Week 4 - Adolescents’ Use of Social Media

The benefits of being a mom of four beautiful adults (18, 19, 20, 25) are endless. What I treasure most is spending quality time. We live busy lives, independent from each other so when we’re eating a meal together it means a lot to put away the glow screens. Having the human interaction, hearing the conversation, looking at each other and laughing together in 2020 is the polar opposite from how we used to communicate just a few years back. Back in the day we were missing out on critical social skills and essentially communicating non-verbally. Like all of our interactions were invisible according to the experts (Ehmke, n.d.). 

Don’t get me wrong, there are several benefits to adolescents using social media platforms like staying current with the latest scientific discoveries or world events. Even having the option to connect with someone from another culture with a click of a button irrespective of living in different time zones is pretty awesome. But unlimited screen time has been shown to affect loss of memory, increase addictive behavior and perpetuate depressive thoughts by constantly comparing ones’ self to another leading to having false thoughts about self image. An article published on the Child Mind Institute webpage reports that the use of text messaging and social media has become integrated in teens' lives, that it has encouraged anxiety and low self-esteem. Based on a study from ages 14-24, individuals reported the impact of social media has increased feelings of depression, anxiety, poor body image and loneliness (Ehmke, n.d.).

Personally when I deleted my social media accounts I felt like a weight had been lifted and I haven’t looked back since. My reasons were based on some of the research we’re talking about but mainly it was because I didn’t want to feed into narcissistic behavior. It wasn’t just about connecting with old friends and keeping up with family anymore. It had developed into endless selfies and giving limitless accessibility to my personal space. So I said ENOUGH and with the click of a button, poof, I disappeared. Now my children are starting to see the value in limiting social media, setting boundaries around personal space and enjoying the benefits of actually having a verbally active conversation with someone. It’s a journey and we’re still on the path making improvements along the way. Besides, I use my bestie’s Facebook when there’s something worth investigating LORL.  Blessings to you, you and you.

Bibliography

Ehmke, R. (n.d.). How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers. Child Mind Institute. Retrieved October 12, 2020, from https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/