Many people in the world use social media, and it’s fun–but have you ever thought about the downside of it? Let’s dive into the bane of students: social media!
Picture this scenario: When you get home from school and you doomscroll on your phone, whether it be on Instagram, YouTube Shorts, Facebook, or any other social media platforms… But whenever you do this, do you ever compare yourself to others, feel envious, or even feel insecure about yourself?
This is a reality for most students when they go on their devices and engage in negative content on different social media apps, which can lead to bad habits and negative self-perception, also known as unhealthy comparisons. Social media is a place for free expression but it comes with the consequences.
Social media can promote eating disorders, stress, long-time phone use, jealousy, normalization of unrealistic standards, and more. This can affect how a student develops and feels about themselves and others around them.
School counselor Mrs. Pafumi said, “Students may or may not have increased anxiety, depression or low self-esteem, if they are too much involved in social media or cyberbullying. There are a lot of negative things that can happen if kids go on for too much time. And it could lead to harassment of anything.”
Mrs. Pafumi thinks that while social media can be positive and entertaining though it often negatively affects a students’ health by cyberbullying and mental health issues. Many negative consequences can affect a student if they have prolonged social media usage.
“As a school counselor I think the most important negative aspect about social media is that it affects students’ mental health,” Ms. Pafumi said.
Students from IMS have experiences of their own with social media, whether it’s meeting someone online or being exposed to negative content.
Sixth grader, Deetya Gajjar said, “I didn’t know that much about internet safety rules so I met some weird people online. But thank god my parents monitored my playing.”
Speaking of parents monitoring, parents should make sure to check on their children’s social media as what Deetya’s parents did with hers to make sure any inappropriate or harmful content isn’t being exposed.
“I think parents and guardians need to be more actively involved in monitoring what their child is seeing on social media,” Ms. Pafumi said.
You should not get lured into false or harmful advertisements that influencers make on social media. Most of the time, they are sponsored to do so, one of them being beauty products.
“Companies have platforms and have a digital responsibility to do the right thing,” Mrs. Pafumi said.
Gajjar also said, “This beauty related product didn’t really make my skin feel that well–it didn’t help me in any way. Since the influencer looked so pretty and stuff and [since] they’re like ‘Oh, this product helped me.’”
However, social media isn’t all that bad and negative. It can help anyone connect with their interests, give inspiration, increase their creativity, and all others.
Social media will have its advantages and disadvantages like everything else. It is important to balance your social media life and interact with the positive content, not the negative.
