whispydaze

[whispydaze]

How Social Media Damages a Young Mind.

*Something I wrote for my English speaking exam a year ago... I got a distinction for it.*

What is social media? It is defined as “the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.” This means that anyone with internet access can freely engage with all of the content available on social media. In some cases it can be a positive experience but for many, the internet is an easy way for people to lie about their own demographics and this can be worrying since children are getting access to a device earlier and earlier in their lives.

Around 45% of children own a phone by the age of 10 according to an Ofcom report in September 2023. This gives children an easy, unsupervised gateway into the world of social media, which allows them to access mind-damaging content which can shape the way they think for the rest of their lives. However, the same report tells us that most adults have said they wait for their children to start the transition from primary school to secondary school which is something that is more commonly heard.

An Ofcom report shows that 77% of 8-17 year olds have a social media account, but why is this bad? Why is social media discouraged in young people? 

Well, in an article written by the McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, they describe social media as having a ��reinforced nature”. They tell us that social media “activates the brains reward center by releasing dopamine”. However, the dopamine we are used to, which is released by things such as meditation, exercise and music do not fall into the same category as the dopamine we receive from social media. Instant dopamine is a form of dopamine that is addictive and easy to obtain, though not all instant dopamine is bad. Drinking, drugs and gambling fall into the same negative instant dopamine category that social media does, the excitement that these dopamine induced activities creates, motivates those using it to continue which eventually leads to addiction, this can lead to things such as anger, anxiety, low self esteem and in some cases, schizophrenia.

Social media comes with numerous outcomes which keeps its users hooked, not knowing how many likes a post may get can keep the desire to continuously come back to these sites strong. 

FOMO (the fear of missing out), is a strong contender when it comes to keeping young people online. Adolescents specifically, fear missing something like a joke or an invitation if they aren’t on social media. If someone went on social media and realised they weren’t invited somewhere, it would significantly damage their feelings just because they know, through social media, that they are missing out. Another study conducted by the McLean Hospital in Massachusetts in 2018 says that “a British study tied social media use to decreased, disrupted, and delayed sleep, which is associated with depression, memory loss, and poor academic performance.” This is all clearly linked to the way a child’s mind reacts to social media.

Misinformation is another huge topic that can strongly persuade the way a young mind thinks. For example, when COVID-19 peaked, multiple people were sharing both fake and real news on social media. A study from UK Safer Internet Centre says that 48% of young people see misleading information everyday with more than one in 10 seeing it more than six times a day. Most adults are able to tell the different between real and fake news, but a young person may not be able to decipher the two, meaning that they may believe something just because someone they trust someone on the internet.

Personal information and privacy is a big thing when it comes to being online. Protecting things such as your full name, address and phone number can be important when being on social media. A survey conducted by the Global Data and Marketing Alliance in 2022 says that young people are much less concerned about their own privacy than the older generations. They also say that 18-24 year olds are the “most willing” to share their own personal data and don’t have as many concerns about it. This then means that this same age group are more at risk of things such as stalking, just because they are not as careful with sensitive information.

Self esteem is something young people tend to battle with each day. Social media is one of the biggest conglomerates of platforms that fuels the fire to a young persons negative spiral of emotions. Many teens who actively use social media may post a carefully edited photo, pretending to be something they aren’t. This causes a lot of self hatred and frustration. However, it also affects those who view the posts. These people may compare their lives to someone else’s despite not really knowing how that person lives and therefore damaging their own self esteem.

To conclude, social media is something that should be carefully monitored in a child, depending on their age. It is more common now to see mental health issues which all seem to have the common denominator of social media and children should not have such easy access to platforms that seem to promote this.

[whispydaze]

You are everyone around you, judging others is judging yourself.

[whispydaze]

"Love"

I have such a crazy outlook on what “love” is, and it’s wholly subjective to the internet. The internet, in some cases, has normal outlooks on “love”, but these types of things build up on the consumer of said media, creating an idealistic, completely irrational expectation when it comes to love. Expectations have been written by people who I don’t know the name of, by people who, to me, only exist through ceramic-hardened glass and pixels. My outlook on love is beautiful. It’s completely trusting and full of smiles. It’s me controlling my emotions, expressing these to my partner in an entirely healthy manner while also being that reciprocal for said partner. My expectations are what I deem minimal. A partner who: listens to my words, appreciates and respects my emotions, doesn’t leave me to deal with my emotions, listens to my rambling (even if you’ve heard it before, you’ll hear it again), can respect when I need time alone without taking it to heart. Love is words, it’s expressing your mind rawly to your partner. It doesn’t matter how ugly the words are or how beautiful they are. It’s so important to me to be able to share my vehement emotions and it’s just as important I hear it from my partner too. Love is time, and making the time to spend with my partner is valuable to me. Making the time to talk, to exist soul-to-soul with one another is so meaningful to me and has to be done weekly where possible. I truly aspire to be an easygoing partner, someone my soulmate doesn’t have to worry about, someone who is a joy to love. I don’t want to be argumentative, I don’t want to be untrusting. These negative outlooks on how I love have all rooted from social media, they aren’t who I am. I just wish I could reset my heart in the sense that my love is passionate and true, rather than based off of someone else.