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This research paper investigates the multifaceted negative impacts of social media on teenagers, emphasizing its detrimental effects on their mental health and social interactions. By employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, the study provides a comprehensive analysis of how social media usage correlates with increased levels of anxiety, depression, and the phenomenon known as Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). The paper reveals that the pressures of maintaining an online persona and the constant comparison with peers' curated lives contribute significantly to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem among youths.

The research identifies cyberbullying as a significant issue facilitated by social media platforms, leading to emotional distress and, in severe cases, suicidal ideation among affected teenagers. Additionally, the study highlights the pervasive nature of social media addiction, which limits face-to-face interactions, fostering social isolation and exacerbating mental health issues. The paper discusses the role of social media in spreading harmful behaviors and misinformation, further complicating the digital landscape for young users.

Recommendations from the study advocate for stricter regulatory measures, including age restrictions, time limits on usage, and enhanced monitoring of online content to safeguard the well-being of teenagers. The findings underscore the importance of promoting digital literacy and awareness to help youths navigate social media responsibly and mitigate its negative impacts on their mental health and social lives. This research contributes to the ongoing discourse on the need for balanced social media usage and the implementation of supportive measures to protect young users in the digital age.

The main aim of this research is to enumerate and throw some light on the negative aspects and effects of social media and its use on youth. The paper focuses on elaborating the dangers associated with the growing virtual world and the ignorance of people towards the need of having a digital literacy.

The main objectives of this study is based on:

1. To highlight the negative impact of social media on youth’s social lives.
2. To analyze the influence of social media on youth social life
3. To evaluate direction of youth to utilizing social media
4. To analyze the dependency of youth on social media

Research from the American Association of Suicidology, proves that social media is one of the leading causes of mental issues among teenagers [1]. Most of them engage in social media an unhealthy amount of time which drains their mental health leading to depression, anxiety, and self-harm, and suicidal behavior. Some of these social media platforms include Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok, and YouTube. With no strict age restriction, anyone can create an account and be part of the online society. These studies revealed that teenagers were unable to keep up with the pressure from keeping up with social media expectations, which caused anxiety and depression. Human beings are social beings, lack of social interactions causes isolation and fear of mission out (FOMO) which is also another effect of social media use. These teenagers are constantly online hence limiting their face-to-face interactions with their peers or even family members. This isolation may grow into loneliness which may trigger their depressions leading to self-harm and suicidal tendencies. Extensive research has been done on this topic and the unanimous conclusion is that social media plays a major role in the deteriorating mental health of teenagers. This paper tried to explain the logical reason behind the negative effect social media has on teenagers.

Teenagers now have unprecedented access to digital content via a variety of gadgets, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, and gaming systems. Nearly half (46%) of US teenagers report using the internet "nearly continuously" in 2018, an increase from 24% in 2015. The widespread use of new media has produced a complicated world that young people, parents, medical professionals, and legislators must manage. While this media environment has created several fresh hazards and concerns for young people's mental health, Social networking platforms are created to facilitate online communication and information sharing, which has increased during the past 10 years. Youth utilize at least one of the following seven social networking sites at a rate of 97% among all teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17: adolescents spend most of their online time on YouTube (85%), Instagram (72%), Snapchat (69%), Facebook (51%), Twitter (32%), Tumblr (9%), or Reddit (7%) . Recent research on the relationship between online communities and depression has found a common connection between the use of social networks by adolescents and depression.

Negative Effects Of Social Media On Youths

Social media use can have a serious negative effect on youths including feelings of depression, anxiety, fear of missing out, body image, bullying and sleep, etc. (A.Wong, 2014) The effects of social media on mental health include addiction, social anxiety, fear of missing out (FOMO), self-harm, depression, and isolation. The pressure that social media has on these youths is alarming as they are influenced to keep up with their appearance. When they are unable to do so, they feel like they are inadequate even though it is a façade that most people are upholding . Most teens are on YouTube and Instagram which are the most widespread social media platforms. Teenagers even younger than eighteen already have monetized YouTube channels from which they earn and live lavish lifestyles from the videos they post on there. This lavish lifestyle makes their peers who are not living as them feel inadequate and anxious seeing their peers or even people younger than them making millions while they are struggling. These teens are unable to understand that most do the times, people post and share the highlights of their lives and rarely their low moments. They keep feeling dissatisfied with their lives without because the social media posts are manipulated to make their lives look better than it is.. The influence that social media has on young people is alarming as they are always online at any given time. Platforms like REELS on instagram have treading challenges that push teenagers to participate so they look cool or trendy. Teenagers to keep checking their phones for updates from their social media platforms. This is proven to be unhealthy because they live an anxious life as they wait for updates from everyone. This over-concentration on their phones also cultivates the culture of isolation as they are always on their phones which is not healthy for them. A study done confirmed that most teenagers are addicted to social media that they are isolated from everyone else. This addiction makes them lonely since they are seeking solace in social media which is a façade and does nothing for their social life.

Anxiety and depression have increased over the years and one of the leading causes is social media usage. According to an article on the EIN Presswire, suicide rates have increased as teens are increasingly having suicidal thoughts due to depression. Although they always display warning signs, caregivers need to note that limiting social media and offering guidance helps in understanding how social media works. According to a study done, face-to-face interaction helps to effectively reduce stress and elevate one's mood  Interacting with peers helps them feel unified and pposed to them being stuck on social media all the time . Physical interaction proves to them that they have someone who cares as opposed to the online followers and people who do not care and are not even aware that they exist. The anxiety and depression that come from extreme uses of social media manifest in mood swings that escalate to mood disorders which then lead to depression. This research proves that some of these depressed teenagers suffer mental breakdowns which leads them to have suicidal thoughts.

Another negative effect of social media is cyberbullying which accounts for up to at least 10% of teenage bullying cases. As technology continues improving so are more ways of communication either wanted or unwanted. This is a great case of cyberbullying which has been rampant in recent years. Bullying has improved from physical abuse to social abuse on social media which cripples the esteem of the victims. Cyberbullying entails snaky or abusive comments on the victims’ posts . These comments could be screenshots and turned into memes which intensifies the issues even further. Social media has also become a hotbed of sharing rumors and hurtful lies that cause emotional scars . Since these platforms are free for everyone, if you post something on there, it becomes public and open for everyone to comment, share and like or dislike. This has made it easy for social media bullies to access their victims as they can just easily comment hurtful remarks on their pictures and the message is received.

But with the bright side, always comes a dark side. Thereby, where social media withholds some benefits, it also has several disadvantages, affecting the younger generation specifically. These disadvantages incorporate cyberbullying, self-isolation, suicidal ideation, Facebook depression, aggression, addiction, negative impact on self and body image, and self- esteem. Considering cyberbullying, social media has led to several criminal activities, assisting terrorists and criminals to host several crimes using the social media accounts of several younger people to hide from the police and other authorities (Sangwaan, 2019).

In the present study, content analyzes and descriptive type of research is used which describes the characteristics of a group or individuals and their perception about the social media and its negative impact on youth. The research is qualitative in nature. Data has been collected from various credible and reliable books, articles, journals, magazines and etc. through content analysis and qualitative method.

Qualitative research was used in the entire survey questions as the goal was to collect meaningful information about their experiences with social media. From part two of the questionnaire, the respondents were supposed to provide personal experiences with social media and the impacts it has on them. The questions were targeted at exposing their emotions and getting them to express their feelings. Since the respondents have lived the experience, they understand and can, therefore, speak correctly on how social media affects their lives. The fact that they are providing personal accounts, the likelihood of flawed data is significantly low especially since their identities are anonymous. This protection makes them open up more as they provide personal information.

Social media is used for various reasons including making communication faster and information available within seconds, providing opportunities for collaboration and support, delivering a global network of entertainment, helping users form a sense of self-identity, and offering access to employment opportunities. Different social media platforms are created, and continue to be created, to fit these demands. Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest, Tumbler, Redditt, and WhatsApp are some of the different social media platforms currently offered.

Who Are Considered as Youth?

The United Nations has defined Youth as a period of transition from the dependence of childhood to adulthood and awareness of our interdependent as members of a community for statistical consistency across regions, it defines "Youth" as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years, without prejudice to other definitions by member states (UNESCO, 2016). in one of its reports, has accepted the UN definition of youth by considering youth to be those individuals who are 15-24 years old. However, it has gone on to state that if the definition is examined from a sociological viewpoint and not just from an age-specific perspective, youth can be defined as a transition stage from childhood to adulthood and that from this perspective, the youth stage could begin at age 10 and end at the mid or late 30s. the report also notes that the transition from childhood to adulthood can take a long time for people in poor societies (International Labour Organization, 2006). The partially accepted agenda of the United Nation's Envoy on Youth (2015) recommended that the age bracket of the youth ought to be expanded from 15-24 years to 15-35 years so as to enhance the participation of youth in global youth issues. The International Labour Organization (2006),

Social Media Concepts and Tools

Social media have been defined in a variety of ways.

1.     The definition of social media as a “platform to create profiles, make explicit and traverse relationships” by (Boyd & Ellison, 2008) has been cited over 13,000 times according to google scholar.

2.     Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia defines social media as “the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.

3.     Social media has been referred to as “social media sites” (Diga & Kelleher, 2009), or a set of information technologies that facilitate interactions and networking (Kapoor et al., 2017; Oestreicher-Singer & Zalmanson, 2013).

4.     Social media are computer-mediated tools that allow people, companies, and other organizations to create, share, or exchange information, career interests, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual communities and networks.

Some Prominent Examples of Social Media

1.     Facebook: a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and videos, send messages, and keep in touch with friends, family, and colleagues. According to statistics from the Nielsen Group.

2.     Twitter: a free micro-blogging service that allows registered members to broadcast short posts called tweets. Twitter members can broadcast tweets and follow other users' tweets by using multiple platforms and devices.

3.     Google+: (pronounced Google plus) Google’s social networking project, is designed to replicate the way people interact offline more closely than is the case in other social networking services. The project’s slogan is “Real-life sharing rethought for the web.”

4.     Instagram: a free online photo-sharing and social network platform that was acquired by Facebook in 2012. Instagram allows members users to upload, edit and share photos with other members through the Instagram website, email, and social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

5.     YouTube: An American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. This site allows users to upload, view, rate, share, add to favorites, report and commen on videos and subscribe to other users.

6.      Wikipedia: a free, open-content online encyclopedia created through the collaborative effort of a community of users known as Wikipedians. Anyone registered on the site can create an article for publication; registration is not required to edit articles. Wikipedia was founded in January 2001.

7.     LinkedIn: a social networking site designed specifically for the business community. The goal of the site is to allow registered members to establish and documentnetworks of people they know and trust professionally.

There are a lot of social networking sites, with a variety of technical outfits, supporting an extensive variety of practices and interests. These social networking sites are becoming popular amongst students and experts and assist them in linking with everyone, their native and the international public at large. The most prevalent social media site is Facebook which becomes an international occurrence in the last few years (Foregger, 2008). The majority of the users of Facebook are youth between 18-24 age limit (Valenzuela et al., 2008).

According to Facebook figures, there were almost 526 million every day active users. Now, Social networking is very popular among youth and continues to grow in admiration. Better use of computers and cellular phones to interconnect, responsibilities that have in the past required relational services and face-to-face communication, may be changing how youth attain and practice skills that are essential to purpose in their everyday lives (Selfhout, Branje, Delsing, Bogt and Meeus, 2009).

The Risks of Social Media On Youth’s Social Lives:

Thereby, where social media have its benefits for youths, It also has a serious and devastating negative impact on youth's social lives, so for a better understanding of the issue of the negative impact of social media discuss below classifications according to the various research results (Goodyear, 2018).

Facebook Depression

Several researchers have proposed a new phenomenon called "Facebook depression', which is defined as depression that develops when individuals spend an excessive amount of time on social media sites, such as Facebook, and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression (Jackob,2015). Seeking acceptance and staying connected with peers is an important element of social life. However, the intensity of the online world, which requires constant engagement, creates a factor of self-awareness that may trigger depression in some people. As with offline depression, people who suffer from Facebook depression are at risk for social isolation and sometimes turn to risky Internet sites and blogs for 'help' that may promote substance abuse, unsafe sexual practices, aggressive and self-destructive behaviors.” (Jacobs, 2014).

Social Media and Anxiety

In addition to being a source of depression and anxiety, social media is also a common source of stress for its users. A survey performed on 7,000 mothers, found that 42% of mothers using the photo-sharing site, reported occasionally suffering from Stress (O'keeffe & Clarke, 2011). Social media causes depression and anxiety in two ways. Chronic stress causes depression and anxiety. Being constantly alert for new social media messages, to your instinctive fight or flight limbic system, is the same as being on continuous alert for predators, which causes a release of the stress hormone cortisol (Jackobs, 2014).

Social Media and Catfishing

When people focus so much time on social media networks real-life relationships begin to suffer (Saedi, 2012). In doing this our more important relationships with our loved ones and close family members suffer because more of our time and effort is put into the illusion of social media. The term Catfish describes people who create fake social networking profiles, and "catfishing" is the process of befriending strangers online while using a fake or stolen identity. It is a deceptive act and it has ruined marriages, relationships, and the emotional well-being of many people.

Social Media and Criminal Activities

In order to establish a link between terrorism and social media, we need to assess the different profiles recruits can be grouped into two (Bhui et al, .2014). The first groups of people that easily join radical groups are isolated people. The second category of people includes people with emotional problems such as depression and the last reason why some join terrorist groups is because these radical groups make them feel important. The psychological issues such as depression, isolation, and unstable personality discussed above make it easier for terrorist groups to obtain recruits. From the previous sections, one can deduce that social media is one of the many sources of emotional issues. Therefore, social

media can easily be considered not only a tool used by terrorist groups but also as the first viable step to helping radicalize potential recruits (Weimann, 2008).

Social Media and Bullying

Cyberbullying has become a major issue among youths in the last couple of decades, as it allows its victim to post things in front of their peers and humiliate them. Bullying is defined as an aggressive act that is carried out by a group or an individual repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself (Bannink et al., 2014). According to Campbell, 2005, with the use of the Internet and mobile phones, a new form of bullying has emerged, often called 'cyber bullying'. In cyberbullying, aggression occurs via electronic methods, via the Internet, and especially through social media (Bannink et al., 2014).

cyberbullying can have negative consequences for overall well-being. Strong correlations have been identified between cyberbullying and depression, increased levels of aggression, uneasiness, and suicidal idealization, increased use of drugs and alcohol, decreased self-esteem and self- confidence, as well as having negative impacts on existing relationships with family and friends (Chassiakos et al., 2016; DePaolis & Williford, 2018; Hamm et al., 2015).

Social Media and Terrorism

Another dangerous aspect of social media is the rapid adoption of this medium by terrorist groups. In the last couple of decades, incidents of Islamic terrorism have occurred on a global scale, not only in Muslim-majority countries, but also in Europe, Russia, and the United States. Terrorism has been using social media for the benefit of gathering information, recruiting members, fundraising, and for propaganda schemes (Weimann, 2008).
According to Weimann, terrorists started using the Internet almost 16 years ago. Ever since then, monitoring the use of the Internet and online platforms used by terrorist groups has skyrocketed from 12 to over 9,800 terrorist websites as Weimann stated.

Fraud and Scams on Social Media Platforms:

One of the most happing things on social media is fraud and scamming people. On social media you can be in different groups, people do scams and fraud other people. Some people take the from the people but didn’t provide any services to them. Many people sell the wrong products of the worst quality to people on social media. And many other kinds of different scams and frauds happen on social media platforms (Lenhart et al., 2015).

Decreases Face-to-Face Communication Skills:

Social media is the most popular communication medium nowadays. Most people used social media to communicate with other people.One of the worst things about social media is that it decreases the face to face communication skills. Every person referred to social media to communicate with other people, and by this, they slowly lost their face-to-face communication skills. Communication through social media is only done by using keyboard or voice messages. The people who used social media for communication didn’t learn the face to face communication. It became very difficult for them to communicate with people face to face.

Social Media Used for Hacking

Hacking is the worst disadvantage of social media mostly happening to people. Hacking is an illegal activity. It is the activity of getting access to the personal and restricted information of other people. In my research about the Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media, the researchers found that the youngest youth and children are victimized by hackers. In January 2019 several people’s personal Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter accounts have been hacked. Mostly hackers hack the accounts of people and then blackmail the people by posting their detail on social media. That can lead people to lives in danger. Sometimes they send spam messages to people and commit fraud.Your social media account can be hacked and this is not a simple problem that can be solved easily. The hackers can also steal your business’s important data which not only harms you but can also harm your customer. Which can make financial losses in your professional life. This mostly disturbed the life of people.

Cheating and Relationship Issues on Social Media

Relationship issues and cheating are common things found on social media platforms. Most people find their life partners on social media platforms. They propose and marry each other. But most people got cheated on social media. Most people used social media the only time to pass. They make their profile on social media with incorrect information. They started connecting and communicating with other people without revealing who they are and cheating on each other. It’s very difficult to find a true-life partner on social media. Most people show the wrong information and wrong feeling to each other and cheat each other.

Additional Psychological Effects of Social Media on Youth

A study by researchers at University College London tracked three years of social media use by 13,000 teenagers, starting when they were 13. The teens also self-reported about their social media experiences and their mood and well-being. After compiling the data, the study authors concluded that the social media effect on youth is driven by three primary factors:

1      Inadequate sleep - teens stayed up late to continue scrolling through their social media feeds

2      Exposure to cyberbullying – having harmful, false, or private content about them posted on social media

3      Lack of physical activity – scrolling social media on their phones or other devices meant that teen sat for longer periods of time and had less time for exercise. As a result, they missed out on the beneficial impact of exercise on mental health.

Many teenagers are greatly affected by social media and the façade of perfection implied by the users. According to the findings, many teenagers spend hours on different social media platforms going through pages that drive their anxiety and depression off the roof. As they peruse and follow their pages, they feel demotivated and sometimes even insufficient in their lives for not having the same things and accomplishments as the influencers they follow. Sadly, they may be aware that most people only post the highs and accomplishments in their lives, but they fail to be patient with themselves. Although they know that some of the posts may be fake, they still give themselves a hard time for not having made the same progress. It is also confirmed that a few of them have either engaged in social media bullying or have been victims of the same. This cyberbullying ranges from body shaming to leaving nasty and negative comments on other users' posts. From findings, each social media company, for example, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, should consider putting age restrictions on the use of the application. Furthermore, they should set a time quota for minors since they have weaker self-control. In addition, verbal use on the internet should be constantly monitored as cyberbullying has become more commonly seen recently. For future studies, it is advisable to carry cyberbullying into research and to study the direct relationship between hours of social media usage to teenagers’ mental health issues .

This report aims at the positive and negative effects of social media. Addiction to social media is very harmful. In collaboration, this report shows the usage of social networking among Teenagers and Young People. Moreover, it describes the social media usage pattern among teenagers. However, negative, positive effects have also impacted the life of teenagers. Social media are very beneficial and dangerous for teenagers. These media are not just to spend time or get addicted to it. The main theme of social media is to get connected to the world.

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