Extended Essay: Analyzing Social Media's Impact on Teenagers

This essay explores the multifaceted impact of social media on teenagers, addressing both its positive and negative effects. It discusses how social media facilitates connectivity and provides educational opportunities through online videos and blogs, while also highlighting the risks of addiction, cyberbullying, and mental health issues like anxiety and low self-esteem. The essay emphasizes the importance of parental supervision to mitigate these dangers and promote responsible social media usage among teenagers. The analysis covers aspects such as identity development, communication skills, and the potential for social isolation, ultimately arguing for a balanced approach that recognizes both the benefits and risks associated with social media in the lives of young people. Desklib provides this essay as a student contribution.

Running head: ENGLISH
English
Name of the student:
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion/Body..............................................................................................................................2
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The online social media have acquired an astounding growth worldwide in the current era.
With the changing time, almost all the generations have embraced and adopted the changes; the
social media has brought to their lives. In the growing era of technological up-gradation and
innovation, young adults and the teenagers are the most fanatic users of the social media. It is
everywhere and in the today’s time, social media is an inseparable part of each and every
teenager’s life (Moreno and Whitehill 2014). Though there lay both positive and negative effects
of the use of social media in the teenager's life, the social media plays a much important role in
developing the identity of the teenagers which is essential in the current progressing world
(Richards, Caldwell and Go 2015). The paper aims to target both the positive and the negative
impacts of the use of social media or the influence of social media on the lives of teenagers.
Discussion/Body
It is almost impossible to deny the fact that the social media plays an imperative part of
teenager’s lives. The debate regarding the use of social media as a boon or a curse has increased
substantially (Boyd 2014). Is the introduction of social media a blessing or a curse, is a still a big
question to the world. Focusing on the positive effects of the use of social media, it is a great
way to connect with the people. Research has found out that most of the teenagers tend to spend
at least an hour or two on using social media sites on a daily basis. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
are the few common topics of discussion among the teens and the young adults (Best,
Manktelow and Taylor 2014). Furthermore, social media plays an important role in providing
improved facilities to the procedure of education in the current time. Online education videos,
educational blogs, and posts on the social media platform are some of the beneficial things

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contributing to the positive sides of the use of social media. According to the research study, one
of the major contributors towards the extensive growth of social media among the teenagers is
the easy access and demands for Android and iPhones and other electronic technological devices.
These electronic devices allow the teenagers to socialize with other fellows on the social
networking sites (Yonker et al. 2015). Furthermore, use of social media helps in updating with
the data throughout the world; it helps the teenagers to stay connected with their family and
friends even if they are miles apart. Besides this social media sites provides the teenagers a
platform where they can develop and form their pages and groups on the basis of their common
disciplines and opportunities for their respective goals and careers (Marwick and Boyd 2014).
Teenagers get the chance to talk and discuss on various topics on the platform of social media
with eminent experts or professionals which in turn helps them to boost up their knowledge
regarding the subject of discussion, further inducing the teenagers to gain multiple ideas and
knowledge which they can utilize in their upcoming life (Alwagait, Shahzad and Alim 2015).
Some of the factors that contributes to the advantages of using social media for the teenager
includes a newer and innovative way for the teenagers or the young adults to express themselves,
opportunity to learn across the oceans from various scholars and teachers across the globe,
improved opportunities for employment and internship programs in other countries, chance to
share self knowledge, thoughts and other social behavior in social media platforms like Quora
(Yonker et al. 2015). Besides this, social media in the current day is one of the most preferred
media to the young adults and the teenagers to express any of their talents (Dunbar 2016).
Technology is one of the most vital parts of the success of the teens. In short, the positive effects
of the use of social media in the lives of the teenagers in the modern-day includes an opportunity
for a great source of income, chance to build up a strong relationship, opportunity to reduce

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obstacles for effective communication with the entire world. Though there are ample of
advantages of the use of social media by the young adults and the teenagers, however excessive
use of the media tends to turn the teenagers into isolation and other major issues. While
facilitating the teenagers with ample options and opportunities to gain further knowledge in the
process of learning and education, use of social media can negatively impact the teenagers’ lives
and their health with the absence of the supervision of the elders (Wisniewski et al. 2015). It is
the tendency if the teenagers to use the platform of social media to communicate with their
friends. In many situations, there lies a psychological barrier in the mind of the teenagers that
they might miss out someone or they might be forgotten by the others. This thought compels the
teenagers to dedicate most of their time on the social media platform which results in addiction.
Furthermore, the tendency to use mobiles and other electronic technological devices from a very
tender age is resulting in the addiction among the young adults and the teenagers to spend more
of their time on the media platforms rather than giving time to themselves and their family
(Alwagait, Shahzad and Alim 2015). One of the major disadvantages and the negative aspect of
the use of social media among the teenagers is the impact of the media on the emotional and
mental health of the teenagers. In these days, the emotional health statuses of the teenagers are
directly connected to their social media accounts. Rising level of anxiety and lower self-esteem
among the teenagers due to the excessive use of social media contributes to the negative impact
of social media on their lives (Marwick and Boyd 2014). According to researchers, lack of
parental supervision and proper guidance to the teenagers is leading them to become the victims
of cyber bullying or other issues on the internet platform. Further researches have revealed that
the use of social media among the teenagers have increased the rate of suicide and depression
among the teenagers residing in the United States in the current years. Teenagers in the current

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days tend to keep themselves busy for hours on the social media platform even at their bedtime
which in turn increases the rate of insomnia and other health-related issues (Marwick and Boyd
2014). One of the major examples in this context is the emission of the harmful ray of lights
from the electronic devices which tends to affect the vision and the sleep among the teenagers.
This deprivation of sleep and rest impacts directly on the health and the livelihood of the
teenagers in the current days (Richards, Caldwell and Go 2015). The excessive use of social
media among the teenagers in the current world is leading them to be socially isolated. This
social isolation is further resulting in numerous emotional, physical, psychological and mental
issues among the teen lives (Best, Manktelow and Taylor 2014). Furthermore, increased rate of
exposure to the online predators, spreading of misinformation, decreased rate of productivity and
increased rate of identity theft in the social media platform are some of the negative factors that
tend to affect the lives of the teenagers (Wartella et al. 2016). To summarize, some of the major
disadvantages of the use of social media among the teenagers are chances of cyber bullying,
increased chances of hacking of personal data and information which can result in privacy theft,
financial issues and loss of personal life (Moreno and Whitehill 2014). One of the major
disadvantages of social media is the extensive involvement or chances of addiction among the
young adults and the teenagers. Furthermore, increased tendency of being the victims of fraud
and scams, increased security issues, problems regarding cheating relationship issues and
chances of damage of reputation by the means of false stories are some of the negative impacts
of the use of social media on the lives of the teenagers in the current era (Kearney and Levine
2015). Not just by the usage, social media can be life-threatening at some times when the
teenagers tend to try stunts and other crazy pieces of stuff that are shared on the platform of

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social media. The teenagers furthermore tend to follow wealthy and drug addicts on the media
platform which eventually led them to get addicted to alcohol, drugs and other harmful means.
Conclusion
Usage of social media clearly portrays both the negative and the positive effects on the
teenagers. Teenagers tend to develop effective communication skills and critical thinking skills
in the context of gaining knowledge by the use of social media. Banning the teenagers from
using the platform of social media is not the only solution for the consequences. Hence parental
control over the activities of the teenagers in the social media platform is essential to avoid any
kinds of danger that might affect the lives of the teenagers.

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References
Alwagait, E., Shahzad, B. and Alim, S., 2015. Impact of social media usage on students
academic performance in Saudi Arabia. Computers in Human Behavior, 51, pp.1092-1097.
Best, P., Manktelow, R. and Taylor, B., 2014. Online communication, social media and
adolescent wellbeing: A systematic narrative review. Children and Youth Services Review, 41,
pp.27-36.
Boyd, D., 2014. It's complicated: The social lives of networked teens. Yale University Press.
Dunbar, R.I., 2016. Do online social media cut through the constraints that limit the size of
offline social networks?. Royal Society Open Science, 3(1), p.150292.
Kearney, M.S. and Levine, P.B., 2015. Media influences on social outcomes: The impact of
MTV's 16 and pregnant on teen childbearing. American Economic Review, 105(12), pp.3597-
3632.
Marwick, A.E. and Boyd, D., 2014. Networked privacy: How teenagers negotiate context in
social media. New Media & Society, 16(7), pp.1051-1067.
Moreno, M.A. and Whitehill, J.M., 2014. Influence of social media on alcohol use in adolescents
and young adults. Alcohol research: current reviews, 36(1), p.91.
Richards, D., Caldwell, P.H. and Go, H., 2015. Impact of social media on the health of children
and young people. Journal of paediatrics and child health, 51(12), pp.1152-1157.
Wartella, E., Rideout, V., Montague, H., Beaudoin-Ryan, L. and Lauricella, A., 2016. Teens,
health and technology: A national survey. Media and communication, 4(3).

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Wisniewski, P., Jia, H., Xu, H., Rosson, M.B. and Carroll, J.M., 2015, February. Preventative vs.
reactive: How parental mediation influences teens' social media privacy behaviors.
In Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work &
Social Computing (pp. 302-316). ACM.
Yonker, L.M., Zan, S., Scirica, C.V., Jethwani, K. and Kinane, T.B., 2015. “Friending” teens:
systematic review of social media in adolescent and young adult health care. Journal of medical
Internet research, 17(1).