What are the effects of picture and video-based social media sites like Snapchat or Instagram on teenage social interaction? essay sample

All teenagers like nice pictures. They enjoy cute photos of animals, popular celebrities, and picturesque landscapes. Teens adore Instagram and alike websites as they can share pretty moments of their everyday life and find out more about their friends from the images in their profiles. We may assume that the influence of picture and video-based social media upon teens’ communication is very similar to that of a Facebook, however, Instagram and Snapchat have their own peculiarities.

Appreciating photos of other users, teenagers start to see people who surround them every day from the new point of view. Appreciating hobbies and activities of others, youngsters try to make friends with these people and expand their social environment with individuals they like. However, there is another side of the same coin: looking at the fancy pictures of peers taken in some luxurious places, teenagers start to envy and move away from those who appeared to be luckier or just wealthier. Children frequently want to look as nice as individuals they envy and hide their embarrassment from the whole world retreating into themselves. Less sensitive individuals, however, take pompous pictures of others as an incentive for gossiping.

Unlike rich kids who post too fancy images to underline their social status, ordinary students avoid posting images of themselves in heavily-rimmed glasses and with freckled skin. Nevertheless, cyber -bullies easily find an access to the compromising materials and make the life of poor kids unbearable. It is impossible for everybody to look nice in the pictures, and aggressive teenagers will certainly use this chance to harass kids they do not like.