English Speech - Effect of Social Media On Teens [PDF]

Citation preview

THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON TEENS Have you ever been on social media and wanted to look like the model in the picture? Has anyone ever said sometime mean to you over the internet? Well these two thoughts have been thought by many teens across the globe and the reason for these thoughts, social media. With the rise of social media there has also been the rise of many effects of teenagers such as: negative body image and cyberbullying. In many instances it’s getting increasingly harder to avoid photos of models with the ‘ideal body type’. With the youth spending so much of their lives on the internet, they are all bound to stumble across these ‘perfect’ images at some point. People are seeing these photos on such a regular basis because children age 8-18 spend up to 7.5 hours on social media everyday. These images are such an issue because in reality the models don’t actually have the ‘ideal body type’ that everyone thinks they do. The photo has probably been faked with the use of editing software and the way the picture was taken. With so many pictures being photoshopped, teens think that they are real, then wanting to look like that model therefore gaining an eating disorder. Photoshop plays a major role in creating these images that we all see on social media. Many models have been heavily edited in photoshop, looking nothing like they really do in reality. Their hair and makeup has been touched up to look perfect, and they are also made to look unrealistically skinny. However it’s not only women who have been photoshopped, men have also been edited to look more fit and muscular. They are also made to look more attractive. Not only is social media having an effect on how teens feel about their bodies, it is also causing major cyberbullying. Nobody wants to come home just to see that they’re being bullied online by people they don’t even know. Would you like to be bullied by people that you don’t even know? Did you know that 25% of teens have reported that they’ve been bullied constantly via cell phone and 52% of teens have reported that they’ve been cyberbullied online. That over half of all teens online, insane. Cyberbullying is such a massive issue that social media has brought on and there isn’t much that we can do about it. However you can always protect yourself from getting hurt online. Here are a few ways how; 1. Think about who sees your posts online 2. Always think about what you post online 3. Talk to an adult you trust about any messages that make you scared or sad 4. Stay away from sites that you can get bullied on 5. Never talk to anyone you don’t know in real life



Overall social media has had a massive effect on the way teens live their lives, changing many aspects of their lives. Both of the two issues have only started with the rise of social media and there doesn’t seem to be a clear end to either. So next time you’re on social media make sure to stay away from cyberbullying and comparing yourself to a model.



Thank you very much for listening.