How social media affects us, by Shannon and Olivia

With social media becoming a bigger part of our lives each day sometimes we can’t see how it is affecting our lives.

The NHS News states: The survey asked 1,479 young people aged 14-24 to score popular social media apps on issues such as anxiety, depression, loneliness, bullying, body image and "fear of missing out"., Instagram was ranked first.

These issues can be caused because what we see online isn’t always real, sometimes images can be edited or airbrushed to look better, in their opinion, or enhance their features. In a survey it was said that 68% of the adults they interviewed admitted to photoshopping/editing their photos.

But, do we ever think about how this can affect young people? And how young people don’t always think before they post or send.

We asked students if they knew that if they sent/take indecent images it is illegal for them to be in possession of these images even if they are both under 18. And their parents/ guardian become responsible for the image and the actions that their child takes.

Young people sometimes send indecent images to fit in to society. They often feel pressured to do so, or are pressured by one person or a group of people.

We interviewed some students at our school on this

When we asked a group of 4 year 7’s if they used social media only ½ of them, said yes. However when we interviewed older people in year 10, all of them said yes.

Only one of the year 7s used instagram, where as all of the year 10’s we asked used it. Snapchat was most popular with both year 7s and year 10’s, all of them saying they used it to connect with friends.

We asked some students if they would photoshop their images to feel more comfortable online, here’s some of their responses;

“I wouldn’t because anyone who sees me online and sees me photoshopped and then they see me in real life it’d be like “you don’t look like that”” -Lily, year 10.

“But then if you use color enhancement for like backgrounds, I think that’s ok.” -Mia, year 10

“I used photoshop just to touch up my pictures, i used to be scared to meet new people in real life in fear that i looked different, I hated it. So now i don’t do it.”- Agnes, year 10

“I edit some of my photos”- Anonymous (girl), year 7

We also asked people if social media made them feel self conscious;

 “It sort of makes me feel self conscious cus’ other people they look a lot better and it makes you feel like you’re just… nothing”-anonymous (boy), year 7

“I only post photos that i'm comfortable and happy with”-Charlotte, year 10

“It might destroy your confidence because you might see photoshopped images and think they’re real.” - Lily,  year 10.