The age of technology. When someone hears that, they immediately think of the twenty first century, the era where technology boosted. But the rate on addiction for teenagers on social media also took a rise and even adults have turned their whole lives to be surrounded by social media and technology.

 Teenagers and social media is pretty self explanatory. Many studies have shown that kids have their whole lives surrounded with social media. Many just can’t live without it.

 “Social media can provide news for young people but also People like to only on social media which can lead to young people to kill themselves because of how much they surround their lives around it” said Erica Steen (11).

  Social media has been the cause of so many deaths around the world. Teenagers think that if they don’t get a certain number of likes then they won’t be accepted. It’s embarrassing to most kids if they don’t get the number of likes they wanted.

  “The popularity contests of childhood are online now and revolve around how many ‘likes’ you get. A low number of ‘likes’ typically translates into low social status, and possible shaming and bullying. A high number of ‘likes’ translates to popularity and the pressure to sustain your status,” explained the Huffington Post while doing a study about the teens who are addicted to social media in today’s age.

      Teenagers spend so much time on social media, it is taking over their entire lives. They see family less, interact with friends in person, and care less about their education.

  “Under-16s spend an average of three hours a day online, which overtook time spent watching television for the first time this year. They watch videos on YouTube, scroll through Instagram (400 million users worldwide), post on Facebook (1.5 billion) and hang out on Snapchat (100 million),” said The Guardian News, while explaining how much teenagers spend their lives online.

  Then there are the adults and their opinions. Many adults think that teenagers are getting bullied because other kids are so mean online. But what if it’s really adults being the mean ones?

  “I’ve had adults on social media be mean to me because they get biased news. It’s really frustrating,” explains Andy Holifield(12).

  Many adults have never thought of them being a possible bully because they are grown up and they don’t see their words hurting anyone. It’s really quite hypocritical of them to believe.

  What parents don’t think about is that their words are just more powerful and even hurt more than an immature teenager just making a joke. Adults cause almost the same amount of deaths from saying mean things on social media compared to teenagers.

  Sue Scheff, an adult bullying survivor explains, “How can we possibly rationalize this behavior in adults? It’s indisputable that grown-ups should know better, and the fact that they continue to harass is despicable. And today, bullying often happens online, which creates a long-lasting emotional sting.”

  On top of bullying, adults are also as addicted to social media as teenagers. Adults spend the same amount of time of different kinds of websites and media interaction. Teenager’s whole lives are on their cell phones and computers, but so are adults.

   “At its best, social media has given a voice to the disenfranchised. At its worst, it’s a weapon of mass reputation destruction,” explains Laura Hudson from Wired News as she talks about adults shaming others.

  Parents don’t see themselves as addictive as kids, but the whole world has become so addicted to their cell phones and technology that really the entire world is addicted.

  The age of technology has come with a lot of perks to life, but it has also come with the consequence of much addiction to social media and other technological devices. It’s led to teenagers and adults to surround their whole lives online and that has led to more hate and more hurting to others over the cyberspace. Social media has its perks, but it also ends up ruining many lives.