Should parents limit teenagers’ use of social media?

07:00 P.M. Tap. Tap. Tap. Scroll. Back. Like. Scroll. 09:00 P.M. Tap. Tap. Scroll. Type.
Comment. 10: 00 P.M. Tap. Scroll. Share. Back. The clock finally hits 11:00 P.M. and a wave of
panic washes over the teenager. Tap. Type. “Students are not robots.” Post. For most teenagers,
this has become their reality. An unhealthy norm for the sake of the teenager’s argument that it is
very important always be updated in fear of FOMO or “fear of missing out.” When reprimanded
by their parents that they have been spending too much time on their phone you’d hear this in
their defense, “social media help us have a better communication with our friends!” or” We need
social media to accomplish group projects!” But is that always the case? In this modern digital era
where connecting to people is already at the tip of our fingertips, it’s as though teenagers have
become so involved in social media and the internet that they use social media on a daily basis
and I believe that is already a form of habit. We daresay it has become a form of addiction. Doesn’t
the negative effects outweigh the benefits of constantly using social media? I firmly believe that
yes it has. Which is why we strongly believe that parents should have the rights to limit teenager’s
use of social media.
Teenagers are always on their phones and constantly compare themselves to others on
social media, bully each other, and crave the attention social media has to offer. Rather than
social media having a positive impact on teens, the excessive use of social media may lead to a
negative impact mentally and emotionally for teenagers. (Monroy, 2016) This negative impact
includes: a loss of sleep and depression to name a few.
For example, according to a blog post published by The Guardian, “Social media is
harming the mental health of teenagers. The state has to act” author June Eric Udorie argues that
teens lose about two hours of sleep every night because of the pressures of social media. The
author believes that teenagers are emotionally attached and “invested” with social media and that
the loss of sleep will make teens prone to anxiety and depression. (as cited in Monroy, 2016).
Parents should intervene with this because this isn’t only a health concern but also an emotional
and mental risk factor. Disciplinary actions must be implemented so that the teenager does not
thrive in this condition.
The second negative impact, depression, is especially alarming as a result of excessive
use of teenagers of social media which is the reason why parents must monitor if not, limit their
teenager’s use of social media. Teenagers, according to the Personal Development book of Aida
Maria Perez, in their state of adolescence is a time where one tries to develop his self-concept.
She added that, mentally, the adolescent’s reasoning skills increase and believes that this
increase in reasoning develops either a positive or negative self-concept (2016). This is where
social media plays a major role in the development of negative self-concept that ultimately leads
to depression. In the blog post by Suren Ramasubba titled, “Influence of social media on
teenagers”, he states “Recent studies have shown that comparisons are the main cause of
Facebook depression; the study showed that down-comparison (comparing with inferiors) was
just as likely to cause depression as up-comparison (comparing with people better than oneself).”
(as cited in Monroy, 2016). With such evident present, parental guidance is a must so that
teenagers not only are reminded but are also guided in a responsible use of social media. Parental
intervention may seem unacceptable to the teenager but its vitality outweighs the petty excuses
for the teenager to have an unsupervised use of social media.
On the other hand, the use of social media, if put to a good and responsible use in the
advent of this brand new era of a digital age, has proven useful in various aspects for teenagers.
It has helped them become more connected to the world and made aware of various global issues
and crisis. But this comes with a cost. While teens get to interact with their friends in an effort
fashion by reacting and commenting, an article in The New York Times titled, “For the Love of
Being ‘Liked’” by Bruce Feeler, the author, argues that the majority of young teenagers on social
media develop an anxiety over the popularity and the likes they receive. (as cited in Monroy, 2016)
Feiler argues strongly in the article, that because of such need for likes, teens will become
dependent on it and will feel as if without the approval of social media teens will not be successful
in the future Due to the constant pressures of social media, it has becoming too overwhelming
with can lead to a disadvantage in the teenagers education and future, which is why the use of
social media should be limited so that is no longer the main priority of the teen (Feiler). Not to
mention that intervention by parents must be made to protect their children from cyberbullying,
scams and unwanted sites such as phishing and pornographic sites. With such findings and
concerns presented, it is clear that social media has a negative impact on teenagers.

While it’s true that social media can be beneficial if used in a responsible way, we can
conclude that evident that it can be very damaging to teens when used excessively and left
unsupervised by parents which is why parental intervention and disciplinary actions must be
implemented. This may be done by being a role model and set themselves as an example.
Parents may also have been a little often on their phones causing their children to follow them.
They may try to show them what responsible social media usage. They may also practice
etiquettes such as “having no phone on the table” whenever they are eating as a family and have
that moment a quality bonding time for the family to allow parents to ask their teens on the
happenings of their day. This allows to express their concerns as well and bring them closer to
their parents. Parents may also expose their teens to physical activities and have them play
outside as to not always have them on their phones. These are only to name a few and parents
can still do more various things to limit social media usage of their teens.
In this digital age, the responsibility of parents have become complex and that
responsibility stretches to the digital world. Parents know their children more than anyone else
and disciplining them, as the primary units of teaching in society, is their responsibility. In a
modern era where tap, scroll, like and comment is the norm, parents can be the ones to tap into
their children’s mind; scroll through what they feel; like and give praise for what they have
achieved as well as giving comment and feedback on things they must change. This way, they
are developed well for their future not only as teens of society but as humanity’s future as
individual and responsible citizens.

References
Monroy, C. (2016, December 17). Retrieved from Medium: https://medium.com/@catmonroy/limiting-
teens-use-of-social-media-8513c007e8fc

Perez, A. M. (2016). Personal Development. Quezon: Vibal.