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TEENS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

 

Teenagers can use social media to find community, but their mental health is often negatively affected by this culture of comparison

Katie Hurley, LCSW

PSYCOM

ABC NEWS:

Moms take on Snapchat over teen fentanyl deaths

JOSH OCHS – DRUGS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

SMARTSOCIAL.COM

Created by Josh Ochs — a social media safety speaker and author passionate about helping students shine online while staying out of trouble

Josh’s techniques help students use their devices with a purpose, not just a pastime. He shows students how to impress future colleges and employers by creating a positive resume using their social media accounts so they can Shine Online.

The Upside of Social Media for Teens

There are some positive aspects to social media. It’s important to remember that teens are hardwired for socialization, and social media makes socializing easy and immediate. Teens who struggle with social skills, social anxiety, or who don’t have easy access to face-to-face socializing with other teens might benefit from connecting with other teens through social media.

Teens in marginalized groups—including LGBTQ teens and teens struggling with mental health issues—can find support and friendship through use of social media. When teens connect with small groups of supportive teens via social media, those connections can be the difference between living in isolation and finding support.

There’s a happy medium in here somewhere. The key to helping teens learn to balance social media with real life friendships is to keep the lines of communication open and keep talking. Honest communication shows your teen that you are there to support, not to judge or lecture. It’s also important to walk the walk. Disconnect on weekends and show your teen that there is a whole world out there that doesn’t require a handheld screen.  She may miss her phone a lot less than she thinks she will and this is a very good lesson to learn

The Downside Social Media Use by Teens

Read enough of the current research and you’ll find that the negatives tend to feel bigger than the positives. While teens can use social media to connect and create friendships with others, they also confront cyberbullying, trolls, toxic comparisons, sleep deprivation, and less frequent face-to-face interactions, to name a few.

Too much time spent scrolling through social media can result in symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. Here’s how social media can be destructive:

  • Focusing on likes: The need to gain “likes” on social media can cause teens to make choices they would otherwise not make, including altering their appearance, engaging in negative behaviors, and accepting risky social media challenges.
  • Cyberbullying: Teens girls in particular are at risk of cyberbullying through use of social media, but teen boys are not immune. Cyberbullying is associated with depression, anxiety, and an elevated risk of suicidal thoughts.
  • Making comparisons: Though many teens know that their peers share only their highlight reels on social media, it’s very difficult to avoid making comparisons. Everything from physical appearance to life circumstances to perceived successes and failures are under a microscope on social media.
  • Having too many fake friends: Even with privacy settings in place, teens can collect thousands of friends through friends of friends on social media. The more people on the friend list, the more people have access to screenshot photos, Snaps, and updates and use them for other purposes. There is no privacy on social media.
  • Less face time: Social interaction skills require daily practice, even for teens. It’s difficult to build empathy and compassion (our best weapons in the war on bullying) when teens spend more time “engaging” online than they do in person. Human connection is a powerful tool and builds skills that last a lifetime.

Over the recent years, the growth of social media has made it clear that these modern communication platforms should be part of any brand’s primary marketing channels. As we look ahead to 2024, let’s dive into how social media usage has changed since the previous years. Keep these social media statistics in mind as you create your social media plan this year!

  • 4.95 billion social media users around the world in October 2023.
  • 92.7% of Internet users are on Social Media.
  • 9 in 10 Internet users now use social media each month.
  • The global average gender split of social media users is 53.6% men and 46.4% women.
  • An average person spends 2 hours and 24 minutes per day using social media.
  • The world spends close to 12 billion hours using social platforms each day.
  • 15 social media platforms had at least 400 million active users in July 2023.

WhatsApp is the most popular mobile messenger app worldwide. WhatsApp continued to impress the world with its attractive features and functionalities in 2023. Brands can use WhatsApp for Business for customer support, sending promotional messages, booking appointments and reservations, order confirmations and tracking, sharing announcements and updates, and gathering customer feedback.

To give you a sense of WhatsApp’s strong market position, we have put together top WhatsApp statistics below.

Visit our Whatsapp Insights page for the exciting marketing scoop about WhatsApp.

  • WhatsApp currently has 2.78 billion monthly active users.
  • WhatsApp is ranked as the most used mobile messenger app in the world.
  • As of 2023, 140 billion messages are exchanged on the messaging app WhatsApp every day.
  • There are over 487 million WhatsApp users in India alone.
  • 78% of American WhatsApp users access the app weekly.
  • WhatsApp is most popular among Americans aged between 18-34.
  • 52% of users are male, and 47.1% of users are female on WhatsApp.
  • Instagram has 2.4 billion monthly active users in 2024.
  • India tops the chart with the most Instagram users, with over 230 million users.
  • Instagram is 7th most visited website of 2023.
  • Instagram ranks 4th world’s most active social media platforms.
  • An average user spends 12 hours per month on Instagram Android mobile app.
  • 50% of people have visited a website to make a purchase after seeing a product or service on Instagram Stories.
  • 4 million businesses use Instagram Stories ads monthly.
  • Instagram reels receive 22% higher engagement rates than other posts.
  • Advertisers could reach 1.628 billion users on Instagram.
  • Estimated ad revenue of Instagram in 2023 is $397 billion.
  • 72% of Marketers Use Instagram for Influencer marketing.
  • 90% of Users follow a business on Instagram.
  • 71% of people aged 18-29 have active Instagram accounts.

TikTok is more than just a platform for funny videos and catchy memes – it’s also a powerful marketing tool for businesses. A few brands that are highly active on TikTok include Chipotle, Nike, The Washington Post, and The Ellen Show.

Whether you are in the food industry or looking to showcase your products or services, TikTok offers a variety of opportunities to connect with your target audience.

By thinking outside the box and building connections with established influencers, you can tap into TikTok’s marketing potential and watch your business grow. Want to know more about how TikTok can help your business succeed? Keep reading to discover the latest TikTok statistics and trends that can guide your marketing strategy.

  • 23% of the population uses TikTok out of 5.3 billion internet consumers.
  • TikTok ranks 6th in the list of the world’s most active social media platforms.
  • TikTok has over 1.7 billion MAUs.
  • Estimated TikTok’s ad revenue in 2024 is $17.2 billion.
  • TikTok has 102.3 million users in the US alone.
  • In Q3 TikTok had 272.7 million app downloads.
  • Marketers can reach up to 750 million users on Snapchat.
  • Snapchat is the 9th most used social media network in 2023.
  • Total potential reach of ads on Snapchat 557.1 million.
  • Latest figures indicate that roughly 8.2% of people on earth use Snapchat.
  • Snapchat users hold $4.4 Trillion in global spending power.
  • Users come back to Snapchat over 30x per day.

Here’s a list of the top 15 most popular social networks of January 2023, sorted based on the number of monthly active users (MAU):

  1. Facebook – 3.05 billion
  2. YouTube – 2.70 billion
  3. WhatsApp – 2.78 billion
  4. Instagram – 2.4 billion
  5. WeChat – 1.3 billion
  6. TikTok – 1.7 billion
  7. Facebook Messenger – 931 million
  8. LinkedIn – 900 million
  9. Douyin – 715 million
  10. Telegram – 800 million
  11. Snapchat – 750 million
  12. Kuaishou – 673 million
  13. Sina Weibo – 605 million
  14. QQ – 558 million
  15. Twitter – 528 million
  16. Pinterest – 463 million