As social media continues to grow, people tend to get so obsessed with what’s happening online and what is happening in other people’s lives. It has become a big part of everyday life for many people, including teens. Many of them have become so focused on online approval that they forget to have their own style and interests.
I believe that social media is affecting teens negatively in so many different ways, and if this continues, it will change who they become in the future, and they may not get to experience everything that a teen should, due to social media. Instead of living in the moment, they are caught up with what’s happening on their screen.
Though I do believe that there are some positive things that teens get out of social media. For example, when finding someone online that you like or have an interest in, you tend to befriend that person and have a connection with them. You tend to have more creativity and learn how to express yourself, and identify the type of person you are or who you want to be.
These benefits do in fact matter, but the negative aspects are definitely more serious, for issues like body image, cyberbullying, and your mental health. With body image, people, typically women, get jealous of those with a different body type than theirs and believe they should look or dress a certain way for attention or because they want to fit in.
This can also lead to cyberbullying, where people will bully others due to their own insecurities or to make someone think less of themselves to feel better about themselves. Both of these affect people’s mental health, including not sleeping due to staying online too long, bad social skills, less physical activity, etc.
Social media is definitely a great way for people to interact with each other and for people to learn new things, but the impact it has on teens is far worse. I don’t agree with teens staying completely offline, but I do think that they should limit themselves and be careful when being online.
