Kids are seeing toxic relationships on social media and now they're mimicking it.
Maniyah Jackson & Matiyah Jackson
May 24, 2024Adults & teenagers glorify toxicity on social media, especially when it comes to their relationships. It is seen as more common for couples to disrespect and bash each other on these platforms as a way to show that they care rather than respecting each other as individuals. Pre-teens are also on these platforms and they began to mimic these things, causing them to express them into their own relationships.
When a toxic relationship is viewed as ¨normal¨ on social media platforms, it becomes common for pre-teens to mimic what they see. This happens often because they´re allowed access to these social media platforms that give them a negative view on things they shouldn't have experience in.
Tiktok user (mskaayleezy) acts out a skit of her disrespecting her boyfriend for attention, in the video her boyfriend hangs up on her and she is upset by this, as if his actions weren´t justified..this part of the video is followed up with an audio stating that ¨he doesn't love her anymore¨ for not tolerating her disrespect.
Pre-teens use social media in their everyday life, but when toxic behaviors are viewed as normal on social media platforms we question if it's appropriate for the use of pre-teens and under. Zayd Brown & Parker Scott shared the same opinion about how social media affects their generation in a negative way because of the normalization of toxic relationships on the media.
According to Middle scholar at Carver E&S (Zayd Brown) Most Pre-teens are influenced by celebrity relationships and they hold their own relationships up to a standard that usually happens to be the normalization of a toxic relationship.
¨Alot of kids now look at celebrity relationships as if it's how their relationships should be, and honestly a lot of celebrities are into toxic relationships. It's not really what you wanna look up to,¨ Zayd Brown said.
Kids nowadays look up to influencers as role models, they use social media platforms like Tiktok & Instagram to keep up with the lives of these influencers. This causes them to reflect the lives of their role models onto their own.
¨ We look up to celebrities as role models, so once we see how their relationships are, we want to reflect that into our own,¨ says Parker Scott middle scholar at Carver E&S.
Social media gives high expectations on how a relationship should or shouldn't be. The majority of kids re-project these relationships ¨goals¨ onto others that they have relationships with due to the normalization online.
¨It definitely messes up your view of it, like you need to be able to open your eyes and see that not everything you see online needs to be re-projected into your life, with your own partner. Especially since a lot of it is fabricated and does not show what really goes on behind the scenes,¨ says Zayd Brown middle scholar at Carver E&S.
Most kids nowadays use social media as an escape from the reality of their own lives,“Men and women are constantly being shown images of what the ‘ideal’ relationship looks like, and this can put a lot of strain on relationships that don’t live up to the ridiculous standards set by celebrity couples,” says Jonathan Bennett a relationship expert, life coach, and certified counselor. This makes kids think ¨maybe I need to do this in order to be happy or experience this in life¨ not giving them time to experience what it's like to be a kid.
¨We look to social media as an escape so once we see our idols in relationships and how they spend their time with their partners, we also want to do just that, so social media just reflects on how everyone in society views their own life and what it means to be happy,¨ Parker Scott said.
Toxic relationships are viewed as more normal than healthy ones because that's become more popular online. They think it's not ¨normal¨ to show respect to the ones you love because it's so common on apps or with people they view as superior.
¨A lot of people now aspire to have a toxic relationship, because in some way they think it is cute and they like it, i don't understand what that is about,¨Zayd Brown said.
Although social media platforms can be used in a positive manner, for example spreading awareness. It shouldn't be kids online viewing negative things that are seen to be ¨normal¨ especially since it has negative effects on how kids spend their childhood.
A lot of parents should be supervising their kids when they're using apps such as tiktok or instagram, in order to avoid any encouragement of toxic or dangerous behavior, you never know what your child is being influenced by whether it is in a positive or negative manner, especially since it is so important for kids to understand that not everything on social media should be taken literally or reflected into their own life.