How does social media affect a teen or tweens wellbeing?
With over 75% of young adults spending 3-4 hours per day (sometimes more) on social media, it's safe to say that "scrolling" isn't going away anytime soon. Social media has several benefits, as it can keep us in touch with family and friends, document our memories, help us learn about current topics, and even master the latest dance craze. However, we also know that it can have a negative affect on a young impressionable mind. What can we do to help them value their unique beauty and traits?
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It's hard to believe (OK- not really), but the more time young adults spend on social media sites the more likely they are to have low-self esteem or body issues and are typically a bit moodier. I feel that HOW tweens and teens USE social media will shape whether it will positively or negatively impact their life.
Both young and old, we all feel connected when actively engaging with others and sharing content. It can even boost our mood, but spending excessive amounts of time or passively stalking on social media can make us feel lonely and disconnected. One of the several negative effects of social media is how it can make us focus on our body shape or appearance. Unfortunately, many times social media sites can make us feel like we are not good enough if we don't look a certain way. In some cases, we can even begin to start seeking validation via likes and comments, and making comparison to other which has a very negative effect. One of the issues with the images we see online is that they are digitally distorted and are not a representative of real life.
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Digital Distortion vs Reality
As we scroll through others social media sites, we need to keep in mind that we are only viewing the highlight reels of their lives and most people tend to only share the 'best' version they captured. If the 'EVERYDAY' images tweens are viewing online are all perfectly edited, curated and filtered images, this can negatively image their body confidence.
Over 80% of teens and tweens will say that they compare they way they look to how other people look on their social media feeds. Posting the 'perfect selfie' is more like a 30 minute task rather than 30 seconds of fun. Recent studies show that teens will take on average up to 14 pictures in an attempt to get the perfect 'look' or VYB before choosing which one to post. In addition to clicking the camera till everything is just 'right'... we then see images edited with unrealistic everyday beauty standards. Social media filters will alter our appearance by brightening skins, making eyelashes longer, adding makeup - the list goes on.
I will admit, even I love to get on snapchat and use those filters for creativity and some fun self-expressions (my family loves those ones) LOL. But when filters are used to conform to society's beauty expectations, or because you feel insecure posting unedited pics, it is a sign that it might be causing