Impact of Social Media on Youth

The past few years have resulted in a significant increase in the popularity of social media sites. These sites have become so widely used by the younger generations that it is affecting them both physically and psychologically. The most popular social media websites, notably Facebook and Twitter, allow users to post their own comments, regardless of its content. While this sounds perfectly fine at first thought, the consequences of mostly unmonitored messages have been shown to have a direct relation to increases in violence, particularly bullying, racism, and psychological issues in vulnerable adolescents especially.

Clarke-Pearson, Kathleen and Gwenn S. O’Keeffe. "The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families." The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families. American Academy of Pediatrics and Its Board of Directors, 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 05 Nov. 2013.

Both Kathleen Clarke-Pearson, MD, and Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, MD, are leading experts on child health and cyber safety experts, while Kathleen Clarke-Pearson, MD, is a Chair for the North Carolina Pediatric Society Committee on Medicine. This source is written primarily to show parents how their children are affected by social media. Clarke-Pearson and O’Keefe say that children and adolescents are very susceptible to peer pressure which instantly puts them in harm’s way because they are exposed to so many people’s opinions daily through social media. They continue to say the most common forms of risk are cyber bullying, sexting, and Facebook Depression. These risks lead to “profound psychosocial outcomes including depression, anxiety, severe isolation, and, tragically, suicide (Clarke-Pearson and O’Keefe).” This source is valuable because the information in it is written very informatively and is the result of in-depth research. I would use the numerous statistics of social media usage in families in order to provide a solid argument in my paper that can relate to families that may be uninformed.

Lenhart, Amanda, Kristen Purcell, Aaron Smith, and Kathryn Zickuhr. Social Media & Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and Young Adults. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 3 Feb. 2010. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.

Amanda Lenhart directs the Pew Internet & American Life Project's research on teens, Kristen Purcell is the associate director for research at Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, Aaron Smith is a senior researcher for the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, and Kathryn Zickuhr is a research analyst at the Pew Internet Project which makes this a trustworthy and reliable source.