Your Teens and the Harmful Effects of Social Media - Life's Little Pleasures and Struggles

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Any web site that allows social interaction is considered a social media site, including social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Today, social media is a big part of many teens’ and even tweens’ lives. A 2018 Pew Research Center survey of nearly 750 13- to 17-year-olds found that 45% are online almost constantly, and 97% use a social media platform, such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat. Therefore, it’s important that parents learn more about the harmful effects of social media so they can help their teens stay safe online.

Such sites offer today’s youth a portal for entertainment and communication and have grown exponentially in recent years. For this reason, it is important that parents become conscious and aware of the nature of social media sites, given that not all of them are safe or healthy for your children and adolescents.

Risks of Letting Your Kids Handle Social Media

I often see parents allowing their very young kids to be on social media. And I keep wondering WHY! The dangers and harmful effects of social media outweigh the benefits of being on social media in most cases. Many parents often forget that social media was not designed for children. Our kids aged from 10 to 15 don’t have the minimum level of maturity to manage their social media presence and identity.

Because of their limited capacity for self-regulation and susceptibility to peer pressure, children and adolescents are at some risk as they navigate and experiment with social media.

Using social media becomes a risk to preteens and adolescents more often than most adults realize. Social media use can negatively affect your tweens and teens – distracting them from their academic pursuit, disrupting their sleep, and exposing them to cyber-bullying and inappropriate sexual content. Other problems that merit awareness include Internet addiction, depression, spreading rumors and gossips, unrealistic views of other people’s lives and unhealthy peer pressure, and last but not least, online predators.

Social media is mostly an entertainment platform. No, it does not make your child smarter or more prepared for real life or a bright future. It is an addictive form of screen-entertainment attached to a marketing platform extracting personal information and preferences from your child, not to mention hours of their time and attention.

How Your Teens Can Harm Themselves Unintentionally

Without meaning to, your kids can share more of their personal information online than they should. Most teens share photos of themselves online, use their full names on their profiles, reveal their dates of birth and interests, and even post their school-names and the towns where they reside. And many kids accept friend requests from random strangers. This can make them an easy target for online predators and other bad people who might want to cause them some harm.

Because of teens’ impulsive natures, experts suggest that teens who post content on social media are at risk of sharing intimate photos, inappropriate videos, or highly personal stories. This can result in teens being bullied, harassed, or even blackmailed. Teens often create and share posts without considering these consequences or privacy concerns.

Preteens and teens who lack an awareness of privacy issues often don’t understand that “what goes online stays online.” As a result, future jobs and college acceptance may be put into jeopardy by inexperienced and careless clicks of the mouse.

Cyber-bullying

Cyber-bullying refers to deliberately using digital media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about another person. It is the most common online risk for all teens and is a peer-to-peer risk. Cyber-bullying is quite common and can occur to any young person online. Teenagers who experience cyber-bullying report an increase in depression, anxiety, severe isolation, and even suicidal thoughts.

Stalking

Besides problems like cyber-bullying and online predators, your kids also can face the possibility of a physical encounter with the wrong person. Many newer apps automatically reveal the poster’s location when they’re used. This can tell anyone exactly where to find the person using the app.

Losing Connections with Loved Ones

Social media can cause your teens to lose connection with family who are closer to them in real life. They view their “friends” as their source of comfort, support and inspiration; and since the brain is still being formed, they can’t differentiate between good friends and evil ones. What they need is a strong and healthy family bond more than any other companionship – both online and offline. It is just as important now as when they were little.

Unhealthy Peer Pressure

Spending too much time on social media can be a source of discontentment, too. Seeing how many “friends” others have and the pictures of them visiting exotic places and having fun can make your kids feel bad about themselves or create lower self-esteem.

Distractions in their Studies

Too much usage of social media has a negative impact on your children’s academic performance. Your teen’s intensive use of social media can cause poorer academic performance at school by depriving him or her of their valuable sleep at night and distracting them from their studies during the day, by making them feel tired and inattentive.

Depression and Mental Health

Depression is one of the harmful effects of social media. The risks might be related to how much social media your children use. A 2019 study of more than 6,500 12- to 15-year-olds in the U.S. found that those who spent more than three hours a day using social media might be at heightened risk for mental health problems. Another 2019 study of more than 12,000 13- to 16-year-olds in England found that using social media more than three times a day predicted poor mental health and well-being in teens. When preteens and teens spend a great deal of time on social media sites, such as Facebook or Instagram, they begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression. (Source: Mayo Clinic)

What Parents Can Do

If your teens are already on social media, it is important that you have a conversation with them about how to use social media carefully and responsibly. Talk to your teens about what is appropriate and safe to share on social media platform. Remind them that what they post can be used against them.

Tell them that they should never let the world know when they are on vacation or post specific locations of parties or events. Teens also should avoid posting their home address as well as their phone numbers.

Know what your kids are doing on social media. Ask for access to their accounts, and monitor their activities. Let your teen know that you will be regularly checking his or her social media accounts. Research has found that parental monitoring is tied to less problematic behaviors, like social media addiction or bullying others online.

Also, ask your children how the digital content they consume makes them feel. Share your feelings and personal experiences as well. Remind them that what they see online is not an accurate picture of reality. That, people always show off their best, hiding the not so beautiful things from the world. That your teens only see what others want them to see!

Help reduce your teen’s social media presence and screen time by encouraging them to connect with friends in person or on the phone. Try to spend more quality time with them, and keep them engaged with creative fun activities.

Final Thoughts

Social media is not all bad if you teach your teens how to use it wisely and be careful of the harmful effects of using social media. Reading articles or news online, watching interesting and educational videos, connecting with distant family members and relatives, and sharing pictures and memories strictly with friends and family on social media can feed their curiosity, enrich their understanding of the world, and allow them to experience a sense of social connectivity and belonging.