Communication is increasingly hanging around the world. When it comes to interactions with others, many people today prefer nonverbal to verbal communication. Arguably, cellphones and social media are of significance to the teens and young adults as it largely helps them to make connections that they could not be able to make before with others. However, research shows that cellphones and social media have negative impacts on teens and young adults some of which are explored in this paper.
One of the major issues or effects of the use of cellphone and social media on teens and young adults revolves around cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is the use of any form of technology to intimidate the receiver of a given message. More than half the population of U.S. teens and young adults have encountered cyber-bullying at some point in life (O’Keeffe, Schurgin, and Clarke-Pearson 801). A percentage of between 10 and 20 of the teen and young adult population is believed to experience cyber-bullying on a regular basis. This form of bullying has become rampant and popular within the United States as many people tend to stay behind the screens and intimidate others. This is attributed to the fact that many teens and young adults are not brave enough to say hurtful things to others face-to-face. One of the major problems with cyberbullying is that it pushes people over their limit. As such, many victims end up committing suicide when they encounter such a situation. It is believed that 4,400 teens and young adult suicide cases related to cyber-bullying are registered on an annual basis (O’Keeffe, Schurgin, and Clarke-Pearson 802).
Another effect of the use of cellphones and social media on teens and young adults is the lack of verbal communication skills. Verbal communication proves to be the most important aspect of everyone’s life, particularly when it comes to increasing a person’s social skills. Today’s teen and young adult population in the U.S. is unable to verbally communicate as they do not get enough practice when it comes to relating with other people. The population also does not get their needs met in person and in real time. Thus, today’s teens and young adults grow into adults who are usually anxious about the essential aspect of verbal communication. This is a major concern to a good number of U.S. parents and guardians. A solution to this problem requires commitment to educating teens and young on the importance of putting away their phones while around other people. Putting away the phones is not only a way of showing respect to others but it also helps teens and young adults to make strong connections with others. This is an aspect they would not be able to realize through the increased use of cellphones and social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and others (Strasburger, Victor, Jordan, and Donnerstein 538).
The use of cellphones and social media also has a significant impact on the self-esteem of teens and young adults. For instance, when teens and young adults receive birthday messages, and notifications from Facebook, Twitter, parents, and friends, they feel loved and appreciated thus resulting in high self-esteem. However, when they do not receive such messages from parents or their friends on social media platforms, they feel unappreciated and less important. As a result, their self-esteem is lowered. Experiencing such situations on a day-to-day basis has the likelihood of making teens and young adults to wonder why such things happen to them and their self-esteem is adversely impacted in the process. Low self-esteem has a close correlation with some of the adverse health problems suffered by a significant percentage of U.S. teens and young adults (Strasburger, Victor, Jordan, and Donnerstein 543). In this regard, the regular use of cellphones and social media affects teens and young adults as they are usually prone to anxiety, depression, and mental disorders in worst cases. The overuse of cellphones and social media tends to make the teen and young adult population susceptive to diverse future health problems. To solve this problem, teens and young adults need to learn to limit cellphone use and learn to stay off social media as long as they can. This can be achieved through engaging in important life activities thus reducing or preventing the terrible experiences that may have an adverse effect on their general health (Strasburger, Victor, Jordan, and Donnerstein 545).
In sum, the use of cell-phones and social media has direct and indirect effects on teens and young adults. Almost half of the young population in countries such as the U.S. are cyber-bullied and end up committing suicide. Also, the use of these forms of technology limit the teen and young adult population from acquiring verbal communication skills as many prefer being behind the screens rather than having face-to-face discussions. Moreover, the overuse of cellphones and social media has significantly lowered the self-esteem of teens and young adults further adversely affecting their general health conditions.
Works Cited
O’Keeffe, Gwenn Schurgin, and Kathleen Clarke-Pearson. “The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families.” Pediatrics 127.4 (2011): 800-804., https://www.cooperativa.cl/noticias/site/artic/20110329/asocfile/20110329173752/reporte_facebook.PDF
Strasburger, Victor C., Amy B. Jordan, and Ed Donnerstein. “Children, Adolescents, and the Media: Health Effects.” Pediatric Clinics 59.3 (2012): 533-587., http://adolescenciasema.org/usuario/documentos/Health%20Effects%20of%20Media%20PCNA%202012.pdf