Teens talk candidly about social media concerns
9NEWS surveyed students about what they wished their parents knew about social media. Tuesday morning we're sharing what students told us about bullying, nudity online, and their concerns about the effect social media has on self-esteem.
KUSA- Tuesday morning on 9NEWS we're focusing on social media and teens. 9NEWS sent surveys to teens at two different schools and asked them what they wished their parents knew about social media.
We've broken down what they told us and Tuesday on 9NEWS mornings we're sharing their concerns and talking with experts to provide resources.
NUDITY CONCERNS
When asked how often nude photos are sent around on social media or through text messages, one student responded "A lot. A lot."
"You know it's going on-- you think it's a lot-- but to be totally honest, it's like ten times more than that. It's happening at a younger age than what you think is right," said another student.
One student also talked about how uncomfortable they were with the images being shared.
"Uncomfortable and stuff. One of my friends got an inappropriate picture and I was like-- so uncomfortable. It was weird-- we both logged off of our social media until two days later and then we got back on."
SELF-ESTEEM CONCERNS
Many of the teens commented about the pressure put on them by social media to look their best. Some even said they deleted a post or photo after one negative comment.
"It's the worst honestly. You always to worry about "oh do I look ok in this picture? Is it ok to post? Am I going to get enough likes? Am I going to get enough comments-- you just always have to worry about what people are going to think. Do I Iook OK? You just always have to worry."
BULLYING CONCERNS
Bullying on social is so prevalent, one teen said it was "just something you kind of have to get used to."
It wasn't uncommon for things like "go kill yourself" to be posted online, according to the teens surveyed.
9NEWS psychologist Dr. Max Wachtel shared the following resources for parents.
“My cousin was bullied in person and over social media—and it drove her to suicide back in February,” said Marie Slotnick, and 8th-grade student at Oberon Middle School.
“People can be so mean—to others. It's just unreal. And parents don’t realize that. They realize they can be mean—but not as mean as they’d think.”
SPEAKING UP
Teens also expressed concerns about speaking about the things they read or see online. Some said they worried they'd be viewed as a tattletale or that wouldn't be believed at all.
"Even if you do tell someone about it-- they'll say just ignore it or just don't listen to them so I feel like sometimes telling someone doesn't really have as big of an effect as some people think," one teen said.
"One thing I wish you knew-- is the amount of people per day that get cyber-bullied. Yea and nobody ever says anything about it because that's just kind of how it is now," said another teen.
SAFETY
The teens also touched on safety. All of them admitted that they said or did something on social media that they later regretted.
“It’s almost like you don’t want to think about it—like think about all the bad stuff that happens on social media—and then you do finally do—and you realize how bad it is—but like everyone has it—so you don’t want to delete it."
Social media isn't all bad, we'll also be sharing some positive stories Tuesday morning. We will also be discussing online and social media safety.