Andrada, Jaszcha M. February 15, 2021
11 – Ceferino CORENG2
LINKING IDEAS
Lesson 5 Activity 2
Does social media negatively impact teenager’s lives?
An inordinate fragment of youth in the contemporary world, a fundamental portal that has latched onto
every facet of human activity, and a town square for the global village of tomorrow—social media proliferated
like wildfire and has immeasurably taken the world by storm. With its inexplicably explosive growth in number,
its rates of “constant use” increased twofold from 2015 to 2018 (Anderson & Jiang, 2018; Lenhart, 2015), thus
rapidly penetrating today’s youth culture. Along these lines, in as much as social media may efficiently serve as
an auspicious network tool, it is beyond a shadow of a doubt that its adverse risks overshadow the positive
ones, and that teenagers are particularly vulnerable to its potential imperilment. First and foremost, one of its
negative impacts on teens involves emotional disturbances and adverse effects to their thought process,
substantiated by a 2016 study which divulged that excessive social media use and emotional investment in it
were interconnected with worsened sleep quality, lower self-esteem, and exceedingly higher levels of anxiety
and depression (Woods & Scott, 2016). On top of that, social media has transmuted how, when, and where
bullying takes place, and progressively prompted bullies to promulgate unrelenting, atrocious, and mortifying
words with merely the tap of a key. As a Pew Research Center survey has uncovered, 59% of teens in the U.S.
have personally encountered at least one of the six forms of abusive online ways of conduct, which include
offensive name-calling, physical threats, as well as sharing their explicit images without consent (Anderson,
2018). Along with this, the immoderate utilization of social media may also be cataclysmic to teens in such
ways that it may decrease their physical activity, they may compare themselves to unrealistic portrayals online,
it may give rise to social isolation, low concentration, internet addiction, and fear of missing out, as well as
expose them to suicide and self-harm content (Prajapati, 2020). All in all, taking into account that social media
may potentially do more harm than good, it is of paramount significance not to lose sight of what Paul Gordon
Brown has enunciated, which runs this way: “Social media carries with it many positives as well as negatives;
learning to integrate it into one’s life in a way that maximizes the benefits while minimizing the negative
aspects is an important developmental evolution that teenagers need to make with their social media use.”
11 – Ceferino CORENG2
LINKING IDEAS
Lesson 5 Activity 2
Does social media negatively impact teenager’s lives?
An inordinate fragment of youth in the contemporary world, a fundamental portal that has latched onto
every facet of human activity, and a town square for the global village of tomorrow—social media proliferated
like wildfire and has immeasurably taken the world by storm. With its inexplicably explosive growth in number,
its rates of “constant use” increased twofold from 2015 to 2018 (Anderson & Jiang, 2018; Lenhart, 2015), thus
rapidly penetrating today’s youth culture. Along these lines, in as much as social media may efficiently serve as
an auspicious network tool, it is beyond a shadow of a doubt that its adverse risks overshadow the positive
ones, and that teenagers are particularly vulnerable to its potential imperilment. First and foremost, one of its
negative impacts on teens involves emotional disturbances and adverse effects to their thought process,
substantiated by a 2016 study which divulged that excessive social media use and emotional investment in it
were interconnected with worsened sleep quality, lower self-esteem, and exceedingly higher levels of anxiety
and depression (Woods & Scott, 2016). On top of that, social media has transmuted how, when, and where
bullying takes place, and progressively prompted bullies to promulgate unrelenting, atrocious, and mortifying
words with merely the tap of a key. As a Pew Research Center survey has uncovered, 59% of teens in the U.S.
have personally encountered at least one of the six forms of abusive online ways of conduct, which include
offensive name-calling, physical threats, as well as sharing their explicit images without consent (Anderson,
2018). Along with this, the immoderate utilization of social media may also be cataclysmic to teens in such
ways that it may decrease their physical activity, they may compare themselves to unrealistic portrayals online,
it may give rise to social isolation, low concentration, internet addiction, and fear of missing out, as well as
expose them to suicide and self-harm content (Prajapati, 2020). All in all, taking into account that social media
may potentially do more harm than good, it is of paramount significance not to lose sight of what Paul Gordon
Brown has enunciated, which runs this way: “Social media carries with it many positives as well as negatives;
learning to integrate it into one’s life in a way that maximizes the benefits while minimizing the negative
aspects is an important developmental evolution that teenagers need to make with their social media use.”
