Social Media Impact On Identity

The online world today has introduced adolescents to new cultures, interactions and views. The way a teen becomes friends with a person has changed from the face to face contact in everyday life, to switching on the phone and reading a peers online status. There are still some processes a young adult goes through to keeps a friendship lasting online as they would in person. Social media can open doors to sharing opinions, and help an adolescent discover their identity and build self-esteem. Some adolescents have built a false identities, but one would be surprised on the reason. The attachment to social media can inhibit a teen from practicing their interpersonal skills, which can impact their future as a working professional. The beginning of online friendships has truly changed the way a teen interacts with their peers and develops their own self-image.
The 21st century was when the internet truly boomed. As an individual that is a part of social media and that has moved to three different states in the U.S while in high school, social media linked me to my friends around the country. Social media helps a teen develop an open-minded sense of the world, when I was sitting at home in Washington
Online friendships allow adolescents to share their opinion as well as respect or others views. In the book ethnic identity describes that feeling of being part of a specific ethnic group (Kail, Cavanaugh, 2013, p. 318). Social media, reveals more options for an adolescent to accept or even associate with a different ethnic culture and gain new morals. In some instances, social media helps an adolescent learn about their own culture and ethnicity through friends of the same ethnic background. When a teen exposes themselves to many opinions and even ethnic views, they are able to find where they fit into