I recently met a high schooler named Eve, and appreciated our conversations about all things related to social media, identity, loneliness, affirmation, and purpose. I thought she would be an ideal person to share “A Teen’s Perspective on Social Media in 2020” and she happily obliged. Below are her thoughts; we both hope they give you a better sense of what a typical older adolescent is using and enjoying these days. If you have any questions, let me know and I’ll pass them on for Eve to address in the Comments!
Hi!! My name is Eve and I am from Maryland. I am currently a senior in high school and I will be attending one of the “Public Ivies” in the fall, and am leaning towards Political Science as a major. I am writing this to share my personal perspective on the popular social media platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and VSCO. Each of these platforms offer their features to varying audiences, which leads to different atmospheres on each app. I’ll start with my favorite out of all of them.
Instagram is by far my favorite. It is made up of all photos and videos, which is perfect for visual people like me. There is the home page that showcases the posts from people you follow, an explore tab which offers posts from accounts all over the world, and your own page, with a notification tab to show who likes and comments on your posts.
Instagram has some downsides though. It is known to make many people feel insecure or down about themselves because the platform showcases the highlights of everyone’s lives, while rarely showing the negatives. This can make one feel like their life is not going as well as others, contributing to the growing rates of anxiety or depression in many teens today.
I do not let these pressures influence my view of myself because I realize everyone has negative sides to their personal lives that they do not share. People are quick to show the good, but refuse to show the bad.
I do not let these pressures influence my view of myself because I realize everyone has negative sides to their personal lives that they do not share. People are quick to show the good, but refuse to show the bad.
I usually find myself idlelessly scrolling through Instagram when I am bored. It is an endless abyss of random photos. Many teens use Instagram to follow their friends, follow style posts from big celebrities, or the latest videos of sports games. I love Instagram because it gives me the ability to follow whoever I want. It connects public figures to their audiences. It gives an insight into one’s personal life through the sharing of photos.
There is an underlying desire for acceptance through the number of likes or followers one has. Instagram has recently hidden the number of likes posts receive in an attempt to improve the mental health of their users. I personally think this will not do anything because people will find loopholes to seek acceptance in other ways. This change may spread to other platforms in the near future.
Next is Twitter. Twitter is the social media people instantly go to tweet their latest thoughts. They can post a status which can be liked and retweeted, and spread around the world in seconds. It is also known to be a battleground of disputes.
The latest news and tweets can trend within a short amount of time. It is also the go-to platform for politicians to give their thoughts on current events, which opens up endless fights based on political differences. It is the time efficiency of the app that makes it the platform to share the latest news with the world.
Since the platform is more about words than pictures and videos like Instagram, I believe this creates a breeding ground for more bullying. People tend to have no problem tweeting mean things toward others on social media, rather than saying it to their face in person. Twitter serves as a buffer between the bully and victim. It is not just made up of bullies; there are many kind people and groups on there as well. It is basically where you go to share your thoughts on any topic at any time. That alone opens doors to disagreements.
People tend to have no problem tweeting mean things toward others on social media, rather than saying it to their face in person.
I do not verbalize my own opinions on the app. I only use Twitter to follow others. I also have no desire to get into arguments with others about my political views or opinions in general, but I do find the app useful to follow politicians to see what they say on news events. I actively follow the news (not just through social media), so I like that it is the new norm for politicians to connect with voters on the latest issues. I also follow some friends that tweet entertaining memes.
TikTok
The latest craze with teens is TikTok. This is a newer social media that is made up of mostly teen audiences. The app consists of constant swiping to show new videos. The videos vary: many are funny/relatable, some are heartfelt, and some are nonsense. But the big picture is that the videos resonate with teen humor.
I often find myself getting lost in TikTok, spending lots of time swiping and laughing at the videos presented. You can send videos to your friends to share the laughs. It is interesting because I will sometimes find adult users that stick out in a crowd of teens (LOL). I find myself spending a lot of time in the app when I open it. My friends and I get sucked into the endless entertainment.
I will often see teens at my school making Tik Tok videos in the hallways, sharing their accounts with each other, and watching videos together.
I have never posted any videos because I am not one to put myself out there on social media. I will often see teens at my school making Tik Tok videos in the hallways, sharing their accounts with each other, and watching videos together.
Facebook is the complete opposite of TikTok’s audience. It is made up of mostly older generations. I still know many teens, including myself, that do have Facebook despite this demographic. I have Facebook solely to keep in contact with family that lives far from me. Other teens usually have it for similar reasons.
Facebook can also be very political. I often hear my mom complaining about how many of her Facebook friends make political posts on the daily. I do not check the app as often, maybe a few times a week to see what my extended family has been doing.
You often will not find teens communicating or interacting with each other on Facebook because they resort to other platforms. It still occurs, but it is just not as common. I barely have any teen Facebook friends on my page; it is mostly older adults.
Snapchat
I would say most Snapchat users are teens. The app is a pretty simple concept. You simply send photos and videos back and forth to your friends on the daily. The pictures and videos you send disappear after a few seconds. You keep “streaks” with your friends by sending a picture to each other every day.
I personally do not care for Snapchat; I find it quite boring. I would rather have a conversation with a friend over text than taking the extra time to send pictures back and forth.
I personally do not care for Snapchat; I find it quite boring. I would rather have a conversation with a friend over text than taking the extra time to send pictures back and forth. Using Snapchat will often leave me forgetting what was sent because of the disappearing feature. Conversations flow so much easier through texting, which I why I do not use Snapchat as much as other teens do. There is also a convenience factor in my opinion. It takes more time to take a picture, type a text, and send while having to remember what you sent hours later.
On the Discover page you can view people’s stories: pictures and videos your friends have made public to their followers.
Snapchat News is showcased below the stories. I never look at these because advertisements pop up all the time and I do not have an interest in the “news” stories. You can tell it is targeted towards younger audiences because it is made up of celebrity news.
VSCO
The last social media I use is VSCO. Its audience is made up of mainly teen/young adult females that post artsy photos. These photos are sometimes of themselves, or of scenic photos they take. I rarely check this social media because I do not find it as entertaining as the others. But I wanted to cover this because it is a platform that is often not talked about.
VSCO is less about communication through words and more about expression through visuals. It varies from Instagram because it takes away the aspect of your personal life, and goes deeper into the beauty or emotional side of life. This is expressed through sharing artistic photos or quotes that resonate with people.
It is a platform I often forget about, but I will sometimes go into it and send pictures to my best friend that relates to how we feel about certain situations in our lives. It is very effective for bringing out emotions, finding inspiration, and connecting to quotes during the good and bad times of life.
VSCO is very effective for bringing out emotions, finding inspiration, and connecting to quotes during the good and bad times of life.
I find myself gravitating to a specific social media platform depending on what mood I am in or what I am looking for. When I think of my family and wonder how their week has been, I open Facebook. When I want to hear contrasting opinions on a specific current event, I check Twitter. When I am looking for a good laugh, I open TikTok. When I want to check on my friends, I will open Instagram.
No matter what social media it is, I have found teens seek acceptance through all of them. There is always the factors of followers, like counts, comments, looking your best, trying to impress people, etc. The list goes on and on because that is the bubble social media consists of: accessing a net of everyone’s thoughts without a filter. Creating a page of photos that represents you. People want to be thought of positively by others. The desire to be favorable in other’s eyes stems from this presentation of yourself on a platform like Instagram.
I count myself lucky. I do not feel this pressure as strongly as some others do. Yes, social media entertains me on the daily, but I am able to set aside the impulse to be perfect. I know everyone struggles with something behind closed doors, and no one wants to show that. If teens, and other people, put aside the facade they put up on social media, maybe they could be happier. I do not mean to show the bad side, but they should try to not overwhelm themselves by being overly critical. People are always more judgmental of themselves than anyone else. These disparaging thoughts ultimately stem from insecurity.
Social media entertains me on the daily, but I am able to set aside the impulse to be perfect. I know everyone struggles with something behind closed doors, and no one wants to show that. If teens, and other people, put aside the facade they put up on social media, maybe they could be happier.
I only hope that the effects of social media improve, and not just for teens. This generation of teens are the first to encounter the impact of multiple social media. I have heard many adults in my life say, “I cannot imagine how I would be if I had access to social media as a teen!” I think teens deserve more credit for how we handle it. We are simply trying our best! I will be looking forward to seeing how social media evolves and affects future generations.
Thank you for taking the time to read!
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