Are The Networking Sites Harmful For Children And Teenagers?

In the article “ Teenage Social Media Butterflies May Not Be Such A Bad Idea “ by Melissa Healy, social media isn’t as bad as you think. According to Amori Yee Mikami teenages are using social media to communicate with their friends and not strangers . Some adolescents count their parents as their friends on social networking sites. According to a L.A. psychology professor kaveri Subrahmanyam says children on and offline have the same relationship on social networking sites and in reality . Another thing Subrahmanyam said was that teens use social media in wayś that don't harm their well being. Some teens that struggle with depression or other type of behavior are most likely to be bully or harass, and also take online risks such as sexting

There is debate over these social networking sites; do the benefits outweigh the dangers? Some people argue that social networking sites promote increased communication with friends and family, familiarize people with valuable computer skills, and allow contact and interactions with people from around the world. Others argue that these sites expose children to predators, increase vulnerability to computer viruses, lower worker productivity, and promote narcissism and short attention spans. Social networking sites entice people to spend more time online and less time involved in face-to-face interaction. On an average day it is said that American’s waste about 17% of their day on the internet interacting on social media and networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace. The popularity of these sites has more than

As time changes almost everyone around the world spends time using internet instead watching television these days. They seek help from internet, communicate through internet, and play games online and many more. People starting from minor to adult, they all love to be in the very popular social networking sites such as “Facebook” and “Twitter”. Actually, these sites are very helpful to us only if we know how to use it in a proper way like medicine becomes drug if we don’t know how to eat. But, as we all say “Too much of anything is not good” people waste a

Social media has emerged and has been rapidly expanding since the development of the internet. Many people use this free internet application to read news, keep in touch with friends and so forth but it has some effects on the young generation. As apps like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter continue to get popular there are an increased amount of young kids who create accounts to be recognised as cool. They want to be like older brothers, sisters and or friends who seem to have hundreds if not thousands of friends on these applications. However social media plays a critical role in stranger danger, privacy and cause kids to have access to vulgar content and can cause addiction and or depression.

The rapid growth of technology in our society has become more dominant than it was in the 17th and 18th century. Today, technology is used for almost everything in our day to day lives. But the most common usage of technology is for communication and industrialization. However, every good thing has its disadvantage if it is over used, and since technology has become very dominant, it is used by both young and older people but more predominant among the youth of the today. Even more, technology has brought about social networking such as Facebook, Twitter, my space, piazza.com, instagram, tango, and last but not the least texting. According to socialnetworking.procon.org, “47% of American adults used social networking sites like

Social media is considered an interaction between groups or individuals that share common or new ideas amongst people worldwide. There is a significant impact of social networks on young people. Children are being manipulated by networking sites such as Facebook, accessing them through via cellphones that has become the most important thing in their lives. By this method this form of communicating is wildly spread amongst peers, parents and others. There is less utilization on a face to face conversation which lacks interpersonal skills.

Fitzpatrick states that over the past few years, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter have all become abruptly popular. Adults find the social networking sites benign, but for children, it opens up the door to more dangers such as bullying, and online child predators who have made the internet their hunting ground. Fitzpatrick has also gathered information that in 2003 approximately 200,000 MySpace accounts were deleted because they were to be marked sexual predators. (Fitzpatrick)

Social networking sites are increasing as a communication tool of choice with 58% of individuals using social network sites at least once a week, an increase of 14% from the previous year. Notably, 100% of individuals surveyed under the age of 24 spend time online (Kowalski et al., 2006).

For children, these sites have become very addictive. The day starts off by checking their profile to check their messages, blogs, readings, horoscopes and to, keep up with events such as marriage’s and graduations. Social networking is an excellent way of teaching young children families’ cultures and traditions. These marriage and graduation events have prompted 29 million parents to join in as well. (O’Dell,2011) Alisa Almas, a University of Toronto graduate student and a Facebook user, says, “Kids who have had a great relationship with their parents in real life volunteer information about their private and social world, and would more likely be on Face book.” (Kobayashi ,2011) Social networking has allowed family members to reconnect with friends, nuclear and extended family. Social networking has increased communication, and strengthened relationships. Social networking sites allow for creative expression in a new medium. They provide free messaging, blogging, photo storage, games, event invitations, and many other services to Social networking sites bring people with common interests together, and keep in touch at all times with relatives and friends .(Andrew,2009,p.342)  Through social networking many teenagers have overcome with their social anxieties. 59% of students with access to the Internet report that they use social networking sites to discuss educational topics

Social network sites (SNSs) such as such as Friendster, CyWorld, and MySpace allow individuals to present themselves, articulate their social networks, and establish or maintain connections with others (Ellison, 2007). These sites could be used for work related situation, romance, connecting with individuals with shared interest, or creating a connection amongst college students. Facebook enables its users to present themselves in an online profile, accumulate ‘‘friends’’ who can post comments on each other’s pages, and view each other’s profiles (Ellison, 2007). Individuals can write on the wall of friends, send private message, comment on posts, as well as chat via instant messaging. Much of the early research on online communities assumed that individuals using these systems would be connecting with others outside their pre-existing social group or location, liberating them to form communities around shared interests, as opposed to shared geography (Ellison, 2007).

1. Introduction 1.1 Background Ever since the so-called “eve” networks of Internet founded in 1969 (http://www.livinginternet.com accessed on 11.05.10), till now in the 21th century, the new era of Internet surfing, people‟s life has become not only material but cyber. The social networking sites, as a new online practice since late 1990s, has gained noticeable popularity among Netizens. The social networking sites have been penetrating into people‟s daily life. Create a profile on a social networking site, make friends, and tell the others what you are doing at the moment, all these have become a new lifestyle of people today, especially young people. Moreover, it has become a new multimedia platform for users sharing their own lives with

At any given time of day, anyone can access an abundant amount of information at the click of a button. Men, women, kids, teenagers, adults and even the elderly are learning how to use the internet to their advantage. Among all the benefits the internet has provided to us, online communication has proven to be the most beneficial. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have made it easy for everyone to stay in contact with each other. Regardless of how far apart a family member or friend is, everyone is just one click away. If someone is not having a good day, they can share their feelings with everyone in a matter of seconds. These social networking sites have become quite popular among adolescents. They allow teens to stay more connected with their friends outside of school. Now teens have become more obsessed with their friends Facebook or Twitter status than engaging in outdoor activities like football or

Technology has arguably had one of the greatest impacts on our society in the past decade. It has integrated itself from only a few elements in life to now countless different ways and methods of usage throughout day to day activities (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010). There has been a steady increase in technology use not only with teenagers, but also adults. An aspect that is also on the rise with technology is the use of the internet (Lenhart et al., 2010). Some of the most popular uses of the internet include online shopping, reading news outlets, researching economic and health information, social media, and countless other means. Of the variety of uses for the internet, one of the most common is social networking; almost three-fourths of individuals between the ages of 18-29 frequently use a social networking website (Lenhart et al., 2010). Whether it is updating a profile or posting a photo, a common theme between the different forms of social networking and technology is communication.

Facebook, a social networking website, has changed the way people communicate with each other. A social networking website is an online platform that allows users to create a public profile and interact with other users on the website. Facebook has even changed our most personal and private conversations and how they are conducted around the world. Since the internet’s birth in 1983, this trend of online communication has been growing. Created in 2004, now registered with more than one billion participants, Facebook’s user numbers surpass even the top four social networking websites combined. According to Wikipedia statistics, Instagram has 300 million registered users, LinkedIn has 200 million users, Classmates.com has 50 million users, and Flickr has 32 million registered users. To be further convinced of the claim that Facebook indeed changes the way we communicate, you would only need to create your own Facebook account and start participating in their social networking experience. Technology and internet usage is fused into every aspect of our society including the style of communication. The launch of Facebook in 2006 also enabled other devices such as touch phones, interactive tablets, and even advanced cars with their own networking capabilities starting in 2007. Facebook is a multibillion-dollar company and is highly recognized for connecting more people than other networks. Facebook’s long-term success can be attributed to providing entertainment, world news, and

Changes in online social relationships have increased rapidly, particularly over the past 30 years. ‘Generational differences increase as the pace of social change increase’, Shapiro said, (Salman, J, 2009). Several different generations, for example the baby boomer generation, generation Y and generation X, have embraced online social networking. As of 2009, 73% of teenagers between the ages of 12-17 use online networking sites. This is an increase from 58% in 2007. Specifically, 82% of teenagers between the ages of 14 & 17 and 55% of youth between 12 & 13 year olds have a social networking profile