Teens on Social Networking Sites

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Many of us have access to the Internet and social networking sites these days. They have become essential in day-to-day life. However, there has been much controversy over teenagers having access social networking sites. Imagine your daughter or son is being bullied on Facebook or Myspace to the point that they attempt or succeed in killing themselves because of social destruction. People are not aware of the pros and cons of social networking. Does the negatives outweigh the positives of social networking? Should teenagers be banned from social networking sites? Social Networking Overview Most teens are aware of the basic social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace but do they know what social networking means? Social networking allows teens to create a public or private profile that allows them to chat amongst their friends by e-mail, posting comments, photos, and expressing personal hobbies (Griffith, 2009). Many individuals who participate on social networking sites believe that these sites are beneficial to “our society”. However many other people beg to differ and consider these sites becoming more of a threat than something that is beneficial to our children and teenagers (“Social,” n.d.). Individuals and teenagers claim that social networking is a great place to communicate in regards to their education or personal interests. Whereas, parents argue that networking is dangerous because it’s not secure, it’s a main source to bully one another, online sexual predators try to seek out the young, and teens detach themselves from the real world (Carey, n.d.). A brief study that pertained to 200 University of Maryland students was for them to give up social networking for a day to see how it would aff... ... middle of paper ... ...ear-old male. Supposedly, she met him through one of her friend’s brothers. Covert took action immediately and took all electronics away from his daughter and she is only allowed to use electronics when he is in sight (personal communication, October 17, 2010). This personal interview definitely made myself aware as an individual that social networking is dangerous for young teens. Conclusion The argument between the pros and cons of social networking has become clear. The negatives outweigh the positives for teenagers participating on social networks. Many people can argue that it’s essential for communication and education. However, when someone ends their own life due to bullying it becomes a tragedy and this leads us to believe that teenagers should be banned from social networking sites until they are responsible and mature enough to handle the real world.

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