Social Media are Bad for Children and Teenagers

Social media is an online media in which the users can easily participate, share, and create the
content of blog, social networking, and the virtual world. Blog and social networking is the
form of social media that mostly used by the community around the world.

Social media Web sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many others have become
nearly inescapable facets of modern life, particularly for teenagers. Social media is becoming
more than just a part of their world, it’s becoming their world. Teens are spending more and
more time online, usually on a social media platform like Instagram or Twitter. Most teens now
have smartphones where they are on social media networks all throughout the day. They are
constantly texting, tweeting, and posting pictures via Snapchat and Instagram. However, hyper-
connected to social media could be bad for them.

Social media, with its various features which are provided, certainly brings positive impacts
for the users. On the other hand, social media can also cause negative impacts if it is not wisely
used, especially for children and teenagers. In this case, it really needs attention from parents
and teachers to monitor the children and teenagers from the negative impact of social media.
For the worst, we have to restrict them to use social media.

There are many negative impacts of social media for children and teenagers. children and
teenagers become lazy to communicate in real world. Their understanding of the language is
disturbed. If a child is too much communicating in the virtual world, then their knowledge
about the details of communicating in real life, like body language and tone of voice, will be
declined.
Today teens don’t know how to disconnect. Social media has allowed them to take their life
online from the time they wake up till they back to sleep via their smartphone. One reason this
“always connected” activity is harmful is because of the alarming trend of cyberbullying.
Bullying has now moved from not only being in the school and on the bus, but online. What
does this mean? If a teen is getting bullied, they cannot get away from it! The people bullying
them simply continue their bullying via social media.

A new study has found that teenagers who engage with social media during the night could
be damaging their sleep and increasing their risk of anxiety and depression. Teenagers spoke
about the pressure they felt to make themselves available 24/7, and the resulting anxiety if they
did not respond immediately to texts or posts. Teens are so emotionally invested in social media
that a fifth of secondary school pupils will wake up at night and log on, just to make sure they
don’t miss out.

Another impact social media has had on teens is teens being more comfortable online doing
things that they should be more sensitive to doing. A separate study by the National Citizen
Service found that, rather than talking to their parents, girls seek comfort on social media when
they are worried. The survey also suggests that girls are likely to experience stress more often
than boys – an average of twice a week.
 Social networking sites will make children and teenagers more self-interested. They are not
conscious of the environment around them, because most of their time is spent on the internet.
This can cause children to be less empathetic in the real world.

For children and teenagers, there is no the rules of spelling and grammar in social networking.
This will make them more difficult to distinguish between communicating on social
networking sites and the real world. This clearly would affect their writing and speaking skills
at school.

The assumption that internet is identical with pornography is not wrong. With its ability of
information dissemination owned by the internet, pornography is rampant. To anticipate it, the
producers of browser complete their program with the ability to choose a home page that can
be accessed. On the internet, there are many images of pornography and violence that can be
the impulse to someone to do criminal acts.

Social networking site is fertile land for the predators to commit a crime. We will never know
if someone new whom our children just know on the internet, uses the real identity or not.
Fraud is rampant in every field. The internet is not excluded from an impostor’s attack. The
best ways is not to heed or confirm any information you get from the information provider.

Credit card is the most used way in the internet world of the internet. The cyber criminals
often commit in this field. By the open system, the criminals are able to detect the online
transaction (using a credit card) and record the code of cards that are used. Then, they use the
data they get for their business of wickedness.
Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many others are basically created to
connect everyone around the globe so they can interact and communicate each other. However,
too much exposure of social media can also be bad especially for teenagers. As it mentioned
above, social media could become media for bullying and source of pornography, risk them of
anxiety and depression, and risk their real-life social interaction. Therefore, social media are
dangerous for children and teenagers’ health both mentally and emotionally.