Social Media and Adolescence

This week’s lesson Psych 424, discussed the media and internet and its influences on society. Our discussion group delved into how the media influences and affects the health, attitudes, and beliefs of young people. While we are all aware of the influence that the media and internet has on our society, I chose to further discuss the topic and its effects on our youth. An article by The Huffington Post titled “Influence of Social Media on Teenagers”, reported that 75 percent of teenagers in America are participating on social network sites, the bulk of them using Facebook as their main networking tool.

The American Psychological Association defines bullying as an aggressive behavior that causes discomfort to others, brought on by an individual. While there’s no denying that there are many benefits in having access to the internet, we have all likely heard of cyber bullying, internet addiction and sleep deprivation because of heavy use of the internet and social networks. Numerous studies have been conducted concerning the subject, reporting that 32 percent of online teens have admitted to experiencing menacing advances for others while online. (Ramasubbu, 2015)

Sexting is another issue that is common among teens in the social media community. A survey conducted by the National Campaign to Support Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, found that 20 percent of teens participate in sexting. The personal trauma involved in sexting may have serious ramifications, judicially, for those involved in such activities including misdemeanors and felonies.

Additionally, Facebook Depression has become a real malady for teens and pre-teens who spend a great deal of time on social media sites. Comparing themselves to others appears to be the greatest problem within this group.

A study conducted by the Canadian Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Review, claim media influences in young people’s lives produced similar outcome to that reported in The Huffington Post article. Within this study, Media Awareness Network MNet, conducted two surveys with parents and children to highlight the contrast between parents and young people’s knowledge and attitudes towards the internet. It also provided the internet’s potential impact on the healthy mental and physical development of this first generation that has grown up using the internet. The gap between parents and children and their opinions on the usefulness of the internet is continuing to widen. Many parents report feeling the internet provides less educational value than the children.

To remedy this issue MNet met with Representatives of the Child Health Community to inform them of the impact social media has on children while encouraging them to integrate media awareness into their practice settings. The problem that they found in this study, was that although many clinicians know the influence of the media is an important health issue, few have received any formal training in the area. (D’Arcy, 2004)

What do you think could help improve education on the effects the internet and media has on adolescents? What do you think would be most helpful- educating the parents or the adolescents?

 

 

 

D’Arcy, J. (2004). Media Influences in Young People’s Lives. The Canadian child and adolescent psychiatry review13(1), 2.

 

Ramasubbu, S. (2015, May 26). Influence of Social Media on Teenagers. Retrieved March 19, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suren-ramasubbu/influence-of-social-media-on-teenagers_b_7427740.html

1 comment

  1. I loved your post. I think you incorporated the right amount of information into it to not only make it informative, but also credible.

    Cyber-bullying is something that exists, even as adults. In previous blog post I did, I mentioned how one of my adult friends was belittled online by the mother of one of her friends. I read the text she received over Facebook and it was full of negative comparisons. I think that having the ability to post so much online can cause unnecessary critique sometimes.

    Having online identities may not be a bad thing. We can all express parts of ourselves online that we can’t or don’t want to express in person. Because of this, I think my biggest issue with the internet is how often people air their dirty laundry online. With capabilities such as screen shots, people can forever keep things that people share. This can play largely into sexting and unwanted solicitation of their photos to a larger audience. That’d be my largest worry if I engaged in that type of behavior, as an adolescent or an adult. Nothing is ever really private anymore.

    Interesting post! Thanks for your insight.

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