Social media seems to have a considerable impact on the younger generation. It is hard to imagine the youth without smartphones or other devices that allow them to access social media. The ubiquity of social media made it an ultimate platform for communication and self-expression. Social sites will enable us to stay in touch with a great range of people, including family and friends. Social media has various advantages that positively affect human lives and makes them easier. Nevertheless, the coin has two sides, and extensive use of social media could detrimentally influence children’s mental and physical health. In this speech, I will discuss the cons and pros of social media in youth. It would be argued that social media has positive aspects by expanding social connections, facilitating effective studying, and providing the latest information, and negative aspects by giving space for bullying, having a great rate of addiction, and causing mental and physical health issues.
Starting from the positive impacts of social media on adolescents and children, a positive tendency of support and appreciation could be observed. Pham (2020) mentioned that social media enhances social connection and communication between people from different groups. Here, people who have trouble interacting in the physical world could find friends based on their interests. Additionally, social media expand the circle of communication by covering a wider range of people. Another advantage of social media is its beneficial influence on the educational process. Adil (2021) highlights that social media promotes communication between people involved in this study area and provides access to a great variety of educational materials such as videos, blogs, pictures, and readings. This helps to create a community to share ideas and help to solve various problems and cases. Students communicating with their classmates obtain knowledge more effectively and learn from different sources. Moreover, social media represents available and immediate information-sharing resources. Adil (2021) highlights that social media keeps people updated all the time, providing access to the latest news. This allows youth to always be on the wave of the latest events.
Despite being a convenient tool of communication, social media has negative sides as well. Pham (2020) states that social media is a perfect environment for bullying. Young people could create fake accounts for teasing people, sending inappropriate materials, and spreading fake news about other people. The most devastating part of this issue is that it could lead to dramatic outcomes impacting young people’s mental well-being. Cyberbullying and bullying actions could result in depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, suicidal behavior, and self-harm (Adil, 2021). In addition to the fact cyberbullying, social media is extremely addictive. Social media algorithms work to offer material engaging for the user (Pham, 2020). This makes social media extensively addictive to children and adolescents. Although the addiction seems to be harmless, it has various complications and side effects. For example, adolescence could lose the connection with the real-world events involved in the virtual world. This also could lead to problems associated with psychological and physical health. Adil (2021) mentions that social media facilitate illnesses associated with sedentary life such as obesity and could lead to poor eyesight due to the time spent in front of devices. Talking about mental health issues could lead to depression and anxiety.
To conclude, it could be said that social media is a trendy and convenient way of communication and self-expression among youth. Being an ultimate attribute of young people, it has both advantageous and disadvantageous sides. Social media expands the communication circle, facilitates effective education, and keeps people always updated. On the other side, it includes cyberbullying and bullying, which causes addiction and health issues.
References
Adil, M. (2021). 15+ advantages and disadvantages of social media on youth in society. Adil Blogger.
Pham, N. (2020). Positive and negative effects of social media for the youth. Medium.