The Way Social Networks Affect Youth

During the past few years, online social media gained such an amazing popularity that multiple researchers became interested in it. Although with time all generations have come to using social media, teenagers and the youth are now the most fanatic users of such networks as Facebook, Instagram and Tweeter. Many research studies in this field prove that social networks have a great effect on the lives of the youth. In addition, these effects are both positive and negative.

Positive Effects

We cannot ignore the fact that social media plays an essential part in teenagers’ lives. Most of them spend not less than an hour a day in such networks as Instagram. In general, 1 out of 7 minutes that are spent online by most teenagers who can access the Internet is spent on Facebook.

Many of you may ask about the positive effect of spending so much time on a social network. Well, youth who have been interviewed assert that social media makes their lives much easier and effective. Social media greatly helps users to know what is happening around the world. It also gives an opportunity to interact with one another even if they are far away from each other. Due to this, users’ relationship can strengthen even if they move to different locations after close relations. Additionally, such websites provide a platform where the users have an opportunity to create groups and pages based on their common interests. This can help students in their studies and respective careers by updating actual topics to discuss.

Negative Effects

Whereas on one hand social media is likely to bring users together and help them interact, on the other hand it creates social isolation to some extent. Because teenagers tend to spend much time on social networks, they rarely have face-to-face interaction. According to plenty of studies, social isolation often leads to numerous emotional and psychological problems, such as anxiety, depression and somatic complaints. Among other negative effects of social media, there are also poor spelling and grammar. Besides, using social networks leads to the decrease of productivity as people who are supposed to be studying or working spend time on the social media sites. Moreover, they provide a perfect platform for cyber bullying.

In sum, social networks affect the youth both in positive and negative ways. Anyway, it is necessary to find a balance and avoid social network addiction.