Research Paper: Social Media Effects on Youth - ENGL 1100

This essay explores the impact of social media on the young generation, highlighting both positive and negative effects. It discusses issues such as cyberbullying, time wasting, and changes in behavior and culture among young people due to social media usage. The research paper references a survey in USA, revealing that more than half of online American youths ages 12-17 use online social networking sites. It also addresses the addictive nature of social media, its influence on mental health, and its potential for both connecting people and exposing them to harmful content. The essay concludes that while social media offers benefits, its negative impacts require attention and education to promote safer and more responsible usage among youth.

Shivam Rattan
Dr. Jaskiran Tiwana
ENGL 1100-17
April 9, 2018
Effects of Social Media on Young Generation
Social media is a product of advanced technology and it has a significant impact on our
society. In today's modern era social media has become an important medium of sharing our
emotions, thoughts and ideas. This research paper discusses the effects of social media on the
young generation and this will help on coming up with mechanisms to make social media a
positive communication tool in future. At present, there are various social media platforms some
can even be linked together and they have helped people to connect with others easily, create
virtual relationships, share real-time information and event advertise goods and services
(Boulianne 350). Social media, however, has both pros and cons. Negative effects of social
media such as time wasting, cyberbullying as well as destroying the credibility of businesses due
to bad ratings. Social media usage is more rampant among the young generation and they are
probably most affected by social media.
Social media has so many negative effects on the young generation today. According to
a survey done across the United States by the few Internet & American Life Project more than
half (55%) of all of online American youths ages, 12-17 use online social networking sites
(Osama 94). Cyberbullying occurs almost every day across the various social media platforms.
Cyberbullying is as worse as physical bullying and it affects young people when they are alone.
Harmful and inappropriate images and content can be circulated easily across social media and it
can be difficult to delete. Research shows that around 25% of young social media users have

experienced cyberbullying or harassment, female youths being the most affected (Hamm,
Michele P 775). Cyberbullying is highly associated with depression and this may lead to fatal
effects such as suicide among the youths.
Time wasting among the youths is another effect of social media. The various social
media platforms have an addictive effect on young people and it is common to find youths glued
to their phones, iPod's and laptops. Some students sacrifice their time intended for academic
purposes just to be on social media. Other youths also use every opportunity they get to visit the
various social media sites so as to get fast hand information of what is going on all over the
world (Sherman 1027). This time could be used by the youth for self-improvement and invest it
in productive activities for the individual and the society at large. Time is a resource that cannot
be recovered and social media platforms encourage youths to waste a lot of their time on things
that do not matter a lot in life. In the past these technologies were not so advanced and everyone
enjoyed their lives instead of wasting time on the internet. The technology is changing rapidly,
and more advancement can be seen in every century. Before the invention of social media youths
used to spend most of their time by playing outdoor games which are physical in nature and
helped in enhancing the health of young people.
Another effect of the social media which effects the young generation of today's world is
a change of behavior and culture. Social media has made a great impact on youth's lives as a
change can be seen in their behavior as because of using a surplus amount of internet in their
daily life. Many studies have been carried out on students’ usage of social media, its impact on
their social behavior, education, academic performance (Chukwuere 9970). Learners start
becoming dependent on social media for every information they need. Social media is becoming
a need for everyone and each person is becoming addicted to the internet that even they are

spending a lot of time on these technologies. With the improvement in technology, research has
proven that social media plays a huge role in the economic growth, uniting of friends and allow
the making of new friends. While its consequences include; terrorist attack, cyberbullying, and
time wasting (Chukwuere 9967).Because of using a lot of internet cyber-crime is increasing such
as many criminals do hacking due to which they can easily hack your bank accounts even your
social application accounts. Social media use among the youths creates virtual relationships with
people all over the world and this can provide an avenue for recruitment into terrorist
organizations or any other malicious groups.
Social media usage causes so many health problems. Anxiety and depression among the
youths can be caused by social media and they have both immediate and longtime effects on an
individual. Instagram for instance, it is the leading social media platform resulting in inadequacy
among people with struggling with self-esteem or youths dealing with body image issues (Perloff
365). Most social media platforms are image-based and this sends so much information which
the youths feel to be associated with. The fancy lifestyles displayed by celebrities in the social
media make most youths feel they are lacking so much in their lives and they would fake their
personality pretending to be living fancy. This makes the youth lose focus in following family
traditions and even their personal principles that the society tried to instill in them. Youths tend
to want to appear trendy in these social media sites and they sometimes go to the extent of
sacrificing their privacy and personal principles (Best 27-36) They sometimes share images and
content that degrades their personality just to get likes and audiences from the social media
"friends". Sustaining that fake image in the social media can easily make youths to forget their
real identity and flow with their "self-created heaven" in social media.

Social media also has some advantages for the young generation. The various social
media platforms have has made it easy for young people to contact friends and relatives all over
the world at the touch of a button (Valenzuela, Sebastián). It makes it easy for the youths to gain
information and knowledge about their society and the world since it allows real-time transfer of
information. Social media platforms also serve as a source of entertainment as long as it is not
overused by the youths and become addicted to it (Vaterlaus 157). Some social media platforms
such as LinkedIn have been used by organizations to share very useful information across their
employees and this can be implemented for the other social media platforms. AS much as social
media has numerous negative effects on the youths but it also has several benefits that cannot be
overlooked.
In conclusion, technologies are becoming advanced so fast that and many people are
becoming dependent on it. Social media is a result of technological advancement and it has both
positive and negative effects on the young generation. The current social media usage has so
many negative effects such as time wasting and cyberbullying on young people. Despite the
numerous negative effects social media has on youths, it can still be made a positive
communication avenue. This will require educating the youths on how to use these platforms and
develop mechanisms to reduce cyberbullying.

Work Cited
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