The Destructive Power Of Peer Pressure

Have you ever been pressured by your parents with any school work, I have. My parents are always on to me, have you done your homework Faizana?, have you read?, have you done this?, have you done that? I know the feeling, it’s not to good, especially when you get a bad grade. Many kids from the age of 8-13 are actually being pressured from their parents or peers to get the best of grades the school has to offer. Kids are studying way beyond their limit, not having a social life, not being able to do things that most majority of kids are doing. At that age they are proving or pleasing to parents that they are capable of accomplishing something when their parents should know that they are capable of doing that. Yes, we all should encourage kids to do the best they can but that doesn’t mean they should put success upon everything else.

One reason I think that parents put too much pressure on kids is that many parents put pressure on their children to earn perfect grades, no matter the cost. Guidance couns telors say that this is one of the kid’s biggest issues, they get a lot of stress to please their parents or peers. Parents can be very eager and forceful for their kids to success in life, but they also need a social life. I think that for this issue, a way to solve it is for the parents to listen in on what is going on in their kid’s life and understand where they are coming from, not just accusing them. Kids have a lot of stress already from school or from friends, one of the biggest issues of stress are from social media. At many schools, such as UWCSEA parents can track their child's grades and tests, they can also track personal emails, and homework assignments. When the parents find that the grades are out, it is quite obvious that the kid will get a slight under confident feeling, that their parents might get angry at them. Of course, they would be worried, especially if it is coming near to the end of the year. Parents always are wondering how their kids are doing in school, that is normal, every parent should think that, though it can make the child agitated at times as they keep on getting reminded “studying comes first before anything else”. By rising the pressure, as they grow older, they will always want their parents to be happy or teachers, but it’s not like that, kids should please themselves, they should be happy, if they tried their hardest, that should be enough. It doesn’t need to show in the grades. "Rejection can be heart-breaking and devastating. Especially for high-achieving students who spent countless hours studying and preparing for assignments, exams and projects," said Anxiety.org.

Another reason for pressure is stress and anxiety. Kids get anxiety, they get worried. This can lead to depression, anger and frustration. So stress can affect anyone who feels overwhelmed — even kids. In preschoolers, separation from parents can cause anxiety. As kids get older, academic and social pressures (especially from trying to fit in) create stress said "Childhood Stress." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. As it says, “as kids grow older, academic and social pressures create stress”, it means that, if any kid has any stress from school, their peers or family should notice this action and should help the kids otherwise what if the kid might hurt himself/herself, in some cases that might happen.

Girls and boys also adults, have this kind of pressure from work, family, friends or even social media. Parents should be aware of this, everyone should be aware and should help, everyone should be careful if it happens to their friends or it happens to yourself. If you are in this position get someone to talk to, they can help you.



Bibliography:

https://www.anxiety.org

http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/stress.html

Social Medias Impact On Teens

       Nowadays, teenagers have all the digital devices you can think of and they all come with social media apps. Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat, all affect teenagers in different ways. One might argue that having social media helps improve lifestyles like being more fit and healthy from seeing models and how they look, but in the long run, teens become dissatisfied with their appearance and become very insecure about their body, feel a state of depression or anxiety. Perfect Illusions PBS said that 42% of girls in grade 1 - 3 want to be thinner. No one that young should be feeling self-conscious about their body. 78% of 17 year olds, girls especially, are unsatisfied with how they look. Seems unbelievable, right? That’s not it. 46% of high schoolers have an eating disorder. If social media is affecting kids and teens this much, why do we continue to have social media? The false body image that is being carelessly thrown out to the world has got to stop. Would you want to being living life like this? If you are, why?

        Instagram is flooded with perfect body images which are almost always photoshopped to reach this ideal body that no one really has naturally. In many cases, at a young age, people are exposed to social media and perfect models that stand on the page. Body images can create false fantasies for young girls, such as making them want to look a certain way even though everyone has their own body type. Teenagers start to have this image in their head of what they need to look like in order to be beautiful and when teens look at their flaws, they become depressed, but mostly very insecure. The article Social Media: A new source of insecurities, says that at age 13 teens become to recognise the image you don’t have and by 17 years old, it only becomes more noticeable to them and worse. Even though a teenage girl could end up being as “perfect” as other models or celebrities, she will still tend to not feel satisfied with herself because each model looks different. Luckily, throughout time people start accepting who they are and what they look like, but very slowly it happens.

        Now, I know for a fact that almost all the seventh graders at my school find themselves in bed with their phone checking social media. New posts of Cara Delevingne and her unique looks or maybe looking through Kendall Jenner’s Instagram account. No matter what person you wish you could look like, we all think about it. Going to bed becomes a struggle and it’s as if the phone sits on your bed just taunting you to pick it up and continue the searching. “Increase of vulnerability for the onset of depression and anxiety, and poor sleep quality may contribute to this,” Cleland Woods said. Lack of sleep because of social media can make teens depressed and more sensitive to things, such as how they look. The study, from British Psychological Society showed that nighttime social media use relates to poorer sleep quality. It also results to higher anxiety and depression.

        Being self-conscious about yourself can lead to way more then wanting new clothes. Personality changes and mood swings are some of the many emotional things that can happen. Growing up can be hard enough, but when jealousy of girls, models, or actresses come into place, it makes it even harder when you are still figuring out who you are. Girls may become intimidated by other women, who are on television shows, or are famous. Teenagers may treat others in a rude manner because of the influence they hear through the internet or through media. The Huffington Post said “25 percent admitted to difficulties in relationships because of social media". Sadly, anxiety squirms into teens head and in some cases, it can become so difficult that they become very depressed.

        Overall, social media and the false body image it puts out, creates too many unnecessary problems for teens. It causes anxiety, depression and insecurity. Teenagers are already experiencing changes and figuring out who they really are, but when social media comes into place, it makes it very difficult for teens. Teens are so emotionally attached to social media these days that it can hurt relationships and how you feel about yourself. On the other hand, social media can provide a rich source of information and help people stay connected. Teenagers need to be responsible and learn how to manage how much screen time they have. But, how much teens are hurt, needs to stop.

Social Media's Body Perceptions Lead to Horrible Circumstances

  “Nobody is perfect”. “You’re beautiful the way you are”. These are things we have all heard but never acknowledge. I claim that social media has a huge impact on how kids perceive themselves, and it is important to know the effects of that and how to stop it. It starts with one picture, one video, one story. Kids get influenced by everything. Even though it may be fake. Photoshop and plastic surgery have taken over our lives and the internet is full of lies. There are so many horrible things that kids do just to achieve the ‘ideal body’. Do we really want our kids to live in such a world that discourages insecurities but also supplies them?

  To start with, the internet is a wide, diverse place. There are so many good things that happen because of the inter-webs. But there are equally as many bad things that happen because of it. Imagine that you are a 13 year old girl, and your social media life is extremely diverse. Your entire life exists on Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, to mention a few. Likes and retweets matter more to you than your own family. Suddenly, you discover a really pretty girl with the perfect body. You aim to be like her. After a bit of exercise and healthy eating, you see no results. You decide enough is enough. The next time you have a meal, you put your dishes away nervously and your hands quiver. After going straight to the sink, you vomit out all the food you have just eaten. ‘It’ll make you thin’ ‘You can look like her’  your mind tells you. Many people go through that. According to eatingdisorderhope.com, 2.7% of teens aged 13-18 will develop a serious clinical eating disorder due to insecurities from social media, and 50% of teenage girls use unhealthy weight control behaviours like skipping meals, vomiting, smoking, and using chemicals to control their body shape and make it ‘perfect’. 46% of 9-11 year olds are on diets due to the unrealistic standards set by social media these days. Would you want your child or your best friend or your sister or brother or even yourself to go through something so unhealthy for something so useless?

  Secondly, even though social media brings people together, it can tear them apart too. Some people go through depressive episodes, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts. Being thin is regarded as the cult of happiness these days. Obese or even slightly bulkier people are ridiculed and as a result of that many people get extremely mentally or physically ill. Some mental conditions that people unfortunately develop due to not being ‘perfect’ are: depression (something very common even in teens), poor self esteem, panic attacks, panic disorder, and anxiety. It is devastating to see a quirky and carefree friend turn insanely obsessed with her body. It is important to identify the symptoms of this before it gets too late. If you know someone who has suddenly become into a nutshell, here are some symptoms that it may be more serious than just a bad day.

• Loss of interest in everyday activities
• Sudden appetite/weight changes
• Snappy attitudes
• Loss of energy
• Self loathing/Self hate/Self Doubt

Obviously all of these things could mean something else entirely but checking on that person and monitoring their behaviour is important. Another good way is to monitor their page on social media. Have they been posting weird things or have they been ranting on and on about how some person is prettier than them? Watch out before it gets serious.

  Lastly, how can you stop this? Most people don’t even know how to prevent it, let alone stop it. But it’s definitely worth a try. You never know, you could save a life. Well, considering at what point you are in your life, there are many ways you can help. If you are a teen yourself, I suggest taking a minute away from everything. Reconnect yourself with reality (not reality shows) and the real world outside of that screen. Imagine if everyone looked perfect. Eventually the standards would change. Trends don’t define you. You define yourself. Remind yourself that even though it’s perfectly fine to think someone is pretty or cute, there are so many people that think you are too. If you are a parent, I suggest monitoring your child’s use of media. Don’t snoop on them or read their messages etc, but just monitor their behaviour around their screens. Also, emphasize the rights and wrong on social media. Show them what is good and what is bad. And here’s a note for everyone: humans like to set standards. It’s natural. But in an ever-evolving world, let’s step away from fake identities and stay close to our real ones.

  All in all, I think that even though the causes for these harsh effects may sound weird or unreasonable, it’s now part of our lives. Social media and the internet; it’s taking over. Simplicity and easy lives have turned into a complex track of stress and anxiety playing over and over. Do we really want to live in a world with people thinking about killing themselves just because they don’t look like a carbon copy of a person they haven’t even met?

Vedika Sanga

The Psychology Of The Common Bully

As we grow up-and-and start getting older we often start facing new problems and issues. Bullying and dealing with bullying is one of them. Being a middle school student myself, I have dealt with bullying; both as a victim and as a bystander. Why does bullying occur? Have you ever been bullied? Bullying is a very complicated issue because, in our increasingly interconnected and diverse world, we come across varied thinking and opinions. Lines of reasoning, rules, and boundaries are changed, pushed and expanded. The line between what is considered acceptable and what isn’t is very much blurred and people are doing unethical things which are considered alright by themselves and others. Schools, children, and people should reconsider the boundaries of what is tolerable and what isn’t and enforce them. People who step over the line what is considered acceptable should be punished, and they are made to understand why bullying is wrong and helped. The argument that the bully is doing something wrong and should only be punished and that only the victim is negatively affected is misguided because both victim and tormentor are negatively affected psychologically, sociologically and physiologically. Bullying is like a double edged blade. Swinging it cuts both the victim and the tormentor. This paper will take one through the mind of the tormentor, the psychology behind their thinking, why it may be misguided and why the antagonizer and the victim need to be helped.

Firstly let’s take a look at the concept of dominance and power. Bullies often threaten others and try to control them. Why one might ask. Skeptics might argue that bullies have low self-esteem and that they bully to improve their self-esteem. Nevertheless, this is a misguided argument because it is based on a myth. Bullies actually often have huge egos and think very highly of themselves. With this inflated sense of self-importance, they try to be powerful through bullying. Catherine Bradshaw, a developmental psychologist who studies bullying says “It provides these kids with a sense of power,”.(Bradshaw,2010) Consequently, this leads to a vicious cycle being created where people are harassed and despotism so that their tormentors gain control over them and gain more influence. This boosts their self-importance even more and they try to control and antagonize more and more people. Jaana Juvonen a development psychologist and much sought out authority on bullying states, “The bigger, stronger kids create a social hierarchy and appoint themselves the leaders. The bullies are clearly in charge, gaining power and status that translates to a big time ego boost” (Jouven,2012) Furthermore, more people start wanting to join that that level of this social hierarchy to reap the so-called “benefits”.The focus intensifies on weaker people who are not so sure of themselves and lack self-esteem and confidence

Critics may argue that based on the actions and behaviors of the bullies, it is the victim that suffer and not the bullies. It is indeed true that victims often face many negative effects. Victims are taunted, the bully playing on the victims insecurities. This results in the victim having low self-esteem and a wounded self-concept. Dr. Mark Dombeck, a Ph.D. in Philosophy who studies philosophy states "Being bullied teaches you that you are undesirable, that you are not safe in the world, and (when it is dished out by forces that are physically superior to yourself) that you are relatively powerless to defend yourself." (Dombeck,2007)Students grow increasingly doubtful of your own talents and skill. Confidence is often lost and this can result in faltering more easily under hard times. While this may be true nevertheless bullies are also on the receiving end of the negative effects of the whole process of bullying. They are in a sense in the same boat as the victims later on in life, The vicious cycle of gaining more and more power for the bully does not end there. Bullies try to rule over people through violence and threats. In a study where boys from Grade six to Grade nine, bullies were found to be four times more likely to be convicted of a crime than other people. 60% of the bullies had committed at least one crime and 35% had committed three or more -Olweus, D. (1992).Through these statistics, it can be concluded how bullies often have higher chances of committing crimes in later years, a way they try to have a sense of power and control. Bullies often continue to try to be in control and have a sense of dominance. They can sometimes, though not always resort to violence and crime to try to control people through things such as fear.

Secondly, let’s take a look at popularity and being well known. People tend to bully to become more well known or be popular amongst kids. This might be surprising and many may argue that bullies are often scorned by others and are considered unpopular. I challenge this as it is actually a flawed argument. We keep hearing these stories in the news about how a plane has crashed in a certain place and we are many people are actually scared of their next flight. However, these are just a small minority. We don’t hear anything about the thousands of planes that safely take off and land every day. Humans are more attracted to interesting news which is often negative news. As bullying statistics.org states "The fact that one gets more social recognition for negative behaviors than for positive ones can also contribute to reasons why people bully." From this piece of evidence and the self-importance explored in the last paragraphs, we can conclude that bullies want to increase their sense of importance and want to be known to more and more people and get a wider audience to see them. So, they often pick on people who are considered nerdy or have low self-esteem and are considered popular and “cool” by many students. People with low self-esteem are labeled in such a way that they are considered uncool and bullying them does not matter because the victims do not matter. A study was conducted by Jaana Jouven.More than 2000 grade 6 students were taken where bullies were asked to be identified and victims were to be identified. Then teachers and students were asked who were the most popular students and who were the least popular. By far the bullies were the most popular and the victims were unpopular.This evidence makes it clear that students, idolize and in some sense almost hero worship bullies who make fun of unpopular kids who are sometimes scorned instead of helped.(Jouven, 2012)

It seems once again as though it is the victim who bears all the burden and negative effects while the bullies don’t. Critics might say that based on my previous point, the bullies tend to be the popular ones, with the support from the crowd and against the-the victims have no support. They are seen as uncool, nerds and geeks and are scorned. They take the constant taunting of the bullies and the bullies label them under titles such as teachers pet, nerd or if they are different they are titled as things like gay or disabled.Often victims of bullying suffer from problems such as anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. Some extreme cases can be seen in the example of Amanda Todd who committed suicide after cyber and physical bullying(as well as other reasons). A study conducted by the Duke University Medical Center took 1420 children, out of which 21.5 % were victims and 5%were bullies. The rest were bystanders and had nothing to do with bullying. (Copeland,2013)Victims had 4 times more chance of having anxiety issues and 5 times the chance of depression. This research and statistics give us proof that the problem being faced by victims is very real and them being scorned and not receiving support is one of the reasons these problems occur. Victims clearly showing signs of depressions and anxiety means that they do not get any help what so ever. This can mean that either students are considering bullying acceptable or they are mocked by the public for being labeled as teachers pet. This is the work of the manipulative bully who turns people against victims and makes the bullying humane and reasonable. This is clearly a concern that this is being allowed and boundaries of what is acceptable should re-made and enforced. The scene where the bully is the most popular and well known while the victim is scorned might be seen as an idealistic situation for the bullies, but this is far from the truth. Bullies too often suffer from anxiety, depression and substance abuse in adulthood. After being considered popular and having inflated ego’s, when they get to adulthood and the “real world” they are severely let down. They are not prepared to be working under people and often times they find that they can’t dominate and rule anymore. Having bosses and people that are above them is does not always go down well with their sense of self-importance. Bullying in one's past can be one of the many factors people might lose jobs. Eyes on bullying, an organization that raises awareness about bullying and it’s ill effects states “Aggression, Antisocial behavior, Difficulty controlling their emotions, Convictions for drunk driving, Depression, Suicides are characteristics found in adult bullies”

Equally important is this idea of shame and self-esteem as well as their difference. Earlier I had said that the idea of bullies having low self-esteem was largely a myth. While that may be true, bullies are prone to shame. Feeling shame means that you feel disgrace, inadequate or flawed about something. However having low self-esteem means that you do not believe in yourself and you feel bad about yourself and do not like yourself. Bullies may have high self-esteems meaning and largely believe that the are amazing but they try to hide any flaws, avoid any shame. They often try to hide their own flaws by bringing out others inadequacies and flaws. "Their mean behavior toward others keeps their self-esteem high because it takes their own and others' attention away from the parts of themselves about which they are ashamed.”-Dr.Maria C Lamia Bullies.(Lamia, 2012) Bullies often pick targets that either have flaws that the bullies can exploit to draw attention away from their own flaws or they have talents where the bullies have flaws. As Dr. Ronald E Riggio states “...Bullies often target persons who are particularly skilled or competent, viewing them as competition, and compensating for their own weaknesses.” (Riggo, 2015)Bullies label these victims as nerds or geeks and scorn them with support from the general crowd and pull out their flaws to shame them.

In the same fashions as above paragraphs, there is a price to pay with bullying for this reason. Maria C Lamia, a Ph.D. psychologist states that “ They are afraid their failures or shortcomings will be exposed.” (Lamia, 2012)They attempt to hide their failures.They always worried about these failures and shortcomings and them being exposed and that can cause stress and anxiety. A study that William Copeland, a researcher at the Duke University Medical Center took 2000 kids; a mix of bullies, victims, and bystander. Bullies had 15 times the likelihood of developing panic disorder and displaying symptoms of anxiety. (Copeland, 2103)Also, one cannot improve on one's flaws without acknowledging them and attempting to solve them. The problem with bullying to hide your flaws and ignore them leads to not fixing these flaws and having them permanently. I used to be terrible at art and would ignore the subject stating that I did not care about it. However, one year I tried to put effort into my work and I started improving slowly. I eventually managed to get a gratifying grade. The fact that before I did not bother with my flaw in art and when I did I started improving and getting better grades means that actually accepting your flaws and working on them are better in the long run as you actually improve on them and they are no longer considered flaws by you or others.

In conclusion, bullying occurs because of multiple reasons. The sense of self-importance and ego, the lust to be well known and being shame-prone. Schools and kids should reconsider the boundaries of what is acceptable and act within them. If they see anyone stepping over these boundaries and bullying others they should act and stop the bullying and help the victim as well as the bully. Most people believe that the victims are the only ones that need help and the bullies should be completely punished and not helped at all. They may state that the effects on the victim and the reasons bullies bully are terrible enough that the bully should not receive any help whatsoever. This is flawed and misguided because the process of bullying that occurs now as it harms and hurts victims, bullies, and even bystanders at times. "By far, being a bully and a victim meant having the worst long-term outcomes" sums William Copeland(Copeland,2013)The whole phenomena is full of negative psychological, physiological and even sociological impacts. It is everyone's duty to ensure that such a phenomena does not come to be and both victims and bullies receive support to stop the ill effects which can later impact their adult lives drastically.

Bibliography:
"Being Bullied Can Make Kids Stronger." Motherlode Being Bullied Can Make Kids Stronger Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2016.

"Do Bullies Really Have Low Self-esteem?" Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

"Eyes on Bullying." Eyes on Bullying. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.

"The Long Term Effects Of Bullying." Mental Help The Long-Term Effects of Bullying Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.

Mail Online, David Derbyshire for. "Why It's Not Always Bad to Be Bullied: Learning to Fight Back Helps Children Mature, Says Study."Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2016.

Pappas, By Stephanie. "The Pain of Bullying Lasts into Adulthood."LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 20 Feb. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2016.

"Psychologist's Studies Make Sense of Bullying." UCLA Newsroom. Judy Lin, 3 May 2012. Web. 9 Mar. 2016.

"Why People Bully Archives - Bullying Statistics." Bullying Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2016. "Why Me?" Why Me? N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

Technology Balance for Children

Every day children use technology without knowing the effects and influences of screens on their actions, moods, and bodies. This topic is hotly contested as parents often don’t know what is too much screen time and when to set limits. Yes, I know screens are fun and they most definitely pass the time easily, but many children do spend way too much time on them every day. While technology has a lot of positive effects, it is also important to ensure there is supervision and management put in place.

By now you are probably wondering what those negative effects of not supervising your child are. That is the focus of this letter. First of all, no screen supervision and letting your child have a lot of screen time creates addiction and emotional instability. The New York Times article Can Students Have Too Much Technology Time? says that video games are building anxiety that then turns into anger. This suggests that children, especially in their teen years, tend to have mood swings, and screens have a high risk of triggering them. Yes, some may argue that their children are not in their teen years yet and they won’t be for a while. However the article Video Game Rage by Victoria L. Dunckley, an adolescent and adult psychiatrist, quotes that “Mood swings may happen in the child's teen years, but headaches and possibly migraines happen to children of all ages.” (Dunckley, 2015). In conclusion, it is essential that parents need to know when the screens are harming their child mentally and physically, and they need to know when to put a stop to it.

Furthermore, many kids are just too young. Going out to dinner with my family, and looking around, I see babies even under the age of two on iPads and iPhones. They’re not learning to socialize. I feel very strongly about this as my parents grew up not using technology and they have taught me to manage my time on devices so that I learn many skills needed for the big world. The article Kids Spend Too Much Time on Technology quotes “68% of children under the age of two are on media every day.” (Cohen, 2016). This is significant and impacts self-regulation and attention skills necessary for learning. The article also says that many children in struggling families tend to have higher grades at the end of high school as they learn how to self-manage better and learn better time management skills. Children learning how to use technology, even before they have learned how to talk, brings attention to the point that screens are changing the next generation's social skills and everyday skills. This will harm the next society and change the way people communicate forever.

Finally, my last reason why supervision needs to be put into place is because technology limits the child’s creativity and imagination. Just think back to your childhood when you would walk outside and see children playing hopscotch and tag. Without technology supervision, the next society will be different as there is a likely chance you might not see any children outside playing those fun old games anymore. The article The Impact of Technology on Developing Children says that 75% of children have a television in their room, and 50% of North American households have their television on all day. One personal example of this is when I didn’t have a computer. I would always find something to do outside or inside depending on the weather. However now I’m often on my laptop, I feel that I have lost a bit of my imagination as sometimes I can’t think of anything to do. The article also quotes, “Technology limits necessary challenges that the body needs to learn how to handle.” (Wakefield, 2014). This idea is crucial as, even if we don’t want to admit it, we know that nothing good comes out of being couch potatoes.

In this day and age, technology is all around us and it seems impossible to avoid. However, it is clear that the overuse of technology can have serious negative effects, and supervision will help children avoid them for the long term.


"Technology in Schools: Future Changes in Classrooms - BBC News." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

"Kids Spend Too Much Time with Technology." Newsworks.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

Pinker, Susan. "Can Students Have Too Much Tech?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Jan. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

"Five Ways Teachers Can Use Technology to Help Students." The Brookings Institution. N.p., 07 May 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

Rowan, Cris. "The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

Social Media Causing Insecurities in Body Image

We’ve all known that feeling when you see someone on Instagram with that gorgeous new handbag or that makeup someone is wearing. You want it. You aspire to be like them, and that's fine, until you realise that you can’t be like them and that’s where the problem begins. Social media was designed so that you could see what everyone is doing every second of the day. But do we really need to know what everyone is doing every second of the day? If you think about it that way it sounds just that bit creepier.

Some people might argue that social media can be good helping to create connections, keep in contact and motivate you to be better and more like the people you see on social media. Whether or not teenagers should use social media is a complicated issue because although there are many benefits of social media such as keeping in contact with people, sharing job opportunities and resources. As well as helping find criminals, it can also raise money and awareness. But this argument is misguided because the average teenager doesn’t actually need to do any of this. What tends to happen is teenagers end up wasting time and using social media for things that aren’t so good. If social media was used responsibly these problems wouldn’t come up so much. The actual topic that should be discussed is that social media really affects the way teenagers think of themselves. Social Media can cause depression, anxiety and self esteem issues such as bullying as well as body image problems. This promotes teenagers to do unhealthy things to themselves in order to appear ‘ideal’ to society. To much social media can be bad for teenagers and people should promote less time spent using social media. Except when teens are using social media to help them stay in touch or if it is keeping them from doing other harmful things.There are many benefits to using social media however social media can be bad especially for teenagers who are vulnerable to depression and self esteem issues.

Social media can cause insecurity in teenagers. Now of days teenagers are using far too much social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. I’m not saying that they are bad but that we should be cautious of how much we use them and what we use them for. Social media leads teenagers into false impressions seeing a post and thinking that is what I should look like causing them to become insecure of themselves. Something on social media, a post of a beautiful girl (probably photoshopped and edited). Leaves you thinking that you are not ‘ideal to society’. According to an article on Teen Health and the Media, “One study reports that at age 13, 53 percent of American girls are ‘unhappy with their bodies.’ This grows to 78 percent by the time girls reach 17.” This is significant as that is a lot of girls who don’t feel good in their own body. Feeling confident in your own body is really important as so much is going on in your life that you don’t need to be worrying about what you look like. Now of days people spend way too much time worrying about things that they don’t need anything else to worry about. According to Clean Cut Media “Almost across the nation 50% of young girls are engaged in negative activities such as injuring and cutting themselves or engaging in unhealthy eating habits and disorders due to self-esteem and self-image issues.” (2009).

Don’t you wonder why they do this? The cause is low self esteem that has been caused by social media. Social media is away to brag about your life and if you are already insecure enough the pressure can just be too much. You should never feel the need to injure yourself or do unhealthy things. I have known people to be upset and insecure about themselves and it has been related to social media. Social media causes many problems and insecurity is a big one especially in teenagers where they are most vulnerable to being insecure of their bodys. Especially when all those beautiful edited photos are posted. Body image is very important to many people and I understand that. Especially now in this time and age where it has become ‘normal’ to try and be ideal and have the perfect image. Did you know that in America 57% of girls have mothers who criticizes her looks. (Girl Self-Esteem & Image Issues & Parents, 2009). How would you feel if your parents or children criticized you on how you looked? Parents aren’t supposed to make their children feel insecure. Children already have enough of that at school and that is the last thing they need. 

Social media provides another place for bullies to hurt people. On social media things can be done anonymously and for some reason people think that it is different than face to face bullying. Let me tell you this there is no difference. While many people feel that bullying on social media is a problem. How many are actually trying to stop it? According to Social Networking ProCon “49.5% of students reported being the victims of bullying online and 33.7% reported committing bullying behavior online. [110] 800,000 minors were harassed or cyber bullied on Facebook according to a June 2012 Consumer Reports survey.” (Networking ProCon, 2015) Bullying is not nice and can make people feel insecure and have anxiety. No one wants to be bullied but often the bullies are the ones who are insecure. Everyone remembers when QuizYourFriends was popular. Someone who was obviously insecure took my quiz and said some really horrible things to me. Probably trying to make themselves feel better by taking pride in making someone else feel insecure. Social media offers just the place to do this. Cyberbullying is linked with depression. "There were consistent associations between exposure to cyberbullying and increased likelihood of depression," Hamm told Livescience.(Pappas, 2015). Bullying makes people upset and depressed and insecure. It’s all a vicious circle. "Kids really are hesitant to tell anyone when cyberbullying occurs," Hamm said. "There seems to be a common fear that if they tell their parents, for example, they'll lose their Internet access." Kids shouldn’t have to be scared to report bullying, parents are supposed to help in these situations. But it also provides a way of communication. According to Top Ten Social Media “Statistics show that 70% of adults have used social media sites to connect with relatives in other states, and 57% of teens have reported making new friendships on social media sites.” Social media is a lot quicker then sending an email and if your followers are people you want to keep in contact as soon as you post they get notified. It’s way easier. I use social media and don’t see a problem as long as you use it responsibly. The problem is that some people don’t.

Overall social media can be good helping people to stay connected, but people can waste lots of time on it. Social media can be bad causing teenagers to feel insecure, depressed and have self esteem issues such as not being confident in their body image. If people spent less time on social media there would be less of this trouble. Although social media can be good in some cases. It affects teenagers and how they think of themselves but in the end everyone uses it and it is the individual's responsibility to use it wisely. I hope that you can see how much social media can affect you and the way you think about your body. Please understand that social media causes many problems that you just don’t need especially in your teenage years.

Bibliography:

Pappas, Stephanie. "Cyberbullying on Social Media Linked to Teen Depression." Live Science. Live Science, 22 June 2015. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.


O'Brien, Shaelyn, and Camryn Reid. "Social Media: A New Source of Insecurities." The Highlander Online. Highlander Online, 18 Nov. 2014. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.

"Social Networking ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. ProCon.ORG, 24 Mar. 2015. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

TopTenSM. "10 Pros and Cons of Social Media." Top Ten Social Media. Top 10 SM, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.