The use of social media has increased to an extent where it has become the cause of many social and psychological problems. Especially among teenager, social media has created a loop of never-ending scrolling through different social media applications and putting up pictures and check-ins, just to make sure that they are being seen on other people’s screens.
Social media usage seems to be seen more in girls than in boys. There has been done so many studies over girls’ and boys’ use of social media and almost all the studies point to the fact that girls use more social media than boys. A study took place in the United Kingdom, specifically on 14 years old teenagers. 20% of girls were turned out to be using more social media than boys.
There are many reasons behind this. Some of the reasons are as follows:
Peer Pressure
Peer pressure is one of the biggest issues faced by teenagers, especially girls. This is because the environment becomes so competitive in terms of physical looks and mental capacities. Children face different types of challenges regarding their peers’ success. Seeing them, one wants to be like them and in doing this, the teenagers even do horrible things like calling out someone in school, cyberbullying, etc.
Use of social media also comes from peer pressure. Making accounts on different social media accounts just because your BFFs are on them. Following their every move so their followers don’t get ahead of yours. All of these things are rather temporary, but they leave some permanent results like social media addiction.
Social Acceptance and Fame
The idea of social acceptance is very absurd among teenagers. They think that having a large number of Instagram followers will make you look cool among all the other kids and it will make you famous. This is the case with most of the teenagers when it comes to “following and the followers”.
Especially for girls, having to boast about their social media following is more important than that math test that they are going to get the result of in a minute. Girls start measuring their physical and mental capacities according to the number of their followers, which can be very hazardous for them.
Following Celebrities
This is another very important reason why girls use more social media than boys. This is because girls are more dedicated to their celebrities than boys. the ratio of fan pages made by girls is way more than boys. and these fan pages, they are not just made, they are actively used, monitoring every move of that celebrity. For this purpose, girls spend the whole day scrolling through different news about that celebrity.
Some girls would want to be like their favorite celebrities not knowing what consequences it might have. Physical appearance is dangerous of them all. Trying to get the dream body, girls often forget that not all bodies are the same and they go to the extent where they also develop psychological problems like Bulimia Nervosa, etc.
Final Words
Girls today have been seen so much more than boys and it is an alarming situation for the parents. It is very important to organize proper counseling in schools so kids know that social media is not the end of the world.
