The internet has contributed immensely to the 21^st century way of life. The internet has changed the way we do business, the way we travel, spending money and even the way we study. No doubt, these impacts have made huge positive marks on our lives and made the world a global village. People get to communicate and hold discussions as if they are living next door even when separated by several miles. It is the changed way of people interaction we refer to as Social media and that came along with development of the internet.

In many ways, social media has led also to positive changes in the manner people communicate and share information. News is faster, stories, pictures of occasions and events are transported to ends of the Earth even when the recipient becomes brought up with the happenings like he or she was in attendance. Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), My space, Whatsapp are few of the platforms hosted on the internet that enable social interaction and enhance the process of communication. Even mobile devices like our mobile phone; tablets etc. Also have further applications like @Go, Blackberry messenger for social media conversations and dialogues.

From lost school friends that can be searched out and connected to on these sites to possible business that may be found in faraway countries, the positive benefits are there to see.

In the same way we have recorded many disadvantages/negative impacts of this social media. Yes, they help us connect to our friends in faraway places. Some people have argued that they have also made people to be only casual and easy friends that we don’t know their character. These negative impacts are shared below and note these consequences. Some cases are long term and life changing effects.

1) Less study time: Most students don’t have to study their books in this generation. Rather than read their books, students are often found on the internet and on their mobile phones. The target over these media is chatting, browsing and sending updates and changing status. If only they would limit their time online, perhaps the impact won’t be so damaging. Hours after hours are spent in idyllic fashion.

2) Impact on health: Several medical research works have shown the relationship between long hours on the internet/mobile devices and improper behaviors especially with teenagers. Vices they found include: drinking, smoking and improper sexual awareness/activity. Obviously, long hours spent on these sites affect sleeping times and lead to drug/substance abuse. Depressive acts such as suicides have been related to contents and behaviors received from using the social media at different times.

3) Perversion: The amount of sexual content over the internet has been faulted for the moral decadence and sexual perversion in our society. Pornographic contents are shared and X-rated sites are open to minors, thus, making early exposures and experimentation common place. Sexual abuses also take place due to the uncontrolled sexual nature of these sites and the absence of security to curtail these abuses make many to run away from homes with strangers or take their own lives.

4) Online harassment (Cyber bullying): These social media platforms are also causes of bullying according to studies. Teenagers are abused psychologically by older persons or deviants who prey on their innocence. They are afraid to tell their parents or guardians what they are passing through and resort to vices.

5) Violence: This is fallout of harassment suffered often on the internet. Fresh innocent and fertile minds of teenagers are ready tools for radical tendencies by insidious people who toy with their futures. It is not difficult to find the recruitment of young people by various terrorist organizations usually takes place online given they are the predominant users found there.

6) Lack of privacy: The most anguish suffered since the evolution of the internet is perhaps the intrusion of user’s privacy. Personal and private documents/photos, data and more get to somehow find their way into public domain. There have been cases of this resulting from activities of hackers mainly but it just goes to show the main problem of the internal private data e.g. social security details easily can find their way into public glare. All these are outside control of the internet user at any rate. In 2014, for instance, e-mails of different government and important personalities were hacked and details revealed embarrassing and confidential matters. 

7) It encourages poor English Grammar: From the view of the educationist, this is the greatest negative impact of the social media. Often, during social media conversations, there occurs a tendency to abbreviate words, spell incorrectly and accept these grammatical errors as right. In reality, this is the greatest nightmare of the internet as students pick up wrong spellings and there is no appointed guardian or authority or simply put, teacher on this information highway to object and correct.

In all these negative impacts, the responsibility is on the guardian and parents of teenagers to supervise social media interaction. Firstly, it must be impressed on children to use social networking applications constructively and secondly addictive tendencies of this medium must be minimized from the onset. Below are additional tips for parents/guardians:

i. Educate children about the dangers of social media.

ii. Always make use of maximum private settings on the computer/mobile devices used.

iii. Whenever they are online, be sure you have easy access to their rooms.

iv. Strive to monitor their friends’ list on the network.

v. Time devoted to internet activity need be minimized.

vi. Show example by allowing your children interact with your contacts/friends list thus making them open as well.

vii.  To this end, as a parent, be mindful of what you share on social networking sites as well.

From every indication, the internet and by extension, social networking sites have been useful perspectives and are productive tools. However, the recklessness and lack of supervision make them ready sources of abuse of children and moral decadence in this generation.

COUNTDOWN Vol.8 No 1

By:Hadassah Omoniyepe