How Social Media Impacts Youth

As a parent or educator in today’s society, it seems everyone is glued to their phones especially teenagers. With so many different social media platforms, teens use this is as a way to communicate. Ever wonder what effect this is having on our youth?

Indirect Communication

Teens are great at keeping themselves busy while doing homework or staying up way past their bedtime occupying themselves with social media. Before everyone had an Instagram account, teens kept themselves occupied in a very different way. They were communicating by talking over the phone or meeting up with their friends at the mall. It could seem that there was a lot of wasted time walking around a mall but teens were learning how to interact with people in real time. Teens today are missing out on reading body language and facial expressions that help develop social skills. Instead, they are fixated on a screen and relying on social media to make connections. 

How to Make Friends

Learning how to make a friend is a huge part of growing up. Friendship requires risk taking with both parties whether that is with making a new friend or maintaining a friendship. When meeting  friends face to face it is easier to let your guard down and allow yourself to be who you really are. While texting, it is easier to keep your guard up and protect yourself because there is not someone looking at you and letting you know by their body language that it is a safe place to share your feelings or that their words are affecting you. When there is a disagreement in a friendship, without talking it through in real time it allows the other person to formulate a response rather than telling the person how they really feel.

Cyberbullying 

Unfortunately, this is the world we live in today and cyberbullying occurs more frequently than we would like to admit. Teens texts things they would never say to someone constantly. We hope that we have taught our teens to disagree in a healthy manner while being in the presence of the other person. 

Peer acceptance is huge for teens and using social media to see the latest fashion trends, music etc puts an added pressure. Especially girls who are scrolling through their feeds waiting to see how many people like their posts. Who wouldn't want to make themselves look cooler if that resulted in more likes on Instagram? As a result, teens spend hours updating their online images to fit in and fight for attention. 

We as a society need to do better, as adults set and example for our youth and show how to have a genuine connection with someone in real time.