Page 23 - Dainfern Precinct Living Issue 10_2023

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Today's Child

of ‘friends’ you have against your peers. It is • Hooked on scrolling. Most social media
natural to compare. We compare ourselves platforms are designed to keep users
with others in terms of abilities, social engaged for long periods of time. IG does
standing and even how we feel. Social this very effectively by allowing users to
media is making it a lot more difficult to scroll indefinitely. Teens and adults quickly
avoid comparing. Researchers are even lose track of time while scrolling and
calling this the ‘compare and despair’ of looking for nothing in particular. Sleep
IG. The typical IG user spends most of gets disrupted and relationships become
his/her time on observing other people, strained as families no longer communicate
occasionally messaging but not too often with one another but rather sit next to one
posting. In other words, users spend most another while playing on their phones.
of their time gathering information about • Direct messages (DM). DMs allows
others. As a result, it is nearly impossible to users to share posts, videos, photos, voice
not use this information to compare their messages and calls with each other. Even if a
lives with that of others. teen’s account is set as private, anybody with
an IG account is able to DM another IG user.
Teens also believe others have more friends Even if the person is not one of the teen’s
than they really do based on the number followers, the message is still sent to them.
of followers a person has. The teen user The teen then has the option of whether or
may have hundreds/thousands of followers not to accept the message. As per human
because their account is set as business or nature, curiosity may win and the teen is
open but they only really know a handful. exposed to someone or something you
For the teen with fewer followers, the would prefer them not knowing about or
assumption then is that they are less liked, seeing.
less connected and therefore less popular. • Influencer culture. Influencer culture is
The seduction comes into play where a fascinating thing. Influencers promote
the ‘less popular’ teen must create a post products, services, apps etc. to a target
which will get more followers or they must audience. These tid-bits are not always easy
be more active on IG. Sometimes these to uncover as they are housed in benign-
posts have to be extreme such as bikini looking posts and may mislead teens into
pics or semi-nudes. Or they may choose to wanting something promoted on their feed.
change their account setting from private For example, teens may not necessarily have
to business or open so as to attract more the financial means to make a purchase. This
followers. could lead to feeling of lower self-worth and
inappropriate behaviour to find a means of
NATIONAL ONLINE SAFETY GIVES acquiring the desired item.
MANY POINTS PARENTS NEED TO • Mental health challenges. As mentioned
KNOW ABOUT. previously, edited photos and enhanced
Here I mention the most prominent points photos are the norm on IG. These create
for me: false and unrealistic expectations for teens

24 DPL issue 9 2023 DPL issue 10 2023 23
DPL issue 2 2023 7
22 DPL issue 10 2023
20 DPL issue 8 2023