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Introduction
Recently, the landscape of technology has evolved rapidly, making social media play a fundamental role in how people interact, especially for the youth. Survey findings indicate that nearly every young person in America has quick access to at least one mobile link to the internet. Particularly, 92% of American youth go online daily, and 24% report that they are online almost constantly (Young and Cristiano 5). Through advancements in technology, modern-day pocket-sized mobile phones can provide a wide range of functionalities such as games, videos, engaging graphics, and social media, which can be accessed over the internet (Young and Cristiano 5). Society has overwhelmingly embraced these technological inventions, leading to dramatic changes in peoples behaviors and lifestyles. Scholars have raised concerns over the likelihood of individuals overusing or misusing technology, irreversibly changing people for the worse, particularly the younger generations (Nesi 116). So far, social media has led to devastating social, moral, and political impacts on young peoples lives.
The Choice of the Sources
In the context of present-day developments, the evaluation of the impact of technologies on youth presents a matter of numerous discussions. There is no need to explain the positive influence of digital media and technological development on modern lifestyle, as it is evident that it contributes to relieving the hardships of daily routine. However, there are worries about its adverse outcomes, especially concerning mentality. The sources were chosen in accordance with the most widely spread problems among the younger generation. In addition, important criteria were its relevance and the fact that the study offers a clear and comprehensive position on an observed issue.
For instance, these days, an addiction to social media has become a common sight among teenagers. In some cases, which are especially serious, they may struggle to spend even short periods of time without using their devices or have problems with communication in real life. In this regard, the biological perspective, described by Franzen, may be insightful. It is possible to observe both the biological and social natures of humans in evaluating the issue of addiction to social media communication. Another valuable work for clarifying this aspect is Internet Addiction in Children and Adolescents, written by Kimberly Young and Nabuco De Abreu Cristiano. This book is intended to provide an in-depth insight into the problem of obsessive use of the Internet and social media, covering social, cognitive, developmental, and academic details.
An extremely informative study on this issue is The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities, presented by Nesi. The author approaches this topic, taking into consideration that using devices and socializing in digital media appears to be an integral part of adolescents daily routine. Consequently, the work is aimed to cover challenges for mental health in this modern reality as comprehensively as it is possible (Nesi). The article traces how content published in social media may shape the world perception of young people in a negative way. The possible outcomes are anxiety, depression, self-harming, prepossessions to commit suicide, eating disorders, and other mental health problems (Nesi). All of them are discussed in this study.
In addition, Nesi focuses on another negative consequence, which appears to be widely spread among the younger generation. Adolescents tend to have a distorted perception of themselves, which is also a result of Internet content consumption (Nesi). Nesi describes that adolescents do not have an adequate image of their abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and appearance, which affects their self-esteem. It is considered to prevent healthy personality development. Furthermore, the author explored the influence of a number of like buttons under posts in social networks on self-identity formation. It leads to multiple depressive symptoms, as adolescents tend to perceive the assessments on the Internet or the lack of them seriously. Consequently, Nesi attempts to dive deeply into the problem of self-evaluation in the context of using social media on a constant basis among young people. Therefore, it is evident that this study allows to analyze the connection between using digital media and mental health deterioration thoroughly. This way, due to its comprehensiveness and the number of details covered, it appears to be the central source for the paper.
In order to complement the problems highlighted by Nesi, it is essential to apply the article I Tweet, Therefore I Am written by Orenstein. The author marks another feature about changes in self-identity, which regards the fact that it looks fabricated (Orenstein). Therefore, Orenstein approaches the problems of self-perception to some extent differently, comparing to Nesi. This allows to make objective conclusions in this regard, considering all the current tendencies.
The last source applied for writing this paper is Zakrzewskis The Technology 202: Researchers Warn Misinformation on Facebook Threatens to Undermine Bidens Climate Agenda . Zakrzewski offers another perspective on the negative impact of using digital media on a regular basis, which is spreading news misleading Internet users. This issue may be associated with numerous negative consequences, from minor ones, such as receiving incorrect information about important events, to more significant, such as manipulation of adolescents. Online sources of information may impose anxiety and particular worries, and young people appear to be extremely vulnerable to these events. Therefore, Zakrzewski may complement other studies on the impact on the younger generations mental health of digital media.
Thus, the chosen range of sources is chosen in order to provide a comprehensive perspective on the issue of modern technologies impact on adolescents. They are intended to highlight different aspects of this question and created a complete and objective image. The works take into consideration specifics of the Internet content and the possible reaction of young people, covering harmful and destructive consequences for young peoples lives.
Addictions and Obsessive Use of Digital Media
Many young people have become addicted to social networking sites (SNS), presenting a great social problem. Naturally, humans have a primary biological incentive to connect with other individuals, which a sense of satisfaction (Franzen). Given that online communication platforms facilitate the connection between people, the potential for addiction becomes inevitable. Overreliance on social media is best explained through the concept of Problematic Interactive Media Use (PIMU). This model describes digital media addiction as the compulsive use of, increasing tolerance to, and negative reactions to being removed from interactive screen media use, which impair the individuals physical, mental, cognitive, and/or social function (Young and Cristiano 5). Empirical findings have associated obsessive social media usage with various psychiatric issues among the youth, such as anxiety disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, especially when users stay offline for a long time (Young and Cristiano 6). Moreover, emotional and social consequences of this problem include but are not limited to academic failure and school avoidance, social withdrawal, family discord as well as isolation from and increasing conflicts with peers. Thus, social media addiction has a huge toll on the lives of young people physically, mentally, and socially.
Mental Health Problems
Young people who are frequent social media users are also exposed to mental health problems. Jacqueline Nesi, a postdoctoral fellow at the Brown University and Bradley Hasbro Research Center, argues that regular usage of SNS has substantial negative effects on the mental health of the younger generation (117). Nesi asserts that social media exposes young people to numerous psychological health concerns such as body image issues, eating disorders, externalizing problems, and depression. Essentially, young peoples peer experiences play a significant role in the commencement and maintenance of psychopathology (Nesi 117). Thus, specific online experiences of the youth with their peers may serve as risk factors for mental health issues. For instance, cyber victimization or an encounter with online bullying has been linked to higher rates of suicidal and self-harm tendencies in adolescents (Nesi 117). Studies have established that a significant percentage of youth who are hospitalized because of the risk of self-harm report having viewed online content that encouraged self-injury or suicide two weeks before their admission (Nesi 118). These repercussions indicate that frequent social media usage can be disastrous to young peoples mental health.
Selective Self-Portrayal and Fabricated Self-Identity
The increased use of SNS has made young people shift from the real world to digital life, which has been detrimental to their wellbeing. Social media has created a culture where people participate in selective self-portrayal, leading to a stream of images and posts that are carefully designed to depict users in a positive light (Nesi 118). As a result, some youths are highly likely to perform harmful social comparisons concerning their abilities, appearance, and accomplishments. Research has shown that online social comparisons are linked to depressive symptoms in young individuals and may also accelerate the risk of body image concerns and disordered eating (Nesi 119). Similarly, Franzen argues that social media companies introduced the like button to ensure that users log in to their SNS accounts to check whether other people have liked their content (2). However, this feature has made young people have extreme desperation to be liked, making them do everything possible to be likable (Franzen 2). Thus, it can be deduced that social media has made the youth negate reality as striving to be perfectly attractive is untenable in the real world.
Apart from selective self-portrayal, SNS has altered how young users construct their identities. According to Orenstein, social media usage resulted in the self-identities of young people becoming externally manufactured rather than internally developed (par. 6). As a result, most users have been forced to refine and script their online profiles according to the online communitys opinion. Orenstein insists that the major drawback of fabricated self-identity is that it erodes true relationships and alienates the youth from their humanity. In essence, most individuals among the younger generation have become performers on social media, obscuring the distinction between contrived and authentic self (Orenstein). Even worse, SNS continues to encourage pretext by making the youth direct their focus on self-promotion rather than self-awareness (Orenstein). This trend threatens to create a society where friends become each others fans, ignoring the significance of intimacy in relationships.
Misinformation
Misinformation on SNS is another setback that threatens to distance young people from factual reports. Studies indicate that falsehoods spread quickly and widely on digital media than facts (Zakrzewski). Particularly, misinformation has been rampant in Americas political arena, leading to polarization of the youth based on partisan ideologies. For instance, Zakrzewski writes that misinformation on Facebook threatens to undermine Bidens climate agenda (Zakrzewski par. 1). According to the writer, detractors are using SNS to spread false narratives that renewable sources of energy are unreliable and ineffective, which may mislead the youth as they form the majority of social media users (Zakrzewski). Additionally, conspiracy theories concerning COVID-19 have negatively affected the federal, state, and local governments efforts to curb the increasing rates of infections (Zakrzewski). As a result, the lack of fact-checking measures by social media firms is more likely to make the youth highly vulnerable to manipulation via unsubstantiated information.
Conclusion
In conclusion, social media has caused far-reaching negative repercussions on the lives of young people. Particularly, a considerable percentage of the youth are struggling with the negative effects of addition to SNS, related mental health issues, peer influence, selective self-depiction, fabricated self-identities, and misinformation. In this regard, two major implications can be connected to the arguments and issues raised by various writers in this paper. First, given that all of them are critical of social media usage among young people, there is a potential for increased awareness of the negative impacts of these platforms on the youth. Second, there is a high probability that the awareness may lead to increased pressures for policymakers to intervene for purposes of ensuring the safe usage of SNS among the younger generation. All in all, the negative effects of digital media platforms remain a major threat to the health and wellbeing of young people, requiring urgent preventive measures.
References
Franzen, Jonathan. Liking is For Cowards. Go for What Hurts. The New York Times, 2011, pp. 1-6. Web.
Nesi, Jacqueline. The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities. North Carolina Medical Journal, vol. 81, no. 2, 2020, pp. 116121. Web.
Orenstein, Peggy. I Tweet, Therefore I Am. The New York Times, 2010. Web.
Young, Kimberly S, and Nabuco De Abreu Cristiano. Internet addiction in children and adolescents: Risk factors, assessment, and treatment. New York, Ny, Springer Publishing Company, Llc, 2017.
Zakrzewski, Cat. The Technology 202: Researchers Warn Misinformation on Facebook Threatens to Undermine Bidens Climate Agenda. The Washington Post, 2021. Web.
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