Is social media damaging to teenagers
Introduction-
How many of you know how long you spend on your phone, computer etc? Not many of you … most of you are probably thinking I'm not on it that long.Technology has come up with so many ways to keep in contact with your friends and family, such as Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and much more.Let me ask you this How many of you know what social media is doing to yourself and those around you? Well, let me tell you...I will state how social media is damaging to teenagers.
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In our society, most teenagers have a phone or some sort of device to keep in contact with people.In New Zealand teenagers spend nearly nine hours a day on the devices, however, new statistics say that children from the ages of 8-12 spend nearly Six hours a day on a device.Is it Hard to believe right? You're asking yourself how? Well, the Kaiser family foundation’s did a study in 2010 proving that children from the ages 8-10 spend at least five and a half hours, Ages 11-14 spend at least 8 hours and 40 minutes, and ages 15-18 spend at least 8 hours on devices a day.However, some teenagers spend much more when you come to think of it. Technology is not safe anymore.Teenagers are afraid to leave their phones or laptops unattended because they don't want their friends to feel ignored.Majority of teenagers aren’t sleeping because social media is damaging their sleep because of this they are more at risk of having anxiety and depression.
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Have a think to yourself… do you believe social media is damaging the teenagers around you? People may think it’s all fun and games being tough behind a screen and not caring about others but social media is a dangerous thing and so many people are getting hurt, accounts are being hacked, people are faking their personalities, these are all results of social media harming young teenagers. A huge negative impact on teenage girls and boys is photos of models, this is impacting the young teen girls because they want to look as pretty and thin as the models in the magazines and on tv, and boys want to look strong and muscular as these models as well. However, they don’t realize the consequences that it will have on their physical and mental abilities.When teenagers have the ability to be on a device they have the power to do anything, their inner self-takes over and teenagers think everything is a good idea no matter the outcome.
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Social media hides so much of the outside world. young teens are missing out on being outside, taking chances, making mistakes. Teenagers become irresponsible they start not focussing on things around them but more on what’s going on when they are looking at their phone etc.Teenagers keep losing focus of things around them, they spend less time studying and getting good grades and also from reality. Teenagers are constantly fighting this battle with themselves and also those around them. Young teenagers and are too busy focusing on who is ahead with a comment or like on someone’s post.One huge problem there is on social media is the fact that every day thousands of teens are being harassed and cyberbullied on social media accounts. However they are being that hurt they are too afraid to open up and ask for help from their parents or even friends, because of this the suicide rate in New Zealand is higher than other countries.The current statistics state that 606 people committed suicide in the year or 2016/2017 however 579 committed suicide in 2015/2016 and in 2014/2015 564 people committed suicide. Have a think to yourself that’s a total of 1,749 people committed suicide in the last 3 ½ years, All because people have either bullied them on social media or through some other way and they have given up hope. I find it quite sad because these people didn’t want to keep feeling afraid of the world and themselves, they also had no hope that people were there to help and support them.
In conclusion I personally think social media is dangerous not only to teenagers but to absolutely everyone that has a social media account, there is a whole world out there and many people are missing out because they are worrying about who has the most likes on a post on facebook.we don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, but ask you how we will do it.
