The Rise of Social Media Use and What Teens Need to Know

With social media consistently becoming more and more popular since its conception and now being used by most Americans daily, we have connected with friends and family better than ever. You get to see what everyone is up to and what their daily life looks like, it’s great! Unfortunately like most things, it has its pros and cons, and knowing the cons can be important to help everyone be more mindful of them, to allow them to not fall for these traps, but to also inform teens just entering this space some important facts and details to help keep them safe on social media.

Setting false standards

With social media, whether you’re seeing posts from friends, family, or others you almost always see those people at their best, always smiling and doing something usually cool or exciting. Something teens about to join any social media app need to learn is no one lives amazingly all the time, we just see highlights. So keeping in mind that we only see what these people want us to see. Learning that and remembering that can be very helpful to combat feelings of depression many face when they see so many others having an amazing time while they are just living a completely normal life. They all have normal lives like all of us.

Problems regarding eating disorders and social media

Another issue caused by social media is an uptick of especially younger individuals suffering from eating disorders. Looking back at the perfectionism many try to display on social media sets the precedence the only way you can look good is if you are skinny to the point of being unhealthy and or have giant muscles all year round. Many times these social media influencers that are so popular use drugs and steroids to make themselves look like that and then tell their fans and followers it was done completely naturally, helping these impressionable teens set impossible goals that can end up being dangerous mentally and physically.

When are teens developmentally ready to handle the large world of social media?

Many studies have come out in the past few years typically saying the same answer to when teens should be allowed on social media. It all depends on the teen’s maturity since some mature sooner than others, but a good rule of thumb is absolutely no social media till they are at least 13 or not until high school.

Conclusion

Social media can be a great tool for everyone to stay in touch with people and also meet new people, for many teens right now it is even more important to them socially with kids their age. But it’s more important for them to wait until they are prepared and ready to handle the possible negative outcomes of social media for their physical and mental well-being. In addition, reviewing what they see on social media might also be beneficial to make sure they aren’t falling down any negative rabbit holes that might cause them to create false perceptions on life or themselves. Social media is meant to be fun and it definitely can be! We just have to make sure our teens are ready to handle that new big world!

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