Social media and cell phone addiction have changed the way not only teens, but adults communicate and interact with each other.
Although there are benefits to having a smartphone and the social apps that come along with it, the effect that it is making on today’s world has many people worried for the future.
94 percent of teens who go online using a mobile device do so daily according to HHS.gov. Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter are the main apps that teens have.
One study at the University of Pittsburgh found a correlation between time spent scrolling through social media apps and negative body image feedback.
Many teens often find themself self conscious of their bodies because of a unrealistic standard put out on social media.
Kids that spend more time on social media have 2.2 times the risk of eating and body image disorders. On the other hand, kids who spend less time on social media do not have reports such problem. The teens who spend the most time on social media have 2.6 times the risk.
Another study at the University of Pittsburgh show that the more time teens spend on social media a more consistent problem with sleep will occur and sometimes exhibit symptoms of depression.
Cyberbullying, or online bullying, is also something concerning with social media. Cyberbullying is associated with depression, anxiety and an elevated risk of suicidal thoughts according to psychiatric website psycom.net.
Teen girls are particularly more involved with it and at rick is the online bullying according to the website.
The suicide rate within the last five years has gone up exponentially and is thought to be because of the pressure and stress social media has on them.
According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, in 2017 there was an estimated total of 1,400,000 suicide attempts and 47,173 actual suicides.
Social networking uncountable has changed connection and interaction but there are some positive things about it.
Although having the ability to say whatever you want online can sometimes be very controversial, it can help get the word out about positive things that are going on in the community and world.
Every single day there are more and more people and teens are joining these different social media apps and the change that it is bringing to the world is umoredicatble.
Teens and parents need to be very cautious about everything that is getting posted and said online.
“When you delete something from your wall, account, or even your personal computer folder, it may disappear from plain view, but that doesn’t mean it never happened,” stated by Joe Bahgat in his article When you delete something, is it really ‘gone’?
When someone on social media deletes something from there page or account it is not actually deleted forever. Although it disappears from the account or page, the large company such has Snapchat and Instagram have large servers that keep everything stored in them.
The impact that the internet has made on society is changing not only teens but everyone involved. The personal communication and one’s individual mind has been manipulated into thinking things that the world and social media puts into their minds.
Although the internet and social media brings people together, there is a lot of harm that damages the minds of teens.
