James Lalla

English SBA

“Social Media” was the group topic chosen and my theme is “The Negative Influence Of Social Media on
the Younger Generation”. With the rise of social media, the younger generation are susceptible to the
harmful effects it can have on their well-being.

I hope to enhance my comprehension skills through the reflections.

My three artefacts were sourced from the Internet.

To provide insightful reflections of the chosen theme, I plan to use my wide range of vocabulary and vast
knowledge of literary devices.

Artefact #1

Article
The Negative Effects of Social Media on Youngsters (theparentalcontrol.com)

The Negative Effects of Social Media

on Youngsters
There are two sides to every story, and then there is the social media side! Yes, we are
living in a world of social media generation and social media has also negative effects on
youngsters. They read, they travel, they make new friends -everything they do, gets posted
on their social media account.

Without bothering about the negative effects of social media, they glorify their life events
and share them on social platforms. Not to mention that this social media crazy generation
thrives on every like or comment they get on their posts!

However, there are advantages and disadvantages to social media. When we assess the
effects of social media on our teenagers, we quickly come to know that there are very few
positive effects of social media. And a number of negative consequences of social sites
can ruin our kids’ childhood.

So, are you ready to uncover the darker side of social sites? Here are a few negative
effects of social media on our youth.

Negative Effects Of Social Media On Teenagers

Internet Addiction
• Extensive social media usage among youngsters can lead to internet addiction. The
more they are online, the more they see new stories, posts, and ideas that they
would like to explore.
• The initial habits of surfing social sites quickly turn into an addiction. Are your kids
online all day? Do they feel the strong urge to post their every life event on social
sites?
• If yes, then undoubtedly, the negative effects of social media have started caging
your child’s normal life and he is now addicted to the Internet.
• Also, this addiction can affect his academic performance, personal development,
and physical and mental health. However, parents started using parental control
apps nowadays which resolves the worry of kid’s addiction.
Social Media Depression
• Does your child look sad if no one likes or comments on his recent post or picture?
How does he feel if he doesn’t open his social media account for a day or two? What
is his reaction when his social media content can not generate new followers?
• These are the check-points to identify the level of his social media obsession. The
biggest negative effect of social media on youth is, they feel depressed when they
don’t use social platforms or when they don’t get validation on these platforms.
• This social media effect is known as Facebook depression. Apart from that,
teenagers craze to stand out, or the pressure he feels to sustain the current trends
of these sites should be counted as negative effects of social media on youth.

Lower Self-Esteem
• The negative effect of social media on teenagers has started to weaken their self-
esteem.
• On these sites, youth compare each other. Moreover, girls try to dress like
celebrities, in every picture they want to look slim, beautiful and glamorous.
• The pressure to look like their role models negatively affects their self-esteem
• Due to such negative effects of social media on youth, many teenagers, especially
girls lose their dignity and start sharing inappropriate photos and content.

Negative Effects Of Social Media On Health

The effects of social media can be tracked by the mental and emotional health of today’s
youngsters. Excessive usage of various social platforms can harm the overall health of the
child.

Anxiety
• When we talk about the negative effects of social media on youth, apart from
depression, teenage anxiety is another concern of every parent.
• Due to various social sites children become over conscious about everyone’s
reaction. Whatever their followers comment, means and matters a lot to them!
• Additionally, kids are more curious about knowing what their co-social mates are
doing and posting on various platforms, rather than focusing more time on self-
development.
• The adverse effects of social media on youth are, it makes our children victims of
depression, anxiety, and isolation.

Sleep Deprivation
 • While making a list of the negative effects of social media on health, sleep
deprivation can not be missed out! Social sites are the leading cause of insomnia in
today’s youth.
• According to child experts, the negative effects of social media on teenagers can
be associated with sleep loss, disturbed sleep, insomnia and interrupted sleep
patterns.

Negative Effects Of Social Media On Students

• Poor academic performance, lack of attention, no real-life friends, poor physical
health and high emotional needs to get validities, disturb a kid’s student life. These
are a few negative effects of social media on students that can ruin kid’s school
days.

Apart from these, there are many other negative impacts of social sites on our children.
Such as sedentary lifestyle, weak eye-sight, faulty postures, threats of various cyber
crimes, poor social skills, etc,

However, there are several effective remedies to cure a teen’s social addiction. Let’s see
how parents can fight against the negative effects of social media.

Solutions To Social Media Addiction

• Limit their device usage and permit the fixed number of hours kids can spend on
social apps.
• Restrict your kids from downloading any new social apps from the play store.
• Monitor their social media postings and watch over their app usage remotely.
• Of course, it is not possible to track your kid all the time, but you can appoint a
smart app – Bit Guardian Parental Control to perform all these tasks on behalf of
you.

Concluding Notes
No matter how much you make your kids aware of the negative effects of social media,
they will continue using these sites. But as parents, you need to make sure that your teens
use social platforms in a safe way and for a reasonable period of time.

Does your teenager excite on every tintinnabulation he receives on his device? Well, then
it’s time for you to rethink the negative effects of social media on today’s youth.
Artefact #2
Picture
Artefact #3

Poem

The Mediums – Calenture (wordpress.com)

The Mediums

It took a week for us to stop hearing the voices.

Although they had been our constant companions
for years by then, a steady stream of chatter,
it reached the point where they became unbearable.
Each message had become a death to us. Just a little
to start with, soft like the twitter of birds,
not too intrusive perhaps, but then more insistent
by the day, slowly overwhelming, until
our own voices, thoughts, were lost to theirs.

Eventually, it was us or them. They became

mere shouts and remonstrations, pleas and cries,
a tidal wave of suffering without pause,
of snide retorts and performative assertions –
the whole lot began to drown us.
Turn off your radios immediately.

So we tuned out our frequencies to a dead channel,

fourteen billion years of static, that perfect state
before the first authoritarians came,
a numbness welcome to our battered senses,
and, not without some small misgiving,
we cut the line and left the voices dead.
Thankfully we were left not too affected.
They faded like the effects of nepenthe
or the Martian atmosphere in Total Recall.
Already, we wonder how we ever heard the voices.