Effect of the Social Media on Today's Youth

Today's' youth live their lives on social networks. They share pictures, moments, secrets, love and
hate, all with a single tap on the "post" button. Unconsciously shaping their lives to correspond to
those of their friends, idols or whatever is trending at the given time. Their society revolves around
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on. This has both a positive and negative effect. A long standing
debate is whether the social media does more evil or good.

Socializing, human contact has always been essential to the survival of the human race. It enables us
to fond bonds for our safety and also reproduce. Social networks have made this much easier. In the
past, one might have had to travel miles for a little tea and heart to heart. Now, friends and family
are just a click away. Chat rooms are one of the social media's great contributions to modern
communication. They offer a quick and effective way for people to open discussion. It is possible to
retain long distance relationships and make friends from different counties. The world is connected
as it never was before because of the social media, forming one big family striving for the future of
earth.

The social network promotes creativity and a sense of self in teenagers through services such as
blogs, real time interactive games and Facebook According to a new body of research, teens who are
more active on social networking sites are actually more well adjusted than their less-connected
peers. In one study, researchers found that teen interaction on social networks mimic how they
actually interact in their off-line relationships. According to psychology professor Kaveri
Subrahmanyam of California State in Los Angeles, adolescents characterize their online friendships
into similar hierarchies of closeness as their real-life friendships. Professor Subrahmanyan views the
digital world as "Simply a new and more multidimensional place for teenagers to do what tens have
always done - form their own identities away from their parents."

An argument against social networking is the exposure it creates to the world. Everything, no matter
good or bad spreads across the world in a manner of seconds. Adolescents are can be easily misled
or taken advantage of. A worthwhile risk, considering the benefits it brings. It is found that these
days, with the help of the social network, adolescents are generally more aware of their
surroundings; politics, environmental change, scientific breakthroughs, international catastrophes
and so on. They have a wider scope of the world from a young age, increasing chances of success in
the future.

In all, the social network does quite a fair amount of good. It favors communications, social
interaction, creativity, the attainment of knowledge and much more. Though social networks can be
used to cause a certain amount of harm, it does an equal amount of good. The outcome, as in many
other matters depend on the user. Thus, it is up to us to believe that adolescents, the next
generation of our world has the sense to wield the social network sensibly and with thought to the
consequences it has on themselves and others.