There are two sides to every story, and then there is the social media side! Yes, we are living in a world of social media generation and social media has also negative effects on youngsters. They read, they travel, they make new friends -everything they do, gets posted on their social media account.
Without bothering about the negative effects of social media, they glorify their life events and share them on social platforms. Not to mention that this social media crazy generation thrives on every like or comment they get on their posts!
However, there are advantages and disadvantages to social media. When we assess the effects of social media on our teenagers, we quickly come to know that there are very few positive effects of social media. And a number of negative consequences of social sites can ruin our kids’ childhood.
So, are you ready to uncover the darker side of social sites? Here are a few negative effects of social media on our youth.
Negative Effects Of Social Media On Teenagers
Internet Addiction
- Extensive social media usage among youngsters can lead to internet addiction. The more they are online, the more they see new stories, posts, and ideas that they would like to explore.
- The initial habits of surfing social sites quickly turn into an addiction. Are your kids online all day? Do they feel the strong urge to post their every life event on social sites?
- If yes, then undoubtedly, the negative effects of social media have started caging your child’s normal life and he is now addicted to the Internet.
- Also, this addiction can affect his academic performance, personal development, and physical and mental health. However, parents started using parental control apps nowadays which resolves the worry of kid’s addiction.
Social Media Depression
- Does your child look sad if no one likes or comments on his recent post or picture? How does he feel if he doesn’t open his social media account for a day or two? What is his reaction when his social media content can not generate new followers?
- These are the check-points to identify the level of his social media obsession. The biggest negative effect of social media on youth is, they feel depressed when they don’t use social platforms or when they don’t get validation on these platforms.
- This social media effect is known as Facebook depression. Apart from that, teenagers craze to stand out, or the pressure he feels to sustain the current trends of these sites should be counted as negative effects of social media on youth.
Lower Self-Esteem
- The negative effect of social media on teenagers has started to weaken their self-esteem.
- On these sites, youth compare each other. Moreover, girls try to dress like celebrities, in every picture they want to look slim, beautiful and glamorous.
- The pressure to look like their role models negatively affects their self-esteem
- Due to such negative effects of social media on youth, many teenagers, especially girls lose their dignity and start sharing inappropriate photos and content.
Negative Effects Of Social Media On Health
The effects of social media can be tracked by the mental and emotional health of today’s youngsters. Excessive usage of various social platforms can harm the overall health of the child.
Anxiety
- When we talk about the negative effects of social media on youth, apart from depression, teenage anxiety is another concern of every parent.
- Due to various social sites children become over conscious about everyone’s reaction. Whatever their followers comment, means and matters a lot to them!
- Additionally, kids are more curious about knowing what their co-social mates are doing and posting on various platforms, rather than focusing more time on self-development.
- The adverse effects of social media on youth are, it makes our children victims of depression, anxiety, and isolation.
Sleep Deprivation
- While making a list of the negative effects of social media on health, sleep deprivation can not be missed out! Social sites are the leading cause of insomnia in today’s youth.
- According to child experts, the negative effects of social media on teenagers can be associated with sleep loss, disturbed sleep, insomnia and interrupted sleep patterns.
Negative Effects Of Social Media On Students
- Poor academic performance, lack of attention, no real-life friends, poor physical health and high emotional needs to get validities, disturb a kid’s student life. These are a few negative effects of social media on students that can ruin kid’s school days.
Apart from these, there are many other negative impacts of social sites on our children. Such as sedentary lifestyle, weak eye-sight, faulty postures, threats of various cyber crimes, poor social skills, etc,
However, there are several effective remedies to cure a teen’s social addiction. Let’s see how parents can fight against the negative effects of social media.
Solutions To Social Media Addiction
- Limit their device usage and permit the fixed number of hours kids can spend on social apps.
- Restrict your kids from downloading any new social apps from the play store.
- Monitor their social media postings and watch over their app usage remotely.
- Of course, it is not possible to track your kid all the time, but you can appoint a smart app – Bit Guardian Parental Control to perform all these tasks on behalf of you.
Concluding Notes
No matter how much you make your kids aware of the negative effects of social media, they will continue using these sites. But as parents, you need to make sure that your teens use social platforms in a safe way and for a reasonable period of time.
Does your teenager excite on every tintinnabulation he receives on his device? Well, then it’s time for you to rethink the negative effects of social media on today’s youth.
3 Comments