual interest, watching YouTube clips, and playing games among others. This will set a social media expectations for your teenager thus build a consensus with them ( Blakemore, 2018). Therefore, such strategic approaches would help adolescents to enhance their ability to manage their interactions through and with technology.
Parents or guardians can also ensure their children remain safe in all their social media activities by having positive discussions with them regarding self-esteem and self-acceptance. Explain about the risks of approval seeking on social media and in real life as well as the dangers of social comparison. Parents are advised to discuss the potential effects and risks of social media with their children to allow them to make informed decisions when online. Through this, adolescents will be able to protect themselves when engaging in social media dealings. Additionally, parents can help their children build healthy self-esteem by encouraging them to engage in things of their interest that may trigger their confidence and interest. For instance, they can participate in volunteering programs, music or sports. When children learn how to feel good regarding things they can do rather than how they look or what they have, they become happier and ready to succeed in real life. These activities are a part of healthy self-esteem building because they involve spending time connecting with peers through face-to-face interactions ( Blakemore, 2018).
Furthermore, parents or guardians may set and enforce limits about the acceptable information to share on social media and the amount of time spent online. Evidence indicates that children who spend over two hours on social media daily, their mental health is more likely to be rated as “poor” or “fair” in comparison to other users. Therefore, parents have a responsibility of ensuring they have passwords to protect internet access so that they can switch off once the agreed time is up. Also, parents can enforce this by setting screen-free times for instance having longer stretches while on camps or vacations, while riding in the car, or even in the evening after 9 p.m., Parents are advised to be good role models when using electronic devices. Adolescents tend to emulate their parents thus a substantial part of their children’s behaviors may be attributed to their parents as well. This means that failure to adhere to the screen-free time may influence the phone behavior of the teenager (Giletta et al., 2018).
Consequently, parents can work with local and national organizations, administrators, and schools to obtain support with curriculum and age-appropriate guidelines for the safest and healthiest social media platforms for interactions. In addition, children should be educated on what action to take if they feel threatened or unsafe because of any kind of social media interaction. Social media has become part of every aspect of life of our children including their education and relationships among others (Giletta et al., 2018). Therefore, there is no way of avoiding Social media, however, as a parent or guardian, educating and safeguarding your children on how to use social media in a healthy way is very important.
Conclusion
Social media usage presents both positive and negative impacts on teenagers. The positive effect of social media include can be used to establish and maintain social connections, allows access to health information, and can be used for education purposes too. In addition, they have been used to share beautiful moments with others and connect with people globally, and this can be uplifting and empowering for some. Despite these benefits, evidence demonstrate profound negative effects on social media on adolescents’ mental health. Adolescent’s experience social media in a broader way, which most of them are harmful to their brain development. The social media-induced stressors such as the need to fit in, the feeling of pressures for likes and followers, and the need for approval of self-worth by other people, have been identified as triggers of psychiatric disorders. Examples of the psychiatric disorders related to social media use include ADHD, depression, anxiety, decreased self-esteem, and decline in concertation. These mental health problems may influence the overall functioning of an individual. Parents offering digital and social support to their children can address the social media challenges. Examples of the mitigating strategies that parents can apply to resolve the issues that comes along with social media among adolescents include setting firm boundaries on when to use social media and for how long. In addition, parents must talk to their children, listen and understand their needs, determine what is causing their behavior change, and act as good role models when using electronic device. Therefore, social media challenges among adolescents can be resolved largely by parents support to their children.
References
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