The Negative Influence Of Social Media On Youth

Do we all remember getting our first phone? What was the first thing we all did? Let me guess we all
downloaded social media as our first app. Most of us made our first Facebook account. But before
getting social media, we would love to go outside and hangout with hang out with our pets and play
video games, were outgoing teenagers. But eventually the majority of us would be stuck on social
media, especially instagram which was relatively a new social media introduced to teens. Would be
used to see what people are up to and text friends and make new friends, see funny posts and etc.
But eventually, social media would be used to hurt people and which would lead to negative effects
on the youth. Social media is a gateway for the youth to use such as Instagram, Facebook that can
have a negative impact on the youth.

First, social media has many negative effects on the youth. For instance, it can lead to a lack of
confidence, What causes lack of confidence? For instance, it can happen when looking through a
friends account and shows that they posted a picture of themselves and causes teenagers to doubt
themselves feeling that they are not enough. In addition, “researchers at Stanford University coined
the phrase “duck syndrome.” The term refers to the way a duck appears to glide effortlessly across a
pond while below the surface, its feet work frantically, invisibly struggling to stay afloat.” Which means
that a person is pretending to be this wonderful person on the outside but the inside they are
struggling to be their true self. Which can lead teenagers to want to be this person and make them
feel pressure to look perfect to also impress their followers on social media, which can lead to
depression on youth. “For” example,” teenage and young adult users who spend the most time on
Instagram, Facebook and other platforms were shown to have a substantially (from 13 to 66 percent)
higher rate of reported depression than those who spent the least time.” Furthermore, teenagers who
spend their whole day on social media to feel satisfied at the end of the day will come out depressed.
Thus, lack of confidence is the negative outcome of social media on youth.

Additionally, social media decreases face-to-face communication skills. When we are stuck on our
phones all the time, we tend to have less face-to-face communication with others, which can lead to
decreasing the amount of relationships with peers. For instance, “It has been proven that 93 percent
of communication is nonverbal and without these cues that people use to decipher the messages that
are received in person, people will not be able to properly understand what the other person is truly
trying to say to the “them”.(May)” Furthermore, teenagers will begin to learn to interact with one
another online and fall behind the curve when it comes to having deep emotional connections with
peers and as a result, tend to struggle to make and hold onto friends for long periods of time. To
illustrate, can lead to decrease of face-to-face communication with peers, can lead to decreasing
language skills. For example, “People use shorthand and shortened versions of the words themselves
in order to convey a message much quicker. It lowers their social skills when they use those kinds of
words and phrases because they cannot properly convey what they need to these days without using
some sort of speech that is colloquial or not in a reputable dictionary.” Hence, teenagers will then tend
to use the words they text to their friends in the real world with their peers that are not appropriate in
the real world. To sum up, social media can decrease face-to-face communication skills that can have
a negative impact on teenagers.

In addition, researchers conducted a study on “can Facebook make you miserable?” They made two
studies in total. In the article of critical controversy: “can Facebook make you miserable”, “one study
of young adults showed that time spent on Facebook during a two-week period predicted drops in
psychological well-being later.” In addition, this example shows that social media can lead to negative
drops in psychological well-being of the youth. The second study was they had college students to
complete an experiment, Where, they had two groups in total. They asked the students to log into
their Facebook accounts. Half of the students were asked to engage actively and refrain from active
use. The other half of the students were asked to engage actively and refrain from passive use.
Afterwards, they were told to complete a questionnaire and rate how they felt when they were on
Facebook. Finally, those who engaged in passive use reported lower emotional well-being. In the
second study, they found that, “Passively scrolling through those many positive portrayals of other
people’s lives can foster feelings of envy, inferiority, shame and anxiety.” For instance, Another
example, “A Study in 2013 by Krasnova et al. Found that 20 percent of envy-inducing situations that
experiment, participants experienced were on Facebook, and that “intensity of passive following is
likely to reduce users’ life satisfaction in the long-run, as it triggers upward social comparison and
invidious emotions.” This example shows to go that they might at the beginning be happy or sad when
they passively scroll through news feeds or friends’ pages on Facebook, but at the end they will feel
worse at the end of the day. Thus, social media can have a negative outcome on youth.

Yes, the majority of people will not agree that social media have been is just full of negative impact on
the youth. Rather than attempting to discourage young people from using social media at all. But
there are some positive effects of social media that can lead to a good influence on the youth. In other
words, the youth can express themselves. Moreover, “For young people who like to write or create
graphics and digital designs, social media is an ideal place to share their work and get
encouragement and feedback from others. Teens can come up with fresh, innovative ideas, and get
instant feedback.” Additionally, social media can lead to self-confidence and happiness on of youth.
But if used in the wrong way, to hurt others. To illustrate, cyberbullying or to just show off that you are
better than other people. Thus, it will lead to negative effects on the youth.

In conclusion, social media is for sure is a gateway for the youth to use, that can have a negative
impact on teenagers. Thus, it can lead to lack of confidence, which causes teenagers to doubt
themselves and can lead to depression. It also decreases face-to-face communication skills in youth,
which can decrease the amount of relationships with peers and can lead to decrease in language
skills. Thus, researchers conducted a study on “can Facebook make you miserable?” Where
Passively scrolling through those many positive portrayals of other people’s lives can foster feelings
of envy, inferiority, shame, and anxiety. There are negatives of social media, but there are positives
that can influence youth like youth can express themselves, which can lead to self confidence and
happiness. But if used to hurt others to make oneself feel empowered than others. In the end, social
media can have a negative impact on youth.

Works Cited
1. Constine, Josh. “The Difference between Good and Bad Facebooking.” TechCrunch,
TechCrunch, 15 Dec. 2017, www.techcrunch.com/2017/12/14/active-vs-passive-social-media/.
2. Jacobson, Rae, and Child Mind Institute. “Social Media and Self-Esteem: Impact of Social
Media on Youth.” Child Mind Institute, www.childmind.org/article/social-media-and-self-doubt/.
3. May, Lauren. “Positive Effects of Social Media on Your Teen.” Family Orbit Blog, 19 July 2019,
www.familyorbit.com/blog/the-positive-effects-of-social-media-on-your-teen/.
4. May, Lauren. “Positive Effects of Social Media on Your Teen.” Family Orbit Blog, 19 July 2019,
www.familyorbit.com/blog/the-positive-effects-of-social-media-on-your-teen/.
5. Miller, Caroline, and Child Mind Institute. “Does Social Media Cause Depression?” Child
www.Mind Institute, childmind.org/article/is-social-media-use-causing-depression/.
6. King, Laura A. The Science of Psychology: an Appreciative View. McGraw-Hill Education, 2017.
Critical controversy:“Can Facebook make you miserable?” Pg 7

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