Teenagers are able to get the best of social media, grasping their potential in a critical way. A study suggests that more support in identifying the benefits of social media should be provided to these young users.

A new research, published in Sport, Education, and Society, explored teens’ online habits, observing that young people do not just receive passively the contents available online, but rather critically evaluate them.

The analysis of 1,300 responses from teenagers aged 13 to 18 from ten UK schools, Analyzing 1,300 responses from teenagers aged 13 to 18 from ten UK schools, explored how youths engaged with health-related social media, and what influence this had on their behaviors and knowledge about health. The team discovered that most teenagers would ‘swipe past’ health-related content that was not relevant to them, such as ‘suggested’ or ‘recommended’ content, deeming it inappropriate for their age group. Many also had a strong opinion towards celebrity-endorsed content, with one teenager referring to the celebrity lifestyle as ‘a certain lifestyle that we are not living’, because they were more likely to be ‘having surgery’ than training in the traditional way and working out in the gym.

However, many participants still outlined difficulties in distinguishing between celebrity-endorsed content and that posted by sportsmen and women, leaving them vulnerable to celebrity influence. The pressure of peers’ ‘selfies’, which often strived for perfection, and the complex social implications of ‘liking’ each other’s posts, were recurring themes in the young people’s answers. Both of these activities had the potential to alter teenagers’ health-related behaviors.

Lead author Dr Victoria Goodyear, of the University of Birmingham, emphasized the importance of being, and make others, more aware of both the positive and negative impacts social media can have upon teenagers. She explained: “We know that many schools, teachers and parents/guardians are concerned about the health-related risks of social media on young people.

However, Dr Goodyear also reflected on the fact that teenagers are not just passive victims of the social influence, but sometimes they are critically aware of such influence: “…contrary to popular opinion, the data from our study show that not all young people are at risk from harmful health-related impacts. Many young people are critical of the potentially damaging information that is available.”

Still, despite teenagers’ ability to assess content, the research emphasizes that adults should still play a crucial role in supporting youths and helping them to understand how harmful health-related information could affect them and their behaviour.

Professor Kathleen Armour, the University of Birmingham’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education, adds: “It is important to be aware that teenagers can tip quickly from being able to deal competently with the pressures of social media to being overwhelmed.

“If they are vulnerable for any reason, the sheer scale and intensity of social media can exacerbate the ‘normal’ challenges of adolescence. Adult vigilance and understanding are, therefore, vital.”

Dr Goodyear suggests that adults should not opt for drastic decisions such as banning or preventing teenagers’ uses of social media, considering that such channels provide significant learning opportunities. Rather than prohibiting such channels, schools and parents/guardians should focus on how to get the best out of their use, working on teenager’s experiences with social media. Adults should help teenagers to think critically about the relevance of the available information and understand both the positive and harmful impact this information could have.

Ideally, these discussions must be introduced into the classroom to help address the current gap which exists between the ways in which teenagers and adults understand social media.

Written by: Pietro Paolo Frigenti

Journal Reference: Goodyear, V. A., Armour, K. M., & Wood, H. (2018). Young people and their engagement with health-related social media: new perspectives. Sport, Education and Society, 1-16.