4th A Assignment: Teens and Social Media

American Teen. Photo by Laura Smith

For this assignment, we are researching and reading up on teens and social media and the impact that technology and the digital world is making on teens. I was excited to explore this topic, as I have a daughter who is just about  to reach her teen years. I found all of this information to be helpful, especially  for  teachers and  parents in learning the pros and cons of teens and the digital world.

One article that caught my attention was, Influence of Social Media on Teenagers by Suren Ramasubbu. She stated in this article that teens are among the greatest users of social networking. “According to a report by Common Sense Media, 75 percent of teenagers in America currently have profiles on social networking sites, of which 68 percent use Facebook as their main social networking tool.” I was astounded by this number, that is a lot of teens interacting with Facebook! She pointed out some of the risks that are associated with the use of social networking. These risks were Facebook depression, sexting, and cyberbullying, social-network-induced obesity, Internet addiction and sleep deprivation. She then stressed the importance of open communication between teens and parents and talk about etiquette and how to be good and safe digital citizens.

The other article that I learned a lot from and what to share is How Does Social Media Affect Teens? by a neat website called We Have Kids. In this article they point right off the bat that teens today cannot even image life without the Internet or other devices, which is so true! When I think of my girl,  all they know is the Internet. What I found interesting were the pros and cons that social media can have on teens. Some of the cons were: heavy social media use can possibly lead to depression, anxiety and low self-esteem, social media can be a major distraction that can lead to poor academic performance and some inappropriate posts may hurt future job opportunities. On the other hand the pros to social media can be it provide a platform for shy people to express themselves and to boost confidence,  it can strengthen  and maintain relationships to friends and the other one I liked was classrooms can use social media to keep students engaged into study materials.

All in all, the Internet is here to stay and yes there are many pros and cons to the digital world. The main take away from these readings that I have come up with, there needs to be balance with the digital world for teens and adults. As a parent and teacher, it is my goal to teach balance and  that there is a place and time for the digital devices.