The Harms of Social Media

Social media can contribute to toxic cultures.

by Alejandra Ramos

Everyone knows how toxic the social media world is. Instagram, Snapchat,

tumblr, etc. they all have a repercussion behind every post. Every post has the

viewpoint of someone living their “perfect” life. Posts that are about someone enjoying the perfect vacation, accomplishing a milestone, or showing what body they have. The world of social media is basically a window for the whole world to see in someone’s life.

Almost all teenagers have at least one social media account where they can be

easily influenced by what they see online. This could be dangerous to their developing minds because it could lead to saddening behavior. Teenagers and young adolescents are at a point in life where they are figuring out their true self but once they are exposed to unrealistic views of other people’s lives it could lead to a negative impact. Everyone, especially teenagers, tend to compare themselves to other people and if they see someone doing something better than them then it’s most likely that they feel that what they are doing in life is not enough. There have been studies where adolescents who are on social media actively have reported to have declines in life satisfaction.

With being active on social media, it’s possible that the sleep schedule would be
off. Sleep quality is an important key factor to a healthy lifestyle since we need energy to utilize for the day. When someone gets stuck browsing on the internet at night, it disrupts the sleep schedule. It seems that poor sleep quality had a statistically significant relationship with a high amount of social media use (Pirdehghan, 2021).

Sleep deprivation increases the likelihood of teengers and adolescents having little attention span and the inability to concentrate which can affect their academic performance and daily activities. As well as being tired all day, it’s clear that the overusage of social media has its consequences.

One of the main issues that involves being active on social media is insecurity
being developed. Insecurities being developed can come from many situations. The main situation is society putting beauty and body standards all over social media platforms. It spreads out to everyone that there is only a certain body type that can be accepted as beauty and if a person doesn’t fit that image then they are considered not beautiful. The beauty standard from social media of girls is to be thin and boys having muscles which can cause a rise in insecurities.This whole concept will certainly do damage to one’'s self-image especially for teenagers since they are at the age of wanting to fit in and be accepted in society.

On top of all these scenarios of being active on social media, it’s a place where a
person can easily be cyberbullied. It’s easy for anyone to comment on someone’s post about their weight and appearance without facing consequences. There is even a study where 48% of those who were cyber victimized have no idea of who their online bully is (Barlett, 2018). It’s more effortless to say anything online compared to saying it in person. Most people post pictures of themselves where they feel good about themselves so when someone comments something malicious about them it creates self-esteem problems.

Teenagers are at a vulnerable position where they go through their developmental stages. Parents should be more aware of all the possibilities that could happen to their child when they go online. As much as social media platforms could be entertaining there’s also a shady part that comes along with it.

References

Christopher P. Barlett, Caroline C. DeWitt, Brittany Maronna, and Kaleigh Johnson.

Social Media Use as a Tool to Facilitate or Reduce Cyberbullying Perpetration: A

Review Focusing on Anonymous and Non Anonymous Social Media Platforms.

Violence and Gender.Sep 2018.147-152.http://doi.org/10.1089/vio.2017.0057

Pirdehghan A, Khezmeh E, Panahi S. Social Media Use and Sleep Disturbance among

Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study. Iran J Psychiatry. 2021 Apr;16(2):137-145.

doi:10.18502/ijps.v16i2.5814

https://www.toplinemd.com/ana-hpmd/social-medis-teenage-insecurities/