Effect of Social

Media on Youth
What is Social Media?
Social media refers to interaction among people in which they create, share,
and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.
Purpose of Social Media
What Teens do Online
Teens excessively use social networking to connect with friends.
Through chatting, personal messages and sharing photos, videos, links and
other kinds of information.
Teen social-Networking by
numbers
Teen internet use:
93% of the teens go online
69% of the teens have own computers
275 of teens use phones to go online
Teen social networking use
73% of the teens are on social network
The average teen has 201 facebook friends
37% send messages to friends every day
87% of teens aged between 12-17 years use internet. Which increases to
94% for 18 years students.
Impact of Media Types
Induced fear and phobias
Media multi-tasking affects attention.
Reality vs. fantasy
Time use
Behavioural changes.
Aggression and violence
Tendency to be alone
Anxiety problems
Privacy issue
Stress/hyper tension.
Over exposure to unwanted content.
Impact of high exposure on
behavior and mental health
Middle schoolers use more than any other age group.
Lower academic achievements, grades.
Lower attachment to school.
Among youth who report internet harassment victimization and unwanted
sexual encounters.
25% report extreme upset
Studies
Studies show exposure to TV violence activates brain region that regulates
emotion, arousal and attention, and episodic memory.

Extensive viewing may lead to a large number of aggressive scripts stored in

long term memory that end up influencing behavior.
Cyber Bullying
Direct Bullying (more typical of Boys)
Open physical attacks on victim
Verbal (threats, emotional harm)
Indirect (regional) Bullying: (typical for girls)
Social isolation
Peer rejection
Cyber bullying/electronic aggression
Social network sites-facebook, twitter, email
Blow down pages-fake sites created to spread rumors.
Benefits of social media
Learn and refine self control
To relate to others and respect their viewpoints and opinions
To express sentiments
To engage in critical thinking and decision making
Kids become aware of new and emerging technologies
Kids find support in online communities having common interest .
Means of communication.
Negative Media effects on Youth
Violence
Sexually explicit content
Drug & Alcohol use
Body image
Sterotyping
Ways to combat negative media
effects without overt Regulation
Educating youth in media literacy
Parent-child interaction
Moderation of media consumption
Spending offline time more than online time
Spending more time with family
Choosing to meet people in person rather than in virtual.
Avoiding excessive usage of internet.