Do you use social media, apps or Youtube? Life seems easier with phones in our hands where we can communicate with whoever we want and when we want. But is social media safe for young people?
With new studies and reports raising questions about mental health and vulnerabilities that affect young people, there have been a lot of worries about adolescents and social media in the past couple of years. But are there more bad than good?
Adolescents are very curious and with phones in their hands, nothing can stop them from learning and having new experiences and learning about different aspects of life.
Young people get support by using social media, according to Andrea K.Mcdaniel, an author of an article in the ELAnews. She pointed out that some research has found that social media can be a resource for teens to find social support when they are struggling with life issues and that they can use the different online platforms to express themselves.
A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research of teens aged 13 to 17 found that most teens value the feeling of connection with friends and family that social media provides. Social media is not just useful for passing time when they’re bored time as others might say, but is used to connect families and friends around the world.
Many risky behaviors have dropped sharply among teens. Cigarette smoking among teens is at a historic low since peaking in the mid 1990s, along with alcohol use, teen driving fatalities and teens pregnancy rates. All these changes are due to the reliance by teens on social media which keeps them occupied and out of it.
It may look as though teens are wasting a lot of their time hanging out with their new media, whether it’s texting or watching videos.”But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page,” according to the New York Times.
Some people might say that social media hurts young people more than it helps. But that’s not the case at all. For example, a 2012 study conducted by psychologists at the University of California at Berkeley found that sending and receiving text messages boosted texters’ moods when they were feeling upset or lonely.
As long as it’s used in a healthy way, social media is helpful for young people and help them emotionally as well as mentally.