In life, websites are growing, and they are used by several people all around the world. Social networking is particularly remarkably popular with the young. However, there are lots of young men and women who aren’t able to control themselves and are addicted to social media. Addiction to social media has many severe consequences, such as poor study habits, living away from reality, and poor health.
To begin with, addiction to social media makes youth have poor grades in their studies. Due to social media, many students who were excellent pupils have become bad students. Every day, these students come into class, but they don’t focus on studying. While their teachers are teaching, they are using cell phones to browse Facebook, and Instagram, or chat with friends. They constantly check their cell phones every five minutes to find out what’s happening on social media. If the young use social media in classes, how can they listen to the teachers and understand what the teachers are saying? Additionally, not only at school but also at home, those young students who are addicted to social media don’t read or review the lesson before going to school because they’re busy with social media. For example, Khanh, a young woman from Vietnam, is addicted to social media. Before, she was a hard-working student. She did all of her homework and prepared for new classes so that she received A grades. However, everything changed when she started using social media a lot. In classes, instead of listening to the professor, she always posts selfies on Facebook and Instagram. At home, with the allure of social media, she continues using her phone and doesn’t study or do homework. As a result, in the midterm examination and final test, she only got D and C grades. Addiction to social media causes poor habits in studies. It can transform a young person from a superb student to a poor one.
Second, young people who are addicted to social media can live far from reality. Due to using a mobile phone every day, they won’t have enough time for outdoor activities like playing sports or camping. Instead of going out to meet friends or talking to their parents, these people prefer chatting with friends on social media. They will only stay at home and update their information on social media. They post photos or status updates to talk to their friends on social media. Gradually, they’ll just live in a virtual world. Amanda, a teen in the USA, is a clear example. When her mom bought her a mobile phone for her 18th birthday, she became addicted to social media. She didn’t go swimming with her friends during weekends. She talked with her parents. During a family vacation, she always took photos of food and places she had visited and shared them with her friends on Facebook or Instagram. She posts her feelings and status updates with photos on social media every day. Her life is regularly updated on social media. Social media is considered the world she lives in, the world where we only communicate through icons, comments, and likes.
And last but not least, social networking is also going to have a critical effect on health. Since young people are hooked on social media, they stay up late at night to see the information on Facebook or talk with friends. Staying up late is very damaging to health, particularly the mind. When the young don’t sleep, their health is impacted badly by losing weight or constantly feeling exhausted. Their brains don’t work efficiently, and they are in tired condition. Additionally, addiction to social media can lead to sadness in the young child. When the young use social media, they can observe different people on social media. If the young watch other people who are better than them in appearance or ability, they may feel inferior. These young people may envy those who are more popular or smarter than them, and they also feel ashamed of themselves. They constantly wonder why they cannot be as beautiful or talented as others. Thus, they feel pressure, depression, and stress. These psychological problems are very harmful to young individuals because they cause young people to lose their minds and ultimately choose death.
To conclude, although using social media has many advantages in our lives, addiction to social media is not good. It has horrible impacts on studying, making us live far from reality and having bad impacts on health. To avoid being addicted to social media, young people need to spend more time enjoying sports, exploring, and participating in activities in universities.