A teenager can be said to be a young person whose age blanket between 13–19. They are teenagers because their age number ends always ends with the word teen. It is obvious that we cannot talk about the media without having to mention about teenagers .The social media has greatly affected the lives of teenagers in our present world. Social media has both positive and negative effects on the lives of teenagers. It is clear that social media is gradually taking over the lives of teenagers in one way or the other. Some of the positive effects of social media on teenagers are, education, awareness creation/being informed, communication, and even entertainment. Social media have also affected teenagers negatively. Some of the negative effects include, a detriment to School, Users Vulnerable to Crime and lack of privacy,
Education
On the field of education, social media has played
...an important role on the lives of teenagers. it has contributed positively on matters relating to education. One major contribution of social media on the field of education is that teenagers can easily and freely access the many online educational resources. These resources help them learn effectively. The major advantage of online resources is that they are easily accessible and that they can be accessed anytime and anywhere so long the teen is authorized. Social media has also been used by teenagers in school to discuss educational matters. Teenagers are using social networking to discuss educational topics .for example through WhatsApp groups to discuss school assignments. Social media has affected education positively in that teenagers a variety of sites to gather information during research; this has greatly improved their grades in schools.
Awareness/Being Informed
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positive effect of social media on teenagers is that they get to be very informed. This is because Information and news spreads faster online than any other media. The good thing about information on social media travels very first. one can get informed about an occurrence that has just occurred from the other end of the world instantly. Teenagers get informed how other teens are living in different parts of the world. Social media sites also help inform and empower teenagers on how they can change themselves and their communities as well.
Communication
Social media is mostly about communication. there are various sites where communication takes place. for example on whatsapp, Facebook , twitter and other social sites. Communication has greatly improved the social life of teenagers. Teenagers can easily communicate with their peers through social media. Social media allows teenagers to freely communicate with other teens and friends; this has greatly increased online communication. Communications through social media has helped strengthen relationships and friendship among teens. Through social media ,teenagers are also able to make new friends and also maintain the old ones.
Entertainment
The most important aspect in a teens live is entertainment. Entertainment helps in ensuring that a teen is always happy. These ensure that the teen develops mentally strong because the teen is free from stress and other life challenges. Social media if offering fast and cheap access to entertainment. During their free time, teens can get to play their favorite’s games, share entertainment games and other forms of entertainment depending on the teens likes. Entertainment is one of the key factors that influence teens to join social media platforms.
Negative Effects
Detriment to school and other
important works. Even though social media has contributed greatly in promotion of a teens education, it has also contributed negatively on the same. Social media ha helped teens to cheat on school assignments. For example a student can do assignments and share with the rest vie social platforms like whatsapp and emails. While the grades of those use social media lightly and for academic purposes improve, the grades of students who are heavy users of social media are always on a downward trend. Social media has also affected teens negatively in that they fail to attend to their chores at home. For example time to wash clothes and personal cleaning. These leads to the teen being very dirty at last. Teens have become Vulnerable to Crime and lack of privacy. A major disadvantage of social media to teens is that they become vulnerable to crimes. This is because Social networking sites allow hate and terror groups to acquire, recruit and also distribute propaganda on social media platforms.
One thing teens don’t know is that unauthorized sharing of information and copyright infringement threatens the intellectual property and causes loss of the income. Social medias expose teens to security attacks such as hacking, identity theft and also get to risk of being attacked by virus that are very common online. Teens share their personal information like their personal numbers, dates of birth and even their places of residence. This is a major security threats on their lives. This information could also be used in identity theft. Criminals are also using social media platforms to commit many crimes. Robbers are likely to know when a teen is away from home.
The robber can then get there and pick whatever they want or even have kidnap plans. Stalkers can get information about most teens via social media. Sexual predators can easily find teens through social media and get to stalk and assault teens. Teens also get exposed to pornographic content through social media. When teens post sexy photos, videos or comments online, it leads to criminal charges and other teen get exposed to pornography.
Conclusion
It is now evident that the social media has taken over the lives of teens in most parts of the world. Though the social media has influenced teens negatively, it is notable that the social media is an important tool in the lives of teenagers.
