Why is Social Media dangerous for Teens?

The three groups that describe a human being’s growth are:

1. Childhood

2. Adulthood

3. Senior Citizens

So where does the term “teenager” fit in? Most of the parents would definitely agree to the fact that teenage is the most difficult age of all and is the age where the parents find themselves in a pickle while trying to understand their children and have control over them!

What makes this “teenage” so special? Well, you can just say that teenage or adolescence is the time you spend most of your emotions on! And most teenagers find solace in using social media and expressing their emotions rather than actually talking about them!  We can just say that social media has control over our lives! While most of them would like to disagree, there are proven facts that show how social media can not only be dangerous but will also completely destroy one’s life. With that being stated, one might think why is social media dangerous for teens? Or what is that one particular thing that makes social media dangerous? With social media being filled with bullies, sexual predators, and other such dangerous groups of people it is quite next to impossible to have a safe time while using these platforms. If you have always been wondering about social media dangers and what causes them then now is the time to get to know all about it and what you can do in order to get out of all these dangerous situations. 

Why is a concern necessary?

Getting influenced by social media is quite easy and teenagers while still learning a lot of new things tend to grasp information on social media much faster than any of the other information being taught to them. A concern in such cases is but natural and hence parents tend to worry about the well-being of their teenagers. 

The sole purpose of social media is to get your time off from other things as much as possible and trying to put them into nonproductive ways which neither does help you stay healthy nor does it help you stay mentally focused. This eventually leads to the so-called “social media addiction” which might sound just like an easy addiction which on treatment can be removed from a person, but is not as easy as it sounds. Because once you get addicted to these means there is no way out unless you come to a realization by yourself.

Dangers that arise from Social Media:

While we are talking about things that will create concern, here are some of the dangers which accompany them. 

1. Getting exposure to sexually exploiting content:

According to parents, the most worried about and the most dangerous use of social media is when one gets addicted to pornographic films and starts showing changes in their behavior. When we talk about changes arising in behavior from sexual content it means the day to day news that you are reading about! It might start from just a random click due to curiosity but might end up leading to the destruction of your own child’s life. One of today’s top problems is due to these social media exposures that teens get even when they are not ready for the same.

2. Sharing emotions excessively!

Sharing emotions in teens is the hardest part as it is the phase where they might trust a stranger more than their own parents. While this might sound impossible this is exactly what has been the case ever since more social media started playing a role in teens’ lives. When one of the teens are online they find solace in sharing their information and emotions to those who they do not know as they think that they might either find a new friend in strangers or that some will never even meet them in life so what is the harm in sharing them! The reality behind the screen is that some might be actual people who would love to hear what you are willing to say but in most cases, it is just a person who wants to get to know about you in order to exploit the moment they find out your weakness!

3. Cyberbullying: Cyberbullying is just another version of sharing your emotions excessively over the internet! Once you lend out your information to an unknown person who would like to take any chance to exploit you, they start the process of cyberbullying. This, in turn, leads to depression, vulnerability, and anxiety in a young teenager’s mind who still needs more decision learning skills to be developed in them. A lot of time we see people even get bullied because they don’t have many followers on social media. That’s when Buying followers for social media accounts come into the picture.

4. Getting more and more into the distorted reality:

All you can see on social media is kids being happy on a tour or a group of teens that are traveling and having a happy time at the beach. You will hardly find anyone posting about the time when they got a zero on their exams or about the beating they had from their parents due to a mistake made by them. This is what keeps a person more and more into the distorted reality and they tend to think that what happens around them is much more beautiful and happier than what is actually happening in their own lives. This is when people tend to imitate others and try to create a reality that they want to live in rather than what they actually are in right now. 

5. Validation:

All of these social media acts being done by a teen or any person, in general, is to get validation for their actions. Sometimes it can be because they would like to stay independent and show their parents that they are also not less than any others. But the reality that teens forget to realize is that they cannot be independent or make their own decisions in life as they are still at the learning age! 

6. Sleeplessness:

Nowadays there are hardly any teens that would actually keep their phones aside by 10 PM and have a goodnight’s sleep of 8 hours. This is because social media addiction has grown so much that teens tend to use social media during midnight and go on till early morning and hence disrupting the much-needed sleep cycle. 

While those were some of the dangers that a teen faces when using social media, let’s look at what are the health problems that teens face when they get addicted to these platforms. 

7. Depression:

The first and the absolute major problem that has been found in teens which eventually takes a toll on their health is depression. Social media tends to show a reality which the teens cannot find for themselves and hence they feel as if there is nothing going right for them which eventually lowers their self-esteem and have a major effect on their image that they tend to hold up. This leads to depression which when gets more grave leads to suicidal intentions. We have even seen some recent case when people get depressed just because of lower followers count. While it is definitely possible to restore the mental health of a teen before deteriorating it to such an extent, the parents are the ones that play a major role in helping their kids. 

8. Low real-time exposure:

Being on the phone all day and staying in the room all day tends to lead the teens a low real-time exposure and hence they do not know how to tackle a daily life problem effectively. In such cases, the teens tend to stay away from any such interactions and hence leading them to a more and more sedentary lifestyle. This again leads to various health problems such as high cholesterol, obesity, and other such problems which are hard to get out of!But does social media only has negative effects on teens or does it also have a positive effect on them? While nowadays most of them just look at the bad side of social media there are definitely some positive things that happen to a teen while using social media. Some of those can be listed below:

9. Strengthens friendship:

Staying away from your friends can lead to a lot of social problems but that is reduced due to usage of social media where you can get to share interests and other such activities online which will keep you connected and hence strengthening the bond of your friendship. 

10. Creative expression:

While it is hard to deny that without creativity, a human being is merely a robot who has been given instructions on how to do a particular thing and how to get your work done. But with social media evolution, one can definitely say that teens have started being more and more creative and hence have started to expand their boundaries. This also lets them earn their own pocket money without having to ask their parents for the same! 

11. Online learning:

When it comes to learning, searching for the right content on the internet can help a teen to get more knowledge than what has been taught to them. So that definitely adds a positive point when it comes to using social media. This also keeps them literate about the daily news and facts that are going around them. 

In conclusion, teens are just kids with their minds developing every second of their life and having an immense curiosity for something new. While this is a good thing, it can also be a bad influence on them. So, is social media dangerous for teens? The answer can be both yes and no! It is definitely for you to decide whether it is now the best way to enjoy your life while being slaves to social media or have an independent and free life away from all of these problems!