Utilization of social media is an integral part of Indian youth today and has captured their attention entirely. The dependency of youths on the social media has reached at such level that, without social media, every young person cannot think about the direction of their growth.
Dependency of youth on social media is now leading to their addiction. Through the several studies, it is widely accepted that over utilization of social media has profound negative influence on the Indian youth though, it has also some positive effects on their life. As I have done some study over the use of social media platforms by the young Indians, I have realized varied issues confronted by them due to its over use.
As per the information provided by the selected youth it is observed that, majority of them are facing the problems like constant headache, back pain, eye strain and hand corns. 25% youth are facing the problem of high blood pressure, due to 2D and 3D monitors of the social media applications.
Majority of young people are using these applications for a longer duration thus by watching longer time same monitor screen could cause high blood pressure and tension which could be dangerous for physical health of the users.
21% of the users I came across are facing the problem relating to digestion or stomach, because of lack of body movement and due to lack to adequate sleep. In the opinion of 89% of youth lure of using social media shifts away the concentration of youth from academic activities or study
94% of youth opined that social media is used to spread misinformation, rumors and responsible for increasing cybercrimes among young people, like blackmailing, sexual harassment with their unknown friends through chatting
100% of youth opined that social media users are spending more and more time on useless activities, like chatting, watching films etc. In the opinion of 71% youth, due to addiction of social media the users are not able to take their lunch or dinner, breakfast on proper time. Spending 5 hours or more than 5 hours in a day on the social media also leads to unhealthy snacking and hence obesity.
According to 61% youth over-utilization of social media decreases the interaction of users with their family members, relatives, friends, etc. It is observed that, in a family where all members are staying together, users of social media do not spend time to interact with their family members, as they become self-centered or individually engaged in their own virtual world through social media. Over utilization of social media, also disturbs the users’ academic career and it creates hate towards educational activities and study, was opined by 81% youths.
Key Observations
- Through the study it is observed that over utilization of social media is growing among the youth, between the ages of 16 years to 25 years.
- The youth belonging to the age group of 16 years to 20 years constitute high percentage (55%) in the selected sample of youth.
- Majority of the selected youth are using social media for the purpose of site surfing, chatting, entertainment etc.
- Majority of the selected youth are spending varying amount of time from less than one hour to more than 5 hours every day on social media.
- Numerous youth are spending so much time (1/3 duration of a day) on social media, that it interferes with their daily routine activities
Suggestions
- It is suggested to the parents that, they should check regularly their teenage children’s activities on social media and do not let them use social networking websites unnecessarily.
- If parents of teenaged social media users properly observe their children’s activities on internet, it will be very helpful for child’s learning purpose and educational performance.
- Internet service providers and other concerned competitive authorities should look into the matter of negative effects of social media on young generation, so as to provide a better environment to the young users.
- Awareness programmes related to social media usage should be arranged at school level.
- There should be arrangement of training programmes by schools focusing on negative impacts of internet addiction and encouraging students to not fall prey to the harmful impacts of social media.
Mohammad Amiri, an Iranian national is a Post-Graduate degree holder in M.S.W and pursues his Ph.D in Punjab University, Chandigarh. He has several articles published in various International Journals in India, Iran, USA, and Japan. Amiri has been selected as a top (PhD) student by Research Counselor of I. R. Iran in Delhi, India in 2016-2017. He was also selected as a top researcher by Research Counselor of I. R. Iran in 2017-2018 in India. The article published is part of his extensive research on Indian youth and the use of social media.
