The Dual Impact of Social Media on Today’s Generation

Are teens and social media a good mix? Does social media lower the wellbeing of youths or teenagers? Is social media really bad, as people say, or is it actually good? This has become one or more contentious questions regarding the use of social media and its effect on today’s generation. 

What is social media then? Social media are websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. Examples of social media platforms are Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and many more. A study shows that the average time spent by people per day on social media is 1.72 hours. For the average teenager, the numbers are much higher, which is twenty-seven hours per week.

Social media, therefore, has become a very important thing in our daily lives. There are many young people who keep engaging themselves on social media without thinking about the impact it has on their lives. This impact can be both positive and negative, but mostly negative. In this article, I will talk about both the positive and negative influence social media has on our current generation. I will start to talk about the positive effects.

Social media keeps us connected to our friends, which may include both our distance friends and closer friends. Social media is a community that helps us to build relationships and stay connected. It's easy to find groups and make new friends too. It is also an easy way to improve upon the existing relationship with family members or those who are far away. This can be done by sending messages, sharing photos, making calls, or hosting a video call to stay in touch.

Moreover, social media aids in the easy spread of news. News from any part of the world can be spread like “bushfire” on social media. This can be profuse at times. It can also keep up with important events going on throughout the world. It is also important if you want to announce something very fast. For example, if a person gets missing. It can be announced on social media very easily, better, and faster than using the traditional method.

Furthermore, social media aids in business building and growth. Social media can serve as a platform for advertising both new and old business. You can use social media to build an interested audience, share valuable content, and establish a brand voice that resonates with your targeted audience.

The last thing I will talk about about the positive use of social media is that it can be used to motivate young people. There are many successful businessmen, entrepreneurs, and positive influencers on social media. They can inspire everyone, but especially students and young individuals who are willing to follow in their footsteps to achieve their dreams and aspirations. Many influencers may openly share their knowledge and experiences to help others grow. Following people that encourage you to be holding to your values and to dream big can be life-changing.

Below are some of the negative influences social media has on the current generation.

To start with, people of today’s generation give so much attention and importance to social media to the extent that it has become their privacy. They just love being on social media sites and forget about all the things that should come first, like family, education, schooling, and many more. This eventually makes young people very lazy and becomes a burden to their family members, the community, and the country as a whole.

Also, in social media, we only see one side of the person, which is the virtual side of the person. In simpler terms, we only see the side that they want to show us. Many people fake their lifestyle just to impress or make other colleagues think he or she is living a luxurious life while it is not so. This only makes young people who follow the lifestyle of such people engage themselves in things that are unethical, such as robbery and killing, just to match the pressure of these people living false lives.

Youth of our generation have the habit of bullying, frauding, and cheating their peers, family members, and loved ones through cyberbullying in order to get something very easy and cheap. This has an effect on the other person, as this can be on the newsfeed of any random person and can go viral very easily.

Lastly, the spreading of fake or untrue information. The spread of unoriginal news has become very rampant, which turns to disgrace, mislead, and even confused online content that harms reputation. As you all know, fake news spreads very faster than anything. Due to this, people's confidence in the social media outlet has been significantly eroded.

Social media has been very helpful to humankind, especially to this generation. It has made life very easy for us. But we shouldn’t focus only on the positive side; it has a negative impact, which, if you get yourself trapped in, will ruin your life.