Negative effects of facebook on teens who overuse this social media include:
• Teens who use Facebook frequently may become narcissistic. If you are not already familiar with that term, dictionary.com describes narcissism as an, "inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity." Most likely these are not the character traits you desire for your child.
• Teens who have a strong Facebook presence may display psychological disorders, such as anti-social behaviors, and mania & aggressive tendencies. An anti-social child often does not consider the effects their actions have on others. This can be quite dangerous, especially during the already-volatile teen years. Perhaps this should be termed the anti social media effect.
• The Facebook effect is real, but teens who "overdose" on technology daily, and this includes video games too, have higher absenteeism from school and are more likely to get stomach aches, have sleep issues, and feel more anxious and depressed.
• Middle and high school students, as well as college students, who checked their Facebook once during the 15-minute study time, had lower test grades. Perhaps this is similar to being a distracted driver.
• During the 15-minute studying time research, those students who checked their Facebook most often also had the lowest rates of reading retention. This probably is not too surprising, but now it is a proven fact, in case you need to tell your kids.
Positive Side Effects of Facebook:
• Development of a "virtual" empathy which actually affected friends' moods positively, and caused teens to be more empathetic in their everyday lives, as well. It seems that encouraging comments online can put a smile on someone's face and improve moods.
• Facebook and other social networking sites give shy children a way to socialize which might otherwise be lacking altogether. Hopefully, this virtual training ground can extend into actual face-to-face interactions.
• Use of Facebook may impact self-esteem in a positive way and allows children to develop their self-identity. Choosing a profile photo, listing likes & dislikes, favorites of this-and-that, quotations, and the like, all "force" your child to become more self-aware.
