SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECT ON YOUTH

Om Suastiastu,

Good morning to the honorable judges, teachers, all participants, and audience. First of all, I
would like to thank Almighty God for His bless that we could be present here in a good health.
Thank you also for the time that is given to me. My name is_____ a representative of SMA
Negeri 1 Bebandem. And in this good opportunity, I would like to deliver a speech about Social
Media and its effect on youth.

In this era, we are all already familiar to social media. But, do you already know what social
media means? According to Merriam-Webster, social media is a form of electronic
communication. It allows the users to create online communities to share information, ideas,
personal messages, and other content such as videos. Almost every day, or even every hour,
we access the social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram
from our mobile. We can connect and keep in touch with our family or friends even if they are
long way apart from us. Beside that, this social media also eases our life in many aspects.

Ladies and gentlemen, for a student like me, getting many information about something,
especially the lessons we learn at school, is very easy now. We just can search it directly in
Wikipedia. It is very famous and easy to use. If we have a hobby in writing, we can share it via
blog, so the other people can read it and we also can get feedback from the comment that they
leave there. From that simple thing, we can improve our ability in writing.

Making a friend with the other students is also very easy and can be done even when you go
nowhere. For example, we can make friend on Facebook or Instagram with people in Java,
Sumatra, Kalimantan, or any other islands in Indonesia. From them, we can see how people in
other places live and it will open our sight to see the world widely. Moreover, we can make
friend with people from other countries. For me, it is very helpful because I can practice my
English with them when we use online chatting, like Messenger.

Because of social media, we can know what is going on in this world just in seconds and even
we are not there. Once one of your friends in social media post a photo or video about the event,
you might have an idea what is happening there.

For those who love shopping, now social media helps you to buy anything without visiting the
shops. You can do it anywhere and anytime from your mobile. Just check their stocks in their
social media, chose the items that you want to buy, connect with the seller, and wait for the
item to be sent and you can pay at home, too. It will now waste your time just to visit many
shops but you do not get what you want to buy. Everything is easy now because of the social
media, right? That’s why, people can say that “The world is in our hand”.

Ladies and gentlemen, we all agree, besides giving dozens benefits in our life, social media
also may lead to several negativities. First, it can cause internet addiction. Nowadays, we can
see many people, especially teenagers, are busy looking at their phone and ignoring their
surroundings. We cannot guarantee that all students use the social media for searching the
lesson. They have to check their phone more often than they study. Sadly, this can cause their
school performance, mental health and personal development.

When they get addicted to the internet and the social media, the people will also be isolated
from their real social life. Do we realize that we make friends with people who live far away
from us but we just disconnect with the people around us? Yeah, we are now too busy to keep
contact with the people we find online but we do not even talk with the person next to us. What
an irony.

Nowadays, for the students who get addicted to the social media, they also suffer from sleep
disruption. They always want to catch up with everything their friends post. They are worried
if they miss it. I can guarantee that most of us, as a student, can stay active on social media if
our parents do not control and prompt us to stop. And if we do this, especially during sleep or
just before sleep, then our sleep might be disrupted. The lack of sleep might cause us being late
to school and decreasing our performance at school.

Ladies and gentlemen, the most scary effect of social media is cyberbullying. It happens
frequently in our society and unfortunately, it happens more on youth. For example, when
someone posts a photo in her social media and there are people who do not like it, they might
leave a negative comment in that post. The real example of negative comment that can be found
easily in the social media is body shamming. Imagine that the person who gets body shaming
really feels embarrassed by that comment, it may cause her depress. The worst thing is it may
lead to suicide. We do not want this sad and scary thing to happen again in the future, right?

Then, should we just let the negativities of social media attack us? No, of course not. As young
generation, it’s time for us to know more about the social media effect and use it wisely. Let’s
control the use of our mobile and start to talk more with the people around us rather than just
looking at our mobile all the time. Also, we need to remind our friends who already get addicted
to their mobile that the outside activity together is cooler than just staying in the room with our
mobile. Don’t forget, our number one task now is studying hard for our future. So, we can
perform the best and achieve the best, too. And you can share your achievements in your social
media.

Ladies and gentlemen, that’s all my speech for today. I kindly ask for your apology if there is
any mistake in delivering my speech. Thank you so much for your attention. Have a good day.

Om Santih, Santih, Santih, Om