Opinion | Social Media & our Young Generation 

The words ‘young’ and ‘generation’ separately does not mean much but when we put these words together i.e., ‘young generation’, the meaning changes completely. The word ‘young’ means being in its early stage of life and the word ‘generation’ means people of approximately the same age.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, young generation means –
“the next or rising generation, especially viewed in contrast to one’s own, and often with (sometimes disapproving) reference to the attitudes and values associated with it”.
The life of Jammu & Kashmir young Generation-
Jammu & Kashmir’s young generation is said to be more and more addicted to social media. There are a number of studies that warn of their addiction. How ever, there have been few efforts made to understand “why” they become addicted to social media.( Reference to the attitudes & values associated with it).
It begins with a brief overview of the current life circumstances of Jammu & Kashmir young generation, and their use of social media. It then describes the theoretical dimensions of emotional reliance, of reciprocal social support, and imaginary self-expression. Finally, it tries to anticipate future trends of the young generation’s use of social media. The young generation is experiencing not only physical growth, but also emotional changes that make them psychologically unstable. In particular, the young generation in J&K is under a lot of stress from anxieties related to preparing for university entrance exams, excessive competition at school, and the risk of unemployment. The suicide rate of Jammu & Kashmir young generation has been so high recently that it has become a very serious social issue. Young people feel lonely in families that continue to be individualized. They experience loneliness and alienation every day, and put a lot of effort into avoiding and overcoming these feelings. Human beings have existential worries about being isolated and alienated. They always look for connections with others, and want to be members of a community. Physiological desires and desires for safety are universal yearnings, felt by all human beings. That is why human beings are considered “social beings.”
Social Media Addiction:-
Similar to addictive drugs, social media content and likes can trigger the release of the pleasure chemical dopamine, which may explain why some people report feeling addicted to these platforms. The popularity of social media platforms has intensified over the past decade. Many of us still use social media to connect, share content like videos and memes, read the news, or just kill time. Some people even make successful careers out of social media, such as influencers. Platforms such as TikTok and Instagram are more popular amongst teens and young adults whereas Facebook is generally used by all ages.
According to some surveys from 2020, People from all over Globe are spending as much as 17 hours per day looking at a screen, and a good portion of this time is spent on social media. While kids, teens, and young people are the heaviest social media users, most adults are also active on at least one social media platform, and many report having trouble limiting their time on them. Also, there are many people who report social media has a negative impact on them, their mental health, and their relationships, but continue to use it anyway, causing some experts to wonder whether it’s possible to become addicted to social media. At the end of 2020, the World Future Forum suggested ten keywords that will describe future society, among which “social media” was ranked Second.
Emotional reliance with triviality-
It is mainly through social media that the young generation gets information. By representing themselves, and receiving support from their peers, their self-esteem increases. In their maintenance of a peer group relationship, social media has a pivotal role. Social media has emerged as a powerful platform for maintaining an individual’s human network. That is why social media has become a major area of interest in the field of the sociology of information.
Further, it is peer group members (friends) who provide this information. They provide information that they have received from other group members. This transmission of information is not a simply functional act, but an act which allows them to share something emotional. The transmission of information by itself is not important. It is emotionally sharing information that has value. According to relational maintenance theory, when one person recognizes another as someone to whom he or she can give support, and someone from whom he or she can receive support (such as sending icon images, sending cute stickers, giving Likes in Facebook), even if these acts look trivial, they can lead to emotional reliance, as this reciprocal act becomes a ritual for them. Young people put a lot of effort into how they represent themselves in their peer groups.

Social support and the imaginary-
Another reason young people use social media is to receive social support from their peer groups. They spend a great deal of time making up their profile pages, since they determine how the user looks. Very susceptible to the eyes of others, the young generation sets a high value on how others think of their images in social media. This can be explained as an imaginative audience behavior, since they think of themselves as being an object of admiration and attracting the attention of others. Often, the young generation decorates and makes up their images in social life so much that their identity as constructed in social media can look quite different from their identity in the real world. Even if they are not the center of the world in real life, even if they do not get much attention from others at school, they want to look good, cool, and elegant, and be admired and loved, at least in the social media world. Their elegant image in social media increases the possibility that their value will be highly regarded by their peer group, which increases their feelings of self-esteem. When they get a lot of “social support” stickers — such as “Likes” on Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat — after uploading a new photo, this social support provides an enhanced feeling of self-esteem.

What are the downsides of social media addiction?
Social media is, arguably, one of the most exciting developments in recent history. There is no harm in using social media platforms every now and then, even every day, but the more time spent on it the more likely you are to experience the negative aspects. Some possible negative consequences from overusing social media include. The use of social media is associated with various issues, when it comes to people’s emotional wellbeing, mental and physical health, and many other areas of life. Specifically, research shows that the use of social media is associated with:
Degrades Moral values of today’s generation :-
Generation gap is the gap between today’s youth and their parents or in another words the difference between the thoughts and opinion of today’s youth with their parents. The main reason for the generation gap is communication gap between parents and today’s youth as parents are busy working and the youth is busy with the electronic gadgets that are given to them by their parents. As time passes by, the rule and regulation of the world changes. The parents often cannot keep up with these changes. In today’s world the word moral have lost its meaning. The youth does not have the same moral values that their parents have. As the youth has almost forgot about the meaning of the word moral, they tend to act differently which sometime is not accepted by the society. Morals always help people reach their goals it’s all because of these Social Media.
Caveats about the dangers of Social Life:-
1. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a phenomenon that became prominent around the same time as the rise of social media. Unsurprisingly, it’s one of the most widespread negative effects of social media on society.
2. Reduces Face-to-Face Interaction
3. Increases Cravings for Attention
4. Distracts From Life Goals
5. Can Lead to a Higher Risk of Depression, Anxiety ,Social anxiety and embarrassment ,Exposure to negative people, trolls, or bullies.
6. Disrupted sleep patterns when using at night because of the effects of blue light, Decreased physical activity, which may affect your overall health.
7.  Stunts Creativity, Encountering Cyberbullies.
8.Social Comparison Reduces Self-Esteem & Distracts From Life Goals.
9. Unrealistic Expectations & Negative Body Image.
10. Developing more extreme views because of one-sided customized content&Ignoring the relationships in your “real”life
11. Interference with important obligations, such as schoolwork, Colleges, Office work, Homes & General issues, such as exposure to misinformation, violation of one’s privacy, and political polarization.

WHAT CAN WE DO?
If you notice some of the signs of social media addiction, work on trying to set some clear limits around how much or how often you log in, and how much time you spend on these platforms. Keep in mind these platforms are designed to get and hold your attention, so work on taking control of your usage instead of letting these sites control you. This way, social media can be something that enhances your quality of life, instead of diminishing it.
Social Pedagogy:-
One way of developing children and young people’s resilience is to use a social pedagogical approach to their care and education. We need to put a focus on helping children and young people to develop their emotional resilience. Rainey stated “Emotional resilience: It’s the armour you need for modern life” in Real life. Which sounds serious but it seems that being tough enough is what’s required to withstand the blows of modern society. Being emotionally resilient is essential in being able to cope with difficult and challenging situations.
THE FUTURE-
As the future of the world is in the shoulder of today’s youth, their lack of moral values can affect the future quite badly and the affect will be disastrous.
To improve the society the youth should learn about their mistakes and take action against it and it cannot happen until and unless they have a set of morals.
MIR IQBAL SKINDER
Research & Scientific Officer Scholar
Miriqbal89@gmail.com
To Be Continued with Next Chapter…………….