The mobile phone has giving us many good things but it has drawbacks as well. Where the smartphone has smashed down the distance between countries, it has also put everyone one the same scale and platform. People from high class and poor, people with good looking faces and ugly people, people with good body and people who are depressed over the weight gain. Everyone is on the same platform and directly interacting with each other. This has put many teens under depression. There are many effects of social media on teenagers, and thus we can say the social media apps are bad, but that doesn’t mean all apps are bad for the kids, there are some exceptionally good apps for kids too. But we will discuss about here briefly and precisely that there is a more negative effect of social media than positive effects of social media on teenagers. Now we will try to explain in detail How social media affects teenagers?
Effect on Identity Formation
This effect is directly linked with the person people think you are by judging your profile on social media. If you have a good fan following and good pictures over social media. People will respect you in real life as well. This is a research-based theory that this happens a lot in our society and a person with a good profile on social media has esteem respect in the friends and family as well. People think of him as a celebrity and treat him accordingly. So instead of focusing on real goals and getting a good degree and jobs teens are motivated to increase their followers on social media and that craze has destroyed the lives of many young girls who had their private photos leaked over social media and they commit suicide or verse. People do not think about commenting on social media. One wrong move and you will be trolled by all the internet and people surfing it. Your whole life will be doomed in a second. Your family will start hating you and all your neighborhood will taunt you for your doings. That shows how does social media affect teenagers’ mental health? Every teen is running toward fame and followers and to get followers they can go up to any length and do not fear the consequences.
Comparison of Social Media
As we earlier mentioned about how social media affects teenagers? And has a person from every class and people are posting about their lifestyle and their possessions on the internet. Teen looks at those and compare themselves with them in real life if on average teen compares himself with two or three people around his circle who are doing well enough. But on social media, that number is raised up to thousand. And when they continuously scroll through social media and see how perfect the life of other people are going and how they are enjoying holidays in different countries every week. This is the psychological effects of social media on youth. They get dispersed and feel bad about themselves and their parents who did not give them all the luxuries of life. They forget to praise what they have and start to hate themselves for what they do not have. This is the biggest drawback and effect of social media on the teens of this generations.
Thinking of Virtual Life as a Reality
As we mentioned earlier that people post about their perfect holidays in different countries and their luxurious stay on the internet and their perfect bodies and a healthy lifestyle. That is not the reality as per the research by the scholars. Every human has the same basic needs and no matter how hard they try to make up their selves on the internet. In real life, they are the same as you and they eat everything you eat. They have pimples on the face as you do. The camera, editing, makeup, and filters are covering it up that you do not see. Teens think that what they are watching over the internet is the ultimate reality and people are all beautiful and healthy. They have big bellies and before taking a photo the stop their breathing process. They use different tactics to look perfect and you can also do that. There is no big deal and no need to hate yourselves for what you don’t have. Always look on the bright side and if you think someone is doing good in their life, do not get jealous and depressed but work hard to make your lifestyle as you dream for. Do not sit in the form of a laptop whole day looking at the good lives of others, go out work hard, and make your own life better. Positive effects of social media on teenagers is nothing compared to the negativity it puts in the mind of the youth.
Depression
Finally the last but not least. This are the psychological effects of social media on youth that need a detailed discussion. All the thing is being said in the upper part of the article they lead toward depression. A teenager does not know how to cope up with the matter that they are ok to have less than others and they do not need to overthink over it. Teenagers smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol and having drugs because they do not have the luxuries of life that are repeated on the internet as a symbol of a good and perfect life. There should be an education in the school about how to use social media for benefit but not for the unhealthy purpose. There are a lot of lectures, stories, and learning material available on social media. People come on a single platform and discuss the issues and the problems of the world and try to solve them by discussing it over. I hope that you understand now how social media affects teenagers? The teacher should play part in it as well as the parents. If you think your kid does not have a strong and stable mindset then do not let them go in the world where they would be treated as they are nothing but a piece of garbage in this world and he has no idea how to face such cruel world. This is how does social media affect teenagers’ mental health. One proven way that works against all this, is giving them a certain reward every time they resist such apps. You can take the kids out to shopping and use some amazing kids shopping coupons to be light on your own pocket, or get them some sort of gift the kid would love.
