Introduction

The following is a recommendation report on the issue of social media addiction among teenagers. Social media has gradually become an important part of the everyday life of a substantial portion of the world population over the last decade and more. The overwhelming majority of internet users are part of one or more social media platforms. In the recent years the larger portion of new social media users have been teenagers. Teenagers mostly use social media due to peer pressure and the entertainment value it provides them. However, the social media addiction of teenagers has been one of the most important issues that have occurred in the recent years. It is important to note that in Canada and the US more than 50% of the teens are present in social media (Sampasa-Kanyinga, Chaput & Hamilton, 2019). A substantial portion of these teens are addicted to social media. There are many positive effects of social media among teenagers. However, the potential harm this addiction can cause them are exposure to harmful content, mental problems, mishandling of personal data, identity threat and a host of other major issues. In the context of the holistic development of the teenagers and their academic lives, social media addiction among teens have become a major problem. The various issues caused by their social media addiction and their possible solutions are analysed and discussed through the report.

Problem statement

The problem statement being chosen for the study is that social media addiction can lead to harmful mental and physical effects on teenage users. Social media can help teenagers to construct their personalities. However, at the same time it can harm their mental state by causing depression and anxiety. Social media exposure can make teenagers believe that the lives of their peers are better than their’s. It can cause severe harm to their well-being and developmental prospects.

Figure 1: User Demographics for social media in Canada

(Source- McKinnon, M. et al, 2018)

Research questions

1. What are the major issues that social media addiction can cause among teenagers?

2. Can involving their families, spreading awareness and improving outdoor activities help teenagers to give up their social media addiction?

3. How effectively can awareness be spread about ethical and healthy social media usage among teenagers?

Social media addiction among teenagers

The research focused on understanding social media addiction among the teenagers and finding the main causes for these addictions. Subsequently, the focus was on evaluating multiple possible solutions to the identified issues and selecting the best possible solutions from them. However, it is important to analyse the issues related to social media addiction among teenagers that have been witnessed in the recent years (Social networking in Canada, 2020). Teenagers have become more prone to social media addiction due to better internet and smart device accessibility in the recent years. Internet is readily available and cheaper than before. Smartphones have contributed to the easy accessibility of social media. As mentioned in the previous report social media also affects the other online functions of the users. For example- the teenagers often display online buying behaviours induced by their social media interactions (Simsek, Elciyar & Kizilhan, 2019). Social media has itself become a major marketing platform for online marketers.

Figure 2: Social media usage among teens

(Source- Statista – The Statistics Portal, 2020)

However, present findings from various relevant literature also points to the fact that an ego-identity and a sense of belonging is created among teenagers as they continue to use social media. These tend to get stronger as the social media time spent by the teenagers increase. Among the other major issues among teenagers, a significant issue is the mental pressure that social media can exert on them. Frequent and prolonged interaction with the social media can adversely affect the mental development of teens. Teenagers are more emotionally vulnerable and can easily be affected by various forms of anxiety issues (Akkın Gürbüz et al., 2017). Social media is often used to increase the feel good factors among teenagers that correspond to the same feel good factors of normal or direct social interactions. It is one of the main reasons for many teenagers to spend more time on social media. It was found that peer pressure is social media can cause as much harm to the teenagers as peer pressure in normal circumstances (Griffiths & Kuss, 2017). It can lead to issues such as depression at a very young age. Some of the other important issues that are caused in teenagers as a result of their social media addiction are eating disorders, self-harm and substance abuse. Social media exposes the teens to a multitude of aspects. Hence, it is quite important to note that these are not the only harmful effects of social media addiction. In the past some of the most severe cases of social media addiction have led to fatalities. It has been observed that teenage users often stop their regular activities to record them and post on their social media accounts (Gokdas & Kuzucu, 2019). It can led to serious privacy issues in the future that can affect their future development. Hence, as mentioned in the previous report serious monitoring of the social media activities of children need to be undertaken.

Figure 3: Social media usage demographics in Canada

(Source- Statista- The Statistics Portal, 2020)

The role of parents is very important in guiding the social media interactions of their children in more positive ways. In regard to the same it is much important that stronger and more effective stance are taken by the parents and the other people who can guide the teenagers. Academic institutions need to pay more importance to spreading awareness about the ill-effects of spending more time on social media (Simsek, Elciyar & Kizilhan, 2019). It is important that combined efforts from the parents and the schools are made to help teenagers from indulging in the excessive usage of social media. In regard to the same workshops have been found to be very helpful in the past. Workshops bring together the teenagers as students, their parents, school representatives and other important stakeholders who can help to tackle the matter. As discussed in the previous report, many parents are unaware of the social media usages of their children. It can lead to more serious issues arising with their children in the field of their studies or their overall development. Family involvement becomes more important in light of the fact that the teenagers spend more time with their families than any other people (Sampasa-Kanyinga, Chaput & Hamilton, 2019). Families can also use specialized technology like spy software to monitor the activities of their children. Awareness about the ill effects of social media addiction is as important as the emphasis on outdoor activities. It is important that the parents are made aware as this can help them to identify specific issues faced by their children as a result of their social media addiction. It is further helpful in understanding more about their addiction to social media and its implications. The next important factor is helping the addicted teenagers to get involved in more outdoor activities. It can be sports, outings, travel, swimming or other forms of recreational activities. It improves the chances of coming out of addiction. It is important to note that recreational outdoor activities help to positively impact the teenagers, both physically and mentally. Thus, it can help them to effectively curb their addiction. It can also increase physical and mental fitness leading to better forms of socializing. Hence, it can also be beneficial for the individual development of the teenagers.

Spreading awareness about social media overuse is important. In this case social media itself can become a tool for spreading more awareness among the teenagers and their parents. However, conferences, workshops and seminars can be more effective as these are activities with proven scope for more direct interactions between the stakeholders who are the most important in view of the issues. Awareness can be more effectively created by involving the families and friends that are genuinely affected by their addiction to social media (Akkın Gürbüz et al., 2017). It is important to note that most teenagers are addicted to social media due to peer pressure. However, the issues that they can face as a result of the addiction need to be highlighted. There needs to be more analysis of the psychological and physiological issues that can affect participants in social media. It is important more to focus on the adverse effect of social media addiction on programs that are focused on spreading awareness. Awareness can also be spread through community welfare groups by brining teenagers, their parents and important community members together (Zhang, 2019). Research has pointed out that complete support for the teenagers become very much important in determining the value of their learning. In this case complete support can ensure that more collective awareness is spread about the negative effects of social media usage. Teenagers are involved in one or more major activities that are either academic or recreational in nature. Hence, these activities can be used as major platforms for spreading awareness. However, it is not fair to leave out other major methods of spreading awareness. Classroom based awareness programs or school assisted addiction removal programs are very important in determining the value of the intended outcomes (Alfaray et al., 2020). Teenagers need to learn more through reinforcement of ideas and values that can help them to gain positive outcomes in life. It is a factor that need to be used while addressing the issue. However, there need to be proper collaboration between all the people that are involved in the process. Parents need to be aware of the times that their children are spending on the internet and teachers should understand about the progress of their students.

Conclusion and recommendations

The implications of the research pointed to the fact that there are various effects of social media on teenagers that get addicted to the platform. It was found much importantly that social media over usage can have far reaching effects on the development of teenagers. Thus, it is always important to create a better value for the children that are affected by their addiction to social media. Family intervention, spreading awareness and the benefits of awareness were much importantly found.

It is highly recommended that a set limit is prescribed for teenagers for the time they can spend on social media. Moreover, it has become important that the schools take note of the social media usage of their students. Teenagers need more care. Hence, open discussions about their social media activities can be helpful in determining better outcomes concerning their addiction. It is highly recommended that the quality of social media interactions that the teenagers have on social media are carefully monitored. It can help to understand the issues that can lead to negative outcomes. In essence, it is important that general social awareness is created about social media and its implications.

References

Akkın Gürbüz, H. G., Demir, T., Gökalp Özcan, B., Kadak, M. T., & Poyraz, B. Ç. (2017). Use of social network sites among depressed adolescents. Behaviour & Information Technology, 36(5), 517-523.

Alfaray, R. I., Ibrahim, Y., Faizun, R. S. A., & Irfana, L. (2020). Correlation between social media addiction and social media bullying: A cross sectional analytic study in Indonesian Youth.

Gokdas, I., & Kuzucu, Y. (2019). Social Network Addiction Scale: The Validity and Reliability Study of Adolescent and Adult Form. International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education, 6(3), 396-414.

Griffiths, M. D., & Kuss, D. (2017). Adolescent social media addiction (revisited). Education and Health, 35(3), 49-52.

McKinnon, M. et al. (2018). 2018 Social Media Use in Canada. Retrieved 3 July 2020, from https://canadiansinternet.com/2018-social-media-use-canada/

Sahin, C. (2017). The Predictive Level of Social Media Addiction for Life Satisfaction: A Study on University Students. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET, 16(4), 120-125.

Sampasa-Kanyinga, H., Chaput, J. P., & Hamilton, H. A. (2019). Social media use, school connectedness, and academic performance among adolescents. The journal of primary prevention, 40(2), 189-211.

Simsek, A., Elciyar, K., & Kizilhan, T. (2019). A Comparative Study on Social Media Addiction of High School and University Students. Contemporary educational technology, 10(2), 106-119.

Statista – The Statistics Portal. (2020). Retrieved 2 July 2020, from https://www.statista.com/

Teens and Social Media Addiction Facts | Newport Academy. (2017). Retrieved 2 July 2020, from https://www.newportacademy.com/resources/mental-health/teens-social-media-addiction/#:~:text=The%20Stats%20on%20Teen%20Social%20Media%20Addiction&text=71%25%20of%20teens%20use%20Facebook,attention%20when%20they’re%20together.

Topic: Social networking in Canada. (2020). Retrieved 3 July 2020, from https://www.statista.com/topics/2729/social-networking-in-canada/

Zhang, Y. (2019). Health and Welfare Implications into Importing Horses into China (Doctoral dissertation, University of Gloucestershire/Royal Agricultural College).