Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media for Teenagers

Believe it or not, there are both benefits and drawbacks to social media for teenagers. Many people like to disparage social media as being negative. There are risks involved in the use of social media. Much of how social media affects you will depend on the -way that you use it.

 Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media 

The easiest way to conceptualize social media’s effects is to break down the good and the wrong sides. Social media offers a unique way for human beings to connect. However, it also can lead to adverse effects on your self-esteem if you are not careful.

Advantages:

• Socialization
• Increase Knowledge of Technology
• Less Boredom

When you spend time on social media, distance does not matter. For example, let’s say that you have a friend who lives across the ocean. Today, you can use social media to connect with them from anywhere. This provides obvious benefits to the socialization skills of anyone, including teenagers. You should not limit the social skills of your teens by forcing them not to use social media. The better choice would be to inform them of the potential risks.

Disadvantages:

• Lower Self Esteem
• More Time Indoors
• Difficulty Spending Time Without Electronics

The drawbacks of social media are more nuanced than benefits. What are the most significant risks would be a decrease in your self-esteem. When you spend time on social media, you are bombarded with highlights from other people’s lives. Most people will only post the best moments of their lives. This leads to an accurate comparison between your life and their lives. Finally, people who spend a lot of time on social media also spend more time indoors, which can lead to an increase in your Eversource utility bill. Spending less time online can have the opposite effect.

Effects of Social Media on Teenagers 

Teenagers are at a unique point in their lives. They are no longer children. However, they are also not quite adults yet. The experiences they have during this crucial time. Will impact them for the rest of their lives. That is why it is so essential for you to monitor the effects of social media on teenagers.

Impulsivity:

Social media is designed to be incredibly rewarding for its users. One of the worst outcomes is an increase in the impulsivity of people who use social media. The more time you spend on social media, the more complicated it will be to delay gratification in other areas of your life. Social media is all about instant gratification. It can be incredibly difficult to break away from once you become accustomed to it.

Peer Comparisons:

Think about it. How often do you post horrible things that happened to you on social media? If you are like most other people, the answer is never. Most people want to impress their friends and others on social media platforms. To accomplish this goal, they only upload the best moments of their lives. Then, when you are perusing through your friends’ social media pages, you can begin to develop an inaccurate view of how others live. It would be better if you always remember that people only upload the highlights of their lives. You are judging yourself based on the behind-the-scenes view of your life.

 Breaking Down the Effects of Social Media on Teenagers   

Teenagers need to take extra precautions because of the unique circumstances of their age group. Things that occur to you while you are a teenager can have lasting consequences. If you take the time to build up healthy self-esteem now, it will be much easier to maintain it later. Social media can be useful for connecting with other people.