Negative Effects Of Social Media

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20140415/articles/140419801

Student examines negative effects of social media on teens

                 At 17, Lexi Duley, a senior at Mosley Performance Learning Center, has become a rebel. For her high school graduation project, she is researching the negative effects of social media on teenagers in today’s society.

                Duley first noticed the effects of social media when they began to impact her grades. She admits to being “so plugged in” that she would check Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter several times a day.

“I realized that I was getting nothing accomplished by sitting there and doing nothing (productive),” she said. “I needed to get out and do something else.”

Duley wants her senior project to speak not only to her personal life, but also to others in similar situations.

She believes that social media is not only a distraction to teenagers who have become addicted to checking their news feeds, but that it can lead to psychological and health issues. Her research shows that a number of anxiety and personality disorders stem from spending too much time on the Internet.

                   Social Media Anxiety Disorder, for example, occurs when people become addicted. Social media, she explains, may draw some teenagers away from having relationships with themselves and with people around them. They also put too much effort into following trends they see online instead of being themselves.