Impact Of Social Media On Teenage Development

In Melissa Healy’s article, published on May 18, 2010, Los Angeles Times, “Teenage Social Media Butterflies May Not Be Such a Bad Idea,” she argues that social media and their social skills may not be such a catastrophe after all and that teenagers who use social media are psychologically healthiest. Healy supports this claim by first describing how, according to the research found by Amori Yee Mikami, social networking sites are mostly used to, not to converse with strangers online, but to interact with friends they already know and said, “So people of well-adjusted teens may have little to worry about regarding the way their children behave when using social media. It’s likely to be similarly positive behavior.” Then, she makes a connection

Melissa Healy, a reporter of the Los Angeles Times, in the article Teenage Social Media Butterflies May Not Be Such A Bad Idea, claims that kids who spend lots of time on social media are not the least well-adjusted, but psychologically healthiest. Healy supports her argument by demonstrating how social media is beneficial to a teen’s health. According to a three-year Digital Youth Project, when teengars use social media, it helps them develop important social skills such as communication, grappling with social norms, and developing technical skills. Psychology professor Kaveri Subrahmanyam describes that teens behave the same between offline relationships and online ones, so most teens will use the internet safely. The author’s purpose is

We are dictated by social media. It’s controlling. It’s possessive. Yet, we haven’t even paused to realize it because as teenagers we don’t know any differently. With teens as the subject of example, it is clear that social media has become a way of life. So now there is a debate. What exactly is it that social media does to us? Is the teenage generation the first product of a world run by social media? Most importantly, is this a positive or negative thing for us? There are many different things to consider. With all factors in mind, the biggest question of all comes to mind. Since it first emerged, what has social media truly changed about today’s teen generation?

86% of kids who participate in social media are more likely to be better adjusted in their early adulthood(Healy). The real problem with social media is the immaturity not the technology. Many teenagers use it responsibly while others are immense risk takers and

Social media is a relatively new concept. The effect of social media on social development is still being determined and is a highly debated topic. Some believe that social media has a positive effect on social development, and others believe that it may be degrading real life social interactions. Konnikova seems to be neutral on the topic. She gives evidence of it being a good trend and also evidence of it possibly causing harm to friendships.

People on social media accounts can freely express their opinions, which can be cruel at times. This can play a role in the child’s self-identification. Depending on the response that children get, it can impact their behavior. They become so obsessed with the gain of a social currency, known as likes, that self-expression is hindered. Koughan, Frank) Children like attention and will change their behavior, to gain that attention.

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.

Social Media has greatly influenced today's teenage girls because so much time is spent online. I know for myself, being a young teenage girl, when I wake up I check my phone throughout the day I check my phone, when I go to

Over the past decade, the use of technology has exploded. Through smart phones and applications we can access a new digital world of social media. For example, Facebook has over 750 million current users (Bosslet). Gwenn O'Keeffe and Kathleen Clarke-Pearson take a look at the eruption of technology use in their article, “The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families.” 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 (Clarke-Pearson, O’Keefe). A highly debated topic among researchers is whether social media has more positive

There is no doubt that everyone has a cellphone these days. With these cellphones comes the access to the social media. You can go to a restaurant or store and you will see everyone from a toddler to an elder glued to some kind of technology in front of them. Because this has become so normal to our generation, most are too occupied to the technology to realize how they are being affected by it. Everyone is using it daily, all day, causing it to impact many people, including the youth of today. Social media and technology can have a positive impact on youth, but it can also have a negative impact.

Some of the top benefits of social media over the years are that it is free to anyone, the content can get out to resources virtually immediately, and it can be delivered to a wide variety of people. For these reasons, communication through social media has become an extremely accessible and convenient way to communicate. It is also popular for those who need to be in contact with others. One example that comes to mind is a teenager who goes away on a trip to visit a friend or family. They can be hundreds of miles away but still talk to their parents as if they weren’t. Another example is a person who is shy and has a hard time making friends face-to-face, social media sites are a great way to meet people and build relationships.

Social media has gone from a great way to stay connected with friends to an obsession that has caused anxiety and depression amongst teenagers. “Researchers have found evidence that people who overuse technology may develop similar brain chemistry and neural patterning to those who are addicted to substances” (FCD Prevention Works). A solution would be setting boundaries on your phone. One should take periodical breaks, turn off notifications, establish phone free zones, set aside certain times to check your phone, have a phone fast, and engage in real human contact. Teenagers’ dependency on social media has caused teens to lose touch with the world going on behind their phones and laptops. This dependency social media has caused social anxiety, depression and an unhealthy need for social media.

In a world where technology and social media are essentials to everyday life, parents need to know the negative effects it has on their children. Since the rapid growth of the internet in the past several decades, social media has become one of its most utilized services. Today’s youth document their everyday lives through various social media platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, among many others. Although many will believe that this is considered an escape for teens in this crazy world we live in, there are negative repercussions that come with social media. The negative effects of social media outweigh the positive effects which in turn create a major concern for our youth. They are our future and we need them to prosper in order to better their own lives. Being exposed to social media may lead to cyberbullying, poor health and negative life decisions, and lack of social skills. Parents and guardians should be more informed on this issue in order to protect their children from the negative effects of social media.

Social media drives the very existence of our generation. With the new age of technology, teen usage of phones and other devices has been exponentially increasing in the past years. More and more teens can gain instant access to social media because of this era of technology. Which can lead to some positive aspects of the world. However overall social media is going to change the way our world works negatively. This is due to the cause of an uprising in technology, such as the digital revolution, which has had many effects on our society. This affects teens by creating indirect communication with the social community and lowering ones self-esteem. Ever since the digital revolution, this has been the main cause that leads to these outcomes.

After they have been exposed to the dazzling world of the internet, teenagers tend to live their lives in full view to their online audience. They have been “checking-in” their locations online, posting personal affairs on their social media walls, and sharing their selfies to let people know where they are and what they are up to. For some people and experts from different generations, the idea of doing all these things seems to be odd. One of these experts is Sherry Turkle, MIT professor and psychologist, who studies the opportunities and challenges associated with our digital connectivity. Turkle, in the Tedtalk “Connected, But Alone?” claims that the technological devices, that have been recently invented, have a psychological power that makes their users do things that only few years ago were very strange and unusual (02:20). Although that the social media has brought a new type of interaction with others into our lives, it made many users, especially the teenagers, be less confident about their own identities, and it reduced their interpersonal relationships with other people around them.