Social media is a major part of teenage lifestyle. A fact that puts parent to worry, hence leading to parental control steps over social media. The trouble with social media is the side effects of placing a wide networking system in the hands of teenagers. Social media sites are known to occupy most of the teenager’s time, creating a virtual image while hammering the social life of an individual. They bring about a bad behavioral change among them and also make them prone to doing or bearing with cyber bullying. Social media sites may or may not be abused by different people, but according to current trends, abuse by people is a viral disease among teenagers. Basically, it’s a large pond of fishes where an ugly one corrupts another.
According to a global survey conducted by Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, 93% of people in 5-15 age groups go online. 69% have their own laptop. These immature minds have access to the whole world. 73% of them are on social media sites with an average of 200 friends. What eats up parents is that most of their children give out personal information to strangers. This result in 29% children being stalked on social media pages and 24% have their private information made public.
In additional, being bullied these days doesn’t require physical presence. All the threats and harassments wait in the social media inbox of the victim. About 29% teenagers indulge in cyber bulling due to reasons such as peer pressure. Half of teenagers have been victims of it and 10% of them experience cyber bullying daily leading to low self-esteem and suicide. In fact, cases like Rebecca Sedwick cover the American newspapers very often.
Parents have opted for social networking protection software’s and keep a tap on their kids’ social media pages. Teenagers get offended by this and resort to creating secret identities online. However, parental intervention is a requirement in severe cases. Now, considering the thin string that lie between parents and teenagers, drastic steps by parents should be slowed down. Especially because the issues online can be resolved through clear communication and parental attention offline. Teenagers should be encouraged to act in a mature manner, report issues and aim for the positive benefits of social media.