Pre-Teens, Teenagers and Social Media

1559 Words4 Pages

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have become a major part of pre-teens and teenagers’ everyday life. With the amount of time, energy, and emotions young people put into social media, it has begun to show some negative effects on the health and well-being of youth. The possible positive effects that social media has is vastly overshadowed by the devastating negative effects it has on our youth.
According to O’Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson, doctors with the American Academy of Pediatrics, social media improves tweens and teens communication, social, and technical skills. Social media sites offer youth the chance to connect with their friends outside of school and share pictures and videos with anyone they want. “According to a recent poll, 22% of teenagers log on to their favorite social media site more than 10 times a day, and more than half of adolescents log on to a social media site more than once a day.2 Seventy-five percent of teenagers now own cell phones, and 25% use them for social media, 54% use them for texting, and 24% use them for instant messaging” (O’Keeffe, Clarke-Pearson). With all the time that young people spend online, this means that a large part of their development is occurring while they are logged on. This is a problem because everything that tweens and teens encounter online is not positive or safe.
When on the web, kids are vulnerable to online hackers, predators, and scams that can take advantage of them and exploit their innocence to believe that nobody would try to hurt them (Barnes, Laird). But sadly this is not true. There people on the internet that are dangerous to teens and preteens and pose a great threat to kids that don’t know how to protect themselves online. Because of thi...

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... them to make friends and have interactions with people in real life. This develops social and communication skills that they are going to need throughout their life. When they have these skills, they are more confident to speak up among friends or in classes.
Social media has some positive effects that everyone can benefit from especially teens and preteens. But it also has negative ones that are very dangerous and should not be taken lightly. It poses a great threat to the mental and physical health of youth. The most serious threat is cyberbullying and teens and preteens should be wary of this relatively new form of bullying. They should use caution when deciding to say or post something online and think about who may see it and who it may affect. Social media is not entirely harmful, but the aspects and capabilities of it can have devastating effects on youth.

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