Negative Effects of Social Media: Is It a Boon or a Curse?

Esther Bailey, ParentalControlNow.org

Esther Bailey

October 1, 2024

Negative Effects of Social Media: A Boon or a Curse?

In the era of the internet, social media has become a common phenomenon among all people worldwide. Almost nothing is possible without the help of social media these days. But is it the entire truth? Many people are led towards destruction solely due to improper use of social media. The negative impact of social media on youth has risen to a point where you need to be careful about every step you take. This leaves us with a lingering question if social media is a boon or a curse. As destructive as it can get, we have provided a list of 10 negative effects of social media that will help you get a clear overview of the topic!

Let’s Get Clear About Social Media

Social media is a shared platform between billions of people to exchange their thoughts, and daily activities, and for interacting. People use it to share their work and views on a certain topic as well as take a look at others’ work and views. It has become easier to communicate with people with the help of social media these days. But with the good sides comes the drawbacks as well.

The negative impact of social media on youth can be disastrous if they don’t know how to make proper use of it. It can lead them to destruction if they let social media define their entire life.

10 Negative Effects of Social Media

As good as it does to human civilization, the negative impact of social media on youth is also a concerning issue. We have listed down 10 negative effects of social media on people that can be disastrous!

Less Face to Face Interaction

If you spend most of your time on social media, it reduces your chance of face-to-face interaction. As a result, you spend less time with the people that are physically present in your life. Sometimes these people get annoyed with your behavior as despite being in the same room you are not paying them enough attention.

Here's the deal

Social media can be a great way to interact with people who stay far away from you. You can talk to people on social media to remove the void that you can’t fill with people around you! But nothing can ever beat the comfort of talking to someone in person. Even when you speak to someone in person, non-verbal cues play a significant role in communicating better!

Seeking More Attention

Seeking attention is a part of natural human phenomena. But social media has taken this need for attention to an extreme level that doesn’t allow people to think straight! The constant need for attention has driven people to do crazy stuff! But at the end of the day, this huge level of attention has led people to become lonelier and isolated than ever.

Social media apps
Social media apps

This leaves a huge negative impact of social media on youth. People don’t show their true-self, they seek attention to show the constructed version of themselves. It has become a nasty habit for some people to post attention-seeking photos and statuses. The never-ending demand for attention consumes these people leaving a huge negative impact of social media on youth!

High Risk of Getting Depressed

A recent study shows that people who are more into social media develop a habit of experiencing negative feelings. These negative feelings include anxiety, depression, and many more! This could be harmful to someone if they were previously diagnosed with anxiety or depression. The main reason behind someone getting these negative feelings is social comparisons and lack of real-life social interactions.

If you ever feel down while scrolling through any social media remember this is a negative impact of social media on youth. You should probably consider taking a break if this happens regularly.

Getting Distracted from Life Goals

People trying too hard to impress other people on social media often get distracted from their life goals. They get wrapped up in trending social media issues rather than focusing on obtaining skills or applying for their dream jobs! To achieve your goal one must work hard with strong dedication.

Getting distracted with social media
Getting distracted with social media

If you let social media come in between your goals and distract you, you won’t be able to make it to the top. Social media doesn’t let you focus and work hard. It makes you believe that putting in hard work is not worth it and lets you go down the path where you can’t get your work done.

More Chances of Failed Relationships

Social media has become a place for exhibiting your perfect relationship pictures. But in reality as good as the pictures look, there hides a lot of miscommunications and misunderstandings. People are only showing one side of their relationships on social media, not all. Whereas they should be putting in the effort to solve their problems and try to work them out. The more time they spend on social media, the more issues they get to argue about. They end up self-sabotaging their relationships!

Here's a tip

Instead of stalking your partner on social media and stopping looking for crumbling relationship issues, spend some quality time with them. Take them out on a date and ask about each other's life!

Unhealthy Sleep Patterns

One of the 10 negative effects of social media on youth that has affected people of every age group is unhealthy sleep patterns. People spending too much time on social media have no sense of time management. They don’t wake up, eat, sleep, or do anything on time. They are always busy surfing social media and wasting their time on insignificant things.

Using social media at night
Using social media at night

This poor sleep schedule can lead to a drop in your productivity. So, if you realize you are leading towards an irregular sleeping pattern, try using your phone less. Don’t spend much time browsing on social media. Rather keep track of your time and take some proper sleep!

Encountering Cyberbullying

Every single person is familiar with the term cyberbullying, aren't they? That’s because this is one of the 10 negative effects of social media that people have encountered at least once in their life.

Cyberbullying on a child's phone
Cyberbullying on a child's phone

People feel way too comfortable saying things they wouldn’t in real life. They blur out whatever they want to say without even considering how that would make the person feel. Even if these comments or cyberbullying are not directed at you, it still leaves a negative impact on you! So, the perfect antidote to such behavior is going out and showing acts of kindness to people.

Reduces Self-Esteem

On social media, it’s become very normal to pretend to be someone you are not. Everybody tries to act perfect on social media with a perfect relationship, job, house, car, etc. But don’t let the glamor fool you! There are tons of untold truths hidden behind those pictures and stories. People just tend to post the good parts of their lives on social media.

In reality...

These people with perfect lives on social media have tons of problems to deal with in real life. But every time you see someone do good or do things that you want for yourself it reduces your self-esteem. It makes you feel miserable as you can’t have it right now but other people are getting it before you!

Stunts Creativity

One of the 10 negative effects of social media is stunting creativity. It is known to everyone that social media can be very deceiving and can kill the creative process of someone! Surfing on social media causes a numbing effect on people’s minds that comes between their creativity.

It is similar to someone mindlessly watching television for a while. But in that environment, you can’t work in the right state of mind. So, if you are looking for a creative solution, it’s better to opt for a walk or meditate to get your mind in the right state. As it requires people to be calm and relaxed.

FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

Fear of missing out is the most widespread negative impact of social media on youth. This phenomenon has increased among people with the rise of social media. This fear of missing out is a feeling you get when you see someone doing something great or fun. But you are unable to do so, due to your commitment to other responsibilities. Being on social media constantly reminds you to check on your friends if they are doing anything fun and cool without you. You keep on checking if anyone invited you out.

Negative Impact of Social Media on Youth

Youth is the most vulnerable to the negative impact of social media as they are still in their growth. During their development years, whatever they see or believe has a huge impact on their personality. These youth start to explore at an early age and discover how interacting on social media will help them make more friends.

Child using social media
Child using social media

They find social media a fun and active way to interact with their friends and family. Kids use social media to talk to their closed ones and share memes and music with them. They also find it a useful way to send their homework to their friends to help them out. During their late teen years, these kids have access to at least one social media. And many of them even have phones of their own! Surprising, right?

How to Figure Out if Your Teen Kid is Addicted to Social Media?

If your kids are addicted to social media you can easily tell by monitoring their activities. Spending too much time on their phone is one of the 10 negative effects of social media. This social media keeps your kids engaged in useless stuff. Thus, a lot of kids lose a significant amount of time from their life behind them. You can also tell if your kid wants to cancel plans they used to enjoy earlier you spend more time on the internet.

Most importantly...

If you see your kid cutting off communications in real life and are more on social media. They can’t take their eyes off social media even during potentially hazardous activities like driving or working!

Ways to Protect Your Teen Kid on Social Media

Fortunately, there are many ways to prevent the negative impact of social media on youth. If you decide to work on them you can surely protect your kids and save them from these 10 negative effects of social media. You can start by limiting your kids' time on social media. They spend most of their valuable time on social media and don’t get any of their actual work done on time.

Using parental controls on devices
Using parental controls on devices

You can also use parental controls to limit the negative impact of social media on youth. You can set ad blocks so that it helps in exposure to harmful content.

Wrapping Up

As teens are still in their development years, they have very tiny knowledge about making the right decision. It is very important to let them know about the negative impact of social media on youth. So, as long as the parents are guiding them, the negative impact of social media on youth will not have any impact on them. Just make sure you are being conscious while surfing on the internet and you are good to go!

FAQs

What are the dangers for teens on social media?

They can get involved in inappropriate activities like cyberbullying, sexting, identity theft, online predators, etc. They can also get affected by serious illnesses like depression, anxiety, overthinking, and so on!

Is there no upside to social media?

Of course, social media plays a significant role in bringing people together by letting them interact and share their opinions.

Is social media important in our regular life?

Social media is indeed important to stay updated in this digital world.

Is there any healthy way to be on social media?

As long as you don’t let social media affect your regular activities and maintain a balance everywhere you will not face any trouble.

Is there any mental health risk associated with social media?

Overusing social media may lead to clinical depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and many more.

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