Social Media Effect on Young People

Introduction

Social media is gaining subscribers every day, and youth are actively using one or more social media platforms. Growth in technology has sparked an exponential rate of using social media for communication, marketing, and other activities among youth. While there are many positive impacts of social media on young people, there are also negative repercussions of the use of various social media platforms.

Youth can utilize social media to communicate their ideas and set up e-commerce marketing channels through social media platforms. However, access to explicit and dangerous information is a major threat associated with young people using social media. Social media is a prominent part of youth in the contemporary world, but its use should be regulated to ensure that young people only reap the positive benefits of technology.

Effects of Social Media

Social media has facilitated a medium to develop discussion groups covering the subject matter in class; hence, it is a good platform for enhancing the performance of students in the school (Boulianne 526). The discussion groups facilitate consultation when students are handling their assignments. Some of the discussion groups include tutors who can help students to grasp the subject matter delivered in class.

Additionally, social media has also led to more youth taking an active role in politics. Social media platforms facilitate direct access to political leaders, which has led to more leaders using the avenue to educate their followers (Valenzuela 922). Youth can now participate in lobbying activities, as well as influencing the political climate by voting in large numbers.

Social media is a very good avenue for accessing information relating to the issues facing global society. Young people have the opportunity of facilitating solutions to some of the issues by focusing their education toward careers that will place them in a position to tackle the challenges facing the world (Boulianne 526).

Moreover, youth are becoming more tolerant of diversity, following the ability to communicate with people from different parts of the world in various interest groups on social media. The enhancement of cultural competence is quite a desirable effect on social media.

The networks developed through interaction processes on social media also enhance access to business opportunities for youth. Young people are developing small businesses and selling goods and services through social media.

Social media has promoted the development of sedentary lifestyles among young people. Youth spend most of their time chatting with their friends on social media through smartphones and computers, and this has led to a high preference for staying indoors.

Social media is detrimental to grades in school because studies have shown that as the hours spent on social media increase, grades deteriorate for the students.

Social media has also facilitated a platform where young people can be easily victimized by individuals with malicious intentions. For instance, sex predators, identity thieves, and conmen have been targeting profiles belonging to young people because they are easily lured into their traps.

Parents have been forced to use filtering and monitoring software to protect their children, but young people are still at risk because they use social media from different gadgets away from home (Nikken and Jansz 254).

Conclusion

Social media has provided young people with a communication avenue that is tied to various benefits. This includes the development of a wide social network that enhances opportunities and cultural competence. However, it is imperative for young people to use various platforms carefully to avoid being victimized by cybercriminals.

Works Cited

Boulianne, Shelley. “Social Media Use and Participation: A Meta-Analysis of Current Research.” Information, Communication & Society, vol. 18, no. 5, 2015, pp. 524-538.

Nikken, Peter, and Jeroen Jansz. “Developing Scales to Measure Parental Mediation of Young Children’s Internet Use.” Learning, Media and Technology, vol. 39, no. 2, 2014, pp. 250-266.

Valenzuela, Sebastian. “Unpacking the Use of Social Media for Protest Behavior: The Roles of Information, Opinion Expression, and Activism.” American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 57, no. 7, 2013, pp. 920-942.