EAP I Assignment 3: Exploring Social Media's Influence on Adolescents

This essay examines the multifaceted effects of social media on adolescents, acknowledging its pervasive influence on their lives. The essay begins by establishing the context of adolescent social media usage, citing statistics that highlight the high rates of access and engagement among young people. It then delves into the advantages, such as facilitating connection with friends and family, especially when geographically separated, and providing access to global information and diverse perspectives on various issues. However, the essay also critically analyzes the disadvantages, including emotional stress, cyberbullying, and the potential for self-esteem issues stemming from social comparison. The essay synthesizes these points, concluding that while social media offers benefits, adolescents must navigate its complexities to mitigate potential negative consequences. The essay is well-supported by references to academic literature and the assignment brief, ensuring the validity and credibility of the content. This assignment is available on Desklib, a platform offering a range of study tools and resources for students.

Running head: ENGLISH
English
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ENGLISH
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the effects of the use of social media on the
adolescent young people of the society. The social media has both positive and negative impacts
on the adolescent people and both those sections will be described in this essay for the
understanding of the readers.
At first, it must be mentioned that the adolescent people are those who are now young but
slowly growing up into an adult. It is very common that these young people will be affected by
the trends in the social media since they have gone through the interesting posts and
communicate with people of various countries (Radovic et al., 2017). As they are developing and
learning new things, they will have tremendous desire of absorbing all the things they learn.
Social media is also in that list. As per the recent statistical data in the year 2018, it has been
shown that the young people up to 95% can have the access to the social media through their
smartphones. On the other hand, around 45% of those adolescent people are online almost all the
hours they are awakened. Most researches have shown that these adolescent people have
tremendous desire to spend all their rimes by using various social media platforms such as
Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and many others. In the next part of the essay, some
advantages and disadvantages of using the social media will be discussed (Radovic et al., 2017).
The first advantage that the social media will give the adolescents is to stay very much
connected with their friends mostly. It is also very helpful to stay in touch with their parents if
they are on school excursions. They can connect with their relatives and peers through this mode
also (Kennedy, 2019). If they stay away from their home in hostels or residential schools, it will
be the only medium through which they could stay connected. In this manner, the adolescents
would be able to give updates to their families and friends about their lives on regular intervals.

2ENGLISH
Adolescent young people will also get to know about all the things that would happen
outside their country, continent or even the globe. The use of internet and information
technology will help them to stay connected through these different modes. In the various social
platforms like Tweeter and Facebook, they will be able to know about several health, political,
environmental and educational factors (Tartari, 2015). They will stay updated every time when
they will use this social media. If they are properly updated about all these issues, they can
prepare themselves properly to avoid all these hazards.
There are certain disadvantages in this scenario also. The first disadvantage that can be
found is that the adolescent person will get very much emotionally stressed. They might also get
in touch with the cyber bullying also. It is because they do not have the sense of ethics regarding
this case (Tartari, 2015). Therefore, they will very surely get affected in their personal lives.
Their friends in school might indulge in cyber bullying with them. This will create a great mental
harm to him.
Adolescents might also face several stressful situations. This might be due to their lack of
self esteem. This stress will be very harmful for their development also. Sometimes it has also
been observed that some adolescent people get very stressed since they tend to compare
themselves with online celebrities and get envied (Guinta & John, 2018).
After going through the above discussion, it can be supported that the social media has
many positive aspects. It will help them to meet people of different backgrounds around the
world. This will help them to provide emotional support to others bu they should stay away from
victimized of cyber bullying.

3ENGLISH
References
Guinta, M. R., & John, R. M. (2018). Social media and adolescent health.
Kennedy, K. (2019). Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media on Adolescent Well-Being.
Radovic, A., Gmelin, T., Stein, B. D., & Miller, E. (2017). Depressed adolescents' positive and
negative use of social media. Journal of adolescence, 55, 5-15.
Tartari, E. (2015). Benefits and risks of children and adolescents using social media. European
Scientific Journal, 11(13).