Social Networking and Teens

Social Networking and Communication
How does social networking sites impact today’s youth?

Growing up as a teen in the 80’s, hearing the words Facebook, probably meant putting your face in a book and reading it; Twitter, a sound a bird might make; and MySpace meant exactly that, my space. However, in today’s teen society those words represent the world’s biggest trend, social networking. The purpose of this report is to inform society about social networking and the various impacts it has on our teenage society. As a parent of a teenage daughter, I felt this would be a great topic to elaborate and gain more prospective into. What is social networking? As stated by, www.techterms.com, social networks are websites that provide a virtual community for people interested in a particular subject or to “hang out” together. These sites are like virtual club houses. Once you become a member and create a profile, you can interact and connect with family and friends via online activities like chat (Yahoo), email, (Google), videos (YouTube), photos (Instagram), events and status updates (Facebook), video gaming sites and different types of blogs. Social networking is among the most common activities of today's teenage culture. Recent statistics show that during the last 5 years, the number of teenagers using such sites has improved rapidly. According to a recent poll by Common Sense Media, 22% of teenagers log on to their favorite social networking site more than 10 times a day, and more than half of adolescents log on to a social networking site more than once a day. 75% percent of teenagers now own cell phones, and 25% use them for social media, 54% use them for texting, and 24% use them for instant messaging. Consequently, a large part of this generation's social and emotional development is occurring while on the Internet and on cell phones. Today, many teens use these sites as a form of socialization and leisure time. In addition, they are using Social Network Sites to create their own circle of "friends" or be part of one. Today, more and more children learn how to use a computer or laptops at early ages. When they get older and start having friends at school, the word about funny web-pages and interesting sites is passed around schools and playgrounds. Then, because it is important to do the fun things others are doing, planning their social lives, and the curiosity of being able to talk with friends and other people, they start to look around the internet and open the doors to Social Networking Sites. With this being said, many us of wonder, what types of impacts can theses sites have on today’s teens? The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of youth and social networking would be its overall social impact. Being social is an important part of their life. Social networking allows them to keep up with current friends and make new ones. When used in the right way, social media can increase self-esteem and help someone feel less isolated. Therefore, the use social networking sites enable those youths that are isolated or disenfranchised better ways to interact in ways they wouldn’t in face-to-face communication. For example, they would probably befriend other teens they wouldn’t normally approach on a daily basis. Another, great impact of social networking would be identity development. This gives them a chance to express themselves and have better understanding of who they are; what they want or like out of life, and who they will become. This is important to our youth because during this age in life they are usually confused about life and are looking for social guidance. With this being said, this gives teens stronger educational and creative benefits. These benefits allow teens allow teens to share self-created writing, art, pictures, video and music with their friends, collaborate on school projects and discuss school assignments, and explore academic subjects with classmates as well as students from other schools, cities and countries. As you can see, there are many beneficial impacts of social networks but potential abuse of these could also impact tour youth in a negative way such as, cyberbullying and on-line predators. We have always heard the word bullying, but cyberbulling what does this mean? According to the National Crime Prevention Council, cyberbullying is the willful and repeated use of cell phones, computers, and other electronic communication devices to harass and threaten others. In fact, in a study of over 3,000 students, one researcher found that 38% of bully victims felt vengeful, 37% were angry, and 24% felt helpless. According to a 2010 fact sheet on juvenile bullying produced by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and delinquency Prevention, victims of schoolyard bullying fear going to school and experience loneliness, humiliation, and insecurity. Moreover, they tend to struggle with poor relationships and have difficulty making emotional and social adjustments. Although “online harassment” is often used interchangeably with the term “cyberbullying,” it is actually a different entity. Current data suggest that online harassment is not as common as offline harassment, and participation in social networking sites does not put most children at risk of online harassment. On the other hand, cyberbullying is quite common, can occur to any young person online, and can cause psychosocial outcomes including depression, anxiety, severe isolation, and, tragically, suicide. These types of behaviors usually open doors to online predators.
Online predators are usually adults who use the internet to exploit vulnerable children or teens, usually for sexual or other abusive purposes. Online predators are very smart. They set up false accounts and lure children and teens in without, recognition. How crazy is this? Our teens can’t even enjoy social networking site without theses disturbed people wieghing in. Teens who are more skillful at technology as well as those who are a bit vulnerable emotionally are the preferred targets of deranged people. It is easy to befriend a child with empathy and proof of the child’s feelings of frustration by parents or teachers. Instant messaging and social networking sites have opened a wider door into the lives of children and often times these children are naive to online predators. Many of these people actually post fake profiles and photos in order to lure the children into believing they are of the same age range. What starts out as a simple and innocent chat can wind up with the predator sending improper messages or even pornographic pictures. As we all can see, there are many negative impact of social networking for teens. So, how could we better educate our teens about safety?
Educating our youth about social networking is not an easy task because most of them think they know everything there is to know. However, we all know that isn’t true. On social networks, privacy policy for minors, a teens’ personal information is still on display. A young person's account is just the beginning of their online trail, and they need to take that fact seriously, since it can affect their reputation today and come back to haunt them later in life when they're applying for college and for jobs. With that being said, adults should sit down with their kids and talk about the importance of protecting their online identity. Having open communication with your children is the key to understanding exactly how they're using social networks. It's also a good idea to take a look at your child's photos and wall posts to make sure they are age appropriate. Remind your child that the Internet in general, especially social networks like, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, are not a kids-only zone, and that adults can see what's on their profile as well. Maintaining an appropriate online presence as a teenager will help your child build a respectable online trail. Finally, go over privacy settings with them, and show them how to activate the highest level of security on the computer and on social networks.
In conclusion, within this report you have read and understood some ways in which social networking can impact our teenage generation. It is very important for society to understand that just talking to our youth about the internet and its danger is not enough. We are living in a time where or youth have to face and deal with pressure coming from many sources, and that their decisions on how to use the internet could take negative turns. Also, they are in very delicate phase in their lives when the need for attention and acceptance are important. They are very vulnerable. Remember that there are others whose main purpose is to reach those vulnerable individuals and take advantage of them or do harm.