Message from the Computer studies department

Dangers of Social Media to Teenagers

Nowadays, there is a shift in socialization with a huge part of it happening online. Access to internet
and mobile devise is easy and many teenagers have social media accounts. These are many ranging
from facebook, twitter, Instagram, snapchat to other localized social media. These various media
have the advantage of offering a platform for teens to communicate and interact with their peers.
However, a danger lies within especially to teenagers when not guided.

One of the biggest dangers of social media is stranger danger. Teenagers interact with all sorts of
people online, most of whom they have never met in person. It is not easy to judge a person’s
character when all you know is what they post online and their onscreen personality. Therefore, it is
difficult to make wise judgements about those to interact with. Interactions with the wrong people
can lead to decaying morals in teenagers and even a threat to their life when they meet offline. Con
artists online normally look for individuals who are:

 New to online social networks

 Actively seeking affection or attention
 Lonely or isolated
 Confused about sexual identity
 Easily tricked
 Rebellious
 Aggressive computer users
 Naive about netiquette

It is important to warn teenagers not to meet with people they only know online.

The second danger of social media is the need to be validated. Teens try to fit in to the current
trends and conform to what others are doing online in order to appear cool. However, most of the
things that they do are harmful and detrimental. This includes going to wild parties, drinking, doing
drugs and posting photos of the same on social media. Trying to fit in will cause one to let go of their
morals and go the extra mile to be what is considered “cool”. Those who cannot afford to do this,
might get involved in illegal activities to raise money to dress and have the lifestyle they see on social
media.

Teenagers spend a lot of time on their phones, tablets and computers browsing through social
media accounts and interacting with others on these platforms. Without the proper guidance, they
might end up spending huge amounts of time on this activity. This is can cause them to bite in to
time meant for other activities such as school work, healthy extracurricular activities and interactions
with family and friends. Time management is essential and most will fail in school and have low
grades because they are not managing time properly.

Social media also causes isolation of youth from the real world. Some get so engrossed in their
online life. The risk with such isolation, is that they may not be able to share their feelings or
frustrations with their parents and others around them. When they are having problems, they will
turn to their social media account for help and interact with strangers who could take advantage of
them. There have been cases of teens committing suicide without their parents knowing there was a
problem until they check their social media accounts.

Teens do not know the boundaries on how far they can go in social media. Most over share
information that really should not be in the public eye. This could leave them vulnerable to hackers,
bullies and other dangerous people online. Parents need to tell their children to be careful about
what they share. This is especially important with regard to information about their location, home,
school and other personal details.

Although social media has its benefits and is a great tool for interacting with others when used well,
the dangers are also real. It may not be entirely possible to keep teenagers of social media. However,
it is important to give them adequate information and train them on proper use. They also need to
be aware that anything they post online can easily be accessible to other people who are strangers
to them.

Mr. Kagot
H.O.S Computer studies