IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON YOUTH

Social media refers to all applications and websites or blogs that enable people around the globe to interconnect via the internet, chat, and share content, video call among many other functionalities it offers to its users. For a person to be a member of any social media, he or she has to first signup and then sign in to access content and be able to share and chat with other users of that social media platform. Some of the common and widely used social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat many among others.

Over the past two decades, social media have gained so much growth and fame worldwide to an extent that many researchers are now interested in learning more about these social platforms and their effects on the community. Despite the fact that almost everyone in the community is connected to at least one social media platform, the youth and teenagers are the leading and most fanatic of these social platforms to the point that they even social network while in class or even church. With this in mind, researchers found that these social websites have a significant impact on young people's lives in society in terms of morality, behavior, and even education.

Today's use of social media has both negative and positive effects on adolescents. In this article, I would like to shed light on the impact of social media, especially on this generation of young people. These effects can be both positive and negative.

Young teens under the age of 18 are also exposed to online criminals who may lure them into sexual acts such as lesbians and other common sexual misconduct. This exposes these teenagers to the proliferation of pornographic content in some online social groups. As a result, young girls become pregnant early and drop out of school. It can also cause the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, which can lead to premature death among the younger generation. These teens are also morally manipulated as they are given access to immoral literature and videos. The positive impact of social media on today's young people includes being able to stay up to date on what is happening around the world, and the ability to network and connect with other young people and friends without meeting them in person. This includes being able to maintain For example, people living in Africa can network and interact with friends in the United States, bridging the gap between friends. This helps strengthen relationships between, for example, high school and college classmates who moved to different parts of the world after graduating from school. Additionally, social media platforms allow young people to create pages and groups based on their professions, beliefs, and other aspects of life. The result is more connections, opening up more opportunities in their respective fields. This could even create more job opportunities for unemployed youth. In dozens of daily interviews, young people tell us that social media platforms have become their way of life, making their lives more comfortable, efficient and easy. Social media sites seem to connect and inform more people, but that's causing social isolation, according to a BBC News report. This reduces face-to-face interactions between young people, as young people typically spend most of their time on these online her social platforms. An analysis of numerous studies by different scientists shows that social isolation can have different effects on physical, emotional, mental and psychological levels.