Teenage Girls´ Perspectives of the Negative Effects of Social Media Use : A qualitativestudy of how teenage girls experience the negative effects of social media use as senders and receivers

Sammanfattning: Background: Nowadays, the usage of social media starts at a very young age because of the availability of tools where social media platforms become available. Even though social media can be very usable in many cases, it can also be harmful. It can be seen that it is between the ages of 12-17 that teenage girls suffer the most from social media use as senders and receivers, and with this, there are negative effects that can harm these teenage girls. It is therefore important to understand the consequences that come when using social media as a teenage girl. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore how teenage girls, as senders and receivers, experience the negative effects of social media use. Method: This research undertook a qualitative research approach with an exploratory nature. In order for the researchers to collect data for the study a pilot test was first conducted in order to make sure that the actual semistructured interviews could be conducted. The semi-structured interviews were conducted by gathering data from participants of eight teenage girls between the ages of 12-17 from a local high school in Växjö, Sweden. Findings: This research found that the negative effects for a sender on social media were found to be sleep quality and the need to interact with others. Furthermore, the negative effects for a receiver were found to be sleep quality, the creation of bad habits, influencers, and undesired content. Conclusion: The findings show that there were more negative effects of using social media as a receiver than as a sender from the teenage girls perspective. Sleep quality was affecting both senders and receivers but in different aspects. The need to interact with others was the major impact on a sender on social media. Furthermore, the result showed that creation of bad habits, influencers, and undesired content were negatively affecting the teenage girls as receivers from their social media use.