Is social media really a danger to the youth of today?

Mariselle Stofberg
Demarscho Mouton

Nowadays social media has become one of the most controversial topics, if not the most. Many people have different views to it and are not shy to admit it. How many times have you read an article about how dangerous and terrible social media is? But does it really deserve the controversy and negative judgement? We as a society are far more advanced and life has become much easier since the introduction of the internet. Our generation usually receives a lot of judgement due this and our active social media status usually adds to the judgement. Honestly, we’ve all at least once been told about how easy we have it or how we don’t actually have to work hard to achieve something in today’s time.

But most people don’t know how much social media actually helps our generation. In fact, a study conducted in 2013 by the Pew Research Centre’s Internet Project says that there is actually no difference in the stress levels of a man using social media and one that is not. In women however, it showed that a woman who is constantly on social media actually has 21% less stress than a woman who is not. This showed that when we see our friends and loved ones posting about all of their accomplishments and positive things in their lives, we feel happy and when they are in stressful situations we in turn feel stress. Experts call this ‘the price of caring'.

Social media unfortunately does have many, many disadvantages as well. But this is not caused by social media itself. Most of the negative things about social media are the direct result of people and ourselves. We are the ones who cause cyber bullying as well as many other social media problems. If we create a positive social media environment than we can really make a difference and shine a positive light on social media. The future is always uncertain but if we strive to improve then we can really create a better tomorrow for our future generations. If we change the point of view on modern technology then social media will really be seen as the innovation it is and not the problem it is made out to be. We are the most advanced, open minded and innovative generation, so why not put this to use and make social media a sanction of peace.