Teenagers and social media
By: Zaim Rashidi
Social media is an online platform where people around the globe can
connect and communicate with each other. Social media has been around since
the early 2010, with Facebook being one of the earliest to be released publicly.
Nowadays, Facebook has been overshadowed with platforms such as Twitter,
Instagram and Tiktok.
Most social media users are teenagers, which explains the sudden spike
in popularity of Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok. These three platforms are
preferred among teens. The reason being social media platforms are full of
entertainment and hot topics. These two aspects are the main selling point of
Tiktok and Twitter respectively. While Instagram is a mixture of both, some
teenagers use it for sharing and updating their day-to-day activities.
A survey was made in 2021 on how often teenagers use social media, the
majority of them answered daily. Daily usage of social media can be concerning
as some teens have been reported of having an addiction. An addiction to
something is considered a red flag, especially during adolescence.
Parents play a big role in limiting social media usage. Developers of this
platform can contribute in an effort of limiting the usage. Developers can
develop a programme that administrators the users in their daily online time. A
notification prompt is needed to alert the user. In addition, this feature will
reduce the risk of teens developing an addiction.
In a nutshell, the rapid rate in popularity of social media can be a threat
to teeanagers’ wellbeing.