Social media consumption and its drawbacks (as well as its benefits)
There are many topics this can cover, but the three biggest will be related to the readings from Pew Research.
To start off, I read the articles talking about how women and men consume and apply wellness content from influencers as opposed to professionals. The second article I then read was about in-school cellphone bans. Finally, I finished the readings off with a shocking statistic that more 12th graders are now less likely to want to be married.
To be completely honest, I will share my following opinions about each (please feel free to disagree; I take this more as my take on what I would find most beneficial if I had kids)
The biggest point I agree with is banning social media for those under 16. There are 2 main reasons as to why I agree with this ban. Firstly, it is obviously the actual media consumption. This ties back to the topic of wellness influencer consumption. This is not inherently bad; in fact, I started going to the gym for that exact reason. However, it is a very thin line you can cross from normal consumption and the consumption that ties to self-worth and insecurities. Since most kids are under the age of 16, they have lots of time for their bodies to develop, but social media tends to amplify it by making it seem like they have to look a certain way.
The second biggest reason I agree with the ban is because of large child pornography rings. As most know, there are some crazy, weird people online. Now, with the rise of AI, there have been many cases where men take a simple picture of a face and are able to transform it into child pornography. The statistics show that women under the age of 15 (sometimes even younger) are some of the biggest targets.
This also ties into relationships. While most women do not do this, I have seen some of my close friends be dumped because of social media portrayal of what a relationship "should be." Most of the time it's easy to consume ideas about dating a millionaire and enjoy life and then compare it to your significant other and feel disappointed. Then there is also the portrayal of constant gift giving, expensive dinners, and goals as couples. I noticed most teens want that life, but again with the urgency idea, some girls tend to be desperate to live that life even if it is way into the future. This heavily impacts relationships in high school, which can sometimes lead to insecurity and loneliness. This is NOT just for women too. Many men have also looked at the top 1% of genetics in women and feel disappointed when they compare. Those exact relationships are what lead to decrease in marriage ideas for high schoolers. They live through one rough experience and then explode with emotion to label as every man or woman the exact same way even if it is completely untrue.
This article I read also has a point of that same idea and adds the possibility of cheating online.
How does social media affect relationships?
Then this article also points out negative and positive effects on possible mental health issues:
The Impact of Social Media on Students (2026 Update)
Now finally, I want to talk about MY experience on the points of views. As a student, I saw this happen A LOT. It was a constant issue, especially infidelity in high school and having girls fight each other physically. As future teachers we ALL know we don't want to separate two kids fighting, especially if it's hard and they're bleeding. The best idea is to simply ban the root cause, which was mostly Instagram and social media consumption at a young age. However, if you have a different solution I would love to hear it!
I honestly love this view on social media and like how personalized it is. I don't necessarily agree that social media should be completely banned before a certain age, but I think there are more precautions we can all take when learning how to use it. Social media is a form of expression, at least now it is. We all post what we want others to see (which I mentioned under another blog post). I also wanted to add to your point about relationships and social media. Personally, I have also experienced the effects of social media while being in a romantic relationship. One of my friends' relationships looked perfect online. But she's my friend, so I actually knew what was going on in their relationship behind the screen, you could say. There are also insecurities that arise within relationships when it comes to social media. Posting your partner, posting your friends, posting while wearing a certain outfit—everyone seems to have a problem with everything. That's why when I see articles about completely banning social media, I don't 100% agree, but I can definitely see where you are coming from and how it could help resolve issues. Especially with AI and child pornography. It is a very real and serious issue, so I respect your comments on that because it is something I feel is not talked about enough at all.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the idea that the government should ban social media for children who are under 16 years of age. This made me think about the recent lawsuit against Meta, where it addressed that the app is designed to be addictive by its algorithm and infinite scrolling. It also addressed that such addictive feature contributed to mental health concerns in children and teens. It also addressed that Meta illegally collected personal data from minors without the consent of parents and used the information to train AI models. I think taking legal action against the social media companies is good but also the government need to create laws that protect the youth. In my opinion I think social media apps only care about profit and it's up to the government to create laws that will protect the youth from the harm of social media. Perhaps also as a society we need to do a better job in informing families about the harm of social media.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Emily, the idea that the government should do more to protect children under 16 from social media. Social media can be entertaining and useful, but I think some apps are designed to keep people scrolling for as long as possible. This made me think about the different lawsuits involving companies like Meta, Google/YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Roblox, Discord, and Epic Games. Many of these companies have been accused of using features that can make their platforms addictive or unsafe for young people. For example, things like autoplay, notifications, endless scrolling, and recommendations can make it difficult for kids to stop using the apps. Some companies have also faced concerns about children's personal information and online safety.
DeleteI think taking legal action against these companies is a good step, but I also think the government needs to create stronger laws to protect young people. In my opinion, social media companies are businesses, so making money can sometimes be more important to them than protecting kids. Parents and families should also be given more information about the possible risks of social media so they can help children use these apps safely. Overall, I think protecting young people from the negative effects of social media should be something that the government, social media companies, schools, and families all work together on.
I really liked how you connected social media to body image, relationships, and even issues that can happen in schools. I agree that younger teens can be especially influenced by what they constantly see online because they are still figuring out who they are and what realistic expectations look like. I also thought your point about relationships was interesting because social media can make people compare their real lives to other people’s “perfect” relationships without knowing what is actually happening behind the scenes.
DeleteI’m not completely sure if banning social media is the only solution, though. I think teaching students how to use social media responsibly and recognize unrealistic or harmful content could also help. Since social media will probably continue to be part of their lives as they get older, learning how to handle it might be just as important as limiting access when they are younger.
I really liked reading about you view on social media and how it impacts kids. I agree to some degree that social media should banned to younger kids because of the negative influence and harmful impact it has on their cognitive development. Kids especially teenagers go through puberty and various emotions during that stage. Social media has everyone not just kids idolizing a certain lifestyle and creating false expectations.
ReplyDeleteI feel like another solution could be having age related restrictions and good quality censoring that doesn't allow any age to view inappropriate material. There need to be legal action taken to prevent organizations from posting and advertising content is harmful. This needs to be a broader scale effort with support from the government to help prevent the harmful effects of social media.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this. I agree with the social media ban, not only is the unrealistic expectations of life in general tough on growing minds, I also think that consuming too much internet "slop" can ruin the part of the brain that brings joy for them. Now they are hooked on memes, drama, AI videos, brain rot, whatever they watch. Most students would choose looking at their tiktok over going outside, my little siblings included. I also think there's a lot of misinformation being spread. Companies, governments, shadow organizations, whatever, do use their algorithm to feed them whatever information they want them to see. Most children wouldn't know it and neither do their parents. I also don't like how their information is being sold to companies to further manipulate them.
Hey there. To start, I loved all the connections you made to personal experience and pop culture (with the expectations of relationships and of other people).
ReplyDeleteBut to give you my take on a question you had earlier on, I think it is reasonable that people and young adults are more skeptical of marriage. Nowadays, we have a lot of relationship issues, and we see more divorces. A lot of children also have to go through the pain of a split household, as well as the social media aspect influencing our views on relationships. It's reasonable to see why people are skeptical of relationships, but I think even more so, it makes sense why they're skeptical of marriage.
A relationship could be short-term, and if any problems do arise, or people don't connect, they don't have to stay together. Whereas there is a higher degree of permanence to a marriage. Also, a lot of people are realizing that there is less value in marriage. Traditionally, it would have benefited people with taxes in a one-worker household, but this is no longer a reasonable expectation. Although I wish to get married, I can certainly see why many don't see the value in it.
In any case, I'm sorry about my tangent. I agree that students should have limited phone use. One question I have for that, however, is: How do we ensure students feel safe? To many, a phone could be the closest thing between them and 911 or their loved one in an emergency. I've always wondered if an emergency happens and phones are left in class, how that might affect a student with transportation issues or a worried family.