Impact of Social Media Reels on Today’s Youth
Youth is simply defined as the period of life during which a person is seen neither as child nor as adult. In this context, it is important to understand the phenomenal changes found in young adulthood — the way these affect the interpersonal relations — and their implications at large. Hall, the father of adolescent psychology, defined adolescence as “stress and storm”. According to Hall, this phase is essential to the person's maturation into an adult. According to Freud, young individuals try to establish adult sexual relationships during this time of growing sexual interest and intimacy. The most well-known contribution of renowned developmental psychologist Erik Erikson is his theory of psychosocial development. According to him, adolescence is a crucial time in the formation of an individual's identity and a period of intense self-discovery and exploration during which people must deal with the psychosocial conflict known as Identity vs. Role Confusion. Marcia looked at how teenagers approach identity formation to build on Erikson's findings. He distinguished four identity states that describe how teenagers approach commitment and inquiry: identity dissemination, foreclosure, moratorium, and achievement. By pointing out that not all teenagers go through identity formation in the same way or at the same time, Marcia's work enhanced Erikson's theory of identity formation.
Social media sites like YouTube, Instagram and TikTok have brought to the limelight a new kind of mass media in the current digital era, i.e. short form of video material, or "reels" which gives immense pleasure to today’s youth. Social media platforms typically allow individuals, groups, or organizations to connect, exchange and form virtual communities. Considering the multifaced use of social media in today's time, it can be said that on one hand social media is a boon while on other hand it is a bane. In summary, social media is a versatile tool that may be used for several purposes, such as promoting community wellness, creative expression and promotion. Although it has many advantages, there are drawbacks as well, including issues with information veracity, authenticity and privacy besides physical and mental health (Kuss et. al., 2017). A reel is a brief, captivating video format used in social media to produce and distribute content on sites like Facebook and Instagram. Reels last between 15 to 90 seconds, though platforms may keep changing the duration restrictions over time. This practice of watching reels has grown so wide that it is accommodated as one's basic task just like commuting, eating, or getting ready for bed. Though it provides amusement to young adults, it also has many negative repercussions. (Rosen et. al.,2013, Dhir et. al., 2018)
The analysis draws us to the conclusion that social media reels can be rewarding and favourable in certain respects like growth of self esteem, sense of achievement, fulfillment, life satisfaction, quality of decision-making, culture boundedness and professional accomplishments. As long as exposure and use of reels are within bounds, the effects are mostly considered productive. Uncontrolled and faulty use is, however, linked to negative outcomes such as risk taking, anxiety, lifestyle changes, feelings of inadequacy and lack of control. Proper interventions should be planned to address the challenges faced by the young population and make social media reels productive and relevant in their lives.
References:
Rosen, L. D., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N. A. 2013. Facebook and texting made me do it: Media-induced task-switching while studying. Computers in Human Behavior, 29/3, p. 1111-1114.
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