Do you know about social media and youth? What are the positive and negative impacts? Let’s read everything here today. Social Media has revolutionized the whole world with its vast series of interconnected networks and platforms. It is a hub that strongly connects all the people around the globe to freely interact with their loved ones via merely a few clicks. Social Media is so ingrained in our society that not only the youth but the corporate world is also socializing online. Companies have jumped into the e-world to handle queries, post updates, sell products, and many more.
There has been an interesting yet conflicting correlation between youth and social media. Just as every coin has two opposite sides, in the same way, every story has two opposite directions to the ending. Social media can have a negative or positive impact on upcoming youth.
Some of the Effects of Social Media on Youth are Given below:
The Positive Impact of Social Media on Youth
There is a vast variety of social networking applications and websites that can help the youth and the grownups stay in touch with each other like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Hike, Tinder, etc. Now, let’s have a look at some of the positive effects of social media on youth:
Medium to Exchange Ideas:
Media act as a source of the library for all kinds of knowledge, information, and documentaries. It provides an answer to all human problems. We can easily exchange our views, culture, values, norms, and traditions with the online communities. Students and Colleagues can easily send their data and project reports over the Internet without any hassle. They can prepare Excel sheets and Word documents in a few seconds. Everything is digitalized and it’s all because of the internet and social networking sites.
Stay Connected:
Social Media is such a strong force that it can help two people stay in touch with each other anytime and anywhere around the globe. Gone are the days when people used to write letters to each other. Now youngsters and as well adults can stay connected with their family and friends using different social media channels like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and whatnot.
Strengthening Relationships:
Social Media is considered a useful platform for building new relationships and networks around the globe. It provides a huge opportunity for the students to interact with new friends and understand their nature and likings. You can also find your old childhood friends by simply adding their names to the search bar of Social media.
Recruitment Opportunities:
Social Media is not just for connecting people around the globe, it also helps thousands of unemployed youth to have job opportunities. There are many websites and applications such as Naukri.com, Internshala, Indeed, etc. that offer full details about the job offer, recruitment offer, internship program, salary scale, job responsibilities, and whatnot. LinkedIn is an amazing platform that connects all business entrepreneurs, Full-time managers, engineers, developers, designers, etc. to interact and share their business ideas with each other.
Social Butterfly:
Social Media is truly a social butterfly that can help people to express themselves and share their feelings with others. You need not find someone to talk to when you have social media in your hand. Talking, Interacting, and Communicating helps youngsters to stay away from loneliness, depression, and stress especially during the days of exams and mock tests. There are many online communities that help people fight hyper-stress simply by hearing them out and acting as patient therapists.
Negative Effects of Social Media on Youth
On the flip side, Social Media has been the second largest reason for spoiling the future of youth generations. Social Media can be addictive and can cause poor grades in studies, bad health, lack of proper sleep, victims of pornography, and many more. So let’s have a look at the essential points that might cause a negative impact on upcoming youth and leaders:
The feeling of Isolation:
Social Media is such a dangerous drug that it can easily distract and isolate the students from the real world. Youngsters are usually happy to stay active online for most of their time. According to research, around 70% of youngsters are contented and involved in using social media for around 3 to 4 hours daily. This has distracted them from the practical experiences and the real-life challenges.
Lack of Privacy:
Most of the youngsters face the issues of security of data. Hacking and Cyberbullying are the most dangerous weapons for youngsters that can cause huge harm to their mental health and well as personal details. Strong electronic aggression can happen to even a 10-year-old.
Vulnerable to Adult Things:
Social Media is a medium of exchange of all kinds of news and information including murder cases, crimes, pornography, rape cases, etc. This can lead to a detrimental impact on the minds of the students as they might indulge in crime and theft.
Bad Grades at School:
Lack of focus on studies will definitely result in bad grades in school. Even an excellent bright student can turn into the trash if he/she spends all of his time wasting on using social media. It will degrade his ranking and mental concentration levels.
Poor Health:
Too much of everything is fruitful for nothing. Social Media and the young generation have constantly decreased their value from the day applications started hampering the health of the students. Headache, poor eyesight, Bad eating habits, and lifestyle are all the disadvantages of social media.
Final Words
Thus, Parents and teachers can play a leading role in order to overcome the negative impacts of social media. Guiding and understanding the students and educating them about the right use of social media can help them to understand the true worth of the social network. Moreover, by maintaining proper secrecy of personal credentials and activating Firewall and privacy options, youngsters can easily overcome the privacy and secrecy issues over the internet. Social Media is definitely a boon for all of us if we utilize it for all productive purposes like entertainment, education, etc.
