SOCIAL MEDIA ACROSS AGES

Social media has become an essential element of modern life and as it grows in popularity, it’s
effects on different age groups has become more obvious. Impacting from how people interact,
perceive their surroundings, entertain themselves to the way they communicate… Due to what they
provide, social media platforms such as twitter, snapchat, tiktok and more, now people from
different age groups are able to connect, learn and entertain themselves. Even though these social
meia platforms provide pretty much the same opportunities to different age groups, that wouldn’t be
ethical to make generalization of the impact of social media platforms are same on different age
groups. Because of the different needs and interests they share, each age group have their own
benefits from social media. To classify those different age groups we can analyze them as three
groups startting from teenagers and young adults following with the groups of middle aged people,
aging from 25 to 50, to elderly people.

In the adolescent age group, social media is frequently used as server for communication and self
expression. Usage of the social media platforms are mostly to connect with their peers and shape or
create an idenity for themselves by teenagers as the are in the journey of finding an idenity and
network. While those platforms can be helpful to build a network and creativity on yourself it can
also lead o behaviours as cyberbullying, comparing oneself with another and more which can lead to
negative influences on ones mental health and idenity crisis. On the other hand, young adults who
are in their twenties and thirties use social media to achieve their goals ither it is personal,
proffessional or both. Young adults use platfroms such as LinkedIn to achieve their career goals and
platforms as Twitter to socialize and networking. However usage of social media platforms also can
lead to negative influences on this generation as it can cause struggle to achieve the ‘perfect’ online
image, leadig to feelings as anxiety and inadequacy.

Middle aged people commonly use socal media platforms to keep up with current events and
maintain their connections with family members and friends. Facebook is one of the platforms they
frequently use to post about their experiences, family photos and more to being able to keep in
touch with their family members and friends regardless of their location. Yet using social media much
more than needed may result in reliance on social media and that reliance may lead to negative
feelings as loneliness, isolation and fail of fulfillment.

Last but not least social media allows elderly people to connect with their loved ones and Access
information but these oppportunities also come with some challenges. Many elderly people have
difficulty with tecnology and they lack the navigation of their privacy, which makes them vulnerable
to frauds, scams and misinformation. Moreover, the emphasis on trends on platforms such as Tiktok
an Snapchat can part older users and may create feelings of isolations and being parted, divided
because of the generational differences.

Considering all thses given points, the impact of rising social media usage varies across ages. Each
age group face both the opportunities and challenges social media can cause. Younger generations
often embrace these platforms to socialize and express themselves either is is personal, proffesional
or both at the same time, and older generations use social media to keep in touch with their loved
ones or family members and friends who are distanced and to stay up with current events. While
social media offers undeniable benefits to create connections, keep up with your friends and current
events it also raises concerns regarding privacy and mentality. It is essential to balance the usage of
social media while its popularity is rising and not overuse it to minimize possible negative influences
it may cause. If used safely and balanced, social media platforms may have incredible opportunities
and impacts for each age group.