Social Media and Its Effects on Teens

Alex Parlato, Reporter

In the past 10 years, technology has reached places no one ever knew was possible. Even though this is a good thing, it has had some bad effects on teens. One of the biggest social networking sites Twitter, can be fun but when high schoolers abuse the network, things can get ugly. Nothing is worse than public humiliation. Twitter has allowed bullies to be mean anonymously. Statistics say there are 4,600 suicides from ages 10-24 annually. Bullying is a big reason for this.

Teens have the power to be cruel and mean and not always face the consequence. Their victims are defenseless, abused physically and especially emotionally. In my opinion, social media and networks and cell phones have created more bullying. Almost everyone has been bullied and publically humiliated. “People have unlimited power behind the computer, this leads to such hurtful things being said,” said junior Wantagh High School, Charlie Sloves.

Not only is bullying a issue, but teens’ social awareness has become a problem. Everyone has to admit their extreme obsession with their phones, but it has gotten out of hand. “Homework has become so hard to do after school,” said by Stefanie Weiner. “Between my phone and computer it has become so hard to focus.” Teens from this generation have lost the social awareness they used to have. They don’t know how to interact anymore because they are so used to text messages and social media. Interaction in person has not become an important role in meeting people anymore.
The new show ‘Catfish’ has also shown some effects from social media. People pretend to be someone their not and have an online dating relationship with others. This not only is wrong and misleading, but can be dangerous. Pedophiles target younger teens and use a fake profile picture to mislead them, leading to kidnappings and rape.

Even though there are some negative things about this, there are also many positive things. For shy teens, this is a way to get them out there and learn how to communicate. Also, teens are able to make mistakes and find who they are through social media. Also it shows where they fit in in their community. There are also good things that teens promote on social media. This includes charity and volunteer work, expanding their ideas, use of creativity and the obvious one is to meet new people. No matter what site you are on be careful and know the long term effects of the choices your making not only for you but for the others around you!