Social media effect on young people

How Does Social Media Impacts Today’s Youth?

Introduction

In the modern era, social media is developing at a fast pace. Though it has affected people of all ages, youths are the ones who are most impacted by its influence. There are positive as well as negative impacts of social media on the young generation. Social media is one of the best ways to communicate with people, advertise a business, voice their opinion, showcase their talent and also make money.

However, several young people are unable to control themselves and get addicted to it. An obsession with social media causes several serious effects, that include poor study habits, detachment from reality and also poor health. Let us see the overall impact created by social media on youth in detail.

Positives of Social Media:

Great means for communication

Social media has evolved as one of the best ways to socialize online. The whole world is reduced to a global village by social media. With social networking websites such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, etc. you can interact with your old friends and family members in any nook and corner of the world instantly. It is also a wonderful opportunity to make new friends who share the same interests and preferences as yours.

This platform has made it quicker and easier to share your life and see other’s life via posting of updates and images. Social media has become popular as the best form of interactions, and the exchange of ideas among young people.

Advertising product and services

Social media is seen to have a lot of power to promote the products and services of a business. This is due to the reason that a large section of the population is on social media. By establishing their business online, this platform can give them a lot of visibility and exposure that is essential for business marketing.

Youth can use popular social media channels such as Instagram, and Facebook for marketing their business and enhance their customer base. In this way, social media presents a lot of business opportunities for youth. Many of the businesses and corporates are hiring young people to be the ambassadors of their brand. Thus, social media is one of the good income generation ways for youth.

Showcase talent

Nowadays if you have a talent such as in music, dancing, fitness, etc. you can create your channel on YouTube or run blogs or podcasts and showcase it to the public. Social media is another influential avenue that youth can choose to share their skills, and services to their friends and in groups. This platform takes their skills to a wider section of the online community. By sponsoring their posts, they can reach to more and more people.

Voice your opinion

Social media provides an opportunity for every person to put across their opinion. Twitter is one of the best social media handles that is extensively used for this purpose. Youth can use to raise their voice and inform people and government of any unethical activities going in society and what changes can be brought for the improvement of society.

Negatives of Social Media:

Neglecting studies

One of the major drawbacks seen in youths is that they are addicted to social media. Most of them are seen to devote a significant portion of their time in posting pictures, replying to comments, chatting, etc. This leads to ignorance of studies that is reflected in the form of poor grades. In this era of tough competition, this can prove to be very damaging for their future career. In this way, overexposure to social media can spoil the career of a youth.

Detached from reality

Youth are seen to be active on social media all the time. They have no time to talk to their family members, indulge in outdoor sports or meeting their friends in person. Their overall communication is limited to posting status or sharing photos on social media. They live only in a virtual space.

Adverse impact on health

Addiction to social media causes youth to stay awake in the night, go to bed late, tempt to reply to comments at bedtime, or chatting with friends. Such addiction tires their body and mind. They lack focus and feel sleepy at day time. Their brains fail to work effectively.

This has even seen to cause depression in many youths. Young people have a tendency to compete with others based on appearance, and talent, that can even put them into inferiority complex. This, in turn, damages their personality and health.

Conclusion

Although the use of social media has benefited the life of youths in several ways, addiction to it isn’t good. It will adversely impact their behavioral skills, health, and study. Constant indulgence in virtual communication has seen to disconnect them from reality. Thus, it is important to make youth aware of the harm that is caused by getting obsessed with social media and use it in moderation without getting addicted to it.