Social Media On Autism Teens
It’s no secret that social media is an integral part of teens’ lives nowadays. It helps them stay in touch with friends, share their interests, and express themselves. The situation is a bit more complicated for teens on the autism spectrum. In this article, we will review The Sad Truth Of Social Media On Autism Teens.
The Pros of Social Media On Autism Teens
At its core, social media provides some great benefits and positive influence of social media on autistic teens:
1. A Sense of Belonging
. Difficulties with social interaction and communication are among the defining features of autism. It can make it hard for teens on the spectrum to fit in and find a tribe walking around in the physical world. Social media is a different matter, though. There, the screen’s light, teens on the spectrum can connect with people like them. Social media hosts an array of special interest groups, forums, and online communities where people on the autism spectrum can interact with each other. They can form valid relationships with kindred spirits sharing the same interests and challenges. The sense of belonging to a group empowers developing teens, on the spectrum or not, as it fosters self-confidence and self-esteem and enables emotional learning and growth.
2. Opportunities for Self-Expression
Social media allows teens on the spectrum to express themselves in virtually impossible ways in face-to-face interaction. They can share their thoughts, creative endeavours, and experiences in writing, videos, or artworks. It can be quite therapeutic for them as it is often easier to describe their feelings and experiences in writing. Also, it is an opportunity to share their talents and unique perspectives that their social circle can fail to appreciate.
Building social skills
Although social media should never be used as a complete replacement for face-to-face interactions, it can be efficient as a training wheel for helping people develop specific social skills. For instance, it will be far easier for a teen with autism to initiate the conversation and keep the dialogue going via messaging than in real life. In addition, such interactions can also help one to develop proper communicative skills and learn some social benchmarks that can help to avoid misunderstanding. Lastly, even if one mastered these skills online only, it will still make it easier to interact with the real world, as it is a known fact that people tend to feel more at ease when communicating from a distance.
Access to information
The point can be regarded as an extension of the previous one to some extent, as through social media, one can also discover various sources that can help them learn social rules/signs and ways to follow them. In addition, there are plenty of places on the web where one can find relevant information concerning autism, such as what triggers it and how to avoid those triggers, preventing panic attacks. Thus, one can become more aware of the problem and try to regulate one’s behaviour more effectively.
An outlet for one’s interests
Many people with autism have some interests that they are passionate about, such as games, science, or mythology. The web offers a plethora of communities where one can discuss these topics and individual interests in any way one wishes. Communication Skills. For some autistic teens, the online world makes it easier to practice communication, which can be difficult in person. The ability to take time to formulate responses can help build confidence. While social media has many drawbacks and dangers, its potential benefits for teens with autism should not be overlooked. It can give teens a sense of community, provide opportunities for self-expression, serve as a space for developing practical skills, and offer valuable information.
The Cons of Social Media On Autism Teens
The downsides and hazards of social media for young people with ASD include the following.
Information Overloading
Another aspect of autistic teens being overwhelmed on social media is the sheer amount of information, images, videos, and notifications that flood the screen on social media applications. A growing number of young people on the spectrum may find it difficult to process so many stimuli, and the need to scroll, swipe, or click to “refresh” their feed to get more updates is constant. This continuous flow of non-stop information on social media applications is overload sensing and can lead to anxiety, restlessness, and focus difficulties.
Difficulty Decoding Social Cues
Autism teens have trouble reading social cues and body language, leading to social misunderstandings and conflicts online. Much of the daily social activities that most of us take for granted happen in youth away from their information — managing our tone, lack of confidence in articulating young and backbone, and mentioning at the moment to change overload proper home expectations — pose myriad complications with autosomal social giants. Bullying and Exploitation
Cyberbullying
Unfortunately, cyberbullying may be the fatal Social Media On Autism. Teens young people with ASD may find it threatening, as the victims are often bullied online, and the youth are not good at identifying deceptive behaviour or lies. Cyberbullying can take many guises, such as calling names, spreading false rumours, or sharing embarrassing details. As a consequence, it can take a critical toll on an adolescent’s mental and physical health, as well as their sense of self-esteem and well-being. Bullying Linked With Tooker URL To Be Blind Gho. Malware and Scams.TIME..
Addiction and Obsessive Behaviors
The engaging and immersive nature of social media can result in addiction and other unhealthy obsessions. Especially for those with autism, being bombarded by the stimulus of computer-mediated communication might be difficult to deal with. As teens on the spectrum struggle more with inflexible routines, restricted interests, and social withdrawal, the excessive time spent on SM reduces their productivity during the day, disrupts their sleep patterns, and becomes a nuisance in society.
Misinformation and Negative Influences
While social media can provide access to valuable information and various resources, it is arguably also a hotbed of misinformation, pseudoscience, and potentially harmful ideologies. Autism teens, who often struggle with determining fact from fiction themselves, along with hidden agendas, are especially vulnerable to these negative influences.
First and foremost, the prevalence of misinformation is one of the biggest problems, as fake, baseless, or conspiratorial thinking can easily affect any topic, including the condition itself. Autism teens often struggle to recognise the credibility of a source and can easily fall into the trap of thinking the wrong thing. Additionally, the problem is exasperated due to the existence of various isolated communities, either nudged together or separated on purpose by the algorithms, and either one of these communities may adopt and spread negative beliefs, ideologies, acute bias, or even hate.
Autism teens are especially susceptible to these communities, as similar to neurotypical peers, they often have trouble finding support or friends and are attracted to these groups, inadvertently or accepting negative ideas. Meanwhile, some accounts may promote false claims of pseudoscientific treatments, alternative therapies, or unproven interventions, often or not dangerous or placebic and capitalise on the sheer desperation or vulnerability of suffering families.
While these claims may sound hopeful and appealing, they may lead to nothing short of time and resources that could be spent elsewhere, pain, injury, or death in some severe cases. While the downsides exist, the upsides should not be disregarded, and further guidance and supervision by parents could potentially protect teens from the negative aspects of misinformation and such manipulation.
How to Use Social Media for Your Benefit Without Being Hyped
It is generally valid, even among non-autistic people, that anything, including this world, is best experienced in moderation. Thus, to use social media to your advantage, you need to follow a few practical guidelines:
- Set a reasonable time limit for using SM—you do not need to scroll through numerous news feed entries for hours a day;
- always be on your guard towards any potential online predator, and never disclose private information on SM platforms or messenger apps;
- if you feel overwhelmed by the columns of news feeds or the flow of social interactions in messengers, allow yourself to take a break;
- adjust the privacy settings so that only the people you allow can see your posts and interact with them;
- You can nominate someone close to you as an accountable person. It will be even better if this person understands your psychological needs.
For teens with autism, both the positive aspects of SM and the risks associated with its misuse look like all-or-nothing. This pressure can be alleviated by open communication.
Parents, educators, as well as healthcare professionals working with teens with autism need to teach them scepticism and provide them with the tools to navigate the online world. Critical thinking in relation to online content is at the core of these skills. It has to help a teen with autism to know how to distinguish reliable sources from obviously biased ones, how to assess and verify information and recognise any direct or hidden agenda.
The online world offers infinite ways to interact with people, explore new formats, and express oneself. However, to bring more out-of-the-norm joy, beautiful things need to be balanced. By using social media as a tool and not overburdening themselves with it, teens with autism will be able to use it for their benefit.
