Negative Effects Of Social Media On Youth

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INTRODUCTION
As of 2015 more than two billion of the world’s population have an active social media account. Social media has become a necessity in many young adults’ lives; this can have both positive and negative effects on their lives. Merriam Webster (n.d.) defines social media as “forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content”. The use of social media among adolescence has been rapidly growing over the last decade. There have been many debates on whether social media has a positive or negative effect on our lives. Many people think that social media has had a definite positive effect on our lives as it has lead to many developments in technology; it has also lead many businesses to boom because they can learn more about their customers and target market through social media. As the UAE is still a relatively new country not many people may know of the ways that social media can affect the youth of this country. Emirati parents should monitor teenagers’ use of social media because of its negative effects on their education, health and its threat to their safety and privacy.

EDUCATION The first negative effect social media has on teenagers is its effect on their education. Some people might argue that social media promotes peer-to-peer interaction and participation in class. Al-rahmi et al. (2014), stated that some of the positive effects social media can have on