Social Media And The Secret Lives Of Teenagers: An Analysis

Trust is like a glass cup; it can be easily broken and repaired slowly if the pieces are put in the right order. Social media has made it fairly tough for people to trust one another in this day and age. Trust can be built up upon various ways, but it is up to a person if they are ready to take the leap in the sea of trust.

Social media has caused the world to sit behind a screen instead of being more in person with their freedom of speech. Communication is one of the key factors to regain trust from one another. On social media communication is deprived, due to the fact that a person is avoiding things from what will happen in everyday life. In the book, American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers by Nancy Jo Sales’, a

Batcho noticed that people that are on social media are more commonly bullied by their peers around them. Meaning it could be peers in school, work, or even their neighbors. She goes into the idea that people who cyber bully tends to do it because they will not have to deal with any type of authority. Social media weakens the ability for children to behave in formal conversations which will have various long term effects. Batcho makes an excellent point that what a person puts up on their account they have to realize that they are accountable for what they say. Now if someone shares it amongst others now that is what causes the mainstream of a person’s word and the broken trust they have with that friend. Social media causes people to feel anxious, nervousness, and worried when they are not able to access it. In the book, American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers, several of the girls that were interviewed explained how they were always quick to look at their social media accounts because they were worried about what was going on in the world around them. Meaning who was talking about whom, were someone talking about them and maintain their reputation if someone was referring things to them. The girls were more focused on what was going on in social media

Where examples of one’s competence or reputation are being lacking people will construct whole profiles of another’s personality from what little information is available”. Olsen gives us the side of envy when it comes to social media. People would rather justify each other by their personality through a profile, but will not justify themselves in a situation that was caused by their behavior. People tend to only see the mistake in others and not learn the backstory to an incident. Social media makes a great way of disguising people for who they really are. Lauren Sherman, a UCLA researcher on brain mapping states,” Teens react differently to information when they believe it has been endorsed by many or few of their peers, even if these peers are strangers”. Sherman makes a great connection that social media will bring out the idea that it is okay to talk to strangers and broadcast everything about the lifestyle a person is in. Trust with strangers is far more dangerous than trust within a person’s peers. At least a person will know exactly who they are dealing with more than a person they never met face to face. In the book, American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers, Carrie states,” Like if you’re mad at somebody and there’s some guy you know she likes, you’ll post a picture of yourself with him, just hanging out or whatever, ‘cause you