The Positive Effects of Social Media
All people hear about is how social media is bad and how it rots your brain, and how it has negative effects on you physically, mentally, and emotionally; however, people rarely talk about the good side of social media. According to Robyn Treyvaud, a globally recognized expert in online safety and digital citizenship, it is worthwhile to consider and look at the positive effects social media has on teenagers. 68% of teenagers say that social media gives them support during their time they need, 46% of teenage girls say that social media empowers them and gives them the courage to speak out about what they care about, and 83% of teenagers say that social media makes them feel connected to their friends (Treyvaud 2017). These statistics show how there can be positive outcomes from using social media.
There are seven ways Treyvaud goes into about how there are positive effects of social media on teenagers. The first is spreading kindness and social awareness. Teenagers have this desire to discover new information, new ideas, and express themselves all the while staying interconnected and this all has a huge impact on their social media engagement. They use social media sites, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to give a voice to those who feel voiceless, and many of them use this as a way to spread kindness and social awareness (Treyvaud 2017). The second is educational benefits, which is shown through teenagers using social media platforms to complete collaborative assignments. Social media itself can also be an educational resource, such as Wikipedia. The third is real-world skills, where teenagers learn confidence in interactions with a whole array of social contexts online and can be very essential to their digital development. The fourth is enhancing creativity, where it is shown that social media encourages teenagers to think outside the box and use creativity in how they engage with and talk to their audience and friends. The fifth is independence, where teenagers who engage in social networking sites can be a whole new adventure for them to discover the different skills needed for different social interactions. The sixth is interconnectivity and identity. This one shows how social media can build and extend a teenager’s personal and collective identities (Treyvaud 2017). In the online world, teenagers can feel the freedom to self-discover through trial and error. The last one is tolerance and diversity, in which social media encourages teenagers to connect with other people from all over the world and teach them tolerance and acceptance.
Another way that adults have used social media in a positive way is through health-related issues. Some social media sites have lots of potential for tools of health promotion and education that many can utilize. Some online communications offer easy, and cost-effective ways for people to get the help they need across geographic areas (Korda and Itani 2011). This is a great way for people to get the help they need without having to worry about money problems.
Works Cited
Itani, Zena, and Korda Holly. “Harnessing Social Media for Health Promotion and Behavior Change.” Sage Journals. Health Promotion Practice. 10 May 2011. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1524839911405850.
Treyvaud, Robyn. “The Positive Effects of Social Media on Teenagers.” Family Insights. 23 Nov 2017. https://familyinsights.net/advice/positive-effects-of-social-media-on-teenagers/.
Cruz, Ana Maria De La. “Positive and Negative Use of Social Media by Students.” Blogdash Blog, 15 Jan. 2018, blog.blogdash.com/media-industry/positive-negative-use-social-media-students/. (Picture citation).
