How Does Dependence On Social Networks Affect Young People?
Social networks have become part of almost everyone’s life. Young people and not so young people have accounts on networks such as Instagram or Twitter, sharing photos, comments and opinions.
These networks have made it easier for us to share information and points of view very quickly, reaching millions of people and influencing them enormously. This can be positive but also negative, especially if it is misused.
The people most vulnerable to unresponsible use of social networks are adolescents and young adults Next we are going to see how dependence on social networks affects young people.
This is how dependence on social networks influences young people
Today’s teenagers were born during the 2000s, a generation that came into the world with a cell phone or a tablet under their arm. Their mastery of the Internet is almost instinctive, more than that of previous generations and only comparable to the so-called Millennials. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat are just some examples of the social networks in which young people, both adolescents and adults under 25 years of age, spend more time.
There is no doubt that social networks connect us and bring us closer to each other, but in the same way that they can offer certain advantages, they also bring problems if they are not used in moderation. Nobody disputes that today’s teenagers are digital natives and that they have skillful use of new technologies and social networks, but This does not prevent them from misusing it and having negative consequences on their health How dependence on social networks affects young people is what we are going to address in the following paragraphs.
Among the effects of the abusive use of social networks on young people we find the following.
1. Obsession and risky behaviors
One of the dynamics for which social networks are best known are the interactions between “influencers” and their “followers” Following or being an influencer can determine the status of young people in their reference group. Most teenagers want to be famous in one way or another and social networks have become that space in which it does not require much talent to become known.
So that, Getting likes, views and shares on your social networks or comments can be seen as a sign of relevance and notoriety among young people causing them to run the risk of becoming obsessed with it.
When a young person sees that someone has liked or shared their comment on their profile, they feel happiness, something that is explained neurobiologically since it has been seen that social networks can cause the dopamine hormone to be secreted.
There is also the influence of those who follow. Influencers can be very relevant among young people, for better and worse. On the positive side, there have been some influencers who have transmitted messages in favor of mental health and self-care, especially in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. However, there is also the other side, that of influencers who have shared pseudoscientific messages, harmful to mental health and that have put their followers at risk.
What we can say from this point is that social networks allow their users to become obsessed, seeing who follows them and what they say about them, in addition to also paying attention to what their reference characters say. If the messages shared by your influencers are harmful, it can cause less critical followers to carry out behaviors that endanger their physical and mental integrity
2. Interaction with unknown people
Youth are vulnerable to meeting people they have met online and who do not know their real identity. Young They do not have the necessary experience to detect the risks that exist in the world and, motivated by the idea that this happens to other people, they establish contact with unknown people on social networks. They can accept Facebook friend requests, new WhatsApp contacts, Instagram followers and other social networks they don’t know just for the simple fact of feeling more popular.
It is this same inexperience that makes them feel attracted to networks as dark and shady as Only Fans, a platform where its users pay monthly to access content such as photos, videos or live broadcasts of any kind, although in practice it is a adult content page. Since they have deeply internalized the idea that the more people the better, they are not reluctant to let a stranger know their intimate life. The problem is that they are not aware that they are exposing themselves to all kinds of risks.
It is possible that the youngest people secretly meet people they have met online, individuals who say they are something that they really don’t have to be. It may be that they have “fallen in love” with a person with whom they have not even spoken on the phone, only interacting through instant messaging. It is in these cases that they risk falling into a “catfish”, a person who claims to be someone they are not, with a false identity and who, if met in person, could harm them.
3. Cognitive problems, social isolation and family conflicts
Sometimes young people abandon activities that previously gave them pleasure and contributed to their personal, social and family development simply because they are hyperconnected. It is known that the abusive use of electronic devices and social networks in particular can induce cognitive problems, altering the attention, concentration, problem-solving and impulse control capacity of young people, which translates into academic and relational problems
One of the most notable effects of social networks is that it can cause social isolation. The reason for this is that since they already interact with other people online who are more interesting to them, leaving their friends and family aside and even fighting with them. The virtual world offers the possibility of creating a parallel reality, a world in which young people can create an ideal avatar of themselves in order to attract the attention of other teenagers and hide their true identity.
4. Anxiety and emotional instability
One of the reasons why youth develop dependence on new technologies is that they have access to social networks They need to check from time to time if someone has written to them or “liked” them, and this causes anxiety. This anxiety is evident the moment they hear that they have received a message.
It also manifests itself when they do not have access to their mobile phone or device with which they connected to social networks, either because they have left it at home or because they are in a place where they cannot consult it.
5. Sleep problems
There are many young people who admit that they wake up at dawn to check if someone has sent them a WhatsApp message or if they have commented on their latest Instagram post Related to the previous point, since they feel anxious because they don’t want to miss anything (FOMO syndrome), their sleep patterns are altered.
They go to sleep later than they should and, when they are already lying down, they check their cell phone, which delays their sleep time.
It is believed that blue light from cell phones and other electronic devices delays sleep, basically because It makes our body believe that it is still daytime, waking us up more despite being tired and, consequently, causing us to fall asleep later. Because of this, many young people begin to see their sleeping habits affected, starting to have difficulty sleeping. As they sleep worse, their concentration and performance are affected.
6. Body complexes
Another effect of dependence on social networks on young people is insecurity regarding their physical appearance. Body image is something that matters a lot both in adolescence and in the early years of adulthood Beauty canons have always existed, exerting an important socializing influence, establishing who is valid and who is not in their culture based on how they look and what their silhouette and body sizes are.
Now, with the widespread use of social media, this has increased its influence. The pressure to comply with the imposed beauty canon is increased when your image is constantly exposed to the criteria of others, to the comments of both friends and people you barely know. There is also the fact that they are constantly compared to influencers’ photographs of “perfect” bodies, which indicate what a body should and should not be like.
Young people do not stop to think that many of the images they see on social networks are false, the product of photographic retouching and playing with perspective. They perceive this perfection as natural, and internalize the idea that to be worthy among their peers it is necessary for them to have bodies that, in most cases, are practically impossible to achieve.
7. Cyberbullying
Anyone can be cyberbullied regardless of their age Many individuals hide behind anonymity to pour their acid in the form of hurtful comments to others (Internet trolls). Exposure to social networks makes young people very vulnerable, susceptible to comments from malicious people of all ages.
Young people do not digest cruel comments in the same way as adults do. Because His handling of other people’s comments is worse than that of an adult what they may receive on social networks in a very personal way, leading them to all kinds of emotional problems and even suicide in the most serious cases.
Related article: “Cyberbullying: analyzing the characteristics of virtual harassment”
How to avoid these effects?
There are several tips that adults, both family members and more mature friends, can follow to prevent young people from misusing the networks and suffering from all the effects that we have just seen. Although these tips are more oriented toward families with teenage children, they can also be applied with a young adult such as a college classmate or a friend who is concerned about their cell phone use.
We cannot expect our son or brother to stop being connected 24/7 to social networks if we also do the same The best thing is to lead by example, so the time has come to put away the cell phone and enjoy some time with our teenager, a family time in which we can create a memory where it was not necessary to be connected to have a good time.
2. Enjoy moments for yourself
In today’s culture, the impulse that makes us take out our cell phone to photograph a “unique” moment is almost irresistible: having dinner with friends, celebrating a birthday, going camping, going on an excursion… These and many more are the moments in which Young and not so young feel the need to immortalize the moment to share it with others. There are people who feel that if they do not expose this to their acquaintances it is as if they had not experienced it
Whether you take the happy photo or not, if it is a good moment you will enjoy it just the same. It is therefore important to instill in the youngest the idea that it is not necessary to photograph everything, that what matters is the moment, not how many people see and know what we have done and what we have not done. Pleasure must be found in the very act of living in the moment, not seeking it in the recognition and envy of others.
3. Set limits
If as adults it is already difficult for us to control our impulses on our own, as young people it is even more difficult It is essential to establish limits, impose rules that are never broken by anyone in the family so that we set an example and they are well internalized. A good tip is to confiscate all electronic devices, such as tablets or mobile phones, at night to prevent anyone from connecting to social networks when it is time to sleep. During the day it is also advisable to restrict the use of these devices, as far as is reasonable.
4. Be critical of networks
Finally, It is very important to talk to young people about the need to be critical of what we see on social networks Adolescents and young adults must be taught that many of the photos of their reference influencers, where they exhibit ideal bodies like those of an Olympic god, are mere illusions, they do not correspond to reality.
You should also talk about the importance of not believing any comment you see written on the networks and you should also not take an unpleasant comment made by someone hiding behind an avatar as personal. They should not allow the opinions of people they have not even met in person to influence their feelings. You must learn to be critical of the messages that come to your profile, and put an end to message chains or videos that border on crime or are in bad taste.
