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.
One of the risks that is often seen throughout social media is cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is known as a way of deliberately using digital media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about another person (O’Keefe, Clarke-Pearson). Everyday adolescents are given the opportunity to communicate with endless amounts of people online. This opportunity not only enhances the risk of cyberbullying, but also increases the amount of people that can view the cyberbullying. The most common form is known as peer-to-peer cyberbullying. This means that the person being targeted by the act most likely knows their “bully” personally. With the peer-to-peer form being most common, it is often seen that the acts occur offline just as much as they occur online. Dr. Rebecca Mathews conducted a survey as of 2010 asking online users about their experience...
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...nue to log onto these websites daily and need to be aware of what could be if you do not avoid certain risks. As an adolescent or an adult these risks can affect your life in more ways than one.
Works Cited
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Ogbevoen, Linda. “The Social Impact of Social Networks.” (2012): News at Northwestern. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.
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O'Keeffe, Gwenn Schurgin, and Kathleen Clarke-Pearson. "Clinical Report—The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families." Clinical Report—The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families. American Academy of Pediatrics, 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. .
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Cyberbullying is simply the use of technology and its accessible tools to harass, hurt and embarrass the targeted individual repeatedly. Stopcyberbullying.org (n.d.), a dedicated organization to prevent cyberbullying and promote awareness, has defined cyberbullying as the use of the internet and mobile devices or digital technology such as text or instant messaging, e-mail, and/or post blogging by adolescents or teens to repeatedly threaten, harass, embarrass, torment, humiliate, or likewise the targeted adolescent(s) or teen(s). The 21st century has promoted and forced our teens to become very knowledgeable with the use of technology in addition to social media use and access. The array of social media medium includes Twitter, Facebook, and the even low-key Formspring—a medium that offers “total anonymity” to users (Holladay, 2011, p. 5). Even though ...
Olenski, Steve “Social Media Usage Up 800% for U.S. Online Adults In Just 8 Years” Forbes.com Inc. 6 September 2013. Web. 6 February 2014
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.
Recent advancements in technology have created a new form of communication. We call this new type of communication social media. Some of the big names in social media are Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. Most people today use some form of social media on a daily basis. Social media is most popular amongst adolescents. According to a poll conducted by Infographic, nine out of ten teenagers have used social media. Whenever a new technological advancement occurs there is concern over how it will affect society. In the case of social media, the concern is greatest for adolescents. So, how does social media effect adolescents? Social media can have both negative and positive effects. Some of the effects of using social media can be depression, addiction, cyberbullying and exposure to inappropriate content.
Because cyberbullying is a relatively new phenomenon, there is some degree of variance in its definition. In its early inception, cyberbullying was thought to be limited to the internet. However, the rapid creation of new technology tolls has expanded the boundaries to include cell phones, instant messaging, chat rooms, and email (Campfield, 2006). Campfield (2006) conducted a study of middle school students to determine the incidence rates of cyberbullying. She found that nearly 70% of students were involved in cyberbullying in some capacity, as a bully or victim. In a similar study, Li (2007) found that 39% of students have been involved in cyberbullying, while 52% were aware of a peer being harassed through electronic m...
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.
Have you ever thought how harmful social media is for kids and the parents? Ellen Goodman’s essay “Family Counterculture” has a message in which she calls todays culture “an increasingly hostile environment” for kids. Her claim is not only well explained and backed up with proof but plenty of parents that I know have said the something or something similar about social media. Social media can lead to many unpleasant things that can cause a parent to frustrate, it can cause their kids to pick up bad habits, can cause kids to be depressed, and cause kids to be brainwashed by ads. Because kids in this generation over use social media it creates many problems for them and their parents. Social media can be used for good things but in this generation,
The Web. The Web. 9 Jan 2014. Wallace, Kelly. Social Media Positive for Teens?
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This research will collect the information of six middle school students, including three boys and three girls. It focused on why they are interested in social media. On the other hand, this research discusses different parts that social networks influence teenagers, including communicative approaches, security issues, and education. Teenagers have great interests in social media. For the purpose of this study, social networks were defined as Facebook, YouTube or Twitter. Facebook is the most used social network by teenagers, followed by YouTube and Twitter. According to the report, 95 percent of teens (12-17) use the Internet, and 81 percent of them use social media sites. Facebook is by far the most heavily adopted social site, with 94 percent of social media teens reporting they have a profile there（O 'keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011）. The more Facebook friends in their networks, the more active teens tend to be. In general, teens appear to have a favorable view of social media and report more positive experiences than negative experience. Report shows that “52 percent of online teens say they have had an experience online that made them feel good about themselves. Online social networks attract teens because they can have a conversation in a victual world and they can share their life
Social media is described as content created and shared by individuals on the web using freely available websites that allow users to create and post their own images, video and text information and then share that with either the entire internet or just a select group of friends (Affilorama, 2012). They are more like a website allowing you to express your daily activities, beliefs, locations, likes, dislikes, photos, music, etc. They are used by creating a profile, and logging in through either the website, or apps now used on smartphones, or any portable device with Wi-Fi connection. Although most social media networks are directed towards adults and young adults, young children are getting into these websites as well. There are usually age limits but there isn’t a certainty that all the users provided their actual age, allowing whoever wants to be a member of these sites to bypass an age limit “security” procedure. Facebook and MySpace require users to be at least 13, but they have no practical way to verify ages, and many young users prete...
According to the article, “10 Ways Social Media Affects Our Mental Problems,” Degreed claim that social media make us restless by “two-thirds admitted to having difficulty relaxing when unable to use their social media accounts.” Teenagers are always tired when they have to stay up late at night to catch up with all the news feed on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that make them have no energy to go on the next day. Based on the newspaper, “Excessive Social Media Use Harms Children’s Mental Health,” by the Telegraph shows that “children who go on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more than three hours a day are more likely to have mental health problems.” Social media can lead to bullying that affects teenagers mental health issue and being stressed. Social media have now taken a part of human life and some are addicted to the point where they can’t even live without