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THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON YOUTH
Ramazonov Shoxrux
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17629947
Abstract.
Social networking has become a common trend which has reached to almost
every corner of the world. Currently, it has become essential to determine the impact of social
media on the overall life of young people. From one year to the other the rate of technology is
increasing at a very rapidly and the youth is the ones trapped in this rapid change. The use of
social networking sites has detonated and grown into an online platform where people create
and share content, bookmark it and network at a remarkable rate. Among the prominent users
of the social networking sites are the youth. This research evaluates the impact of social media
sites on youth’s quality of life in different aspects. Social networking is changing the conduct
with which young people communicate with their parents, friends and along with that how they
make use of technology. To achieve this, an online survey was conducted which was filled by 95
respondents. The major findings revealed that social media has significant impact on youth life.
Social networking sites grabs their attention and then focus it towards inappropriate
actions that results in youth’s distraction from studies and poor academic performance,
depression, anxiety and other physiological issues.
Keywords
- social, media, network, anxiety, social networking sites.
I.
Research Objectives:
1.
To determine the influence on social skills of youth due to social media usage.
2.
To observe the association between youth’s div image perception and of social media.
3.
To examine the consequence of social media on the educational performance and
learning capabilities of youth.
4.
To figure out the influence of social media on self- confidence and self-respect of youth.
II.
Introduction:
Since the past few years, technology has taken over and has carried out some major
changes globally. Distance barriers have condensed due to the technological development and
new mediums are being presented to connect the public globally. Almost two-third of the
internet users visits social networking hourly or daily basis, thus helping as a communication
and linking tool. The word social means interacting or engaging with people whereas the word
media means medium or instrument (e.g. internet etc.). Social Media is defined as collection of
online communication networks that allow user to connect, associate, collaborate and
communicate globally. Some of the frequently used social networking websites are Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, snapchat, and Pinterest. These websites enable the users to share their
pictures, ideas, plan events and to communicate with their loved ones immediately irrespective
of their geographical boundaries. Social media and online interaction are considered to be a
having an undesirable effect on communication and social skills of youth.in the past few years,
when the social media did not happen, and face-to- face interactions were the only mode of
communication. But now, in the era of networking and technology, social media interactions
have replaced face to face conversations. Today, where networking and content sharing is the
custom, youth is probably more likely to speak to friends and family through social networking
sites rather than face-to-face.it is commonly observed that Often at family gatherings, peoples
are devoted to their smart phones updating their statuses or chatting with their virtual friends,
but nodiv is truly appealing or interacting with the individuals present around them.
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In this era of technology, for youth and people in their teens social media will remain to
be the most chosen mode of communication.
However, this alteration may commence to disturb their abilities to communicate
effectively. Another rising issue that has grabbed the attention of youth is div dissatisfaction.
Negative div image refers to have undesirable and dysfunctional thoughts and
sentiments about one’s appearance which seems to be increase in our young generation. Social
media supports the idea of an ideal div since it can be associated to almost all channels of
mass media. Everything from tallness, weight, div measurements, and div shape has become
a complex part of this ideal normally women are the common targets of these ideal div
depictions and commercials. Most of the images portray thinspiration and bonespiration which
encourages the audience to have low weight and sometimes to have a div with distended
collarbones, spines and ribs which is the main source of anorexia. Whereas a positive
trend can be seen sometimes on social media which is fitspiration which inspires an individual
to have a healthy and fit div
III.
Literature review:
No doubt, social media has gained popularity all over the world due to the significant
development in technology. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, twitter and
snapchat are gaining admiration with the pace of time and due to their attractive features, the
youth of today is attracted in a large number towards them. Social media provides youth new
opportunities for online learning and plays a significant role to improve their vocabulary and
pronunciation. Students have developed a strong habit of visiting different social networking
sites that results in drifting away their minds from studies. Recent findings have showed that
most of the youth is distracted from their studies and profession and have reduced their learning
skills.
Despite of the distraction from studies they are developing friendly and social ties with
the world that revolves around them. One vital effect of these networks is on the student’s
academic performance and several experimental studies have reported that the unnecessary
uncreative time spent on social networking spots has poorly affected the student’s grades.
It was found that 82.6% of the youth agreed that social media had a strong impact on
their social life style. Most of the young people use social media before or after every activity
they do, they don’t interact with their fellows but communicate with their social friends and are
becoming less social. Majority of youth uses social media for social purposes rather than
educational purpose. Social networking sites affect language of young to some extent.
65% people think that social media helps them to maintain the bond with their socially
connected friends and 33% agreed that social networking sites helps them to maintain a
consistent interaction with their parents and teachers. The study has also found that youth also
feel independence where there is no parental control and promotion of their social status among
peers to show that one has many followers on the social network.
Many studies have demonstrated that there is a strong correlation between social media
and negative div image. The perceiving of negative div in one’s mind is due to the attitudes,
beliefs, perspectives and values held by other social networking members. A research identified
some themes of portraying div image on different social media i.e. thinspiration,
bonespiration and fitspiration. Thinspiration and bonespiration content contained more thin and
objectified bodies whereas fitspiration features greater prevalence of muscular bodies. Women
who post fitspiration on Instagram are likely to engage in disorder eating and exercise
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behaviours that are possibly harmful to their physical and mental health.
Virtual makeover is also used in pictures and especially in selfies not only because of
dissatisfaction but for ideal online self-presentation. Also, idolization of div is also done for
product promotion and positive encouragement for weight loss and div positivity as found in
a study of Instagram hash tags.
Self-esteem among the youth using social media was comparatively lower in females in
contrast to the males. Among youth, who were regular users of social networking sites, it was
found that majority of the them felt depression and loneliness. The rate of anxiety and FoMo
(Fear of missing out) was directly related with the number of sites the youth was connected to
and the time usage spent on social media. Youth suffers from psychological disorders because
they had been continuous victims of trolls on internet.
There was a strong link between ‘Likes’ on Facebook and self- esteem of youth. There
remain negative and positive effects of networking and making interactions using Social
media. Youth is accountable and responsible to decide how to moderate their usage and how to
utilize social media in better ways.
IV.
Methodology:
The method of research opt by us was simple and the purpose was to explore the
youth’s interest in social media and its influence on education, self-esteem, social life and div
image concerns. The sample consisted of 95 participants, among which 65 were female and 30
were male within the age limit of 15-24. This survey related to social media and usage of social
interacting sites amongst youth was circulated on social networking sites and applications
between youth and was not limited to a college or school or a gender.
This survey is the main tool which is used as the mean to gather information in our
research article. The survey analysed the practice of social media among youth and its
influence in education, their social life, influence on their self-esteem and div image.
These were the questions which were asked: Exactly how much time do the respondents
pass using and surfing on social media? How many public communication and networking sites
do the respondents use and for how long they have been using social media? What are the main
reasons for which the respondents use social media? Do they associate themselves to any other
character on social media and is there any change that they made in their life style after using
social media? Do they feel that social media disturbs or affects their self-esteem, and do they
feel that social media has an influence on mental and psychological behaviour? Do the
respondents feel that usage of social media leads to less emotional binding in relations? Do the
respondents feel that they have improved their reading/writing skills after using social media
for a long time? How much time do the respondents spend using social media? How many
social networking sites do the respondents use and for how long they have been using social
media? What are the main reasons for which the respondents use social media? Do they
compare themselves to any other personality on social media and is there any change that they
made in their life style after using social media? Do they feel that social media affects their
self-esteem, and do they feel that social media has an impact on psychological behaviour? Do
the respondents feel that usage of social media leads to less emotional binding in relations? Do
the respondents feel that they have improved their reading/writing skills after using social
media for a long time?
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Conclusion:
No doubt, social media is and will always remain a vital tool in human life as far
communication is concerned. The study discovered that the nature of social media is as a useful
servant but a dangerous master which depicts that it is useful and harmful at the same time
depending on the way, our youth uses it. Social media has numerous adverse influences on the
quality of life in every aspect. We cannot dissent from the fact that social media is crucial
platform that allows us to share photos, disseminate knowledge and information, to
communicate with groups and fellows and provides broadcast and gossips, but we cannot
tolerate it to become the focal point of our youth lives. it portrays unattainable beauty standards
through images, advertisements, and articles resulting in anxiety, depression and lower self-
esteem. It has made our youth to prefer virtual communication and made them uninterested in
face-to-face communication, which eradicates possibility of profound and meaningful
conversation. Our Youth have lost their abilities and skills to communicate effectively, which is
an indication, to what kind of effect social media has over the lives of youth. Overall, social
media can be advantageous if it used sensibly and in the appropriate proportion.
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10
0
9
5
9
0
8
5
8
0
7
5
7
0
6
5
6
0
5
5
5
0
4
5
4
0
3
5
3
0
2
5
2
0
1
5
1
0
5
0
23
52
20
Total
Participants
15-
17
18-
20
21-
24
How
frequently
do
you
use
Social
Networking
Websites(per
day)?
less
than
1
hour
1-2
Hours
2-3
Hours
More
than
3
Hours
7
%
19
%
45
%
29
%
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