The online world has gained astounding worldwide growth and popularity. It has attracted attention from variety of global researchers.
Many generations have come to embrace the changes social networks have brought about, but teenagers and young adults are the most fanatic users of these sites. According to many research studies in the field of online social networks, these sites are impacting the lives of youth greatly. When using sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, there are both positive and negative effects.
Much has changed to establish and institutionalize the ties between man and the needs of modernity when organizing communities of people. Today, social realities are virtual and recognized by people as a way of being connected.
However, there are new social problems faced by our general public, and by our global society, where technology has changed how humans interact.
We cannot change the fact that nowadays social networks play an essential role in teenagers’ lives. The adolescent’s capacity triggers curiosity within the virtual world. Various games become a problem in the classroom because the addiction overpowers the student’s ability to focus on the task as a student.
Verifying notifications, communicating with others without agendas and limiting physical interactions makes it possible for adolescents to spend more time on social network activity than real-life human interaction.
Social media helps the users stay updated with what is happening around the world. It helps to stay connected and interact with each other even if they are many miles apart.
According to the article by Mary Madden, “What teens said about social media, privacy, and online identity,” adolescents who have been interviewed, say that social media has become their lifestyle and it makes their lives easier and efficient.
In addition, social media sites have provided a platform whereby youth can create groups based on their common disciplines. This is the way they end up building connections and opportunities for their respective careers, by updating various topics to discuss.
While, on one hand, social network sites seem to bring people together, on the other hand, it creates social isolation. As teenagers tend to spend many hours on these sites, they rarely have face-to-face interaction. According to New York Behavioural Health (NYBH), scientists’ evaluation determined that social isolation can lead to a host of emotional, psychological, physical and mental problems, include anxiety, depression and somatic complaints.
Social networking clearly shows both positive and negative effects on the teenagers.
As the youth of today will be the future of tomorrow, it is their decision to continue using the sites or not.
However, people aren’t really all that they “post” to be.
Sarah Shehi is a member of the Belmont Secondary writing 11 class.