Let’s be honest—social media has completely changed the way we live. It has its good sides, no doubt, but it also comes with a lot of negativity. And if there’s any group that feels this the most, it’s the adolescents. At that stage of life, you're just trying to figure yourself out, and social media can either help you grow or mess with your head.
From what I’ve seen and even experienced myself, a lot of young people tend to get more affected by the negative side of social media than the positive. Adolescents are still growing mentally and emotionally, so it’s easy for them to get influenced by the things they see online. I usually say this: the things we consume with our eyes and minds are just like food. If you keep feeding yourself junk, you’ll eventually feel sick or have running stomach. It’s the same with constantly seeing content that makes you feel less than or not good enough.
During my own adolescent years, I was more serious about using social media. Instagram was my frequently visited app. I could spend hours scrolling through celebrity pages, admiring their lifestyles, and just wishing I had their kind of life. I’d even go as far as checking who they followed, who liked their posts, and all that unnecessary stuff. I didn’t realize it then, but I was slowly losing my sense of self. I wanted to be like people I didn’t even know. But then, looking back now, I can clearly see that many of those celebrities I admired were not always promoting the best values either.
One thing i normally say is that social media isn’t real. It has this way of making everything look perfect—even when it’s not. A lot of what people post is carefully selected and edited. But when you’re young, you might not see that. You just think, “Why isn’t my life like this?” And that's how anxiety and depression start to creep in for these young lads. They start to feel like they are not doing enough or that their life is boring compared to everyone else’s.
This is why I believe parents and older siblings really have a role to play because, let's be realistic, it is not possible to ban them completely from using social media. So, instead, they should be trained on how to use it wisely and focus on the useful side. There are literally teenagers out there using social media to build businesses, share their talents, and make a real impact, and they can be brought up to also follow that same path.
At the end of the day, social media is here to stay. It’s part of our daily lives now. So the most important and key thing is just teaching the adolescents how to use it in a way that builds them up instead of tearing them down.
Thanks for reading.
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this was so relatable...
I love how you shared your personal experience,it really shows how social media can affect us without even realizing it. Do you think schools should include social media education in their curriculum to help teenagers navigate it better?
Yeah i think so. It could honestly help to make it educating the young ones better.
Teens feel lost and insecure from constant social media pressure.
The pressure is actually very real so most times is just better not to let it get to you.
No be small lost in the scroll because they are deeply lost in the scroll, and social media is actually here for good but how to teach them would now be our problem. Thanks for sharing
How to teach can actually be our problem oo. Not all of those kids would be willing to learn 🤣🤣
Social media is truly here to stay, and so there must be balance in what wee are doing
I don't think we can actually get rid of social media but then we can control how we use and make sure it doesn't have negative impact on us.
It’s the “unnecessary stuff” for me. I thought you would have become a celebrity by now 😂. Only a few of them are realistic. Those celebrities have their personal life hidden. But showcase something different on the outside. It’s just their way to survive.
You said it all. The media is here to stay. It’s left to us to train our people towards using it the right way.
Celebrity 😅😅. My brother is not easy to become a celebrity oo.
A lot of people consume almost everything they see, watch, and read and that is what is ruining them.
You are actually right it's not everything you see that you consume. Thanks for stopping by bro.