Social Media and its Effects and Influence on Modern Adolescence

 

Contributed By: Jorge A. Martinez

The world we live in is evolving faster than most of us can get a grasp on and while technology is booming at a rate humanity has never seen, we find ourselves and our societies forced to acknowledge and manage unprecedented issues. Access to the Internet grows on a daily basis, with people all over the world logging on to millions of websites, sharing information that otherwise would have taken hours, days, or weeks in mere seconds. Adequate monitoring and regulating Internet use seemed just within the realm of possibility when the availability of Internet-enabled smartphones came into play. These days, virtually everyone has access to the whole world at their fingertips, and with that has evolved the globalization and revolution of social media. It’s no question that Facebook has essentially “taken over the world” since its founding in 2004 with over 845 million registered users as of February, 2012 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/facebook) and today’s youth is being drawn to it and other social mediums such as Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and 4Square vociferously, bordering on addiction in many cases, with network use having more than quadrupled from 2005 to 2009 (http://socialnetworking.procon.org) The social networking frenzy is impacting all aspects of adolescent life from school to home to friendships and everything in between. Academics, the dynamics of the parent-child relationship, and adolescent psychology are matters of great interest heavily influenced by the grasp of social media.

Initially, more and more studies are showing the implications that the increased immersion in social media is having on adolescents’ academic performance. It should come as no surprise, as almost 60 percent of students who frequent social media sites talk about education topic and over 50 percent talk specifically about schoolwork, according to the National School Board Association’s article Creating and Connecting// Research and Guidelines on Online Social- and Educational- Networking. Using the ease of communication, students are helping one another in terms of understanding and disseminating assignments and forming study groups. They can set up meeting times and places as “Events” on Facebook and even RSVP for them. Students who miss school stay abreast of developments and missed assignments from their classes. Additionally, many students while studying check their social media quite often via mobile devices, esp. smart phones. A study by Dr. Larry Rosen of the American Psychological Association titled “Poke Me: How Social Media Can Both Help and Harm our Kids” showed that with proper coaching, teens can actually improve the productivity of study time. Using what Rosen calls “tech breaks” a student studies for a predetermined amount of time, usually 15-20 minutes, then is allotted 1-2 minutes to update on their media of choice. This allows the student to focus through the study period more efficiently than when the distraction is readily available at any interval.  “If they are unsure as to when their next break will be, they will probably be off in la-la-land before they know it.”

Conversely, more consideration seems to be given to the negative effect social media seems to be having on study habits and performance in school, and deservedly so. The cons seem to outweigh the pros. American teenagers are spending an average of nine hours per week on social networking sites (http://socialnetworking.procom.org). Studies show that the increased use of social media sites is inversely related to academic performance (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110806203538.htm), meaning the more time spent on the sites, the lower the grades. Social media is blamed in decreased attention spans, sharing and copying homework and other assignments, and an increasing need for instant gratification. Needless to say, these are all enormous factors in the decrease of productivity and worsening academic performance. “The more media they consumed per day, the worse students they were. If they checked Facebook just once during 15 minutes, they were worse students” says Dr. Rosen. The existence and dependence on social media has led to what some are calling “multitasking personality” whereby the student becomes so engulfed in the lifestyle that it becomes normative to them. The research shows that the more involved the students were in multitasking while studying and completing assignments, the more their grades suffer (Dr. Rey Junco, http://blog.reyjunco.com/multitasking-has-negative-effect-on-student-academic-work). What activities is the youth partaking in while doing homework? Certainly some TV is at hand, but it cannot match the appealing nature of the frequently updated networking mediums.

Next, we’ll examine the relationships between teens and their parents and how they’re being affected by the rising prominence of social media in their lives. Is social media widening or narrowing the “generation gap” between parents and their teens? Without a doubt, social networks are catered to younger consumers, but does that make it a barrier? According to studies, it seems to go both ways. Apparently in the case of older teens social media is a way for parents to connect with and understand them better. Parents who use networks like Facebook are more in tune with what the youth is in to, what’s “in” and the do’s and don’ts of modern culture. Interviews with many parent state that “in almost all cases, the parents of teens and young adults found that social media enhanced their relationship. It gives them a way to keep in touch with on-the-go, hyper-connected kids. It also gives parents a way to keep tabs on their children’s activities. This was especially important for parents of tweens and teens. As one mommy blogger said, ‘I find out a lot of what is going on in their lives via Facebook. Love it! I make them keep me as a friend even though they sometimes want to block me’.” (http://socialmediaclub.org/blogs/from-the-clubhouse/social-media-affecting-your-relationship-your-kids). Many seem to feel that in this fast-paced modern society these means of communication give them a way to maintain contact without intervening with their schedules and regular activities. Others still offer that Facebook is an efficient tool in staying connected with distant relatives, giving the teens and parents more grounds for conversation and things to do together while making them more family oriented in general.

While there is clearly some benefit to the family through the use of social media, others maintain that it has done much more to perpetuate the difficulties that parents of teenagers have in spending wholesome quality family time together. Many parents note the sites as being addicting in nature, and we have all seen images, whether online, on TV, or at the mall, of teenagers distracted by their iPhones walking into objects, fountains, and sometimes even oncoming traffic. It often seems impossible to sit down for a simple meal without an interruption from a vibrating cell phone. For many parents, the need to be connected to friends and celebrities 24 hours a day is incomprehensible and downright wrong. Teens are becoming perceived more and more as detached from the real world as their lives and attention become consumed by the 4-inch screens they carry around in their pockets. With school, work, extracurricular activities, and other modern undertakings, home time and family interaction are increasingly constrained. For some parents, the obsession with social media has outgrown a nuisance and is now a serious threat to the family unit. Definite barriers in their relationship, Facebook and the like have “hijacked childhood” (http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/aug/15/research-confirms-social-medias-impact-on/) making teens more immersed in a peer-first lifestyle than ever before, and what’s worse, any effort on the adult’s behalf to deter a teen from his or her constant reliance on their cell phones for gratification can only hope to be met with hostility and resentment, only further deteriorating the already waning situation.

Finally, teenage psychology is in debate as the digital era evolves. “Overusing social mediums on a daily basis has a negative effect on teens and young adults by making them more prone to anxiety, depression, and other psychological disorders such as anti-social behaviors, mania, and aggressive tendencies” (http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/aug/15/research-confirms-social-medias-impact-on/). The perceived over-dependence on social media to stay connected is linked with some hefty deficiencies in youth psychology. Its more than one can hope, to spend more time of the day attached to an electronic device than interacting with real people, and still develop into a fully functional member of society with apt social and conversational skills. This heavy use of social media is often blamed for hindering many abilities that one will likely need throughout life. Additionally, overuse of these networks can shorten attention spans, cause a need for instant gratification, and even induce ADHD in some younger users (http://socialnetworking.procon.org/#pro_con). Last, cyber-bullying, facilitated by social networks, can lead to lower grades and self-esteem and depression.

Still, some argue that the results are not all negative. Arguments advocating social media range anywhere from it being a means for creative expression to helping overcome certain social anxieties to genuine health benefits. “Studies have shown that being part of a social network has a positive impact, including increased quality of life and a reduction in the risk of health problems. They help improve stroke recovery, memory retention, and overall well-being.” (http://socialnetworking.procon.org/#pro_con). Users of social networks are said to have larger social networks than nonusers and state that it has actually facilitated face-to-face interaction.

Finally, in 2006 60million Americans claimed to have received significant help with major life issues via some social medium (http://socialnetworking.procon.org/#pro_con). Certainly, neither side can produce an argument to tip the scales in either direction.

It is evident that social media is just getting its foot in the door of our society and while no one can predict what the future holds for Facebook and company, it is a safe bet that they and others like them will be with us for some time to come. All aspects of today’s youth’s lives seem to somehow be touched by any finger of social media; posting pictures about it on Facebook and Instagram or Tweeting their ideas and concerns about it in 140 characters or less. The social effects these mediums of social networking are having on modern adolescence, whether positive or negative, are undeniable. Academic performance, interpersonal family relationships, and the psychology of the modern teenager are all being profoundly influenced by this technological revolution. The long-term will have to wait to be seen, but psychologists and scientists alike have their hands full with research and information to study about the effects they are already having today. “We lived on farms, then we lived in cities, now we’re going to live on the internet!” (The Social Network, imdb.com, 2010).

References

-http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/avg/15/research-confirms-social-medias-impact-on/

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/facebook

-http://socialnetworking.procon.org

– http://socialnetworking.procon.org/#pro_con

-National School Board Association (2007). Creating and Connecting// Research and Guidelines on Online Social- and Educational- Networking

-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110806203538.htm

-http://socialmediaclub.org/blogs/from-the-clubhouse/social-media-affecting-your-relationship-your-kids

-http://blog.thoughtpick.com/2009/06/the-many-ways-social-media-affects-parenting-online-offline.html

-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016

Author: Jorge A. Martinez

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