Negative Effects of Social Media on Our Lives

 

There is no doubt that social media plays a pivotal role in our life nowadays. It connects people virtually although they are far away in-person. However, we often become ignorant of the appalling aspects of it, while focusing too much on its favorable usages. The negative effects of social media, especially on children and adolescents, arouse trepidations in our mind.

At present, it is rare to even find a person who does not own a smartphone. Where, with a mobile phone and internet connection, it is possible to access various social media such as Facebook, X, Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok et cetera within a few clicks. Anybody can upload “contents” on these media according to their will—due to the unrestricted usability. A lot of them are quite useful, but at the same time, there are many noxious contents, which are purposeless and in many cases, misleading.

All kinds of content generally reach everybody, regardless of the user's age. Thus, a person of any age can be a victim to the negative effects of social media. Amongst them, most vulnerable are children and adolescents, as they are still in their learning and development phase. They are generally inept to set up time limits and decide which contents to accept and which to avoid. As a result, along with physical health risks, their mental well-being is being increasingly affected.

If we pay attention to children, we observe that due to excessive screen time, artificial sound and continuous periods of motionlessness, various physical symptoms including visual and auditory difficulties, obesity, shoulder, waist and back pain are increasing alarmingly. Using social media doubles the risk of obesity in children, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Besides, it is having an ominous effect on their mental growth and prosperity. Instead of growing naturally strong immunity and acquiring comprehensive knowledge by regular physical activities and making connections with friends in real-life, children are settling on electronic devices, prioritizing vain reels on Facebook, YouTube or Tiktok—wasting their colourful childhood.

Exposure to hasty flickering of light and different scenes every second boosts stimulating hormones such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin etcetera in their body very quickly. As a long-term consequence, they suffer from problems such as: decreased attention span, trouble in perceiving complex ideas, difficulty focusing, distorted sense of reality, sleep disturbance et cetera. Due to the lack of socialization, these children remain intellectually delayed and surprisingly ignorant of customary courtesy and manners. Henceforth, as they grow up, they make it difficult for their parents and others to cope with their views, temper and behaviour which, in fact, makes their puberty phase a bit more difficult than that of others.

Whereas, in the case of adolescents, social media causes complex mental and ideological problems, unlike straightforward issues it causes among children. Most common among these are: depression, anxiety, ADHD, time management issues, eating disorders, addiction to electronic devices and so on. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), using social media doubles the risk of ADHD in teens and those who use social media more than 30 minutes per day are at a higher risk of depression and anxiety. Also, International Journal of Eating Disorders suggests that teen Instagram users are 30% more vulnerable to eating disorders.

In addition, they are prone to adapt wrong ideas from the edited and counterfeit presentation by their favourite social media influencers. Consequently, they exercise a superiority complex, misogynistic attitude, bragging fake things and showing off personal belongings. Besides, according to meta-analysis (2022), 70% of them compare their natural appearance with the unrealistic beauty standards set by netizens and as a result, they suffer from body image issues and low self esteem. They prioritize social media reach, likes and comments over nurturing their studies, hobbies and overall intellect, growing an excessive need for external validation rather than introspective enrichment.

Another agitating problem is peer pressure, because of which teenagers tend to follow trends, viral hashtags and become vulnerable to fear of missing out (FOMO) and anxiety disorders. Moreover, due to curiosity and the lack of awareness, they get exposed to various harmful content and engage themselves in virtual crimes such as: cyber-bullying, hacking, scamming, dark-web activities along with general crimes like eve teasing, rape, theft, snatching, drug and substance abusage and terrorism.

Various aspects generate these problems. Because of the nuclear family system that has spread nowadays, children get fewer chances to spend time with relatives other than just parents and siblings. Likewise, everyone is busy with their own lives in the current competitive world, that is why neighbours also do not socialize as they used to do before. Overall, there are fewer opportunities for children and adolescents to learn practically from real life. In addition, parents are so busy with their professional-life that they prefer 'short-cut' ways to raise their children. Instead of finding time for children from their schedule, they hand them electronic devices so that the children do not bother them and spend time with themselves by creating their own world.

Furthermore, they are unexpectedly negligent about supervising their children's online activities. There goes a saying, "a stitch in time saves nine". Similarly, due to the lack of a proper upbringing from childhood, children become turbulent as well as disobedient toward their parents and ultimately parents become puzzled and helpless. As a result, many lives full of possibilities gets nipped in the bud. Again, many parents do not even acknowledge the fact that puberty can bring adolescents challenges and sometimes potential risks. During this time, teenagers can be overwhelmed and oversensitive. But often they are not treated with the additional care and attention they need. An emotional distance can be observed between the parents and their children because neither of them want to understand each other's perspectives.

Therefore, not getting the required support from family members in real life, they seek virtual support and while doing so, in many cases, they get trapped into inappropriate activities, deleterious relationships and various crimes. Furthermore, because of the influence of social media and globalization, the western culture is blending into oriental countries.

One group is trying to maintain an orthodox lifestyle and values, while another group, especially younglings, are more interested in practicing the uncompromising western lifestyle and ideologies. So, neither of the two cultures is being properly followed, rather we see a mess due to contradictions and conflicts among people from different generations.

The negative effect of social media on children and adolescents is an issue that is not often discussed. Well strategized and sustainable plans must be followed to resolve this issue. There are very few national and international acts worldwide for ensuring the online safety of children and adolescents. As a result, the problem is acting as a hidden threat to society.  To overcome this issue, not only in particular developed countries, but also extensive international laws must be introduced and strict materialization of those laws must be enforced. The cyber security experts must work more effectively in this regard. Similarly, the safeguards of social media apps should be upgraded, so that underage users cannot create their personal accounts and access inappropriate contents while browsing from an adult's account. Obscene and hateful language or content should be detected, and online penalties such as temporary restrictions on various activities can be imposed rather than enforcing the traditional punishments against the user.

Since in recent times, many people are taking social media influence as their profession, regulations and policies for them must be subject to updates. This should include, forbidding the advertisement of certain apps and websites, implementing a penalty system for placing any provocative message or content related to different envious ideology including racism, misogyny, sexism, religious extremism et cetera. Children and adolescents should be taught about the malevolent sides of social media and safe use of the internet.

However, neither of these measures would be useful if the parents are not aware themselves. Parents must practice discretionary parenting. They have to spend adequate quality time with their children, earnestly encourage them and participate in practical, creative activities. They must help their children to cope with both mental and physical challenges and complexities during puberty. They should also cautiously monitor their children’s online activities and control it in an understanding manner.

Notwithstanding, parents themselves must limit their own social media activities to set an ideal example for their offspring. Ultimately, preventing dependence upon social media, everyone should practice enjoying the real, beautiful life with family and friends.


Ashabori Kanti Disha is a student in
Department of Law, University of Dhaka.