Social Media and its Effects on Teenagers

Introduction

            Over the recent years, the use of social media has grown to become one of the most popular activities among teenagers. While there are various social media networks, Facebook stands as the most used social site by teenagers between 13-17 years old in the United States (Ba´nyai et al. 1). A recent report indicated that 71 percent of adolescents using social media have access to at least two social networking platforms and 24 percent of teenagers are continuously online owing to the pervasiveness of the usage and increased number of smartphones (Ba´nyai et al. 1). The heavy involvement of teenagers on social networking avenues has a significant influence on their behavior as it tends to be shaped by the content they are subjected to in social network platforms. While social media is attributed to improving connectivity and the sharing of information among teenagers, it has also caused significant negative effects among adolescents such as low self-esteem, shaped a negative attitude towards obese persons, social contrasting and envy, lower mindfulness, depression, cyberbullying, social isolation, and poor social skills among others.

Definition and Description of Social Media

            Understanding the meaning of social media is particularly important in the discussion of its effects on teenagers. Different persons variously define social media. However, this paper will have a specific definition of social media for purposes of uniformity. As such, social media refers to applications, which enable individuals to hold interactions with others and establish social connections that enhance social capital (Huang 9). Commonly known avenues of social media entail Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Polyvore, and Myspace (Heinemann and Gaiser 13). The social medium enables individuals to set up a profile within the site, which may involve a personal picture, avatar, email address, screen name, symbol, or other depiction (Brunty and Helenek 1). Once created, a profile provides users with a specific and unique identification that facilitates other persons to identify and distinguish one individual from the others within the system.

Moreover, the profile created enables social media users to find and connect with other members on the social network. Some of the other members within the site involve friends or acquaintances from the real world to individuals whom the user meets in the site. Upon the users’ connection with others on the site, he or she is not only able to see his or her connections made through the site but also connections, which other members have made within the social medium (Brunty and Helenek 1). It is worthy to note that the viewing of connections of other users in the social network is dependent on the design of the social site and the kind of privacy settings, which other users have allowed. As a platform that facilitates communication, social media urges its users to communicate with other persons who are a component of the social network. Social media also creates an environment that allows users to share content through common interests (Brunty and Helenek 2). As such, the varying platforms of social media enable users to connect and share content with others.

Negative Effects of Social Media on Teenagers

Social Media Lowers the Self-esteem of Teenagers

Regarding the adverse effects of social networking sites on teenagers, social media is attributed to lowering the self-esteem of adolescents. More often, teenage girls are the most affected as they are fond of comparing themselves with a category of popular personalities, who have their pictures photo-shopped to look thinner, prettier, and wealthy. Young people fallaciously view such individuals as their model of what is perceived as normal. These mistaken perceptions are increasingly destructive to how teenagers view their self-worth. Research findings have indicated that teenage females will spend a significant chunk of their time making an effort to create the perfect post of themselves, having the worry that their friends might not accept them (bp Magazine, par. 1). This development results in body dissatisfaction among teenagers. A recent study indicated that adolescents respond to this dissatisfaction by eating less, which further leads to eating disorders (Lim and An 2050). Besides, teenagers whom social media has lowered their self-esteem tend to develop a habit of constantly checking on updates posted on social networking sites when they are in the company of their peers as compared to their counterparts having high self-esteem (Tang and Cheah 75). This behavior demonstrates that teenagers who have developed low self-esteem have a tendency of feeling timid towards face-to-face interactions, thus decide to resort to social media to stay away from any form of perceived discomfort.

Social Media among Adolescents Builds a Negative Attitude Towards Obese People

Similarly, continuous exposure to social media among teenagers shapes a negative attitude towards obese persons. In fact, the study conducted by Lim and An (2058) among South Korean teenagers established that perennial consumption of social media information that promotes lookism swayed the beliefs of teenagers regarding the root of obesity that subsequently led to an undesirable social attitude about obese individuals. In particular, the popularity of body image information on social media that glorifies slenderness and physical attractiveness affected the perception of South Korean adolescents via their outward attributions, hence promoting stigmatization. Despite the fact that teenagers might be aware that obesity may be caused by a situational or an outward element like environmental, biological, or genetic, social media content that emphasizes on lookism drives them to stigmatize obese individuals (Lim and An 2058). This development indicates that social media not only affects its users but also those who do not use it. An obese teenager may not be using social media but be a victim of stigmatization from their peers whom social media has conditioned them to develop a negative attitude towards obese individuals.

Social Media Leads to Social Collation and Envy among Teenagers

In addition, the intense use of social media among teenagers leads to social contrasting and envy. To this end, Charoensukmongkol (76) conducted a study to determine the contribution of social networking sites use extremity on social collation and envy among adolescents. The findings of the study established that adolescents who categorized themselves highly on the social media use vehemence measure had a greater likelihood of reporting a significantly higher level of social comparison and envy. The findings established by Charoensukmongkol (76) are in line with results from previous research works, which sought to determine the contribution of social media on the outgrowth of the two cognitive processes under consideration. In essence, exposure to social media not only drives individuals to increasingly engage in social collation but can also induce psychological reactions.

One negative reaction, which results from contrasting oneself with other people, is the feeling of envy, which people develop following their exposure to admirable life experiences of acquaintances, which they also desire to lead (Charoensukmongkol 70). The envious feeling is described as a painful emotion, which arises from an individual’s collation to others who are better off and own something, which one yearns for but does not have (Charoensukmongkol 70). While the intensity of social media usage was established to illustrate the gravitation of adolescents to participate in social media contrasting and envy, friends and family may affect the effect, which social media use has on the out-growths of the two cognitive processes. In particular, the aspect of parents contrasting their children with the kids belonging to other parents or their siblings is considered as a parenting fault, which can result in adolescents undertaking undesirable dispositions and demeanor involving sibling antagonism, deprivation of self-confidence, and jealousy (Charoensukmongkol 71). The aspect of being a constant target of collation by their parents can substantially enhance social contrasting demeanor among adolescents since it makes teenagers to become increasingly conscious of what their peers have in relation to what they do not own. Besides, the habit of parents who continuously tell their kids to become or behave like other children who are superior to them has a likelihood of triggering adolescents to have negative feelings or to be envious to persons who are considered as a point of reference. Owing to the behaviors and personalities, which adolescents initiate when they are continuously contrasted to others by their parents, it goes that such young persons who grow up in such families with this kind of parenting have a high likelihood of becoming susceptible to participating in social media comparison. Besides, such teenagers are increasingly vulnerable to be envious of their counterparts when they are subjected to social media postings of their acquaintances (Charoensukmongkol 71). Also, having fewer friends or followers compared to other peers is an aspect that makes teenagers to collate themselves with others, and this comparison results in demoralization and ridicule among adolescents (Dewan et al. 146). For this reason, it is apparent that intensive use of social media among teenagers causes them to participate in social media collation and envy of others who own what they do not have, which results in an undesirous development of jealousy and loss of self-confidence. The deprivation of one’s self-confidence has a major impact on how one functions and can lead to poor performance in academics among teenagers.

Social Media Causes Lower Mindfulness

In addition, social media among teenagers leads to lower mindfulness. A research conducted by Sriwilai and Charoensukmongkol (432) demonstrated that individuals having a greater addiction to social networking platforms are likely to have lower concentration compared to those with low levels of addiction. Moreover, the findings of the study also established that persons having an addiction to social media happen to select emotion-focused coping in dealing with stress instead of selecting problem-focused coping. The evidence concerning the adverse influence of social networking sites addiction is in tandem with what is taking place in the modern-day society whereby individuals are unable to control their behavior regarding the use of social media. Such persons are also found to experience problems in engrossing their minds or being attentive to their engagements since they are unable to exercise control over their desire to use social networking avenues at all times (Sriwilai and Charoensukmongkol 433). Lack of the ability to pay close attention to daily engagements has negative impacts, especially on school-going teenagers as it severely affects their academic performance. Besides, the effect of social media in lowering the mindfulness of its users and the coping strategy results in emotional exhaustion. The reliance on emotion-focused coping strategy is a sign of a dysfunctional coping strategy that explains why heavy users of social media spend a substantial chunk of their time engaged in social networking platforms as a way of helping them forget the challenges they are facing rather than figuring out how they can resolve their issues. However, it is worthy to recognize that the effect of heavy usage of social media among teenagers on the resolution to employ emotion-focused coping as opposed to problem-focused coping exhibits consistency with study findings, which suggest that a certain category of individuals tend to depend on social networking sites to prevent stress (Sriwilai and Charoensukmongkol 433). The use of emotion-focused coping strategies by individuals in place of problem-focused strategies is an indication that social media usage negatively affects the problem-solving abilities of teenagers. Individual’s inability to be considerate of their thoughts and actions create a problem whereby they have difficulties of thinking clearly and logically on dealing with the issues that they experience.

Social Media Causes Depression among Teenagers

Similarly, the use of social networking sites is attributed to increasing the incidence of depression among teenagers. The prevalence of depression has significantly increased in the United States and is now attributed to causing greater disability-adjusted life years beyond all other mental illnesses. By 2030, depression is forecasted to be the major cause of disability across high-income countries (Lin et al. 327). To this end, the study carried out by Lin et al. (327) established that there exists a substantial correlation between the engagement in social networking platforms and depression in a countrywide representative sample of teenagers in the American populace. The findings of the study are consistent with the results of previous research works, which established that increased usage of social media results in an escalation of depression. In fact, various research works have associated the use of social media with a reduction in subjective mood and sense of well-being. In particular, docile consumption of social media content in comparison to face-to-face interaction has been associated with a decline in bonding and the enhancement of social networks and a rise in despondency. An explanation to this development is that continued subjection to substantially glamorized depiction of acquaintances on social media triggers feelings of envy and a misconceived notion that other individuals have delightful or more fulfilling lives (Lin et al. 328). Subsequently, these envious sensations result in a feeling of inadequacy and depression as time passes by.

Social Media Causes Sleep Interruptions

            Increasingly, the use of social media among young people is attributed to causing sleep interruptions. In essence, the intensive use of social media has the potential of altering sleeping and waking up patterns of adolescents. Teenagers’ time in bed now entails perusing and posting content on social media sites. Such activities keep adolescents awake until late into the night and gradually sap their sleep. The hours dedicated to social media use competes with sleep, which results in changes in teenagers’ sleep habits and sleep time, thus leading to a trend characterized by insufficient sleep and a reduction in the quality of sleep. The findings of the research conducted by Vernon et al. (390) established that teenage students with problematic social networking conduct encounter sleep disruption that was subsequently linked with a perception of poor quality sleep and a strong degree of discontent with their school life. In particular, sleep disturbance imposed a strong impact on school satisfaction than the quality of sleep did. This explanation is much more realistic as indicators of sleep disturbance, which include staying awake up to at least 3 a.m., late arrival at school occasioned by oversleeping, and regularly sleeping in the morning class impair each element of the school experience. In the event that such students struggling with tiredness try to participate in school activities, their resultant emotional evaluative response regarding their school satisfaction will be relatively low in comparison to students who get a good night sleep on a routine basis. When adolescents engage in social media use at appropriate times during the day, instead of late into the night, they have a lower likelihood of experiencing sleep disturbance, and subsequently, report an improved sleep quality. Ultimately, teenagers with better sleep quality are linked with having an evaluative response, which indicates that their school experience had a positive influence on their subjective well-being. The findings are consistent with previous works, which contend that the use of social media results in poor task performance in a classroom simulation (Bukowski et al. 545). As such, it is evident that intensive use of social media not only affects the sleep patterns of teenagers but also their academic satisfaction.

Social Media Causes Mental Health Among Teenagers

            As the generation of adolescents grows up immersed in the use of social media 24/7, there is a close correlation between the increased incidence of social media use and the escalation of mental health problems. To this end, the American Journal of Epistemology has issued a study, which draws an association between the development of mental health issues in teenagers and the kind of experience they encounter on social media networks. For a long-time, predators have been considered as the greatest threat in online social interactions; however, there is a growing concern regarding the content created by other members of social media networks. Viral photos, blog posts, videos, and games, which are inclined towards fostering self-harm and substance abuse are examples of user-created content that are commonly employed in cyberbullying, either in a direct or indirect manner. Both researchers and psychologists have associated the increase in suicide incidences among teenage females to the pervasiveness of perfection standards, which social media networks establish (Mental Health of Teenagers Put at Risk 9). In the same vein, an analysis of Facebook established that the social medium results in a reduction in subjective well-being. The more the adolescent respondents were active on Facebook at a particular point in time, the worse they happened to feel. Contrastingly, the same respondents reported that face-to-face networking with their peers enhanced feelings of subjective well-being.

            However, some quarters who hold a contrary opinion hold that social media provides a platform, which enables teenagers to seek support that promotes mental health. Moreno and Radovic (265) opine that some organizations employ social media to foster the welfare and mental health of teenagers. Australia’s au.reachout.com is an example of an organization, which has been at the forefront of using social media to reach out to adolescents with mental health issues (Moreno and Radovic 267). Through its social media channels, the organization seeks to attain the objective of fostering mental health knowledge, fighting mental health stigma, and enhancing help-seeking behaviors among teenagers. The institution has also a strong focus on assisting young people to develop their skills relating to help-seeking and the management of challenging moments (Moreno and Radovic 267). As such, while social media is attributed to causing mental health problems among teenagers, it is also worthy to recognize that it provides a platform whereby young people having mental health issues can seek support from friends, family, and some organizations that have embraced social network sites. However, the degree by which social media is attributed to causing mental health problems to teenagers by far outweighs the benefits derived from it in the provision of support to persons with mental health problems because only a few mental health organizations have embraced social media.

Social Media Use is Linked with the Increased Prevalence of Cyberbullying among Teenagers

            In particular, there is an increasing prevalence of cyberbullying among adolescents, which is perpetrated through social media. This development has been occasioned by the increased incidence of technology, which has resulted in the creation of a new arena for aggressive behavior (Bowler et al. 1274). According to Beresin and Olson (26), cyberbullying refers to a form of interpersonal aggression, which is intentionally and repeatedly conducted in an electronic context. From this definition, cyberbullying constitutes a myriad of behaviors, which include flaming, harassment, trickery, exclusion, impersonation, cyberstalking, and nonconsensual distribution of sexual images generated by young people. The widespread internet use, augmented with the absence of control from adults in social networking platforms, generates an environment, which makes cyberbullies to have a feeling of invisibility and distance. Cyberbullies feel like their identities may never be revealed as it is easy to create fake accounts on social media platforms. In fact, Bowler et al. (1275) opine that anonymity favors the creation of an “online disinhibition effect”, which can be employed in perpetrating ill. The toxic disinhibition is responsible for encouraging cyberbullying behavior, with the youth having the belief that there is little probability of them being detected and held accountable for their unbecoming demeanor.

A significant number of persons who would otherwise make no attempt of engaging in traditional bullying may subject others to online harassment, as they are able to cover their acts and identities. The premise that anonymity fuels cyberbullying is supported by Sobba et al. (570) who hold that anonymity stands as the most prominent characteristic of cyberbullying because perpetrators of the ill behavior can easily hide their identities from their victims online and stay away from repercussions for their actions, developing an imbalance of power between the cyberbullies and victims. The National Crime Prevention Council reports that an estimate of only three out of four victims of cyberbullying ultimately come to discover the identity of individuals who have victimized them (Sobba et al. 570). Young people who fail to know the identity of their aggressors frequently hold that they encountered threats in social networking platforms via instant messaging and chat rooms. As such, the increasing popularity and wide use of social media avenues have served to ease the perpetration of cyberbullying among teenagers. This development explains why there is a high incidence of bullying among teenagers as compared to the past.

Previous works also indicated that the distance between the victim and the perpetrator of cyberbullying results in a decrease in empathic response. Bowler et al. (1275) argue that, “some adolescents lack tangible feedback regarding the impact of their online actions, which could interfere with their recognition that they actually caused harm to another person (empathic response). Furthermore, this reduction in social and affective cues can impede their ability to empathize or be remorseful for the types of behaviors that they exhibited”. While obscurity is commonly identified as the primary disinhibiting element in online interactions, other factors, which foster cyberbullying in social media platforms include dissociative imagination, asynchronicity, minimized authority, solipsistic introjection, and invisibility. Through anonymity, it is possible for cyberbullies to hack into the social media accounts of targeted individuals and post content aimed at embarrassing them. For these reasons, the use of social networking sites has now facilitated harassment and intimidation to gain entry into areas, which were previously considered as safe from the old acts of bullying. The perpetuation of cyberbullying can now be conducted at any time of the day, 24/7 (Bowler et al. 1275). This development is increasingly accountable for a substantial component of the emotional devastation caused on victims, who then perceive that they lack a place of refuge, lack an individual to trust, and can never be safe at any particular place. In the old dispensation, a young person subjected to cyberbullying would have a sense of refuge in the understanding that the bullying incidence would not go beyond the school premises, especially in the playing grounds. In the new dispensation, the victim of cyberbullying receives unwanted messages through social media platforms while in the previously considered safe environment at any time of the day. The safe places can be at home in the presence of their parents or friends. To this end, cyberbullying perpetrated through social media networks has the potential of causing disruptions in the school environment even if took place offsite by virtue of the fact that harassment-associated images and texts are available to a large audience of social media users 24 hours a day (Carter and Wilson 116). Cyberbullying is now everywhere.

Cyberbullying across social media platforms is also unique in the sense that it is visible to a large number of witnesses compared to traditional incidences of bullying. The breadth and reach of the internet enable the indignity that a victim of cyberbullying experiences in the hands of a bully to re-echo within a large population of social media users (Bowler et al. 1275). In addition, the online victimization, taunting, and harassment have the potential of spreading at a fast pace and widely within the ever-expanding population of internet users (Sobba et al. 570). The fact that cyberbullying within the social media environment reaches a large population is an aspect that aggravates the negative impact that cyberbullying inflicts on victims.

The Incidence of Cyberbullying among Adolescents

            In the recent times, there has been an escalation in the number of empirical studies investigating the prevalence of cyberbullying among teenagers. A study among 177 students in seventh grade established that a population, greater than half of the respondents reported that they were aware of an individual who had been subjected to cyberbullying (Bowler et al. 1276). An estimated 25 percent of the sample population reported that they had been victims of cyberbullying (Bowler et al. 1276). Similarly, one in six among the respondents admitted that they had been perpetrators of cyberbullying behavior in social networking platforms. Chang also reports that 9 studies carried out in 2006 established the percentage of young people who were victims of cyberbullying varied from 9 percent to as high as 53 percent. A substantial component of the 9 studies found out that 17 percent of adolescents have encountered incidents of cyberbullying. The teenagers also reported that 20 percent of social media users are significantly unkind when interacting with others on social networking platforms (Bowler et al. 1275). Moreover, statistics from the NCPC indicate that an estimated 40 percent of young people in the American populace are victims of cyberbullying (Sobba et al. 570). While the number of adolescents who fall victim to cyberbullying in social networking platforms is substantially high, only 25 percent of the young people inform their parents concerning the victimization (Sobba et al. 570). Victims of cyberbullying have the tendency of not reporting the incidences of cyberbullying for fear of repercussions. In addition, individuals who witness cases of cyberbullying are also unwilling to intervene because they are afraid of retaliation against them by the cyberbullies. Studies focusing on cyberbullying on Facebook found out that the incidence of bullying within the platform was between 8 and 14 percent. Contrary, the prevalence of victimization within Facebook was significantly higher compared to bullying and ranged from 9 percent to 50 percent (Sobba et al. 571). In regards to gender differences, studies have established that there lacks any significant difference between the prevalence of cyberbullying between male versus female adolescents. However, findings from other studies indicate that cyberbullying is particularly rampant among female youths since they have a high likelihood of engaging in indirect forms of aggression and manipulation. As evidenced by the findings of various studies, it is clear that there is a significant increase in the prevalence of cyberbullying among teenagers, which is perpetrated through social media platforms.

Cyberbullying Engagement and Victimization

            Often, victims of cyberbullying within social media platforms display a myriad of reactions ranging from disengaging or cutting contact with the perpetrator of cyberbullying, seeking social support, and going after revenge. Emotional reactions due to cyberbullying entail anxiety, low self-esteem, and frustration among others. While chronic diseases and psychological disorders are the most common impacts of cyberbullying, the most severe effect of cyberbullying entail attempts to commit suicide by victims. In fact, there have been reported cases of suicide because of cyberbullying. For instance, the case involving Megan Meier stands as one of the most horrifying incidences of cyberbullying whereby Megan committed suicide following online harassment by her schoolmate’s mother in 2006. Lori Drew, who was the offender in this case posed as an adolescent boy and recurrently bullied Megan through Myspace networking platform (Sobba et al. 570). In essence, Lori Drew used the false identity to obtain information from Megan, which she later used to humiliate her by accusing her of spreading rumors concerning her daughter (Lowry et al. 864). After Megan’s suicidal death, three counts of charges involving misdemeanor computer fraud were pressed against Lori Drew owing to her online misrepresentation of the victim. Research has also established that victims of social networking platforms cyberbullying often perceive themselves as less popular, are increasingly dependent on the internet, and take a greater number of internet-associated risks. As earlier mentioned, a substantial number of cyberbullying victims have the tendency of showing an unwillingness to seek help for their victimization as they perceive that there lacks an individual who can advance assistance to them. Such a tendency is frequently augmented with a continuous cycle of victims turning to be perpetrators of cyberbullying themselves or encountering repeated cases of victimization. According to Sobba et al. (570), some individuals who have been the subject of cyberbullying happen to derive a sense of empowerment from cyberbullying their perpetrators as they can go for revenge in the cover of anonymity. In particular, there is great ease in exacting revenge in the online environment since there are significantly fewer immediate barriers (Lowry et al. 865). Revenge actions involving porn can be severely damaging and may result in serious outcomes.

            Similar to other undesirable effects of social media, cyberbullying through social networking sites is associated with low academic performance. A descriptive study conducted by Charoenwanit (238) in Thailand established that the bully/victim group demonstrated lower academic performance following an incidence of being a victim of cyberbullying or being the perpetrators of cyberbullying themselves. On the other hand, the group, which had not been subjected to being cyberbullied or cyberbullying others, had a substantially higher academic achievement compared to the latter. In particular, the victims of cyberbullying were characterized by habits of skipping classes or blatant refusal to go to school. Participants from the group of adolescents who were free from cyberbullying did not exhibit issues concerning refusing to go to school (Charoenwanit 239). The reason that the victims of cyberbullying registered lower academic achievement may be explained by the fact that the incidence of cyberbullying induced the feeling of shame, which made them develop the fear of meeting other people and being unable to listen to criticism directed towards them.

            Moreover, participants in the group having victims of cyberbullying exhibited more problems concerning their general health compared to the group whose participants had not experienced cyberbullying on social media platforms. The poor health among cyberbullying victims is occasioned by the fact that cyberbullying actions of whatever kind is emotionally and psychologically damaging among adolescents. Cyberbullying through social networking avenues causes teenagers to experience feelings of annoyance, boredom, and being undervalued. Moreover, cyberbullying threatens the personal space of adolescents, which further aggravates the situations because teenagers can now become victims or perpetrators of cyberbullying from anywhere (Charoenwanit 239). For this reason, cyberbullying carried out through social media networks has the severest impact among all other forms of bullying since teenagers have no place to avoid cyberbullying inclusive of even their bedrooms.

            It is also worthy to note that female teenagers are the most affected by cyberbullying conducted through social media avenues. In particular, females are most affected since they have the tendency of reacting emotionally more to cases of cyberbullying compared to their male counterparts. Moreover, females have been inculcated with training on how to be caring, nurturing, and sympathetic. On the other hand, society expects men to demonstrate toughness and be unemotional. The absence of an emotional connection to other individuals has a likelihood of deterring teenage males from comprehending the magnitude of the impact that cyberbullying inflicts on victims (Sobba et al. 570). The difference in these gender upbringings explains why female adolescents are severely affected by cases of cyberbullying than their opposite gender.

Social Media is Attributed to Causing Social Isolation

            There exists a strong correlation between excessive use of social media and social isolation among young people. A few years back, the rising popularity of social media was perceived as a platform, which would improve connectedness among people despite their geographical location. However, this has not been the case as the recent days have seen an increase in social isolation, which has been occasioned by social media. In particular, teenagers are increasingly spending more time on social media such that they have neglected face-to-face interactions. Parents often report that they have to beg their adolescents to get out of the house and see their peers, rather than preventing them from going out through the implementation of curfews (Newport Academy par. 3). For all the time stuck in houses, teenagers are glued on screens engaging in social media avenues. Similarly, a survey conducted among 1,787 young people in the United States seeking to gauge their social isolation established that young persons who spend over two hours per day on social networking platforms had a two times higher likelihood of perceived social isolation compared to young individuals who spent 30 minutes or less per day (Hobson par. 3). Similarly, the findings of the research also indicate that the youth who happened to visit social media networks on a more regular basis, 58 times or more visits every week, had greater than three times the likelihood of perceived social isolation compared to persons who had less than 9 visits in a week (Hobson par. 3). These findings indicate that the likelihood of social isolation among teenagers has a direct relation to the frequency by which young people visit social media networks. Moreover, the intense use of social media among young people takes them away from the immediate moment and their life

Also, some teenagers feel left out when they see their friends hanging out together and having a good time in photos posted on social media while they have not been invited. This phenomenon makes them feel that nobody cares for them (Young par. 6). Such feelings drive adolescents to opt for staying away from their friends, hence leading to social isolation. Owing to this development of social isolation, Childline has reported an increase in the number of adolescents contacting the organization seeking help as they found themselves grappling with feelings of isolation (Young par. 1). When today’s adults were growing up, they did not know they are being left out of a gathering unless someone informed them. Missing out is substantially hurtful to young people. In today’s modern-day age, all that an adolescent has to do is to log into his or her favorite social media application and he or she will be able to see what their peers are doing without them. Worse off, other young people can also know that a certain individual has been left out by following the social media posts of their friends. The immediate knowing that he or she has been left out even while the event is currently ongoing causes severe devastation to an adolescent (Roanoke Area Youth Substance Abuse Coalition par. 5). Compared to the old generation of teenagers, who lived in the pre-social media age, it is evident that today’s adolescents living in the social media age are more vulnerable to social isolation.

            Teenage isolation induced by social media has adverse effects on the physical and psychological health of individuals. For instance, social isolation among adolescents is attributed to causing enhanced stress response and levels of cortisol, increased risk for alcohol and drug abuse, poor self-care involving cleanliness and nutrition, and a reduction in positive outlook (Newport Academy par. 6). As such, social isolation brought about by the use of social media has damaging effects on the social, physical, and psychological health of today’s teenagers.

Social Media is a Deterrent to Teenagers’ Ability to Learn or Practice Social Skills

            The adolescent age represents a window, which teenagers ought to use to learn, practice, and improve social skills that are required for adulthood. However, the increased use of social media among young people has denied them the opportunity of sitting down or making an effort to know an individual since every detail concerning a particular person has been posted and displayed on their respective social media accounts (Roanoke Area Youth Substance Abuse Coalition par. 3). Therefore, teenagers have the presumption that knowing an individual by reading through their online details is adequate. This perception coupled with the reduction of face-to-face interactions has greatly affected the social skills of today’s adolescents.

Social Media is Preventing Young People From Taking into Consideration Other Points-of-View

            Social media networks work on the premise of bringing together users with similar interests. For instance, Tumblr constantly encourages individuals to only interact with persons who have similar thinking patterns as them. Besides, the algorithms used by social media networks such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram are continuously undergoing changes, and the trend is shifting towards a model of interaction based on like-mindedness (Roanoke Area Youth Substance Abuse Coalition par. 6). For this reason, if adolescents are being conditioned to talk to their peers who are also experiencing loneliness and depression, it also goes that they will not hear varying points-of-view. Since the brains of young people are still under development, adolescents may not be in a position to see beyond the situation, which they are currently encountering (Roanoke Area Youth Substance Abuse Coalition par. 6). The resultant effect of only interacting with social media users experiencing the same challenges is that they are unable to come to the realization that individuals care for them and are willing to listen to their concerns.

Conclusion

            To sum it up, while the advent of social media was marred with great expectations concerning the envisioned benefits such as improved connection among people and communication, the outcomes have had devastating impacts, especially among teenagers. Adolescents now spend a considerable amount of their time following up on the lifestyles of their peers, which results in social collation and envy among themselves. Such young people end up undervaluing themselves, an aspect that demoralizes them and lowers their self-esteem. Moreover, the lack of barriers to entry and anonymity in social media networks has perpetuated the increased prevalence of cyberbullying. Young people with undesirable behaviors have capitalized on this loophole to harass and intimidate others on social networking sites, knowing that they will not be detected nor held accountable. Subsequently, the negative effects of social media have immensely contributed to poor academic performance, lack of social skills, low self-esteem, and a narrowed worldview. As such, there is an urgent need for concerted efforts to address the devastating effects of social media among teenagers.

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