{"id":6927,"date":"2019-11-18T10:04:16","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T15:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/?p=6927"},"modified":"2019-11-17T22:23:44","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T03:23:44","slug":"impact-of-social-media-on-the-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/2019\/11\/18\/impact-of-social-media-on-the-youth\/","title":{"rendered":"Impact of Social Media on the Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

INTRODUCTION<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Social Media has become an important\npart of our society that it is impossible to imagine our lives without it.\nEvery other person is part of one or many social media platforms, some of the\nmost popular ones being, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, and\nYouTube. People, especially youth prefer to socialize through these platforms\nwhere you can interact with people from different parts of the world by just a\nclick of the button. From giving us new ways to come together and stay\nconnected to the world around us, to providing an outlet for expression, social\nmedia has fundamentally changed the way we initiate, build and maintain our\nrelationships. As the popularity of social media is spreading all over the\nworld, there have been mixed feelings about these networking sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My quest on how and to what extent\nsocial media is impacting the youth, led me to conduct a survey as well as an\ninterview targeting an audience of 17 to 24 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was able to conduct a detailed questionnaire which was responded by 12 participants along with an interview with two persons. The participants\u2019 occupations were mixed \u2013 both professionals, as well as students, were part of the research process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FINDINGS<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

From the research, I was able to\ngather, that most of my participants used social media networks such as\nWhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are both positive as well as\nnegative impacts of using social media. It is necessary to talk about both\nsides of social media in order to get an overall idea of the research findings.\nFirst, let\u2019s discuss some positive impacts followed by the negative impacts\nthat were found based on the analysis of the results of the research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

POSITIVE\nIMPACTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Exposure<\/strong> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    People\ncan interact with other people around the world through social media networks\nwhich, empower them in many ways. Social Media becomes a platform where people\ncan showcase their ideas or talents, learn new skills and acquire knowledge\nthrough social media. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Finding friends<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Social\nmedia is also able to connect people by using algorithms in a way that normally\nwouldn\u2019t happen in the real world. The role of algorithms in filtering our\nresults based on our history, location, interests and other details are\nexplained in \u201cThe Relevance of Algorithm\u201d by Tarleton Gillespie, the reading\nthat was discussed in class. This reading speaks in detail of the \u201calgorithmic\nidentity\u201d of a person and how this helps in filtering the results to provide us\nwith the best suitable results based on our location, likes\/ interests and our\nprofile information. The high possibility of finding long lost friends has been\npointed out as an important factor in expanding the social life of these young\npeople. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • Mental\nHealth<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        A\nlarge number of people mentioned feelings of motivation and inspiration while\nusing social media. Using Facebook, WhatsApp and other apps help in increasing\nthe friendship quality and network size. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        • Interaction <\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Also,\nmany people who are not comfortable talking face to face feel safe and less\nintimidated by chatting with a person online. The growth of mass\nself-communication, the communication that reaches a global audience through\np2p networks and internet connection has been talked about in \u201cThe Rise of\nNetwork Society\u201d by Manuel Castells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          NEGATIVE\nIMPACTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          On the flip side, social media has some negative impacts as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          • Usage<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            Also,\na large number of people used social networks when they are bored, as soon as\nthey wake up in the morning or before sleeping with more or less no goals to\nachieve. Most of the people registered using social media for 1 to 5 hours\ndaily. This increased time consumption by using social media may affect their\nproductivity and cause addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            • Physical Interaction<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

              Though\nsocial media is widely used for its socializing abilities, it is also\ncriticized for reduced physical socializing capabilities. The impact of Social\nMedia has changed the manner in which we see ourselves, the manner in which we\nsee our personal relationships, plus it has also affected the manner in which\nwe connect with our general surroundings. Most of the participants recorded\nhaving a huge number of friends online compared to the limited few who were\ntheir actual friends in real life. This may also be due to the fact that many\nof the youth accept strangers as on social media, making themselves prone to\nexposing their personal details to a group of strangers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              • Mental Health <\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                Many\nyoung people complained of mental breakdowns. These people are also found to be\nobsessed with the likes and comments they receive on social media as they\nmentioned constantly checking and keeping track of the likes they received to\naccount for their popularity. Many youngsters also confirmed how they compared themselves\nto others on social media by stalking their aesthetically perfect Instagram\nphotos or staying up to date with their relationship status on Facebook. This\ncauses an increase in unrealistic expectations, self-doubt as well as feelings\nof jealousy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                • Physical\nHealth <\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                  There are lots of unhealthy physical effects of social media usage. A large number of people indicated poor posture and eye strain as some of the physical impacts they experienced. One can get eyestrain from staring at screens for too long. Fatigue by staying up too late posting on social media was also an issue found among the youth using social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  CONCLUSION<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

                  From this survey, I can conclude that most young people are aware of the risks and dangers of social media, yet they do not intend to quit these, as our lives are intertwined with it. Social Media usage, if constantly checked and kept under control, it can outweigh its negative impacts to make the social media platforms a better and effective means of communication. One of the ways of doing this can be by limiting the usage duration by having apps to track your usage and lock you out of your phones for a certain amount of time. Taking some breathing time away from these media can help bring back our conscience to the physical world and create a balance in our lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  INTRODUCTION Social Media has become an important part of our society that it is impossible to imagine our lives without it. Every other person is part of one or many social media platforms, some of the most popular ones being, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube. People, especially youth prefer to socialize through these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":688,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,245],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-field-reports","category-sula"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/688"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6927"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6933,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6927\/revisions\/6933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/foundations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}