The Impact of Social Media on Youth

INTRODUCTION
While young people have always been influenced by media, social medias impact on youth is creating additional challenges and opportunities. A recent study by Nielson found that nearly 80 percent of active Internet users visit social media sites (Nielson, 2011). The National School Boards Association found that youth aged 9 to 17 spent an average of nine hours a week on social networking sites (National School Board Association, 2007). For young people, technological changes, such as the Internet on cell phones, iPads and other tablets, and better computer capabilities make access to social media easier.

Use/ Consumption of Social Media

93% of teens are active users of the internet (6070% daily) 75% of teens own a cellphone Teens average over 3000 texts per month (100/day) Text messaging has increased most dramatically, along with media multi tasking

What Teens do Online

The percentage of U.S. Internet users, ages 1217, who do the following online: 89% send or read email 84% go to websites about movies, TV shows, music groups, or sports 81% play online games 76% go online to get news or information about current events 75% send or receive instant messages 57% go online to get information about college
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43% buy online merchandise 22% look for information about a health topic thats hard to talk about Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project (July 2005)

Teen SocialNetworking by the Numbers

51% of teens check their sites more than once a day. 22% of teens check their site more than 10 times a day. 39% of teens have posted something they later regretted. 37% of teens have used sites to make fun of other students. 25% of teens have created a profile with a false identity. 24%of teens have hacked into someone elses socialnetworking account. 13% of teens have posted nude or seminude pictures or videos of themselves or others, online.

Impact of high exposure on behaviour and mental health:

Middle scholars use more media than anyother age group (8 hrs., 40 min per day) Lower academic achievement, grades Lower attachment to school Shorter attention spans Among youth who report internet harassment victimization and unwanted sexual encounters, 25% report extreme upset.

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Impact of media types

Induced fear and phobias Media multitasking affects attention Reality vs. fantasy Role models Time use Facebook, Orkut, twitter the social entertaining media websites of today have affected our life a lot, in a good and bad way, especially for kids, for whom it is becoming an unavoidable feature of their daily routine. According to a report, this surely can have some benefits and harms for children. In accordance to a report of Paediatrics Academy of America, nowadays, youth is spending most of their spare time in networking on the social media and gaming sites through which they get connected with other users. Half of the teens come online through these social media sites at least for once in a day and around one quarter of youth sign up to their networking accounts 10 or even more times a day. So, are these websites really providing our youth with a beneficiary impact or is it harming them? CEO of Paediatrics-Dr. Gwenn OKeefe said that in this modern era, kids are moving with fast pace with the new technologies. They like to play more virtual online games, play stations and socialize with their online friends community rather than going out. Today, the youth doesnt even have much time to meet with their friends daily, therefore in this sense, the sites are good because they allow kids to reconnect with each other daily in a short time.

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As commented by OKeefe, parents need to keep a watchful eye on their children. They should be added on their facebook and twitter accounts and should be added in their friends list. If the parents are on the friend list of their children, they will be able to track their activities and will also be connected to them. According to some experts, the social websites are beneficiary but at the same time they can be harmful too. The biggest disadvantage is online harassment and cyber bullying to embarrass or harm any person or community. Technology has shrunken the boundaries, so it is easier to get harmed at the same time. Youth can get harassed by looking at nude pictures and illicit material, which they can forward to others with just a single click. Parents should be aware regarding these kinds of risks of technology, as we need to restructure the use of technology in a way that it should facilitate our youth completely. For that, parents should discuss all the issues with their children openly and should tell them the right use of everything so that they can be able to see fruitful results of socializing in spite of getting harmed.

The impact of social media on youth:

Social media or "social networking" has almost become part of our daily lives and being tossed around over the past few years. It is like any other media such as newspaper, radio and television but it is far more than just about sharing information and ideas. Social networking tools like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, youtube and Blogs have facilitated creation and exchange of ideas so quickly and widely than the conventional media. The power of defining and controlling a brand is shifting from corporations and institutions to individuals and communities.

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Social networking also is the collection of individuals into specific groups, like small rural communities or a neighbourhood subdivision, if you will. Although social networking is possible in person, especially in the workplace, universities, and high schools, it is most popular online. This is because unlike most high schools, colleges, or workplaces, the internet is filled with millions of individuals who are looking to meet other people, to gather and share first-hand information and experiences about cooking, golfing, gardening, developing friendships or professional alliances, finding employment, business-to-business marketing and even groups sharing information. Thats why we consider social media as an important tool; it gives us recognition, relationships, resources and referrals. So Teens use social networking to connect. They create, collaborate, Because its easy and fun and provides opportunities to take part in activities that may not otherwise be possible.In many ways web-based social networking isnt that different than what teens have always participated in.

For example imagine:

A 12 year old loves to read. She joins the librarys book discussion group so that she has a chance to talk with her friends about books. In the social networking world that same 12 year old might join the librarys virtual book discussion group or participate in discussions via a site or even discussion on Facebook. A group of 15 year olds decide to make a movie. They get together to write a script, plan the filming, get their friends to act in it, use a video camera to record, and when they are finished, have a showing in the apartment of one of the teens involved. When the screening is over everyone talks about what they

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liked, what was funny, etc Then, the movie gets posted on YouTube and even more people get to talk about it. These are just two ways that web-based social networking expands the ways in which teens get to create, collaborate, and converse. Of course teens need to learn how to use social networking tools safely. With that knowledge they can take part in activities they enjoy in ways that are fun and exciting. Also teens have developed new ways to send messages and reply on it such as writing with Arabic language using English letters and numbers so its easier to understand, but in my point of view this language ruins our native Arabic and creates a cultural issue that may affect for example the education process or may cause misunderstanding between cultures. Considering the danger of social media some parents choose to control it, so it cant affect youth. Parents may use one of these ways to control social media interaction: Family control; the first recommended step may be to observe youthat home to see how they use the internet. Is their mood changeable fromone time to another? When they access the internet do they sit in a closed room or sit with family? Parents should always notice these things. Options provided by network suppliers called (family filter): some internet service providers offer filters to block any unwanted websitecontent as controlled by parents. Spread awareness between youth communities with a simple language and clear messages so youth can decide themselves the risks of using social networks .Also parents should be aware about internet risks and how it could be harmful to youth. When youth are aware of the risks of using the internet they will educate themselves to recognize the difference between good and bad content, if they

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used to access an inappropriate website they recognize that is not related to their culture or maybe affect them badly.

Positive effects social media have on teens:

Nowadays social media plays an important role in teenagers life. The vast majority of teenagers in the United States are daily social media users. There are countless of social networking sites that have created broad connections among teens. For example, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Skype, YouTube, and the like are used quite frequently. According to Shea Bennett, one out of every seven minutes spent online is on Facebook. But does social media have positive impact on teens? To me the answer is yes. For the vast majority of teens, the overall impact on social media has been positive (Rideout). Social media helps teens stay connected to each other even if they are a thousand miles away, and it keeps us up to date with what's going on around the world and so on. Social media has positive impact on teens in many ways. Social media helps strengthen relationships among teens. Many people have friends who they have not seen since school, or who have moved away, and they want to stay connected with. They don't have to worry about losing touch, because social media has it covered. Through social media teens can stay connected with friends no matter the distance or time. Just by simply sending a friend request and accepting it, then starting a chat you can be easily be back in touch again. Social networks have provided people with the opportunity to connect with others and build better relationships with friends with whom we are unable to meet personally, and letting them know about our life and take input about their lives and events happening with them (Ali). As an teenager it's also very important to understand what's going on around us rather than just knowing what's going with friends. According to the article "What Facebook and Twitter Mean for News." Nowadays teens receive digital news from social media sites rather than turning on news channel or reading newspaper. 70% of teens receive most of the news stories they read or watch via Facebook or Twitter. It's amazing how fast news spread on social networking sites. According to Amy Mitchell, "Facebook news users get more news from friends and family and see it as news they might well have gotten someplace else if
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Facebook did not exist. For Twitter users, though, the news links come from a more even mix of family and friends and news organizations. Most of these users also feel that without Twitter, they would have missed this kind of news". Thus, social media results in teens being more well-informed about national and global news than they would be otherwise. Social media has become part of the modern teenage lifestyle. It makes our life so much easier and much more efficient. It has become an essential part of our communication culture that cannot be taken away easily, because we are so dependent on it. Without social media we wouldn't be able to connect with people the way we do now.

The Negative Effects of Social Media:

Something that I have been interested in learning more about has been the medias effect on teenagers. I remember one of my teachers talking about it awhile ago, but I havent been interested in it until now. Lately, the issue has caught my eye again. I know that many people feel that watching the latest movies and keeping up with celebrity gossip is completely harmless. From what I have heard, the media has the most impact on teenagers. For example, I heard that one contribution to the increased rate of teen pregnancies is the large amount of nudity and sexual involvement portrayed. Now that's just what I've heard, it may or may not be true. One thing that I know for sure about the media is that the thing exposed on the media has changed over time as well as the behaviour of society. Now, I've studied my share of the effects of media, for example: sociology and its safe to say that society and the people in it are no longer the same. I believe that the media has a big contribution to this. Personally, It's funny to me how people complain of having unstable households and terrible childhood yet they go and ruin it even more by taking part in things they know are wrong. The media was not always so provocative. Before, the media tried to prevent certain instances from occurring by setting positive examples and portraying happy healthy lives of the people they adore. The media is not only the news people tend to watch in the morning before they start their day, but it is also movies, television shows, magazines, etc. The purposes of these things are to inform, entertain and eventually have some affect on peoples lives.

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The media is very different from the way it is now; not only has technology advanced, but what technology is being used for has changed as well. I think a major contribution to this is the increase in the availability of technology.

Being that I didn't have a lot of background information on this topic, I chose to do some research on it. As I searched for blogs and news articles on Google, I came across this one article: Teens and the Media http://www.pamf.org/teen/life/bodyimage/media.html This article provided a lot of information and opinions on the media and its effects. Some people felt that the media affects other aspects of individuals lives as well. These aspects include physical appearance, social behavior, educational performance and your state of mind. Many teens want to be like the characters they see on TV. Also, some forms of media do not show the real diversity of the world. According to Common Sense Media, 74 percent of the characters on TV are Caucasian, and 64 percent of videogame characters are males. This statement and statistic actually surprised me even though deep down I actually knew it but just never had proof and looked into it. This statement intrigued me for many reasons. It is very true and made me think, also it supported my claim stated above. I know this is true from personal experience, most of the time the media portrays happiness in many ways and it makes others believe that what happens on television will happen to them too but I think its just false hope. Not only does it give false hope but it also gives readers the wrong impression of life and the outcome of situations. In another article I read there was this one statement that made me nod my head in agreement with the writer. It was: Although people receive much joy from the different forms of media, it inadvertently affects the way they think and feel about themselves. This affects teenagers in such a crucial way because they are always questioning their identity, and the media is always there to answer those questions either in a positive or negative way. The media is so strong that it can change an individuals perspective on life and many things within it. It can also give people the wrong impression of who they are suppose to be or what is suppose to happen in their lives. Several of the most prominent negative influences the media has on teenagers of America are school, obesity, advertising, stereotypes, violence, and sex. This is so true; I believe the writer hit the hammer on the nail with this statement. I think this because it directly shows how powerful the media is to its audience which mainly consists of teenagers. It is bad enough that the media has a negative impact on people, but what makes it worse is that those people are teenagers. I say this because the hardest part of being a teenager is figuring out
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who you are, and I speak for almost everyone who has been a teenager at some point in their life. When the media confuses teenagers and puts the wrong messages in their head it, makes it even harder for them to mold their identity.

All of this makes me think that the media is hypocritical in a sense because they talk about how the rates of everything negative in teenagers are increasing and that they have been losing their inhibitions, yet the media itself is the cause of it. How could you spend so much money to produce literature that is poisoning the minds of our adolescents then turn around and wonder why there is so much corruption in this world? I say it is time to stop worrying about making millions and stop worrying about being famous and well known and start worrying about the effect you are having on other peoples lives. The media is using its power for evil upon the ones who have gotten them to their high point in the first place. Stop thinking about plans and programs to help the situation, it is time to extirpate this situation. How do you do that? The first thing that pops into mind is very simple; it is self-reflection. Think about what you have done and are going to do, and predict how it will impact others. Stop being selfish!

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CONCLUSIONS PRACTICE:

AND

IMPLICATIONS

FOR

Parents need to work with their children on using safety precautions when on social media sites. Thirty-one percent of youth surveyed by the National School Board Association (2007) reported posting inappropriate pictures and sharing personal information with strangers. Youth need to be taught of the dangers of putting their personal information online. Information that is posted online can never be permanently erased. Parents and their children should establish privacy settings, and the children should learn to check to be sure that their privacy settings have not changed. Updates on social media sites involve changes to privacy settings. Parents should also discuss with their children the impact of cyber bullying and the importance of not engaging in this behavior. Social media sites need to create parental controls and impose more severe penalties for cyber bullies. Changes in privacy settings should also be easier to recognize so youth can keep their privacy settings on private.

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Bibliography:
Daniel J. Flannery PhD Dr. Semi J. and Ruth Begun Professor Director, Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research & Education Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences Case Western Reserve University Youth development initiative Social Medias Influence on Youth Brittany Grube Pew Internet & American Life Project (July 2005) http://www.pamf.org/teen/life/bodyimage/media.html

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