As technology develops with each passing day, so does the influence of social media. At Frederick High school the majority of students have some sort of social media, such as Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, etc. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be on social media, the majority of people just post random photos and videos, right?
Although in many cases social media has negative effects that impacts on teens and students overall well-being. For teens, including students at Frederick high school, mental health is affected when facing negative situations through social media.
According to this article, studies show someone may start to feel lonely, depressed, anxious, stressed or overall be affected by their mood. The amount of people on social media that are cruel and just want to spread hate is a devastating realization that affects people and communities.
There are also many unhealthy ways that teens use social media simply by what a teen sees/ does on social media or the amount of time someone spends on it. In the use of using social media in a negative way it may cause, distraction, disruption in sleep, false information, unhealthy habits, insecurity and biggest problems is social media a source for cyberbullying, Many people have grown accustomed to watching and listening to videos via social media, but not everything shown on the internet is good.
Social Media can influence illegal activities, harmful/ dangerous action towards someone or something, self harm/mental conditions, or overall negative encouragement. Unfortunately in some cases, social media brings out the worst in people. There’s the ones causing the harm and the ones people impacted by it.
Although social media is not all bad and may have some positive benefits, the rate at which we are and how we are using it is only going to cause a downward spiral. In the Frederick High school community there have been incidents where people have been spreading inappropriate information and rumors.
There have been times where bullying has occurred and situations where students feel low about themselves. Also, people leave digital footprints behind all the time without even realizing it. Everything someone posts or says on social media will remain on there forever, no matter if you delete it or not.
That means what students do on social media, can impact the success of their future. When interview people on the matter of social media we asked Micaiah (9) why you think FHS students are so influenced by social media, he says, “ I think teens at FHS are so influenced by social media because really all teens are. Everyone has a snap, everyone has YouTube or TikTok. I don’t think we’re special in that. But if I had to give an answer I say because the way our culture of the USA, of FHS is to have to feel connected and the way you do that is to be on the socials.”
Social media may have some good aspects but the bad things outweigh the good. Social media causes many people to scroll for hours on end, it’s addicting. Looking through the hallways or at lunch more than half of the time people are on their phones.
Even in class rooms, ever since the new phone policy teens try to go on their phones whenever they can or they complain about not having it with them. They itch to want to be on social media.
During an interview student Daniel Junevicus was asked why students and staff at FHS spend so much time on social, “I think we are just in it all the time a lot of our lives are on social media so like a lot of kids are on TikTok and Instagram and it’s the thing that kinda surrounds everyone lives right now especially and it’s bigger than every.”
There are a lot of people who also just have social media just to have it or because everyone else has it. Many teenagers genuinely don’t want or care for certain social medias, many just feel pressured to use it since everyone around them is.
Teens at Frederick high school have admitted that sometimes they create social media accounts just to fit in, avoid feeling isolated or to maintain a good social status. As a result social media use among teens often is not spread from personal choice but instead from strong influence of peer pressure.
To summarize, social media has a significant impact on students at Frederick high school both can be positive and negative but the negative affects our way of the benefits. While social media can help students feel connected it also contributes to a lot of unsuited and distraction.
The pressure one feels to use social media can affect mental health, focus and the overall being of someone. It’s important for the students that use social media to become more aware of how they use it and be responsible so it doesn’t end up impacting their lives.
