Social Media and Peer Pressure Essay

Introduction

According to Goldberg (2018) drug and substance abuse can be defined as a disease that affects one’s brain as well as behavior. Once addicted to a specific substance or drug no matter how much damage it might be causing to the participant’s body both physically and mentally, it becomes almost impossible to fight or resist the desire or craving to use it. At first, it may be just an experimental phase where the participant just wanted to experiment with a specific drug just to experience the feeling of euphoria that one time but in most cases not all people who try drugs experimentally are mentally strong enough to say that just the one-time experience was enough and in turn leads to the person constantly chasing and craving that feeling of euphoria or looking for a better feeling that last longer and satisfies their need for the drug. In this essay, the focus will be on all the variables that contribute to the addiction to drugs and substances among teenagers in high schools and universities in the Boksburg area. The main variables that I will be focused on are mainly the family-related variables which include relationships between parents and children, conflict within a household between members of the household, lack of or poor parental monitoring of adolescents, parents excessively spoiling their children with much more than they need, I will also be focusing on external variables outside of the household being a mixture of peer pressure and factors from the area or community in which we are investigating.

Literature Review

Relationship between parent and child

According to Alhyas (2015), the relationship between parents and their children has an effect in the long run of an adolescent’s life on substance and drug abuse. In the study which was conducted by Alhyas (2015), she found that most of the adolescents who used substances had prior conflicts with their parents and or very poor relationships with their parents. Some of the participants in her study stated that if their parents were more hands-on on, supportive of their children’s unwanted behavior as opposed to punishment it would have made a difference in their addiction battle. Other participants stated that there was a need for a high level of parental monitoring of their children as a protective measure against substance abuse. Relationships between a parent and adolescents play a big role in the psychological development of adolescents e.g. an adolescent who is shown continuous love and dedication from a parent is less likely to fall into drug abuse or substance abuse as opposed to a child whose parents have never shown any affection or interest in their own child’s life thus leading the adolescent to wonder and question themselves as to why they are neglected or hardly paid attention to. Parental monitoring is one of the most important factors when it comes to relationships between parents and adolescents, adolescents need parents to focus on them to teach them right from wrong in all factors of life, parents who apply themselves to their children’s lives often see their children grow into responsible adults due to the attention that was paid to them at a young age versus parents who give their children too much freedom and neglect the well-being of their child regret the relationship they had with their child when their child turns to drugs or substances as an escape. However, as Alhyas's study suggests parents who are involved in their adolescent's lives also fall victim to their children becoming addicted to substances or drugs due to parents spoiling their adolescents and giving them too much freedom in terms of providing them with large amounts of pocket money or spending money at a time and or allowing them to come and go as they please. Adolescents who are spoiled with too much allowance often fall trapped in drug or substance abuse due to them having money or funds constantly available to support their bad habits as drugs and substances don’t come very cheap, on the other hand too much freedom has also proved to affect adolescents negatively due to them being allowed to do whatever they want they often fall into the wrong company or become acquaintances with others who have already fallen victim to drug and substance abuse.

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Peer Pressure

Peer pressure is defined by Rook (2016) as a strategy by which any group influences its members. Those who happen to be on the receiving end sooner or later change their behavior to fit into the group. Regrettably, a group of peers rarely pressure each other into changes that are good for example pressuring each other to strive for better grades or to meet deadlines on time, rather they find themselves being pressured into anything from smoking a cigarette to smoking marijuana or partaking in prescribed pills for a euphoric feeling. Adolescents are most likely to fall victim to peer pressure due to the importance placed on popularity among students in high schools and universities, adolescents would much rather be forced into trying illegal substances and do it instead of being rejected or isolated by other peers because they refused to partake in whatever was being offered. Although peer pressure is mainly linked to physical interaction with other peers it is not limited to that, peer pressure on social media sites is becoming increasingly high risk, teens who attend high school or university are extremely technologically forward in terms of social media which range anywhere from Instagram to Snapchat or Twitter, etc. Adolescents are exposed to pictures, videos, or tweets daily that illustrate that drinking or smoking marijuana or even trying pills are perceived as being cool, which in turn leads to popularity, constantly being exposed to these illustrations daily is eventually going to promote or convince an adolescent that participating in such behavior has become a norm or just another way to display popularity among peers, this had become known as digital peer pressure. A survey conducted by The National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University revealed, that 75% of teens seeing pictures of teens partying with alcohol or marijuana on social networking sites encouraged them to do the same, Jaslow (2012). However, when we speak about peer pressure it does not exclusively refer to adolescents or kids/teenagers it affects many adults as well, that statement the encouragement may come from everyday surroundings, where one resides, or with whom one is living or stays. When a person who no longer qualifies as a minor is affected by peer pressure it is usually to experience the feeling they felt the first time they experimented with a specific substance, in some cases couples who are living together or are married look to drugs as an escape from the everyday pressures of life and think that it will help them achieve peace in the relationship or to solve common problems such as everyday fighting. When discussing peer pressure we have to also take into consideration the mentality of different people about the way one thinks and acts in certain situations they are placed in and the level of self-control one possesses or does not possess at all, for example, people who act impulsively and make decisions very fast without evaluating where/what their decision will lead them to often are amongst the first to fall into the trap of peer pressure and are more likely than others to experiment or start using drugs or substances again.

Substance accessibility

Accessibility to drugs and substances is now more than ever before according to Keller (2015), for adolescents to get their hands on but the question is how? The first place that most adolescents find prescribed drugs is right under our noses, at home. One of the easiest ways for adolescents to access drugs and alcohol is in their own homes, and in most cases it’s not even dad or mum's liquor cupboard that is attracting their attention. It’s the family medication cabinet where anything from leftover pills from dad’s surgery can be found to painkillers or sleeping tablets, adolescents view prescription medication as being safe because it came from the doctor. Another one of the most popular drugs that are abused is prescribed cough mixtures which contain codeine and promethazine, the popular way of consuming the cough mixture is to mix it with a fizzy drink and some candy to sweeten its taste. Social media and the internet are another source that makes drugs readily available in today’s age, with whatever you may be looking for just being a few clicks away. Social media sites such as Facebook make drugs readily available for anyone who has the funds to buy them, ranging anything from marijuana to Xanax, through the use of secret pages or groups created by dealers of such substances, however, some are not even secretive about the business they are conducting, one can simply type into the search block what you’re looking for and it will pop up. If not through the use of social media the other alternative would be the internet where you can find anything from an organ to a weapon to drugs known as the dark web. Another place we overlook very often is our high schools and university campuses, a normal person would assume that these places would be safe because after all they are sending their children there but they are wrong, high schools and university campuses have become major hotspots for acquiring illegal substances. Many students start selling illegal substances as a way of obtaining extra income as students who do not have a steady income or work.

Environment

Stress is induced by stressful environments, which in turn affects people and their behavior (Jaffe, 2018). When we speak about the environment about drug abuse we are speaking about external factors that surround us daily in our everyday lives. The research conducted by (Jaffe, 2018) states that individuals who associate with others who frequently abuse drugs are more than likely to adopt and participate in this behavior as it is seen as a norm. A few of the environmental factors that are or come into play when we speak about drug addiction are groups of peers with whom you associate yourself. When individuals are heavily reliant on social interaction they often tend to attract or join the wrong crowd of peers who regularly partake in different kinds of drugs or heavy substance abuse whether it be adolescents or adults and with this, it becomes harder for an individual to remove themselves or leave a particular situation. When an individual is influenced by others to try or experiment with a specific drug or substance it creates a sense of belonging within the individual which is directly connected to the peers with whom they associate. Another external factor relating to the environment is social media. Social media has several social benefits but with this, it also has several social cons. Individuals who struggle daily with problems relating to their emotions for example depression, social media can have a very negative effect on them when they log onto their Instagram, Facebook, etc., and see people regularly who are good-looking and enjoying their lives, having fun, go out every weekend, it can cause further damage to the individual in terms of affecting their self-esteem as a person. When individuals are suffering from emotional battles such as depression, self-esteem and self-worth are very important factors, emotional problems often lead individuals to turn to drugs as an escape from everyday problems they may face and give them a few hours of euphoria/happiness or peace of mind which they struggle to find anywhere else. But it is not only social media that has its downfall, media in general has a great downfall whether it be about what is shown on television, movies, or even simple things like video games, all of these factors portray spectacles of drug or substance abuse making it look okay or cool in the eyes of viewer. But when speaking about the environment the most important factor is the physical environment, some areas are more drug-infested compared to others in the entire world and every country. When areas are more prone to having drugs available to purchase it becomes more of a norm for residents residing in the specific area, they may not like it but have no control over it. In areas where drugs and substances are freely available, an individual is more than likely to come into contact with them or more likely to fall victim to addiction.

Trauma

Trauma can be defined as a psychological, emotional reaction to an incident or experience that is severely stressful or disconcerting. Traumatic events can include, abuse physically, verbally, or sexually, neglect, accidents, and natural disasters. Drug abuse and substance abuse are most of the time more common and found more in individuals who have or are currently suffering from psychological trauma. When trauma is experienced early in life it increases an individual’s likelihood to fall victim to drug abuse. Trauma can happen to any individual from different walks of life whether rich or poor, regardless of gender, age, race, etc. Individuals often see drugs as a type of coping mechanism to help them deal with the trauma they are experiencing, especially because of how different drugs can cause different feelings of euphoria. Unknowingly individuals take drugs to escape their current headspace for a certain period not realizing that they are creating a pattern for a constant need for the drug to take away the feelings that they are currently running away from or trying to combat, so each time these feelings come up the craving for the specific drug will arise each time stronger than the previous time because the individual has trained their body unknowingly or subconsciously to crave the feeling the drug gives just to escape. In turn, this is the routine that often creates the addiction to the drug because the individual believes and has trained their body and mind to believe that the specific drug is the only way that they can help themselves heal when in fact it is harming them more than it is helping them. Individuals who were brought up in more even/steady households might be able to cope or deal with their trauma slightly better compared to those individuals who were brought up in disruptive/unstable households. Childhood trauma increases an individual’s risk factor of contracting PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) in the later stages of life.

Summary

In this essay, I have done extensive research into all of my variables as well as discussed each of my variables in-depth about my topic of the effects of drug abuse on teenagers in high schools and colleges in Boksburg. The variables I discussed include, the relationship between parents and their children, peer pressure, the availability of substances, an environment which included social media as well as media and the physical environment, and lastly how trauma correlates with drug abuse and addiction in individuals.