What’s not to “like” About Social Media?

What’s not to “like” About Social Media?

By: Trey Dickson

Social media has undoubtedly had a major impact on society. With social media at the forefront of sharing information, it’s very important that we look at how our youth are being affected.  We tend to acknowledge the negative and positive attributes paired with social media including networking, diversifying, and cyberbullying, but the true effects of these attributes are still often underestimated.

In my experience with myself and my friends, the amount of time we spend on social media often takes priority over time that can be spent on more productive things like homework and family time. I remember being at a party with plenty of people to talk to and we still found time to get on our phones.  If there’s any amount of lull or boredom at all, most people will go on their phones and ignore things happening around them. My friends barely even talk to me nowadays if it isn’t about something they found on Reddit or Facebook or a “dank meme”. I often think about how this type of behavior will manifest into our romantic lives. We will find it very difficult to maintain relationships if our only real talking points or interests are based on social media.

I also think that social media damages adolescents by giving them a false sense of positivity. What I mean by this is that any adolescent with any kind of social media can get immediate positive feedback over something that isn’t really considered an accomplishment. Why go out and really work hard for something that people will eventually admire when you can just make a viral meme and get the same dopamine hit? This behavior can transform adolescent minds by “programming” their internal reward system to need constant stimulation. This immediate gratification makes it very difficult for adolescents to make long term goals for themselves.

Nesi, Shoukas-Bradley, and Prinstein (2018) address this topic by helping readers understand how social media is transforming the adolescent experience.  One of the aspects of social media and life this article goes over is frequency and immediacy. The availability of social media has no limits and the amount of time adolescents spend on social media has become a major topic of discussion. Recent studies have shown that the average adolescent will spend 9 hours a day online, contrary to the recommended 30 minutes or less per day (Nesi et al, 2018). This aspect of social media includes immediate exposure to positive and negative material. Increased access to peer information also leads to comparisons being made between the adolescent and their peers or public figures (Nesi et al, 2018). This toxic thinking only leads the adolescent to try and fill a void that is unfillable through social media.

So what can be done about this issue? For starters, parents need to take a more proactive parenting style when it comes to their child’s internet use. This doesn’t mean simply prohibiting your child from being on the internet as this will likely just make them more rebellious. A better method of regulating your child’s internet usage would be getting them engaged with extracurricular activities that don’t involve the internet. Some parents may also choose to get involved in these activities with their child to model desired behavior. On the topic of modeling behavior, it is also important for parents to take a look at themselves and reflect on how much of their day is spent on unnecessary internet use. If the parent is modelling undesirable behavior, it will be difficult to get the child to do otherwise.

Social media has no doubt given us the ability to stay connected like never before, and I don’t think that it’s all bad. It can be used as a tool to bring people together in ways that otherwise would not have been possible. Some people even practice religion online because they may have a handicap that prevents them from leaving home, or their preferred religion doesn’t have a community in their area (Larson, 2014). This is just one of the many amazing positive ways social media has affected our society, but that affect needs to be put in check. I like to compare the internet to food; there are all different kinds of it, some of it good and some of it bad. It’s great to have unlimited access to food, but you need to make sure that you’re eating the right kind and that your pantry isn’t always open.

References:

Larsen, E. (2014, January 9). CyberFaith: How Americans Pursue Religion Online. Retrieved December 17, 2019, from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2001/12/23/cyberfaith-how-americans-pursue-religion-online/.

Nesi, J., Choukas-Bradley, S., &  Prinstein, M. J. (2018). Transformation of adolescent peer relations in the social media context: Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review. 295-319.