Social media has rapidly increased in the past few years, and has become one of the most significant parts of our daily lives. With websites such as Facebook and Twitter, we are now able to communicate with people half a world away. With just one click, you are able to keep in touch with relatives, gawk at the latest celebrity gossip, and even see what your friends had for breakfast. However, with access to unlimited sources of information, many of us have grown dependent on our phones and computers. Teens, in particular, are one of the most prominent age groups affected by this epidemic. In 2010, 93% of adolescents ages 12-17 were on the internet. With teens now spending copious amount of time on the internet, we are starting to see the negative health repercussions. This technology has led to social media addiction, cyber-bullying, and an increase in negative body images. As social media use continues to increase for teenagers and young adults, so do the concerns on the social development in adolescents due to the internet. Many teens are attracted to social media because it provides a place where they can be anonymous and make friends, when at school they may be too shy to do so. In fact, a survey shows that, “participants...said they were better able to express their true selves online than offline, and they tended to project ideal qualities onto their online partners” However, when you have been given the tools and technology to maintain your lives without even speaking a word to someone face-to-face, it is anything but social. As a teen, social development is critical. During these years, a child will learn how to maintain friendships, thrive in social situations, and other important skills. When you are spending your day h... ... middle of paper ... ...es that we see on social media, which destroy our self-confidence and fuel our desires to be skinny. Social media has only been easily accessible on our decade, but has boomed in popularity and user use. It has taken over our society and culture providing a new channel to connect with the world in real-time. While, social media has many advantages -- especially in providing resources and knowledge to the public, it has many downsides as well, including not providing enough protection for our youths. As such, we see the rise of addiction to social media, cyberbullying, and negative body images. We need to push our government, schools, and families to educate our youth on internet usage. With technology’s increasing growth rate and that fact that technology will be our future, it is pertinent to teach our children how to use social media in a responsible manner.
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Show MoreStaple’s study indicates that adolescents are in isolation when socializing via internet. Socializing through social media comes with a cost, such as lack of physical interactions with friends and loved ones. The author finds communicating with technology can effect a family and other relationships. The lack of adolescent’s social skills starts with the inability to experience person-to-person conversations. Person-to-person conversations give children the ability to hear, and see, contrasting socializing via internet.
Today, roughly two billion computers and two billion phones are in use (Mathews). With this, come almost four billion people with the opportunity to use the internet and to connect to social media. Linda Ogbevoen states that “with digital media’s increase in functionality and decrease in price, more and more rely on digital media for work, play, and socializing.” Over the past decade social media has become more and more popular, thus causing it to become part of people’s everyday lives. Along with the widespread of technology today, various people of all ages throughout the world have started to log onto social media sites. The most prominent users of social media have been shown to be adolescents. As a result of the excessive use of social media, adolescents have encountered problems such as internet bullying (“cyberbullying”), privacy concerns, and internet addiction.
As social techonoogy advances, it is up to us as as ociety to safegaurd our youth through education on the subject of safe, healthy usage. While a total elimination of the technology is more damaging than helpful, it is wholly more productive simply to guide our children in the correct way, and impart on them a healthy perspective on social mass media. With that, we would be able to enjoy the full benefits of social media, and corresponding platforms as a medium of inter connectivity, information exchange and discovery.
As the world becomes more and more technologically advanced, cyberbullying has become a growing issue. It is an issue not just for teens and kids but even adults. Most cyberbullying occurs through social media, which in this world of technological communication, is a must for the youth to “be cool.” Although social media and others sources may be used beneficially (business-wise) it may also be used abusively, which is where cyberbullying plays in.
Many researchers think that the absence from significant face-to-face experiences and the development failure is due to their use of social media. Even though social media is somewhat beneficial to young adults, its effect of hampering kid’s development is difficult to avoid. In her article, “Antisocial Networking?,” Hilary Stout also touched on Gary Small’s beliefs to show that digital media is obstructing the development of adolescents by causing them to miss salutary real-life experiences. Stout claimed that Small “believed that so called ‘digital natives’... are already having a harder time reading social cues.” This is critical because it shows social media causes kids to be weak in social skills. Ultimately, what is at stake here due to social media is the youngster’s progress of becoming an adult who is strong in social
In today’s time, one would believe that every teenager is always connected and constantly checking his phone for updates on social media. About 90 percent have used social media and around 75 percent have a social networking site(Teens’ use of social media: Positive or Negative? 1). This constant connection can be very harmful to a person’s mental and social health. According to Aurelie Krakowsky, social media can draw teens away from real world relationships and cause them to focus on trying to keep up with the rest of the world(1). Teenagers are easily caught up in trying to keep up with everyone else. Before they know it, he is not spending time with friends, barely
in Livsey 1). With their thoughts, common sense, and emotions still developing, adolescents become susceptible to both positive and negative influence, causing them to feel the most significant impact from the consumption of social media. This allows social media to greatly hinder young minds from proper development and diminishes people’s ability to verbally communicate face-to-face, preventing the construction of personal relationships. Social networking creates a feeling of community for teenagers as the term ‘“social networking” is [currently] used to describe the communities built via technologies” (Braun 71). However, few intentional relationships form as people do not connect with one another in a personal manner via online conversation. They rather observe what someone displays online for others to view, not necessarily one’s true self, but one’s best or most popular self. Online networking creates social and psychological issues within teenagers as they become unable to formulate proper relationships, gain a distorted self-image, and expose themselves to the dangers of the internet such as cyber
With the way the world is now it should be no surprise to anyone that social media has very literally taken over the world in this day and age. From late 2008 to early 2009 the size of Facebook users doubled from 100 million to 200 million in eight months, and was already up to 400 million by early 2010. Twitter also raised its number of users in 2009 from 4.5 million to 20 million (Zandt). With a few clicks of a button or taps on a screen, a person can be connected to family and friends in every corner of the world and even see what their favorite celebrities are doing with their lives.”Social media defines an array of internet sites that enable people from all over the world to interact. This can be through discussion, photos, video and audio
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are only a few of the most common words used in today’s language among children, teens and adults. Such words can be described as popular terms related to what many of us know as social media. In today’s culture, many teenagers rely so heavily on the usage of social media that issues once thought to be revolutionary are now taking place offline and online. In fact, several cases of mental addictions, depression and even suicide have all stemmed from the initial usage of sites such as Facebook, which are otherwise socially accepted as a simple means of communicating with “friends.” While social media does have its advantages, it can also be held responsible for several negative events in the lives of today’s teenagers.
Social media can have detrimental effects on the formation of an adolescent’s identity such as social isolation meaning that the individual will spend excessive amounts of time attached to any electronics that will provide him with social media access. Social networking has been debated to have beneficial or detrimental effects, as overuse and abuse of the Internet can be harmful to someone, such as an adolescent. According to the National Crime Prevention Council, over one million teenage girls are victimized psychologically as well as physically, through social media.
Besides cyberbullying, there are many other negative outcomes for American youth in the use of social media websites like Facebook. For example, many teens are using shorthand and abbreviations when writing or communicating online. Additionally, teens lose themselves in social media, ignore their surroundings and even become addicted to social media. Consequences of this include a rise in obesity, devaluation in family, lack of exercise and decrease in focus on school and homework. Adolescents that use social media more often than others are more prone to “narcissistic tendencies,” “anxiety, depression, and other psychological disorders” (Protalinski, 2011). American youth that share more online also display manic, aggressive and antisocial behaviors.
Social media is quickly evolving in front of our eyes and it is almost impossible to reject and hide from this new form of media. Not only is it an important part of socialization within peer groups but now it is used to market and motivate people to become a part of a larger community. It is undeniably changing the way one communicates and how one finds and shares information. Most websites offer communication through the use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and many various blog formats. With new apps on smartphones and photography and video made digital, media can be created, edited and shared quickly and once it is in this new digital cloud it is not yours anymore. Through these new advances in technology one can share things about themselves to the world to view, and prior to social media one would have to communicate and share physically. These social media site offer adolescence new ways to access communication and entertainment and the long-term effects are still unknown. For this reason, it is imperative for parents to be more aware of this new media and what it offers both good and bad for our children.
In today’s society, much advancement has been made throughout the universe. However, one that seems to stand out in particular is the use of social media. Social media has both positive and negative effects on society. This advancement has led to a difference in communication to everyone by reconnecting with others, or even informing the public nationwide through televisions such as the news or talk shows. However, is social media safe to use? Social media has a great impact on everyone in society. While allowing your children or teenagers to engage in social media a few things to consider are the risks of youth using social media, what age is too young, and also how social media is useful in some cases. Children participate in cyber bullying now and even find themselves involved in bad habits, such as sexting (Schurgin O’Keefe). According to a recent poll conducted, over 22 percent of teenagers log onto their social media site more than ten times a day (Schurgin O’Keefe). Not everything is negative towards social media, but there are precautions that need to be taken when there is the youth involved.
The correlation between the development of youth and social media has become blatant. Although few of the consequences are favorable, the majority have displayed a negative impact. The drive social media can implement on youth is exceptional. The pressure and strain social media can place on our youth is an enduring force which leads individuals to question themselves as a person and feel inclined to fit a norm expressed in media and social media of our society. The underlying force social media can play in the lives of the youth is astonishing and is a force that must be dealt with and controlled, for it not only holds the power to give an individual strength, but also to break them down.
As in real life, teenagers are very shy of what is coming out of their mouth, but in social media, it’s the opposite, “Social media is preventing us from standing up for ourselves the way we should be” (Thaiatizickas). Facebook is a convenient way to contact a long distance relative or friends, but teenagers are depending on it too much that make them lacked face to face communication. Social media such as Facebook limits the face to face interaction between humankind. Technology has a huge impact on human life and some may take them as an advantage and disadvantage. Many believed that the digital world is their real life and they can meet and talk to whoever they want through messenger and video calls. Teenagers often say the things that they wanted to say through social media, “they are sending messages and content that they would never share at school, often using language that they would never say to someone’s face, a language that, if used with classmates at school, would lead to disciplinary action” (journal by Steiner-Adair). Compare to the previous generations, the younger generations have the effects on social networking that cause them to grow up differently. Social media are now destroying teenagers’ social skills as well as the future