Abstract:
The Internet has an unimaginable power to connect, mobilize and influence the current
population. Social network sites, video and picture sharing sites, online games and
gadgets such as iPods and cell phones are now permanent fixtures of youth culture. They
have proliferatedthe lives of the youthso much that it is now hard to comprehend that less
than a decade ago, technologies like these barely existed. Youth nowadays may be
coming of age and struggling for identity and autonomy just like their predecessors, but
they are doing so in the midst of a new world for technology communication, friendship,
play, and self-expression. Social media in today’s world has become a quick way to get
information and explore content created by some of the most extraordinary minds of our
time, but it has been proving to be detrimental to multiple aspects of today’s youth. This
thesis is an exploratory study abouthow the youth has become so preoccupied and
obsessed with social media that it has become a source which distracts them from
engaging in the real world. While most youngsters engage in some form or the other of
social media (including Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Twitter etc.) and consider it to
be a daily part of their lives, the Social Media Addiction amongst the youth is
characterized by the level of its usage being so extreme that it negatively affects the
responsibilities and relationships in their lives.It has also become common for the youth
to view and take part in their real experiences, with a concern of how it can appear in the
social media world, as opposed to just being present and living the moment, in what they
are doing. While some level of their need to record their experience is understandable,
but too much of this concern and constantly searching for ways of convincing their social
media audience of a certain self-image is worrisome. Social media has rapidly taken over
many of the youngster’s social lives, impacting social skills, self-esteem and emotional
health. For so many youngsters that already experience their life as being full of pressures
to be ‘good enough’ in many different ways and struggle with making sense of their own
identities, we find that the excessive use of social media is confusing and distracting them
further, as well as having a negative impact in various other aspects of their lives. This
research is an exploratory one in nature and aims to explore the various negative impacts
on a youngster’s life, resulting from being addicted to social media. A qualitative method
of research is adopted in this study, and data is collected through interviews. Findings
counsel that most of the youngsters do exhibit addictive behaviors with regard to social
media, which is impacting multiple aspects of their lives negatively. To minimize or
offset this addiction, some recommendations are listed in this study, which will slowly
but surely help in making a difference and will help to overcome the social media
addiction amongst youngsters.