Hasan Kanchwala
American University of Sharjah
Negative Effects of Media on Teenagers
Over the past decade, people have become quite dependent on media so as to get information about what is happening in the world around them. Among many other things, media includes magazines, newspapers and television, which provides users with information regarding recent developments and inventions, entertainment articles and much more. Nowadays, this information is also available over the internet, which allows users easy access, anytime, anywhere. Technological advancements have facilitated the spreading of information, both efficiently and cheaply. However, as a result of the benefits gained by all such advancements, people are not realizing its harmful effects on today’s youth. Teenager’s addiction to media results in social, mental and health problems.
The impact of media on the social lives of teenagers has been quite devastating. Teenagers tend to get addicted to information from media quite easily. This addiction outcomes in a failure to live a decent, social life, as they spend more time using the different types of media, rather than interacting with the people around them. Television has the greatest impact on the social life of a teenager. On an average, a teenager usually spends at least 4½ hours a day watching television. (Uzoma, 2014) This results in less time for the individual to interact with others. Even though television helps in fulfilling certain social needs of a teenager, it does not help in developing the social skills required in everyday life. As a result, teenagers may face difficulties when they gets into a university. They could face hardships while making new friends or even while starting a general conversation with their classmates. Their lack of social skills would also create difficulties for them when they would apply for a job, as various elements in a job require the individual to
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