Social Media and its Dangers for Teens
According to Merriam Webster, social media is a form of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, and personal messages. A few well known social networks include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. Even though they help teenagers interact and share their interests and opinions, social media negatively influences adolescents. In today’s world, cyberbullying and radicalised Islamic terrorist recruiting would not be possible without social media.
Cyberbullying is the electronic posting of mean spirited messages about a person (as a student) often done anonymously according to Merriam Webster. Stalking, humiliating, harassing, and excluding are all ways one can cyberbully on an electronic device. Cyberbullying heavily compromises adolescents’ well being. The emotional harm caused by cyberbullying is apparent in the article ‘Cyberbullying’ by Ted Feinberg and Nicole Robey. The article states that ‘victims of face to face bullying often experience depression, anxiety, low self esteem, physiological complaints, problems concentrating, school failure, and school avoidance’ and that ‘targets of cyberbullying suffer equal if not greater psychological harm, because the hurtful information can be transmitted broadly and instantaneously, and can be difficult to eliminate’ (Feinberg and Robey 1). This suggests that with a fast and effective spread of mean spirited messages that indefinitely stay on a network, cyberbullying has the same if not worse effects as regular bullying. Another passage highlights that ‘cyberbullying also may be worse than face to face bullying, because people feel shielded from the consequences of these actions and often do or say things that they wouldn’t in person’ (Feinberg and Robey 1). This passage shows that because of the impersonal and/or anonymous aspect of social media, the consequences are more serious. If teenagers use social media without supervision, they are more likely to be exposed to cyberbullying.
Social media is an effective platform for radicalised Islamic terrorist groups to recruit followers. In the article ‘The Children of ISIS’, Janet Reitman discusses the life of two Muslim-American siblings, the Khans, who decide to join ISIS without their parent’s consent and how ISIS recruited them on social media. The way social media is used by followers as a place to express ideas is apparent on page 8. Janet Reitman notes that ‘all of the Khan kids were active on social media, but for Mariyam, it was more than just an outlet-it was her voice. Mariyam’s life was full of rules, but online she could be anyone she wanted to be’ (Reitman 8). This passage suggests that for many followers, social media is a way to break free from an unsatisfactory life and freely express opinions. Radicalised Islamic terrorists try to create an image of an attractive life in the Islamic State on social media. Janet Reitman talks about a jihadist who “with his hundreds of Twitter followers, became ISIS’s most charismatic English-language salesman: taking selfies with his AK-47 ad promoting the chilled-out side of the caliphate, which he called ‘five star jihad,’ full of stolen war booty, or ghaneema, or cuddly little kittens and villas with swimming pools” (Reitman 9). This extract shows that ISIS are trying to convince followers that living in the Islamic State is easy and enjoyable, and that the allegations made by western countries are false. If Mariyam and Hamzah had not been active on social media, then they most probably would not have joined the radicalised Islamic terrorist group.
Some will argue that social media enable adolescents to meet new people and keep in touch with old friends. Others will say that social media help adolescents express themselves. In the article ‘Social Media Butterflies May Not Be Such a Bad Idea’, Melissa Healy mentions a white paper by the University of Southern California and the University of California-Berkeley that was released in 2008 and that concluded that “ The digital world is creating new opportunities for youth to grapple with social norms, to explore interests, develop technical skills and experiment with new forms of self expression” (Healy 22). Nevertheless, social media has been detrimental to some teenagers’ lives.
Through cyberbullying, social media have led to adolescents committing suicide and having severe dysfunction Also, they are the main tool used by radicalised Islamic terrorists to recruit new members. Even though social media has its flaws, there are solutions to its problems. We cannot monitor everything on social social media that is put out by teens, but we can decrease the number of cyberbullying cases by educating adolescents on safe usage of social media. In order to stop ISIS from recruiting members online, we can raise awareness of the dangers that ISIS pose to the Muslim community and employ cyber troopers to report and investigate ISIS affiliated twitter accounts in addition to taking them down. Social media have been around for a very short while. With time, experts can make them a safe environment for adolescents.