The impact of social media on teenagers

  English Class B1. Teacher: E. Anagnostakι

“The Impact of social media on me”

by Dora Athanasiadi

Nowadays we have all realised that social media have a huge impact on our daily life. It is argued that this influence has positive as well as negative aspects.

The importance of social media is a really controversial topic. Proponents of the issue would claim that social networking sites, such as Facebook or Instagram, play a very important role, since they break the barriers among countries and people. In addition, social media offer entertainment through chat or videos and give us the opportunity to rapid access to information. On the other hand, sometimes social media seem to lead to isolation and to lack of physical contact.

Personally, social media have affected my daily life to a great extent. Although I have the chance to communicate with my friends and have a great time online, I usually feel like being cut off real life and lose quality time with my friends, because our conversations are not meaningful but shallow and superficial. Moreover they distract my attention and I can’t study productively.

The obvious conclusion to be drawn is that, despite the significant advantages, we should be cautious with social media, because there is a danger to become addictive and lose meaningful real life moments.

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Using social Media in moderation could help.

 By Ariadni Theodoropoulou

The use of social media is increasing more and more as time goes by. Nowadays we are realising that people of all ages spend the majority of their time online, either for work or for entertainment.

One of the most significant advantages is the convenience in communication. Social media are breaking barriers of language and distance. Through them we connect with people from all over the world. Personally speaking, social media play a big part in my life. Thanks to the magnitude they have obtained I can learn what’s happening in other countries instantly or what my favourite groups or bands are doing.

Notwithstanding the above, social media have plenty of disadvantages. If not used with restraint we might find ourselves in a loophole and realise only hours later how much time we wasted. This may result in lack of free time and time to study. I have little to no time to study after school, due to afternoon lessons, but during the weekends I sit around almost all day, online, and forget or leave my homework for the last minute.

For me the most important reason I use social media is to help me with dancing. I can find dance practices of my favourite idols, tutorials and covers I can learn from. Unfortunately I have yet to learn how to use it moderately. For instance, I postpone getting up in the morning just to scroll Instagram five more minutes.

The obvious conclusion is that social media are a crucial and irreplaceable part of our society, and if used with caution they become a helpful tool in many aspects of our lives.

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To what extent social media have changed my life.

By Dimitris Gkoumas

 

Social media have changed our lives either in a positive or  negative way. They have been a huge progress in the way we communicate. As we know a majority of people and especially teenagers spend most of their day on social media. However, we should think: “Is it so good as it seems?” As I see it, the answer is NO.

Firstly, since I started using social media I reduced extremely the time I read books. And this is happening because social media are addictive. For example, you want to see your friend’s posts every fifteen or twenty minutes. Furthermore I believe that they have affected my concentration. Sometimes when I study for a test, I want to stop and go out since I see friends’ posts which show them having fun. As a result, it affects my quality of studying.

However, there are some advantages. To begin with, it has improved the way I communicate as it is faster and easier. What’s more, if I manage to control the hours I spend on them, it can be much useful. For example,  I can talk on line for free with my cousins who are abroad

In conclusion, definitely social media have changed my entire life since I am a teenager in a technological era. It’s very important to control the use and the time I spend on them and not result in something negative and bad.

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The effects of Social media on self-confidence

   By Stavroula Giannopoulou

As most teens, I enjoy using social media because they enable me to interact with different people and spend loosely my time. Despite their numerous assets, there are some bad effects that set in jeopardy our mental health.

Due to social media I have this self-destructive tendency of constantly comparing myself to others. Social media profiles only demonstrate the highlights of someone’s life and not the difficulties they are facing. Sometimes, feelings such as lack of self-worth intensify as I compare others’ picture perfect life with mine. Although I deeply understand where it stems from I can’t help but feel bad. In addition social media have created to me a need for self-validation. There are times that I become desperate for attention which corrupts my tranquility and lessens my self-confidence. Consequently I give emphasis on others’ opinion about me and this ruins my own personal judgement. This as weird as it may seem can be associated with likes, followers e.t.c.

All In all, I do not intend on quitting social media any time soon. However, as time goes by, I become more and more aware of their negative impact and do my best to restrain them.

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Social media. Take advantage of the pros!

By Dimitris Adamopoulos

There is no doubt about the fact that social media have taken over people’s lives. However, I’m glad to say that I can control to a great extent my time spent on social media, most of the time at least.

Everyone has caught themselves leaving a certain task unfinished to check their social media account, and that includes me as well. There have been many times that – even unconsciously-, I keep checking up my phone for any new messages or any form of notification. This would sometimes even lead to spending up to half an hour looking at my phone, thus leaving many unfinished tasks behind, while basically wasting valuable time on nonsense.

Thankfully, I’ve managed to mitigate my time spent on social media, by developing a new way of thinking and picking up new activities. As I am now, I am way more determined about completing a task and I rarely lose my focus just to scroll through a social media page. Furthermore, time spent on social media during my spare time has also been mitigated as well. This has been the case for quite some time now as I prefer spending my time doing something productive which helps educate my spirit. My favorite spare time activities are studying mathematics or reading a well written mystery book. I even use now social media as a way to learn new things and it has been really helpful doing so.

To conclude, even though I had been through a phase where I was negatively impacted by social media, I’ve come to a point being benefitted from it by using it as a means of learning.

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The impact of social media on youth

By Andonis Zorpidis

There is no doubt that the impact of social media nowadays is stronger than ever before since people from all ages tend to constantly use them. However, their impact can be both negative and positive. In my case, I believe that when used in moderation social media can be really beneficial.

To begin with, I can confirm that social media can easily become an addiction due to the strong temptation to check up on them with every notification. And therefore you forget important things such as school work, extracurricular activities, family and close friends. What is more, from my experience, young people who claim to influence others end up having the exact opposite effect since teenagers compare themselves and their life styles all the time. And then they end up becoming depressed or feeling the urge to change their appearance.

On the other hand, I have found out that from social media and from the internet in general you can learn a lot of stuff that can be really useful in your life both educationally and practically. And that after a long and tiring day it feels nice to have a place to talk about your day with people your friends, even when you are not able to meet in person. That type of communication has also helped people become more sociable and improve their language skills. Furthermore, I can stay informed about every single thing that is currently happening all around the world and connect with family members away from home.

In conclusion, I believe that social media nowadays are a part of our society and that if used in moderation you can gain a lot.

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Social Media. Can we actually escape?

By Eva Ergoun

I have to say that I’m one of those who haven’t been much influenced dramatically by social media. I’m a person that knows the limit. Nonetheless, I recognize my flaws and I know that social media have affected me even a little.

Firstly they’re obviously decreasing my free time because of its addictiveness. I’m not that addicted to social media, but we all know that when you get into it, it’s hard to get out. For example I could have spent the time I spend on social media to rest or to study, something that is usually rare to happen.

Secondly using social media has affected my self -confidence to a small extent, not to the point that I hate myself, but sometimes I don’t feel as confident as other times. For example that new selfie a celebrity posted that makes me think » am I good enough ?». I really know that I am good enough but it’s that quarter of a second that makes me think about it.

So we all know, and we all say that we have to spend less time on social media, because of their addictiveness and bad influence but the question is, CAN WE?

THE END