ADOLESCENT LIFESTYLE CHANGES IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA: A SOCIO-CULTURAL STUDY

Abstract

The era of social media has had a huge impact on the lives of teenagers, especially in influencing their daily lifestyles. This study aims to examine the changes in adolescent lifestyle due to the use of social media from a socio-cultural perspective, using a descriptive qualitative approach through observation and interviews with adolescents aged 15–18 years in urban environments. The results show that social media significantly affects various aspects of adolescents' lives, ranging from ways of communicating that become faster and more instant but tend to be superficial, to clothing styles that are heavily influenced by digital trends from various platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. In addition, social media has also shaped consumption patterns and the way teenagers fill their free time, which is now more influenced by influencers and digital content. Furthermore, social media also shapes adolescents' perspective on themselves and their social environment, so that local cultural values are beginning to be displaced by a more dominant global culture. Despite this, some teenagers have shown awareness to maintain their local cultural identity amid the strong currents of globalization. Therefore, this study emphasizes the importance of the active role of families, schools, and communities in providing digital literacy assistance and education, so that adolescents can use social media wisely without losing their identity and cultural heritage. These findings are expected to be input for related parties in designing strategies for character development and strengthening the identity of the younger generation in the ever-growing digital era.