One thing that researchers have always concentrated on as far as the internet is concerned is trying to understand the effects of social media. These effects which cover both positive and negative, have been very interesting topics for both those supporting it and those against it.
However, like everything else, social media has both good and bad sides depending on who is using it and how one decides to use it. This is supported by a study carried out by Pew Research who took a survey of teenagers in the United States to understand all aspects of social media.
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That stated, as much as 45% of teenagers are of the opinion that social media doesn’t have either positive or negative effects, while 31% tend to believe that it has more positive effect than negative. As against what most people would want to believe, only 24% of teenagers believe that it has any negative effects.
Here are the top 7 positive effects of social media according to teenagers:
1. Connecting with friends and family
40% of those involved in the study have agreed that the main function of social media which is to keep people connected is the main positive effect it has. The idea here is that because it is able to help one in maintaining contact with family and friends that are far away, it is very important.
2. It makes it easy to find news and Information
Although one of the main problems that people have with social media at the moment is that of fake news, teenagers believe that among the positive effects of social media is that it makes it easy for them to access information.
3. Meeting people with similar interests
15% of respondents believe that social media is highly needful because it makes it very easy for people to meet and communicate with people of similar or related interests. This is as a result of the availability of groups, forum, and other things provided for by social media.
4. Keeping you entertained
With a great number of teenagers indicating that YouTube, it makes a lot of sense that teenagers (9%) believe that one of the most important effects of social media is that it provides them with entertainment. Beyond just chatting, most social media allow for people to create and share multimedia files and play games.
5. Self Expression
Without any doubt, social media has allowed people to easily express themselves in the best way possible without any fear and intimidation.
6. Getting support from others
There are those who believe that social media doesn’t just allow you to connect with people from unknown places, but it also allows one to understand the problems of others and lend help either in the form of speaking up for them or in other ways.
7. Learning new things
Apart from the fact that it brings about a marriage of many cultures and ideologies, teenagers also believe that social media is important in helping them to learn different things from people they get to meet on social media as well as from the things that other create and share.
Here are the top 7 negative effects of social media according to teenagers:
1. Bullying and rumor spreading
One of the greatest problems faced by teenagers on social media is bullying and rumor spreading. In fact, it is not only teenagers that have been victims of bullies and internet trolls. Because of how much cyberbullying is a very serious issue, there are many platforms that have come up to curb it.
2. Harms relationship and lack of personal contact
Among the negative effects of social media, teenagers believe that it does not only harm relationships, it also eliminates personal relationships as people may tend to get too carried away with it to care about their real life relationships.
3. Unrealistic views of other’s lives
Most things that people allow others to see on social media may not necessarily reflect their reality. Because of this, it gives people a view that is not real.
4. Causes distraction and addiction
Already, countries like China are already coming up with social media addiction camps to help people suffering from social media or internet addiction. According to the study, teenagers are of the opinion that addiction and the distraction brought are part of the negative impacts of social media.
5. Peer pressure
Because they see what other teenagers are doing on social media, it has not been helpful to teenagers. This is because seeing what others do, teenagers want to be like others as well and that increases pressure on teenagers to follow the trends and do what others considered as cool are doing.
6. Mental health issue
Teenagers believe that social media can also have an effect on the mental health of an individual. According to a separate research, Instagram may be the worst social network because it is not healthy for the mental health of youths. This is because it is believed that as a photo-based social media, it can lead to many things including anxiety, depression, or the “fear of missing out.”
7. Drama
There are as well many teenagers that see social media as bad because of all the drama that it has allowed many people to get involved in.
