Essay on It's a Social-Media-Filled World: Nobody Takes You Seriously Without It

Social media has been integrated into society such that it is impossible for people to take someone seriously when they are not on any social media platform. When people talk about social media, they refer to websites and applications that allow users to share content. Today, there are several [popular social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, among others. Everyone is on social media, the old and the young, and what is evident is that everyone is frenzy when it comes to socializing with other online. Among teenagers, social media has several psychological effects, including anxiety, sleep deprivation, communication issues, depression, low self-esteem on one's body due to social comparison, and addiction.

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Usually, teenagers feel emotionally invested in their social media account, and this is associated with fuelling anxiety. Often, when these teenagers feel such emotional investments, they get pressure because they only think of responding quickly online. At the same time, they are usually concerned with posting well-written posts and perfect photos, and all these are a great deal of anxiety. Research shows that the more a teenager has a larger social circle online, the more pressure they feel to keep up with everything online, and this often causes anxiety (Pantic, 2014). It takes much time for teenagers to keep up with the norms of every social media platform, and this piles up pressure on teenagers, which in turn causes feelings of anxiety.

Also, when anxiety strikes in, the immediate response by teenagers is to check their social media platforms to ascertain whether they posted well-written messages and perfect photos. It is a phenomenon that they check using metrics such as likes and comments that their posts have attracted. If it turns out that these likes and comments are fewer than they had

anticipated, it makes these teenagers even more anxious. The situation is aggravated by the fact that they can compare the likes and comments to those of other users, which makes these teenagers leave their social media platforms with new anxieties. These new anxieties pose an even higher risk by making teenagers more susceptible to stress.

The use of social media among students is also responsible for sleep deprivation. Usually, teenagers spend most of their time on social media, and this includes long hours at night, which makes them lose valuable sleep. A study published in the Journal of Youth Studies surveyed 900 students aged 12 to 15, examining how social media has affected their sleep. The study showed that one-fifth of the surveyed students were almost always awake during the night using social media platforms (Power, Taylor & Horton, 2017). Sleep is essential to any human being, and sleep deprivation is responsible for any adverse effects. Lack of adequate sleep is associated with a number of health problems, including diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, and heart diseases.

Additionally, teenagers who have an inadequate sleep are dumbed down, and this means that their ability to learn is adversely affected. It is usually the case because their cognitive processes such as concentration, reasoning, and alertness are hurt, making it difficult for these teenagers to learn effectively. Overall, lack of sleep lowers the immune system of teenagers, and for a large part, social media use is responsible since they stay up for long hours to use these platforms.

Although social media is a great way of keeping in touch with friends and family members, it has led to communication issues among teenagers because it is not the same as face to face communication. For instance, a teenager cannot read the facial expression from another friend in social media because communication is indirect and not physical. Therefore, it is likely that a misunderstanding could occur, and this is even more likely when users are trying to be sarcastic and funny. Many teenagers spend much of their time interacting with friends online at the expense of neglecting their physical friends, and this makes friendship and physical relationships. Teenagers whose priority is checking the comments and likes in their social media posts see this as fun as opposed to interacting with their friends, and this kills real friendship. As a species, human beings are created in a way that their communication is only complete when they read each other's social cues.

According to Steiner-Adair and Barker (2013), there is no question that children are missing on critical communication skills when they engage in online communication. Such communication, according to Steiner-Adair and Barker, creates a nonverbal learning disability that creates a situation where body language, facial expression, and vocal reactions are neglected. From another perspective, indirect communication is the facilitator of cyberbullying. In the current social media era is has become possible for communication to be crueler.

Furthermore, teenagers and other people whose real identity is hidden in social media are more likely that they would never contemplate saying to anyone's face. In any case, disagreements made in online platforms are in a manner that the users do not care if it will jeopardize relationships because they even do not have a real friendship connection. It is the contrary when teenagers disagree face to face with their colleagues as they are careful not to jeopardize their relationship.

Technology use, especially social media usage, is linked to depression. A survey conducted in the United States showed that the use of social media was responsible for increased depressive symptoms and suicide rates among teenagers, especially females from 2010 to 2015 (Twenge, Joiner, Rogers & Martin, 2017). The survey showed that teenagers who were spending more time in social media were more likely to report mental health issues, unlike others who spent much of their time interacting with others and engaging in sporting activities.

In addition, depression comes because of comparison in that the user wants to examine how they fair in terms of metrics such as likes with their counterparts. If they find that their colleagues have surpassed them, this mostly leads to stress, which with time, aggravates, and amounts to depression. The fear of missing out also causes depression. The need for inclusion and social interaction is almost a basic need among teenagers, and if feelings of being left out emanate, these teenagers end up with feelings of depression.

Teenagers spend most of their time in social media looking at pictures of other users and celebrities, and this has the effect of causing low self-esteem to these teenagers. Normally, when teenagers compare themselves to those they regard as perfect, the feeling of inferiority sets. A recent survey showed that 35% of teenagers are worried about posting pictures that seem unattractive, and 22% of them feel bad that no one comments on their photos (Knorr, 2017). These feelings of having inferior body image are mostly common among females. These feelings are exuberated by notions perpetrated on social media platforms. For instance, it is common to find a post saying that thin is beautiful, and if it attracts comments saying the same, a chubby teenager feels inferior. Others might even act by engaging in unhealthy dietary behaviors to get the shape that other teenagers feel is attractive and desirable.

Social media originated as a medium of communication with family and friends, but it has come with a devastating effect on addiction among teenagers. Although social media was initially used to connect with friends and family members, it has evolved over the years and therefore used for other purposes. For instance, politicians and organizations use social media platforms to reach their target populations. Teenagers, on their part, use social media as a virtual scrapbook where they highlight their day to day activities as well as every detail of their lives. When these teenagers do this, they make social media part of their lives, and they, therefore, become compulsive users.

Moreover, the addictive use of social media is similar to any other form of substance addiction. For instance, it modifies the user's mood, and an addicted user suffers from withdrawal symptoms in case they want to shun abruptly from using these social media platforms (Hou, Xiong, Jiang, Song & Wang, 2019). Teenagers who have social media addiction spend a lot of time thinking about social media or thinking about it. They also feel the urge to use these platforms, use it to solve personal problems and try quitting this addictive behavior without success. All these sways the minds of teenagers from their core businesses such as learning, and this means that they are unable to concentrate in class.

Conclusion

In conclusion, among teenagers, social media has several psychological effects, including anxiety, sleep deprivation, communication issues, depression, low self-esteem on one's body due to social comparison, and addiction. However, it is undeniable that social media has positive impacts on the lives of teenagers because it creates a learning and networking experience; it is ideal for creative expression and lets teenagers experience global exposure. Since much of brain development occurs during teenage years, parents need to understand the effects of social media on teens. In this way, they can establish appropriate guidelines for social media use and make these teenagers' online life more manageable.

References

Hou, Y., Xiong, D., Jiang, T., Song, L., & Wang, Q. (2019). Social media addiction: Its impact, mediation, and intervention. Cyberpsychology: Journal Of Psychosocial Research On Cyberspace, 13(1). doi: 10.5817/cp2019-1-4

Knorr, C. (2017). How girls use social media to build up, break down self-image. Retrieved 7 May 2020, from https://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/12/health/girls-social-media-self-image-partner/index.htmlPantic, I. (2014). Online Social Networking and Mental Health. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, And Social Networking, 17(10), 652-657. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2014.0070

Power, S., Taylor, C., & Horton, K. (2017). Sleepless in school? The social dimensions of young people's bedtime rest and routines. Journal Of Youth Studies, 20(8), 945-958. doi: 10.1080/13676261.2016.1273522

Steiner-Adair, C., & Barker, T. (2013). The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age. New York: Harper.

Twenge, J., Joiner, T., Rogers, M., & Martin, G. (2017). Increases in Depressive Symptoms, Suicide-Related Outcomes, and Suicide Rates Among U.S. Adolescents After 2010 and Links to Increased New Media Screen Time. Clinical Psychological Science, 6(1), 3-17. doi: 10.1177/2167702617723376