Social Media and Younger Generations

In recent years, society has allowed media to become a prominent component in an individual’s daily life; it has intertwined itself within the lives of individuals and the environments they encounter. The advancements of social media have been increasing at a constant pace throughout time, while having a large impact on the majority of society. Social media has the capability to provide a sense of interconnectedness at a quick pace, that previous generations were without. With its many beneficial components, social media serves adverse purposes in regards to younger generations and their over-consumption of media.

It’s 2016 and the use of social media has sky-rocketed. Social media is accessed by the age group 12-21 more than any other. Since I do fall into this category, I can say that yes, I go on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter daily to keep up with recent news and remain connected with friends. However, during my childhood I was without technological devices and the idea of social media was foreign. My only concerns as a kid was literally knocking on enough of my friend’s doors to get a game of football going at the park…

Now younger generations would rather socialize digitally than engaging in physical exercise. I believe there has been a shift in ideologies for younger generations because of the presence of technology and social media. I have noticed this change in girls that are just three years younger than myself, it seems like they started wearing makeup so much younger than my generation. One main difference is the percentage of cellphones in my grade 8 class compared to one now-a-days… I didn’t have a cellphone until my high-school career and now grade 4’s are carrying around cell phones. Parents claim (which I do agree with) that it’s for safety purposes incase the child has to walk home alone from the bus. However, using the phone for emergencies has gotten lost in translation and thus evolving into the consuming entity that distracts today’s youth from carefree childhood. Today’s youth lacks face-to-face communication skills because we have become instilled with technology and being able to contact someone with the tap of a screen.

Technology has affected our youth in ways such as:

·             Social networking sites become first priority and outweigh important variables such as school, family and sports.

·             Youth portray themselves on a digital platform as someone they are not

·             Young people can engage in cyber-bullying and have yet to understand the repercussions that can prevail (depression and suicidal thoughts)

·             Due to the over-exposure of advertisements, youth may be impressionable and aim to achieve the ideal body figure that is constantly displayed on all sites

Focusing on the impact of the ideal body figure and younger generations, the rise of eating disorders and dieting regimes has significantly increased due to the infatuation with perfection.

Society utilizes media to illustrate how an individual should look and constantly reminds us of the ideal body through overexposure in advertisements. In turn, this objectifies the body and advertisements are then portrayed through the male gaze filter. The immense pressure to achieve this ideal body type results in sharp declines in self-esteem, an increase in eating disorders and depression. The harsh reality that society has not yet accepted is, majority of these ‘perfect’ images are digitally enhanced portraying what is said to be the ideal woman and the goal you are striving for is unfortunately, unattainable. However, these standards affect the way women feel about themselves and they way that men look at females in their lives.

As technology users become younger and younger, they may not be aware of the importance of a digital footprint… what is released on the internet is always there. One of the biggest struggles for this current generation is in regards to the business world and individuals attempting to create their personal brand through social media platforms. The issue is that all their ‘screw ups’ and mistakes made in younger years still remain on the Internet on public display for anyone to see. Don’t get me wrong, technological advancements and media do serve purpose for children in numerous ways (as shown in this article) however, this particular post is intended to outline the slightly discouraging factors.