Blog 11: Negatives of Social Media

     

        Social media is often glorified as a necessity in the 21st century with an estimated 3.96 billion users. By 2025 this number is estimated to increase to over half the human population. This comes as no surprise since more and more children are being introduced to social media and other technological advancements at earlier ages. On the outside this may not seem like a problem to many people because as it is a norm to have social media, however kids who're given access to social media at earlier ages are unable to separate it from their lives. This creates a problem with many finding themselves hurt by cyberbullying. Personally, I think idea of cyberbullying is laughable to some extent not only due to all the options you have to prevent it but also the fact that you shouldn't take most people on the internet serious is the first place. However, as I said before many social media users especially younger ones fall victim to cyberbullying due to the fact that they believe social media is real life. This belief lowers the self-esteem of many users who're only able to see the best parts of people's lives. Alongside lowering self-esteem, it also makes them more inclined to give unnecessary information on the internet whether it be through pictures or videos that can be used against them later. Different forms of cyberbullying include spreading rumors, posting threatening messages, sexting etc. Many of these can easily be avoided through separating social media and school life, blocking accounts and keeping personal info to yourself. Even with all of these methods to avoid cyberbullying many young people have resorted to suicide due to it. One example of personal info being used as a weapon ca n be seen by this story of a 15-year-old who killed himself after being blackmailed over sexual photos. Moreover, sometimes the personal info that we have on the internet is out of our control depending on the environment you were raised in. Fortunately for me my family never used social media much however that was not the case for 14-year-old Sonia Bokhari had no control over what was posted about her. Her mother captured her entire childhood on Facebook for all to see. 

    Another huge problem with social media is the number of dangerous challenges and pranks children love to imitate. The first one that comes to mind is the blackout challenge that emerged on TikTok in 2021. This was a challenge in which people would force themselves to stop breathing until they lose conscious whether it be choking or drowning. The influence of this challenge ended up killing a 12-year-old boy in Colorado and a 10-year-old girl in Italy. Dangerous TikTok challenges also include the Benadryl challenge. In this challenge users are tasked with taking 12 tablets of Benadryl with the goal being to see hallucinations. This challenge was known to induce seizures, cardiac arrest, and strokes; so, it's no surprise something this dangerous ended up killing some users. Proof of this can be seen by a 15-year-old girl in Oklahoma who overdosed when attempting the challenge. In 2018 I still remember one of the most viral challenges on social media was the Tide Pod challenge. Social media users who participated in this challenge would consume Tide Pods, laundry detergent packs, since their colorful texture resembles candy. As you can imagine this challenge resulted in multiple casualties and poisonings.