Why do teenagers like to use social media? Young people like to use social media everywhere because it has many advantages for teenagers nowadays. When they use social media, they can communicate with family and friends. They use it to learn new things online. They can find a relationship online. They can make money online. It also can entertain them for refreshing their feelings. For instance, social media helps young people to communicate with their parents when they do not have cellular to make a call to their parents by using the Facebook messenger. Therefore, social media is adding a lot of value to young people and it is useful to young people who are using it nowadays for communication, education, relationship, financial, and nursing their feelings from stress. It makes them knowledgeable, brave, and mentally strong in their life.
First, they use Social Media for communication with their family from a long distance. It helps them to communicate with their parents, family, and friends when they use Facebook messenger, Rebtel, WhatsApp, Instagram messages by using the internet. These social media sites can help young people to communicate everywhere in the world because all these sites can be used by the internet to connect with each other. For instance, I am using WhatsApp, Messenger, and Rental to communicate with my family and friends between two different countries. I can communicate with my family from the United States to Indonesia. Therefore, many teenagers are using social media for communication; and the number of young people who use it for communication is rising every year. According to Youth Statistics: Internet & Social Media, “Texting is a common communication tool for American teens; among cell phone owners, 90% text. Teen girls aged 13-17 typically send and receive 40 texts each day, while boys are half as prolific”. Social media can help young people communicate to check the condition in family and friend’s life even nowadays the situation is so dangerous because of Corona viruses, so it is better to use Social Media to communicate.
Secondly, Young people can learn a lot of new things on social media. Nowadays, young people go online to research information on Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. These sites are helpful for many people, especially young people for educational purposes. They can find much information so easily online by social media when they are connected on the internet because many expert people already post valuable information on every social media platform. They can get knowledge in different ways. Some people learn the information by reading; some people learn through watching the videos on YouTube and observing the pictures on Google. YouTube is a more popular platform for most of the young people who go to search for the information to learn by watching. People can learn everything through social media; they can learn languages, sport, music, and etc.
For example, I did not know how to play the drum at the age of twelve to twenty, but I started to watch videos on YouTube about how to play drums when I felt interested in playing the drum. So, I started to learn after the age of 22. Now I am 24 and I can play it in the church because I learned it by watching the video on YouTube. Same as other young people can learn lessons on YouTube by watching it because all topics are available and already uploaded by experts. Therefore, according to Youth Statistics, “YouTube is highly popular among middle and high school-aged youth; 85% of teens age 13-17 use the video-sharing platform and learn the information online”. It means many young people use YouTube as an information source and they find valuable lessons. Therefore, social media has much valuable information available for many young people who are always curious about social media.
Thirdly, social media can help young people to find their relationship online. They use a lot of social media platforms to find their girlfriends and boyfriends online when they use dating apps such as Zoosk, Match, Silver Singles, Young-People Meet, and etc. They think that finding new people online is easier than physical meeting because when they use dating apps online, it saves time, they can feel less afraid to text or send the messages to other daters by saying “I like you”, it is more secure, they can choose by looking the pictures, and it is a fast way to express themselves. If they use social media dating apps, they feel the freedom to ask each other for a relationship, so when they ask other daters if they are single. If they say yes as a single person ready to date, they continue to communicate. Then, they can meet each other forever in their lifetime.
The other reason, many young people can make money from social media platforms. Some people work full-time, and other people work part-time on social media platforms. So, nowadays, young people make too much money by having their own YouTube channel, having more followers on Instagram, becoming a Reward dollar affiliate site for sharing the link to their social media sites such as on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Tumblr, Snapchat, and etc. They can get paid when they have more viewers, subscribers, likes, and commands on their postings whether pictures, videos, or their creative ideas with description. Some teenagers make money by having their own social media account, but the other teenagers make money just simply download the apps on “app store or play store”, then start making money by running apps, or playing some short-games: Dice Royale, Word Rela, Lottery Scratch, Surveys On The Go, and etc. Therefore, social media helps young people to get extra cash without hard work. They can make twenty-five to fifty dollars while they are doing their homework or studying at home as long as they have internet access at their places.
Additional value, Social media can nurse teenager’s feelings to feel fresh and enjoy their life by playing video-games online. It has many different games available on the website, Facebook, and other social media platforms. Nowadays, teenagers like to play video-games online because they can play games by a group or with their friends in different places when they share the game’s link to each other. What game can they play online on Facebook? They can play “instant Games on the Facebook web first launched with 17 different games from well-known games publishers like Zynga, Konami, Bandai, King, and Namco, plus many more”. When they feel tired or they get bored from doing the study and homework, then they can go to social media sites to play the game online with friends. For instance, I saw one of my friends share the EverWing on messenger, and he invited five of us. Then, five people played it, and we all enjoyed it. Same as other young people who play video-games online, they cannot feel tired, they cannot feel hungry, and feel bored while they are playing the game because it has more addiction to them. While they are playing it, they can learn communication, and shooting skills and also, they can control their brain to be active while they are playing the game and talking at the same time with their friends. Therefore, the teenager’s feeling is relaxed while they are playing the video-game. They feel that they are exercising their brain in the gym after they get a massage in a nursing room.
Social media is a valuable thing in the world for making young people’s lives easier. If social media never existed, many young people’s lives would be hard. Their communication with their parents and family can be limited. They cannot find their relationship inconveniently and secure online. They cannot learn anything fast on YouTube, and other media platforms. They cannot make money online, and they can always ask their parents to give them money for their pocket money. They can feel bored without playing the video game because it makes them feel fresh and enjoy it when they play it. Therefore, when social media exists in the world, young people move so smoothly to step up forward. They already know about future technology because they are learning and growing faster than compared with people who lived without social media back to two thousand years ago. Young people’s minds are growing faster and full of knowledge, their mind is full of apple fruits at harvest time.
Finally, social media is adding a lot of value to young people and it is useful to young people in their life when they use it. It can help teenagers to communicate with their parents and family for a long distance. Teenagers can learn anything fast on YouTube and other social media platforms. Young people can find their girl and boyfriend easily. They can make money online; they can get extra cash instead of asking their parents for their pocket money. Social media can nurse young people from their stressful feelings. If it has never existed in the world, many young people can be missing so many opportunities that they are enjoying today. Therefore, much information can be limited to them when they learn only in school. These young people will be so smart in technology, and they will not only be social media users, but also, they will create their own world.
