Effects of Social Media on Young People

In modern life, social media is developing fast. It is used by many people all over the world. Social media is especially very popular among the young. However, there are many young people who cannot control themselves and are addicted to social media. Addiction to social media has many serious effects, including poor study habits, living away from reality and bad health.

First, addiction to social media makes the youth have bad grades in studies. Because of social media, many students who were excellent students have become bad students. Every day, these students come to class, but they do not focus on studying. While their professors are teaching, they are using cellphones to surf Facebook, Instagram or chat with friends on Messenger. They always check their cellphones every five minutes to see what is going on on social media. If the young use social media in classes, how can they listen to the professors and understand what professors are saying? Moreover, not only at school but also at home these young students who are addicted to social media do not do exercise or read the new lesson before going to school, because they are busy with social media. For example, Khanh, a young girl from Vietnam, is addicted to social media. In the past, she was a hard-working student. She always did all homework and prepared for new lessons, so she got A grades. However, everything has changed since she started using social media too much. In classes, instead of listening to the professor, she always posts selfies on Facebook and Instagram. At home, with the attraction of social media, she continues using her cellphone and does not study or do assignments. As a result, in the mid-term exam and final exam, she only got C and D grades. Addiction to social media causes a bad habit in studies. It can change a young person from an excellent student to a bad one.

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Secondly, young people who are addicted to social media can live far away from reality. Because of using a cell phone all day, they will not have time for outdoor activities such as playing sports or camping. Instead of going out to meet friends or talk to their parents, these people love chatting with friends on social media. They will just stay at home and update their news on social media. They post status or photos to share with their friends on social media. Gradually, they will only live in a virtual world. Amanda, a teenager in America, is a clear example. When her mother bought her a cell phone for her 18^th birthday, she became a person addicted to social media. She did not go swimming with her friends during weekends. She rarely talked with her parents. During family vacation, she always took photos of food and places she visited and notified her friends on Facebook or Instagram. Now, she posts her feeling status with a photo on social media everyday. Her life is updated frequently on social media. Social media is regarded as the world she lives in, the world in which we only communicate through icons, comments and likes.

And last but not least, using social media too much will have a serious impact on health. Because the young are addicted to social media, they will go to bed late to read news on Facebook or chat with friends. Staying up late is really harmful to the health, especially, the brain. If the young do not sleep enough, their health will be affected seriously by losing weight or always feeling tired. Their brains also will not work effectively and they will be in sleepy condition. Moreover, addiction to social media can cause depression in the young. When the young use social media, they will see other people on social media. If the young see other people who are better than them in appearance or talent, they can feel inferior. These young people can envy the people who are more famous or intelligent than them, and they also feel ashamed of themselves. They always wonder why they cannot be excellent, talented or beautiful like others. Therefore, they feel under pressure, stressed and depressed. These mental problems are very dangerous to the young people because these mental problems cause the young people lose their minds and eventually, choose death.

In conclusion, although using social media has many benefits in our lives, addiction to social media is not good. It will have awful influences on studying, make us live way from reality and have bad effects on health. In order to avoid being addicted to social media, young people should spend more time playing sports, studying and taking part in activities in schools.