INTERVIEW Q1. Are you aware of and on social media? If yes, which platform is most active on? Yes, I am aware of it and use Instagram, Facebook and occasionally check LinkedIn Q2. What according to you be should the minimum age for the children to join social media? Thirteen Q3. Do you think social media is impacting youth in a negative way and how? Not impacting in a negative way as there is so much to learn through good use of social media and connection. Q4. Do you think social media is impacting youth in a positive way and how? Yes, children are made aware of new developments and news about what is happening around the world be it political or cultural. Q5. Do you think the positive outweighs the negative or vice versa? Positive outweighs negative only as the youth is learning positive things and not spreading hate or negativity. Q6. Do you think social media has caused teenagers to become more creative? Yes, if passion is ignited by looking at some content it can trigger the creativity in the teenager and provide them with a platform to showcase it. Q7. Do you think social media causes mental distress in one’s teenage years? It depends on the individual, I cannot generalise. Q8. Do you think social media has caused teenagers to become more self-conscious? Some teenagers tend to go overboard and take it too far with their appearance and get influenced easily by others and in the process lose their own individuality. Q9. What kind of steps do you think you can take as a parent to protect the youth? As a parent, talk openly to the child about the pros and cons, have faith in your upbringing and trust them to do the right thing. Q10. What kind of steps do you think social media companies and laws can take to protect the youth? Take trolling and cyberbullying seriously and actively towards reducing negativity and hatred on social media INTRODUCTION: What is Social Media and Youth? “We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.” Erik Qualman According to Oxford, Social media is defined as websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. There is no doubt that social media is an essential part of every realm of society today. From parents to children, from big companies to startups, from content creators to the common man, everyone is on Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram: all possible platforms, if not just one. Youth is best understood as a period of transition from the dependence of childhood to adulthood's independence. There is no doubt that it is during youth that a person is most curious, free-spirited and eager to learn and discover. Since 2004, social media has been growing exponentially and it hasn’t reached the peak of its popularity yet. There’s no denying that social media platforms are now a major source of news and information. But that’s not all. Social media platforms are unique in the way they interact with customers. Not only do they provide a platform for users to communicate beyond local and social boundaries, but they also offer countless possibilities to share user-generated content, like photos and videos. The latest social media statistics show that there are 3.78 billion social media users worldwide in 2021 – and this number is only going to continue growing over the next few years (Statista, 2020). To further expand on the demographics, 84 per cent of US adults aged from 18 to 29 are active social media users (Pew Research Center, 2021). Importance of social media to the youth Nowadays, Social media is essential for youth in the field of education to learn new trends in education, to improve writing and communicating skills, cultural promoting, religious and political information gathering and sharing links, better living style, growth and development of society. Moreover, a large part of why social media is important is to have fun, make and maintain friendships, share interests, explore identities. It’s an extension of their offline and face-to-face interactions, not a replacement. For older teenagers especially, it’s often a key part of how they connect with friends. Another reason why Generation Z also called Gen-Z gives so much importance to social media is they haven’t known lives without it. This generation was born between 1997-2012, following millennials. They have been raised on the internet and social media. The emergence of young creators and entrepreneurs With the emergence of social media platforms, the number of people who become creators entrepreneurs has surely escalated but, the number of teenagers who become creators entrepreneurs has skyrocketed. Teenagers are exposed to all kinds of art and media, for those who have an artistic side, something is bound to invigorate the passion in them from a very young age which triggers them to explore that side of them. They are also provided with a platform to showcase their talent which leads to feedback, appreciation and connections that boost one’s confidence and career. All kinds of businesses have also been started on social media with minimum to no initial capital. Teenagers that are social media savvy, organically know how to market and promote their businesses to propel themselves into future success. The dark side of social media Since the release of smartphones, mental health concerns have increased in children and young adults. The rate of adolescents reporting symptoms of major depression in a given year increased by 52% from 2005 to 2017. 13% of kids ages 12-17 report depression and 32% report anxiety. 25% of 18 to 25-year-olds report mental illness. These age groups report high usage of social media. For older adults, there was no significant increase in these mental health issues during the same period. Children and young adults experience the most impact. This isn’t a huge surprise since they use social media the most and grew up as digital natives. Mental health issues have gone up steadily following the trendlines from smartphone and social network releases. As more people use them, there are more people with greater health concerns. A parent’s perspective As any novel product comes to exist with a large demographic being the youth, parents take caution and are afraid of its effects on their children. 68% of parents believe social media affects their teen’s ability to socialize normally. 56% believe their teen has an unhealthy desire for attention/approval via social media. 67% of parents have felt concerned their teen is addicted to social media. 80% of parents have set rules around the use of smartphones and social media. But as adolescents tend to be rebellious and often more tech-savvy than their parents. They easily bypass parental restrictions with ease, especially in the case of older teenagers. In our interview with a parent of two children (18 and 20), we discovered her views on social media of which she is an active user too. She maintains a private account on which she shares photos of food, friends and family. She is extremely positive about social media, she sees it as a tool for connection and learning. On questioned about the negative impacts of social media, she says, “it depends on the individual.” Conclusion With most good things comes the risk of something bad. Social media is a multi-faceted platform, there is no denying it is not all good but it isn’t all bad too. The creators of these networks did not anticipate that their creations would be centres of crime and social decay. Doing away with social media may not be practical or advantageous to society. However, some form of regulation should be put into place to ensure that people responsible for negativity and hatred on the internet are forced to deal with the consequences of their actions. As the interviewee said, “talk openly to the child about the pros and cons, have faith in your upbringing and trust them to do the right thing.”
