Impact of Social Media on Teens and Adolescences
Dr. Arleen Reinhardt
English 111
01 March 2013
Impact of Social Media on Teens and Adolescences It is not news to any of us that social media plays a major role in the majority of our daily lives. We use Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and countless other forms of communication with our “friends”, but at what cost? There are many positive aspects to social media but an equal number of negative aspects. The induction of the internet and social media has opened a gateway to a plethora of information both useful and garbage. Social media offers society the ability to educate, raise awareness, share family memories, update friends in faraway places, and share a laugh or message of hope for those in need. On the flip side of the coin, it also gives anyone with internet access the ability to cause harm, bully, illicit hate, publish unmonitored sexual content, and cause irreparable damage to the psyche of our youth. Cyberbullying, teen and adolescent suicide, underage alcohol consumption, illegal drug use, lack of real relationship concepts, and countless other issues involving our children are all on the rise. Is social media to blame? I feel that it is. Though not solely responsible for the downturn of our youth, it does play in intricate role. The pros versus cons of social media have been under great scrutiny for many years. For most existing problems, there are equally as many unsuccessful solutions. Some social sites require their users to be a minimum age as a solution to protecting minors to inappropriate content, however getting around this is as simple as a child knowing the minimum age and entering a birth year that fits within the parameters during registration. Other sites, such as Twitter, have no age requirements and leaves its users open to all content no matter their age. Aside from age requirements, which we have already stated are easily maneuvered, very little has been done by social media corporations to insure the safety of its users.
English 111
01 March 2013
Impact of Social Media on Teens and Adolescences It is not news to any of us that social media plays a major role in the majority of our daily lives. We use Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and countless other forms of communication with our “friends”, but at what cost? There are many positive aspects to social media but an equal number of negative aspects. The induction of the internet and social media has opened a gateway to a plethora of information both useful and garbage. Social media offers society the ability to educate, raise awareness, share family memories, update friends in faraway places, and share a laugh or message of hope for those in need. On the flip side of the coin, it also gives anyone with internet access the ability to cause harm, bully, illicit hate, publish unmonitored sexual content, and cause irreparable damage to the psyche of our youth. Cyberbullying, teen and adolescent suicide, underage alcohol consumption, illegal drug use, lack of real relationship concepts, and countless other issues involving our children are all on the rise. Is social media to blame? I feel that it is. Though not solely responsible for the downturn of our youth, it does play in intricate role. The pros versus cons of social media have been under great scrutiny for many years. For most existing problems, there are equally as many unsuccessful solutions. Some social sites require their users to be a minimum age as a solution to protecting minors to inappropriate content, however getting around this is as simple as a child knowing the minimum age and entering a birth year that fits within the parameters during registration. Other sites, such as Twitter, have no age requirements and leaves its users open to all content no matter their age. Aside from age requirements, which we have already stated are easily maneuvered, very little has been done by social media corporations to insure the safety of its users.