Essay On Controversy Of Social Media
Why is this topic a controversy today?
Social media is considered to be any website that allows social interaction. (pediatrics) These include Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and gaming sites to name a few. Social media is a controversial topic, as it is believed that the youth of today spend far too much time using social media instead of interacting face -to-face with people. Therefore it is possible that they lack the proper communication skills they will require to be successful in life. Most jobs require face-to-face interaction. Children have too much access too and are spending too much time using forms of social media. 52% of all children now have access to one of the new mobile devices at home (smartphone, ipad, etc.) (commonsensemedia.org) …show more content…
One such example is Facebook which requires users to be at least 13 years of age to open an account. Last year more than 7.5 million American kids under the age of 13 had joined Facebook. (www.cnn.com)
The time spent using social media takes a child/youth away from actual physical activity. We are already considered to have a large obese population; this will just continue to foster that. This in turn leads to other problems such as increased health issues and in turn increased medical costs for a society that already has a health system that is being taxed due to insufficient funding and staffing.
A final but very significant area of controversy due to the use of social media by today’s youth is the increase in cyber bullying. It is far easier to say something online than it is to someone’s face. There are several alarming statistics with regard to cyber bullying. Below are just a few from the site (www.internetsafety101.org)
-66% of teens who have witnessed online cruelty have also witnessed others joining:21% say they have also joined in the harassment
-52% of parents are worried their child will be bullied via social networking sites
-1 in 6 parents know their child has been bullied through a social networking
Social media is considered to be any website that allows social interaction. (pediatrics) These include Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and gaming sites to name a few. Social media is a controversial topic, as it is believed that the youth of today spend far too much time using social media instead of interacting face -to-face with people. Therefore it is possible that they lack the proper communication skills they will require to be successful in life. Most jobs require face-to-face interaction. Children have too much access too and are spending too much time using forms of social media. 52% of all children now have access to one of the new mobile devices at home (smartphone, ipad, etc.) (commonsensemedia.org) …show more content…
One such example is Facebook which requires users to be at least 13 years of age to open an account. Last year more than 7.5 million American kids under the age of 13 had joined Facebook. (www.cnn.com)
The time spent using social media takes a child/youth away from actual physical activity. We are already considered to have a large obese population; this will just continue to foster that. This in turn leads to other problems such as increased health issues and in turn increased medical costs for a society that already has a health system that is being taxed due to insufficient funding and staffing.
A final but very significant area of controversy due to the use of social media by today’s youth is the increase in cyber bullying. It is far easier to say something online than it is to someone’s face. There are several alarming statistics with regard to cyber bullying. Below are just a few from the site (www.internetsafety101.org)
-66% of teens who have witnessed online cruelty have also witnessed others joining:21% say they have also joined in the harassment
-52% of parents are worried their child will be bullied via social networking sites
-1 in 6 parents know their child has been bullied through a social networking