Nowadays, social media is a medium that allows us to have more detailed information about our environment, to see places we have never seen, and to access information we do not know in a short time. But lately, people of all age groups, especially young people, spend most of their day on social media. This situation causes the negative side of social media to be seen rather than its positive effects.
What can be the negative effects of Social Media?
- The presence of unrealistic information from all kinds of areas on social media makes this medium dangerous. Especially children and young people often accept the information here as absolute truth and do not feel the need to reach experts on the subject.
- Friendships established through social media have increased, but the quality of socialization has mostly decreased. Most of the social media friendships are made through different videos and are disconnected from real life.
- Young people who make friends on social media state that they cannot communicate with these friends on any subject when they meet face to face.
- The accuracy of personal information on the Internet is also controversial. For this reason, many young people are exposed to cyberbullying and this issue appears to be a very important issue.
- Shares on social media are often filled with images of happiness, wealth and beauty that do not always have a counterpart in our lives. For this reason, it gives a feeling of missing something and creates a perception of beauty and happiness.
- Long-term use of social media also negatively affects human health. Examples of these include staying away from physical activity and being dependent on the phone for a long time, decreasing the amount of sleep, and using screens that negatively affect mental development.
How can we use Social Media efficiently?
- If it is thought that it is used for a long time, you can reduce it to certain hours of the day and determine days when social media will not be used. If your child spends a long time on social media, you should not pressure him/her about this, you should research the harms together and decide on the day and time together.
- To protect your children from cyberbullying, you must be a parent to whom they can share everything. This way you can be aware of danger situations.
- You can unfollow accounts that you realize do not contain accurate information and follow experts.
- You can take up a new hobby and reduce social media use.
- Some social media applications have a time limit option, you can choose this option.