Social Teens

Social Media is a term for the online platforms that people use to connect with others, share media content, and form social networks.

Social media is a way for teenagers to stay in touch with their friends, like hanging out at the bus stop after school or chatting on the phone. It is an important part of socialising and connection in the modern world.

Source: https://parents.au.reachout.com

For the vast majority of teens, social media is a daily part of life. For instance, 51 percent of teens visit social networking sites on a daily basis, while 11 percent send or receive tweets at least once every day. Moreover, more than a third of teens visit their main social networking site several times a day, while one in four teens is a “heavy” social media user, which means they use at least two different types of social media every day, according to the report.

Source: https://www.verywellfamily.com/ways-social-media-affects-teen-mental-health-4144769

For many teens, social media can become almost addictive. In a study by researchers at the UCLA brain mapping center, they found that certain regions of teen brains became activated by “likes” on social media, sometimes causing them to want to use social media more.

During the study, researchers used an fMRI scanner to image the brains of 32 teenagers as they used a fictitious social media app resembling Instagram. The teenagers were shown more than 140 images where “likes” were believed to be from their peers. However, the likes were actually assigned by the research team.

As a result, the brain scans revealed that in addition to a number of regions, the nucleus accumbens, part of the brain’s reward circuitry, was especially active when they saw a large number of likes on their own photos.

In another part of the study, researchers could see a correlation between social media and peer influence. Participants in the study were shown both neutral photos and risky photos. What they found is that the type of image had no impact of the number of likes given by teens in the study. Instead, they were likely to hit “like” on the popular photos regardless of what they showed. Researchers believe this behavior shows that peers can have both a positive and negative influence on others while using social media.

Source: https://www.verywellfamily.com/ways-social-media-affects-teen-mental-health-4144769

• develop better social skills
• feel less isolated
• learn about new cultural and societal ideas and issues
• bond with their friends
• have fun
• be creative and share their own ideas with friends
• be better equipped to be active citizens in society
• develop real world skills to help them become more independent
• learn about world events and current affairs outside of their immediate environment.

Source: https://parents.au.reachout.com/skills-to-build/wellbeing/social-media-and-teenagers

• spending too much time online and being disconnected from the real world
• being the victim of online bullying
• damaging your online reputation
• having your personal information shared online
• being harassed or annoyed by someone you do not want attention from
• being the victim of an online scam
• having reduced self-esteem (for some teenagers).

Source: https://parents.au.reachout.com/skills-to-build/wellbeing/social-media-and-teenagers

🙃Social Media & Anxiety🙃

• It has been found that forty five percent of British adults feel restlessness when they are not able to access their social networking sites (Anxiety 2012).
• It is also found that younger generation feels restlessness when they were not able to access messages of their social networking applications apart from their counterparts, giving rise to Phantom vibration syndrome (PVS).
• Teens often feel emotionally invested in their social media accounts. Not only do they feel pressure to respond quickly online, but they also feel pressure to have perfect photos and well-written posts, all of which can cause a great deal of anxiety.
• It takes a lot of time and effort to keep up with the unspoken rules and culture of each social media platform. As a result, this puts additional pressure on teens, which can cause feelings of anxiety.
• Then factor in cyberbullying, slut-shaming, and other mean online behaviors and you can see why social media is a very real source of anxiety for many teens.

😓Social Media & Stress😓

• The Hearty Soul (2016) asserts that longer time you spend on social media more you are depressed, further it also reported that usage of social networking applications like Facebook and Twitter are less helpful to students in remaining more focused and less stressed.

😔Social Media & Depression😔

• In (Pantic et al., 2012) it is revealed that depression and time spent on Facebook by adolescents is positively correlated.
• Research conducted by Davila (2012) reflected severe depression symptoms among younger generation are associated with less positive and more negative social interactions.
• It has been discovered that social media use can be associated with an intensification of the symptoms of depression, including a decrease in social activity and an increase in loneliness.
• People who used more than seven social media platforms had more than three times the risk of depression than people who used two or fewer sites.
• Several additional studies have shown that the prolonged use of social media may be related to the signs and symptoms of depression as well as low self-esteem, especially in children.

😴Social Media & Sleep Deprivation😴

• Sometimes teens spend so many hours on social media that they begin to lose valuable sleep. Consequently, this sleep loss can lead to moodiness, a drop in grades, and overeating, as well as exacerbate existing problems like depression, anxiety, and ADD.
• One-fifth of the teens said they “almost always” wake up during the night and log in to social media. Study also revealed that girls were significantly more likely than boys to wake up and check social media on their phone.
• In addition to reporting feeling tired all the time, they also reported being less happy on average than teens whose sleep was not disturbed by social media.
• Aside from feeling tired and irritable, lack of sleep can lower the immune system and make it more likely for a teen to get sick.

Social Media & Envy

• Because people tend to post only the positive things that they experience, or make light of the bad with funny little anecdotes, it can appear to the reader that other people lead more exciting lives than they do.
• In social media, another person’s life may look perfect online, but offline they have struggles just like anyone else.
• It is easy for a teen to play the comparison game and start thinking that everyone is happier or better off than she is. 
• Envy, if not dealt with, often leads to bullying and mean behavior. In fact, many mean girls target others because they are jealous of the target’s clothes, boyfriend, successes, or any number of other things.

Social Media & Communication Issues

• Many teens spend so much time online checking statuses and likes that they forget to interact with the people right in front of them. For this reason, friendships and dating relationships can suffer when social media takes center stage in a person’s life. 
• Teens who place a priority on social media will often focus on the pictures they take that show how much fun they are having rather than actually focusing on having fun. 

Source:
1. (PDF) Effects of Social Media on Mental Health: A Review. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323018957_Effects_of_Social_Media_on_Mental_Health_A_Review [accessed Jan 01 2019].

2. https://www.verywellfamily.com/ways-social-media-affects-teen-mental-health-4144769

• Nearly three-quarters of teens believe that tech companies are manipulating users to spend more time glued to their devices.
• More than half of social media users say it distracts them from doing homework or paying attention to the people they’re with.
• Some 21 percent of teens say using social media makes them feel more popular, 20 percent said more confident, and 18 percent said it makes them feel better about themselves.
• A quarter said it makes them feel less lonely, and 16 percent said it makes them feel less depressed. Some 8 percent said it makes them feel more anxious, but 12 percent said less anxious.

Sources: https://www.recode.net/2018/9/10/17826810/social-media-use-teens-time-spent-facebook-instagram-snapchat

• The report shows yet again that Facebook has fallen out of favor among teens. Just 15 percent of U.S. teens said they use Facebook as their main social site, down from 68 percent in 2012. Teens consider Snapchat (41 percent) and Instagram (22 percent) their main social-media tool now; both mobile-native services were just getting going in 2012.
• Texting is now the preferred form of communication, with 35 percent of teens saying that’s their favorite way to communicate, compared with in-person (32 percent), social media (16 percent) and video chatting (10 percent). In 2012, in-person communication was the most popular.
• More teens have been exposed to racist, sexist and homophobic content on social media than they were in 2012. Those who “often” or “sometimes” encounter racist content has increased to 52 percent in 2018 from 43 percent in 2012.
• Girls are more likely (54 percent) to say they sometimes feel left out or excluded after seeing social media posts of friends at events they weren’t invited to than boys (39 percent).

Source: https://www.recode.net/2018/9/10/17826810/social-media-use-teens-time-spent-facebook-instagram-snapchat

1. THEY CAN’T STOP. THEY WON’T STOP.

Seventy percent of teens use social media more than once a day (compared with 34 percent in 2012). Most teens think technology companies manipulate users to spend more time on their devices. Many of them also think that social media distracts them

What can you do?
Encourage them to be mindful of how they feel before, during and after a social media session. If a certain friend or topic bugs them or brings them down, they can block that person or mute the thread. Challenge them to do a task with focused concentration, and without interruption, for longer and longer periods

2. THUMBS MOSTLY UP.

Very few teens say that using social media has a negative effect on how they feel about themselves; many more say it has a positive effect.

What can you do?
 It’s still important to check in. Ask open-ended questions about their social media lives: What’s good? What’s not so good? What do you wish you could change?

3. MANAGING DEVICE IS HIT OR MISS.

A significant number of teens say they “hardly ever” or “never” silence or put away their devices.

What can you do?
If your teen is able to manage their own use, keep encouraging them. If not, set specific screen rules for around the house. Establish screen-free times (such as during homework) and areas (such as the bedroom). Have device-free-dinner nights — and make sure to follow the rules yourself.

4. LESS TALKING, MORE TEXTING.

More than half say that social media takes them away from personal relationships and distracts them from paying attention to the people they’re with.

What can you do?
Put down your own phone (better yet, set it to do not disturb) when you’re with your kids. Encourage them to be more aware about their device use, especially when they come away from interactions feeling like they were distracted.

5. VULNERABLE TEENS NEED EXTRA SUPPORT

This group is more likely to say they’ve had a variety of negative responses to social media (such as feeling bad about themselves when nobody comments on or likes their posts).

What can you do?
Help them get the best out of social media and minimize anything that provokes a negative reaction. If they’re creative, support their efforts to share their work online, as vulnerable teens say that expressing themselves on social media is extremely important.

6. EXPRESS YOURSELF.

More than 1 in 4 teens say social media is “extremely” or “very” important to them for expressing themselves creatively.

What can you do?
Be supportive.
Help them use privacy settings .
Offer advice on how to accept feedback and comments maturely.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2018/09/13/new-report-most-teens-say-social-media-makes-them-feel-better-not-worse-about-themselves/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b77d291cc9b5