The Impact of Social Media on Youth Behavior

Young people are influenced most by social media.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement

I strongly agree with the statement that young people are influenced most by social media. Social media includes social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Flickr, YouTube and blogs where people easily connect. These social networking sites have become a day routine for the youth as well as people of different age groups in the society. According to Elmore et al. (2017), 90% of youth use social networking sites with 92% of these using social media every day. On the other hand, Ephraim (2013) writes that the youth spend an average of 8 hours on social media every day. These social media usage rates among the youth are a significant indicator that youth consume a lot of information from social networking sites which shapes their behaviour. This essay will focus on the effects of social media on the young people.

Social media influences young people into alcohol and substance abuse. Elmore et al., (2017) state that the young people’s exposure to social networking sites has increased their risk to exposure to alcohol, and other drugs. Social media in this case is viewed as a super peer providing young people information about alcohol and substance use that they might not find in other sources. In the same vein, Fardouly et al., (2018) write that companies overwhelmingly advertise their products on social media which is no exception to organisations selling alcohol. Through these adverts, young people have been able to learn more about alcohol and other substances. Eventually, they feel they know much about the product that they would want to try it out, which leads to alcoholism and substance abuse by young people. On the other hand, elder people are more exposed to information about smoking and drinking have already made a choice thus are not as likely to be affected by information posted on social media. Additionally, elder adults are not heavy users of social media thus they may miss out on some information leading to discontinuation of effect (Elmore et al. 2017).

Social media portrayal of alcohol and tobacco has influenced young people into alcoholism and substance abuse. According to Siddiquiand Singh (2016), visuals have become an integral part of content marketing and in the quest of reaching for more customers, alcohol and tobacco selling organisations post short videos to show how drinking or smoking enhances life. As a result, young people exposed to such messages expect that alcohol and tobacco will enhance their lives. These beliefs that alcohol intake and smoking will result in positive outcomes such as making friends and having fun are significantly associated with substance use among young people. Elmore et al. (2017) write that young people who expect that smoking and alcohol intake will improve their lives are 3 times more likely to smoke and drink as compared to their peers who are negative about substance use. As opposed to the young people, elder people are more rational thus are less likely to believe messages about alcohol and tobacco as shaped by social media.

Advertising on social media is majorly done using celebrities which further influences the behaviour of young people. Celebrity advertising on social media helps define who smokes or drinks. As the primary consumers of such information, young people end up believing that smoking and drinking is fashionable. This has contributed to the notion of super peer and the young people want to emulate their behaviour resulting to erosion of morals (Elmore et al. 2017). Elder people on the other hand are less likely to identify with celebrities and are more rational, which helps overcome the effect of social media advertising using celebrities.

The huge amount of time spent by young people on social media results to poor body image. According to Ali et al. (2016), young people has forsaken exercise because they spend a large percentage of their leisure time on social media. Physical inactivity considerably contributes to weigh gain result to overweight and obese conditions. From a different perspective, Fardouly et al. (2018) write that young people become more salient during preadolescence and adolescence while social media platforms allow them to interact with their peers. It is also at the adolescence stage that young people are experiencing cognitive, physical, and social changes thus their interaction with peers of social media defines what is normal and desirable. Appearance-focused profiles on social media play a substantive role in shaping what is attractive during young age, which affects perception of self. As opposed to young people, adults are more exposed and have a better understanding of the human lifespan development thus do not rely of what others post on social media to determine if they are attractive. In addition, adults score higher on self-esteem as compared to young people thus are less likely to be affected by perception of others (Fardouly et al. 2018).

Excessive use of social media is associated with depressive symptoms in young people. A study conducted by Tiggemann and Slater (2014) on preadolescent girls in Australia established that young girls who spend more time on social media have more body image concerns which increases depressive symptoms. Another study of a similar nature conducted on boys and girls in Singapore reveals that increased use of social media is associated with body dissatisfaction in both gender (Lwin and Malik 2012). Body dissatisfaction in turn contributes to development of depressive symptoms as the young person feels inadequate to be like peers. The relationship between social media and depressive symptoms is not established among adults. According to Fardouly et al. (2018), elder people use social media for a specific purpose which is majorly entertainment or shopping. Therefore, adult usage of social media does not lead to depressive symptoms.

Social media is a factor affecting identity for the young people. According to Elmore et al. (2017), young people are in the self-discovery and awareness period. At this stage, young people want to be respected by others and accepted by peers. Therefore, young adults will depend on others definition of what is good and acceptable and take up that personality. Social media is one such platforms where young people are seeking to understand and fit into the stereotypes around them. According to Ephraim (2013), young people manipulate their online personification in order to meet the criteria of what is desirable. Through increased exposure to social media messages particularly images of what is desirable, young people change their profiles to match what their peers want them to be. This behaviour has a negative effect of a young person’s self-esteem and self-acceptance. When his/her personality does not match what is desirable, chances that the individual will accept and appreciate his/her personality are minimal. To the extreme ends, this affects the mental health of young people. Adults on the contrary have already discovered themselves thus what they see on social media does not affect perception of self. According to Ephraim (2013) adults will not manipulate their online personification to meet what it seen as desirable; they have already accepted who they are.

Social media leads to addiction among young people. Fardouly et al. (2018) posit that young people are attracted and love to see new things and social media provides them everything they need to see. With the curiosity to explore, young people end up spending most of their time on social media who Siddiquiand Singh (2016) refer to as social media freaks. These social media freaks have created for themselves a world of illusion and fantasy. Siddiquiand Singh (2016) state that it is now very common to see young people clinging to their communication gadgets, some with serious faces, and others laughing. To these social media freaks, the real world is not fascinating thus they have to keep logged into social media platforms for them to be happy. As opposed to the young people, adults are seeking to achieve their goals in business and life thus attached to the reality. Therefore, they are not affected by the fantasy and illusion of the social media world. They engage their colleagues, friends and family unlike young people who have unknown friends.

Therefore, we can conclude that even though social media has affected both young people and adults, the effects are more evident on young people. At their age, young people are seeking to discover themselves thus really mindful of perceptions of others which is seen through the profiles others post on social media platforms. In addition, young people love seeing new things which are in plenty on social media platforms leading to addiction. Further, social media exposes young people to information they have not seen, read, and heard before and the way in which this information is communicated could be misleading. For example, smoking and drinking is portrayed as a classic experience influencing young people into it. Finally, social communities have criteria to what is acceptable in terms of body image. At their age, young adults have low self-esteem and awareness thus are likely to develop depressive symptoms if their body image does not match what is seen to the desirable.

References

Ali, A., Iqbal, A. and Iqbal, K., 2016. Effects of Social Media on Youth: A Case Study in University of Sargodha. International Journal of Advanced Research, 4(11), pp.369-372.

Elmore, K.C., Scull, T.M. and Kupersmidt, J.B., 2017. Media as a “super peer”: how adolescents interpret media messages predicts their perception of alcohol and tobacco use norms. Journal of youth and adolescence, 46(2), pp.376-387.

Ephraim, P.E. 2013, "African youths and the dangers of social networking: a culture-centered approach to using social media", Ethics and Information Technology, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 275-284.

Fardouly, J., Magson, N.R., Johnco, C.J., Oar, E.L. and Rapee, R.M., 2018. Parental control of the time preadolescents spend on social media: Links with preadolescents’ social media appearance comparisons and mental health. Journal of youth and adolescence, 47(7), pp.1456-1468.

Lwin, M.O. and Malik, S., 2012. The role of media exposure, peers, and family on body dissatisfaction amongst boys and girls in Singapore. Journal of Children and Media, 6(1), pp.69-82.

Siddiqui, S. and Singh, T., 2016. studied “Social Media its Impact with Positive and Negative Aspects International Journal of Computer Applications Technology and Research Volume 5–Issue 2, 71-75, 2016. ISSN:-2319–8656.

Tiggemann, M. and Slater, A., 2014. NetTweens: The internet and body image concerns in preteenage girls. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 34(5), pp.606-620.

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