The Impact of Social Media on Youth: Problems, Analysis, and Solutions
Xayitova Mehribon
Introduction
The 21st century is the era of information technologies and digital communication. The Internet and social media have rapidly become an integral part of human life. Nowadays, young people spend a significant part of their day in the virtual space. This has a substantial impact on their thinking, worldview, and behavior. Therefore, the influence of social media on youth is not only a pedagogical and psychological issue but also a socially significant problem.
Main Part
1. Positive Effects of Social Media
Modern social platforms create vast opportunities for young people. Primarily, they serve as a rapid source of information. Youth can stay informed about global events, learn scientific and popular knowledge, and broaden their intellectual horizons.
Moreover, social media:
expands access to distance learning;
helps learn foreign languages;
provides a platform for creative expression;
offers exposure to different professional fields.
Especially during the pandemic, social media and online platforms became a crucial component of the education system, demonstrating their positive potential.
2. Negative Effects and Risk Factors
At the same time, social media has negative aspects that significantly affect youth consciousness. One major problem is time mismanagement — many young people spend hours consuming unproductive content.
Another critical issue is exposure to false or harmful information. Not all online content is reliable, and the inability to differentiate can lead to poor decision-making.
Additionally:
excessive immersion in virtual life;
mental stress from comparing oneself with others;
cyberbullying;
weakening real-life communication skills
are widely observed.
Psychological studies show that social media addiction can lead to decreased attention span, disrupted sleep patterns, and increased stress levels.
3. The Role of Social Environment in Shaping Youth
From a scientific perspective, adolescence is a crucial stage in personality formation. At this age, values, attitudes, and social positions are established. Social media plays a strong external influence in this process.
If young people engage with useful, educational, and informative content, it positively affects their development. Conversely, shallow or harmful content negatively impacts their mindset. Therefore, social media can be considered a double-edged sword.
4. Solutions and Recommendations
Addressing this issue requires a comprehensive approach. First, it is essential to develop information literacy among youth. Every young person must be able to critically evaluate the information encountered online.
The following measures can be effective:
parental guidance and proper supervision;
incorporating media literacy education in schools and universities;
promoting quality and beneficial content;
organizing meaningful leisure activities for youth.
Additionally, involving young people in sports, reading, and creative activities can reduce social media over-dependence.
Conclusion
In conclusion, social media is a vital component of modern society that strongly influences youth. Using its positive potential wisely while minimizing its negative effects is a pressing contemporary task.
The key points are:
fostering independent thinking in youth;
developing the ability to distinguish reliable information;
maintaining a balance between virtual and real-life activities.
Addressing these challenges is the responsibility of each member of society.
A book review of “Letters that Breathe Fire” by Margaret Randall
by J.T. Whitehead
When confronted with a book that is both very well done, and also very important, it’s difficult to avoid being hyperbolic. Margaret Randall’s book, “Letters that Breathe Fire,” is both of these things. It is an exceptionally well-done anthology of letters from dozens of significant and well-loved poets and writers, pulled from a near-decade of her work with Sergio Mondragon putting together the remarkable bi-lingual literary journal, El Corno Emplumado / The Plumed Horn. The letters from Issues # 1 through # 31, from January, 1962, through April, 1969, are not only wonderful reading, but they are just as significant for their cultural and historical importance.
I can appreciate a book of letters by any favorite author or poet; with the letter we see the writer advancing his or her or their thought without any deference to the rules that define a work of art. With pretty much all of the poets in this book, the last accusation that would stand up against them is “pretense.” But it remains the case that with letters, we see more of the person, engaging in a different form of communication that is guaranteed to be authentic. Their poetry follows every poet that ever came before them, regardless of which precedent they choose to respect. But with letters, we get to sit on the barstool next to each poet, and just converse. That by itself is one of things that makes the book such a wonderful book to read.
I can think of three general or “big picture” reasons for why this is a book that one should buy, and read. The book is a philosophical work. The book is also a cultural artifact, or snapshot; perhaps a photo album full of snapshots would say it better. And as noted the book is just a very good book full of great writing. All three reasons should not only encourage an individual reader. If anyone reading this review has anything to do with the stock of any library, especially one connected with any campus, the book belongs on your shelves for these reasons.
The book is of great interest to anyone interested in political philosophy. Do not misread me. I’m not saying it is a work of political philosophy. I’m saying that it is an “act” of political philosophy. The family of thought it exemplifies dates back to long before, yet represents, the “Theses on Feuerbach,” which state that the philosophers have understood the world so far, but that the point is to change it. The book is itself an endeavor in that direction.
But the tradition of thought to which this book belongs is a tradition that pre-dates the works of Marx, a fact no right winger understands. It dates back to the “Book of Acts.” This gives us some idea of how long the struggle for social justice has been happening. And along the way, some have realized that ideas can change reality, that the interaction between ideas and material reality is not a one-way, deterministic street in which material stuff determines what we think – that history is not simply following material or economic leads, but that it can be inspired by something less physical, like words. The book opens with a great quote that grasps this: Jose Pepe Mujica laments a generational error that was once believed: that social change was only a matter of changing material reality, when in fact culture occupies an immense role, and that the struggle for justice can be waged on the cultural level as well. The error he corrects began in the 1800’s with Engels. We’ve grown. Ideas matter, and can make a difference. As the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas taught, communication is a form of action. This book is a “work” of political philosophy, not in the sense that John Locke’s Treatises are such works, or Hobbes’ Leviathan. I mean: this book “does” good work, and proves Habermas’s thesis.
Margaret Randall’s book is also the best “archive” in the history of culture and ideas that I have encountered in decades. I will admit some bias, but I think the bias is a good one. While clerking for a bookshop I reached the point at which I imagined a Venn diagram of poets, and found it to be complex, when looking to specific publishers that date from approximately the 50’s, if not sooner, until the 70’s if not later. I would check the spine for publishers and I gravitated towards works published by Ferlinghetti at City Lights, Barney Rosset at Grove, James Laughlin at New Directions, or John Martin at Black Sparrow. They overlapped when it came to the poets. What attracted me was the manner in which they blew open the entire field. Those houses gave me a chance to read Kenneth Patchen, or Allen Ginsberg. The Beats happened, and the mimeograph era was likely also in full swing, (but for that one may have to locate a hard-to-find book by Christopher Harter). In any case, born in 1965, I could only observe, as if in a documentary, what appears to have happened:
Poetry became, suddenly, more . . . democratic.
Margaret Randall’s excellent compilation, “Letters that Breathe Fire,” are letters from those poets to one another. It is the best sample of what was happening when poetry became more democratic. It became more democratic because of the work she and Sergio Mondragon were doing with The Plumed Horn.
The book is also wonderful as a piece of cultural history. The Horn, placed these letters from the poets and contributors on special, colored pages. This was effectively a bulletin board for writers and thinkers to communicate with the readers, and with one another. This was before Facebook, before Instagram, before blogs, before computers. This was a public forum, made possible by Randall and Mondragon. We are reminded again of Habermas’s premise that communication is a communal act. And all this predated the computer age.
What makes this book such a better read than letter collections by one poet is the sheer number of poets we get to hear from. I’ve read Creeley’s, or Pound’s, or Bukowski’s letters, appreciating the poet if not their politics (Pound), but not at once cover to cover, without interruption. I couldn’t. It was too much Creeley, Pound, or Bukowski. This was not so with “Letters that Breathe Fire.” This book is anything but monotonous. Diverse in voice, the book includes, by my rough count, at least 100 poets. Some poets, given the mission of the literary journal, appear as expected. Ernesto Cardenal is the most obvious example. But even the metaphysical and leaping poet Robert Bly makes an appearance. The poets are as diverse as the following partial list would indicate (in order of the table of contents): Robert Kelly; Clayton Eshleman; Jackson Mac Low; Ernesto Cardenal; Ted Enslin; Diane Wakoski; Gary Snyder; Thomas Merton; Lawrence Ferlinghetti; Tom Raworth; Charles Bukowski; Robert Bly; Denise Levertov; Cid Corman. And more.
My limited list does not intentionally omit the Central or South Americans: I listed poets whose works I have read, and this book, “Letters that Breathe Fire,” has helped me understand my deficiency. Because of Randall’s book I now have a new list of poets to explore, all from south of the border. I chose the poets for the above list simply because of my familiarity with them, because I knew that they were could be as unlike one another as, say, T.S. Eliot is from Wanda Coleman. Listing them, I knew I was making the point about their different voices. Randall’s book is a treasure trove for any poet who wishes to be introduced to new voices, for just this reason. I’ve read Americans who live south of Texas, and more than Neruda or Borges. But now my list has grown, thanks to this book. If the above list is short it is due to a lack of exposure, on my part, and not bias.
With each new poet’s letter, I discovered a new gift, different from the previous. I’m reminded of an advent calendar or a childhood treasure hunt, in which each new opening or each new advance reveals some new treasure. This is why this collection of letters is so much more enjoyable, for poets and other readers, than any other letter collection limited to one poet. One would expect their letters to display the differences. They do. More importantly, for the reader, is reading how much they shared of their humanity. Their diversity, as poets goes, is only one reason for why they best represent humanity. But they are on humanity’s side. These poets are with us, not against us. It’s that human, that basic.
This is an important book. It is itself an act of resistance, an act despite being “words.” It is communicative action. It captures our literary and cultural history. It is also, simply, wonderful reading, and not just for poets, and not just for philosophy students, but for all of us. The poets in this anthology wrote great poetry. Do not be surprised at how great they are at writing letters, to one another, and to us.
Black dogs tall ships sailing legends aboard the Shenandoah
Blacks dogs born and built this ship take people out one day at a time as a big wind jammer!
A lot of names for those ships you see them in Rockland Maine half way up the coast of Maine
But this one is from Matha’s Vineyard off of cape cod I never looked into it too expensive can’t afford it
I try not to cry about it for fear of being called too sensitive
Luxurious lives on those boats this girl named misery once jumped a float she used to
Live on a ship called The Schooner; people used to joke about it “the Schooner the better” they used to call it
One time my friend Gaye invited me to see the bay rich white gay man all on display
Told him I’ve never been on a boat so I got no sea legs he asked “well how did you come here from Africa?”
“I flew, I flew Air America…” He said they even have a schooner in Boston Harbor they call it The Liberty
Back in the days when scorned people fought to be free they used to serve up Sunday brunch
Wealthy people got on board and munch munch munch! The Sun shone bright those lazy days…
Summer days when the air smelled like green while poor people gazed then came the recession
So the ships found a new direction they all sailed to Florida couldn’t get any business too cold this time of year
No tourists except between May and September to see black dogs hung for adventure
Forty years ago souvenir shops were cheaper now that black dogs cost a lot more they’re rarer
Since they’ve all moved on to better weather now this side of the sea bacteria multiplies
With the speed of a giant panther malaria is having a blast. A procession of people in body casts!
Their hearts fire dying from hunger no one wants to lend a hand to the man in the sewer.
Jacques Fleury
Jacques Fleury is a Boston Globe featured Haitian American Poet, Educator, Author of four books and literary arts student at Harvard University online. His latest publication “You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self” & other titles are available at all Boston Public Libraries, the University of Massachusetts Healey Library, University of Wyoming, Askews and Holts Library Services in the United Kingdom, The Harvard Book Store, The Grolier Poetry Bookshop, Amazon etc… He has been published in prestigious publications such as Spirit of Change Magazine, Wilderness House Literary Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, Litterateur Redefining World anthologies out of India, Poets Reading the News, the Cornell University Press anthology Class Lives: Stories from Our Economic Divide, Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene among others…Visit him at: http://www.authorsden.com/jacquesfleury.–
Jacques Fleury’s book You Are Enough: The Journey Towards Understanding Your Authentic Self
Amb. Dr. Priyanka Neogi is from Coochbehar. She is an administrative controller of United Nations’ PAF, a librarian, a CEO of Lio Messi International Property & Land Consultancy, international literacy worker, sports & peace promoter, dancer, singer, reciter, live telecaster, writer, editor, researcher, literary journalist, host, beauty queen, international co-ordinator of the Vijay Mission of Community Welfare Foundation of India.
