What Is Social Media Doing To America's Youth?

With social media growing and growing into a mass of accounts and profiles and different groups of people and clubs and websites and other things, what adolescents do on social media is something that many parents worry about. Not every parent is at ease with the fact that their child/teenager is out in open water; one young human being surrounded by millions of other human beings who are younger, the same age, or older than them. The article “Teenage social media butterflies may not be such a bad idea” takes a look at teenagers ' use of social media. Social media is a very important tool, allowing people to connect or continue their relationships without

Social media is nothing, but a distracting, timewasting, nuisance to everyone surrounded by it, right? Wrong. Social media has changed the world as we know it. People can share information quickly, publish their thoughts, and exchange their ideas. Social media is becoming a certainty in this modern age, which is why it should be embraced rather than criticized. Although there is concern over potential for cyberbullying and lack of privacy, the use of social media is inevitable in teenagers’ lives, and necessary to the positive development of adolescents because it allows adolescents to gain confidence when interacting with others, it encourages users to create and maintain friendships, and it can facilitate learning while promoting educational growth.

Bing! Chloe, Andie’s friend, texted her wanting to know if they can hang out later. They then proceed to talk about their day and all of the juicy middle school gossip going around. Most teenagers would concur that this is “the norm” nowadays. Teenagers find talking in person or on the phone too intimidating and as a result, find themselves challenged when trying to form new relationships.

Older generations don’t realize how much technology has affected this generation of teenagers, along with the social media that comes along with the technology. As stated in “How Social Media Changed Teens’ Lives Forever”; “Negative posts or comments also can do great damage to a teen’s self-esteem.” (Ashley Black, Thomas Atseff and Colleen Kaveney) While many parents think social media is just a way to connect with others, many teenagers take it for granted. For example, “quitting social media because it made her miserable and obsessed with appearing perfect online”, is what a teenager felt about social media and what it has done to her. Though many think that social media is a great way to connect, teenagers take it to another level.

Teenagers now use social media to find out the news. If I didn’t happen to have social media I wouldn’t know about most of what’s happening in the world. On social media apps there is a section where you can see what is trending or what has been posted about the most recently. This is where most of us find out what is going. I believe if teenagers were to not have social media we

"Social Butterflies: How Social Media Changed Teens' Lives Forever." Chicago Tribune, 26 Feb, 2016, pp. 8, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Parents complain that teens are always on their phones and never out in the real world, but maybe if they weren’t “locked indoors, unable to get on their bicycles and hang out with their friends,” they could have the chance to mirror what they’re learning online, outside in the “real world” (Boyd). As Boyd puts it, “Social media and smartphone apps have become so popular in recent years because teens need a place to call their own. They want the freedom to explore their identity and the world around them.” If anything, being on social media is a safer way to make mistakes and learn from them before having to face harsher repercussions for them outside of the digital

Social media has been known to help students develop important knowledge and social skills. “At first glance this may seem like a waste of time; however it also helps students to develop important knowledge and social skills, and be active citizens who create and share content.” (Chen 3). The more time teens spend on social media the more they become aware of their own social side and how to interact with others, especially their peers. “Some types of social media has beneficial effects, like helping adolescents establish some sense of identity and build networking skills” (Riley Davis). Too much time being spent on social media can also exploit teens to some harsh realities that they’ve probably never experienced in their lives before.

Social media might be destroying the American youth of today. Social media are several websites and applications created so people may commutate, collaborate, or share information through social networking. Enough though social media sounds great, there are big issues such as, cyber bullying, lower grades, and wasting an incredible amount of time. These are things we should all be cautious about when we allow younger folks enter the world of social media.

Over 94% of American teenagers claim to access social media daily, today teenagers and social media tend to be the butt in everybody’s joke, but what are the effects of social media? Bethany Mota is a 21-year-old women who has been able to start her own fashion line at the age of 17 because of social media. Amanda Todd was just 16 when she decided to end her life, due to the fact that she was persecuted relentlessly on social media sites. Many young people get bullied or harassed through social media daily, while others are given amazing opportunities to express themselves and connect with others with the same passions as them. So, what is the impact of teenage participation in social media?

Today’s society of young Americans are concerned with social media and the trends that are presented, but what makes something a trend? In the past couple of years, it seems like in order for something to be a trend white people have to like it and make it popular. The media portrays to everyone in America that these trends were originated or even inspired by white people, but this isn’t true. A lot of the trends that are happening are actually from black people whether it’s black people’s facial features, appearance or hairstyle. The trends today represent cultural appropriation by offending black people and taking credit for these trends. However, white people think trends are innocent and don’t understand why they can’t do the same things

People today of all ages are more media centered than ever before in our country’s history. There are more TVs in homes than people (Nielson, 2009), 64% of American adults own smart phones (Center, 2014), 74.4% of U.S. households are connected to the Internet (Ryan, 2014), 87% of adults regularly use internet (Maeve Duggan, 2014), 36 % of teens have a computer in their bedroom 33 % of which have Internet access. Youth spend nearly an hour and a half (outside of schoolwork) with a computer each day (Bank, August 2014), and the average American spends 60 hours a week on multiple media devices (Nielsen, 2014). This constant availability to various forms of media makes it nearly impossible to measure the full affect that TV alone has on American

Is social media actually a disaster for teenagers? Hilary stout’s article “Antisocial Networking?” from New York Times, April 30, 2010 discusses that social media is not a good thing because kids are less interested in face to face communication with their friends. It is my believe that social media is not harmful at all for young people.

The topic I chose for my research paper focuses on Social Media Marketing. Social Media is the biggest form of communication now a days. It hasn’t only changed the way people interact with each other, but also the way companies communicate. “What are companies doing to teenagers through technology?” Additionally, technology has become part of our everyday life and how we do things. Not only has social media made things easier for numerous people, but it has brought money to many hands.

Social media sites allow millions of people to interact with friends,family and anyone around the world. A large portion of social media users are teenagers; researchers and parents both believe that social media is having a multitude of possible effects on teenagers. This literature review will analyze research of the positive and negative effects social media are having on today’s impressionable youth. Much of the research focuses on the age range of 10-16 from well-to-do families and college students. Understanding the online environment that teenagers live in can help parents relate to their children and teach then about the dangers and benefits of being on the Internet.