Grieving Adolescents

Social media is any website that allows social interaction, whether it is business or personal. Over the years, the use of social media has skyrocketed within our youths and adults and has held a tremendous impact within society ever since it was introduced. The impact of social media on society such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram exposes today’s adolescence to things they should not be seeing; although, it is easily accessible. Social media is believed to be used for promoting yourself, your feelings, and thoughts with the world or followers. Since the creation

Rather then visiting a grave, many visit a “ ‘memorialized’ profile” (589) in order to remember a loved one and share memories with others. Social media allows memories to be shared with one another when separated and unable to come together. It allows those divided by distance to grieve together. In “grief in the age of Facebook”, Elizabeth stone explains how the tragic death of a student named Casey opened her eyes to social media and how well one actually knows their peers. Stone explains that social media became a place of consolation for grieving friends and family, but it also made them question how deeply they actually knew their friend. “I’m not sure, but I wander- if I should have known her better” (598). Stone questioned how well she actually knew her student because of the characteristics that were revealed through others memorializing posts about Casey. Stone struggles with the thought that social media is a place for “solace but also uncertainty” (588). Often times one believes they know their peers very well, but once they examine their social media and what their other friends posts, they seem to think they no longer know them as deeply as they previously believed. Social media allows one to learn a lot about a person with just one click, but that one click likely leaves out what hardships someone is going

Matthew Ring, a young teenager, was struggling with many depressing and anxious thoughts.After hiding these feelings for some time, he finally gathered the courage to tell his parents. This only allowed his family to recognize his anxious and depressive tendencies.his parents faced the questions of how social media would affect Matthew. Would it help him, or only make things worse? With 92 percent of teens going online every day, according to the Paw Research Center, Matthew used Instagram, the second most common social network site, to reach out to his peers. There he found that many other teens also struggle with the same depressive and anxious thoughts as him. Through making his account focused around supporting others in a positive way, Matthew shows his now over 6000 followers his message of hope.

The blog by Samantha titled, “No One Told Us Our Twenties Could Be This Lonely” describes the difficulties faced by most people in their 20’s. This article demonstrates how social media can add to emotional stress throughout an individual’s life. Samantha uses diction to help her convey the central idea. She does this to emphasize the struggle of having a stable mental health.

, Chandra Johnson claims more young people are connected than ever before through media, the value of the communication that they take part in is leading to an inability to communicate successfully. Johnson argues that youth need face-to-face social communications, and that technology cannot replace traditional public situations. She states that youths today are not creating the empathetic ties that they should be, damaging their relationships. Per this article, young people need to balance technology with essential face-to-face

Recently, several scholars have begun to explore the ways in which we communicate about death and grief online, focusing on blogs and social media sites (DeGroot & Carmack, 2012, 2013), online grief forums (Hastings, Hoover, & As evidenced by the dates of these articles, communication research exploring the intersections of death or grief and computer-mediated communication is a recent phenomenon.

Social media is one of the key tools of communication and socialization. It allows teens and children to stay connected with friends and family and serves as a platform to share ideas (O’Keeffe 801). Social media profiles can also serve as a container that fosters “one’s individual identity and unique social skills” (O’Keeffe 801). There are also some social media platforms used in educational institutions. For example, some middle and high school teachers use Edmodo—an online website designed to resemble a social media profile—as a teaching tool. These sites have “the benefit of reinforcing skills in English, written expression, and creativity” (O’Keeffe 801). Popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter allow students to meet and collaborate ideas for school assignments (O’Keeffe 801). Even though too much social media exposure can have a negative effect on a child’s growing identity, there are a few apps that provide options that allow children to approach identity formation more thoughtfully (Parry). While extensive use of social media can isolate children and adolescents from their societies, Parry states that there are online communities that provide children and teens with self-disclosure and a feeling of belonging. Social media also serves as a good source of news information. It allows the youth to stay tuned into the things that are going on in the world around them, both online and

The message of the article and image share that with social media, there are people who will lift a person up and offer encouraging words. Social media can be described as bias (negative/positive) ways of expressing situations and feeling, because a person will never know what feedback they would receive through the media. Grieving online is taking a chance of discouragement. The article mentions how Facebook likes, “can be a sign of encouragement and acknowledgement in areas of pain”, which relief pain and change to a healing moment. With the sharing of photos, sympathy card and sharing of pictures is showing how people grasp for comfort.

Johnson conducted a qualitative study, which explored the lived human experiences pertaining to teens coping with grief. As mentioned by Johnson little empirical evidence currently exists which exemplifies an exploratory approach. Dissimilar from quantitative a qualitative research highlights and strengthens an individual’s inherent narrative and voice. The teen’s narratives provided a framework in order to discover meaning and understanding, rather than to verify truth or prediction. Consequently, the study highlights teen’s unique conceptualizations pertaining to grief.

Incorporating grief support within schools, religious settings and homes differ from the available resources because it is more holistic. The available resources such as: The National Alliance for Grieving children, The Dougy Center and The Healing Center only provide grief support within specific centers. If a child only receives grief support within a center they may begin believing that the center is the only appropriate place to grieve, when in actuality it’s appropriate for them to grieve anywhere. A holistic approach – such as the one being proposed – allows children to grieve and receive grief support in multiple places. If a child is constantly receiving support in a grief center from only one person, they may view that person as their

Many times, finstagram posts have comments of affirmation or support from the user’s peers in addition to the standard “like” that they can receive. These comments can either imply that the commenter has shared or undergone certain ideas or experiences, or simply that the commenter agrees. Other times, users will compliment the user, especially if the post focused on low self esteem or physical unattractiveness. In other situations, if the finstagram user posted an angry vent, peers may reaffirm the anger by responding with their own vents in the comments. Many teenagers argue that these aspects of finstagram allow many depressed or anxious adolescents to fearlessly express themselves in a safe space that avoids the more personal, direct communication that they may fear and may even be the cause of their anxiety. Many may even claim that online interaction can actually benefit interpersonal connection overall, such as situations like online dating (Hughes). However, although finstagram allows for free expression and acts as a great technique in communicating conveniently, it nevertheless lacks in providing the full, positive effects of face-to-face confrontation. Online communication has an

The teen years can be a challenging time, and social networks can be places for teens to turn to for support and advice when going through challenging experiences (Nielsen, 2009). Adolescents who use Facebook have been shown to demonstrate more “virtual empathy” (Rosen, 2011). Social networking can be a positive and somewhat easier way for adolescents to get to know and become accepting of others from “diverse backgrounds” (Clark-Pearson, O’Keeffe, 2011). As well as providing social support, social media sites can also provide medical support. Adolescents can easily and anonymously seek medical advice (Clark-Pearson, O’Keeffe, 2011).

Recent article even states that, “Facebook can also have a positive impact on young adults’ lives by helping them be more empathetic” (Turgeon).

Today, parents are challenged profoundly. Their ability to help their adolescent to channel external influences is challenged by the constant social and cyber communication. Parents find themselves confronted by the novelty of social media, which additionally, is not only unexplored to many parents but, they seem unable to be resourceful to help their adolescent develop healthy boundaries. As a result, parents and their adolescents need healthy boundaries in order to prevent harmful conflict that can be found with rapid communication.

‘Being an emotionally healthy person requires that you develop meaningful relationships outside of your family circle. If you’re like most millennials, social media is a tool you use for making new personal connections.’ This quote comes from a segment in the article ‘Millennials, Here's how Social Media Impacts Your Relationships’ written by Jimmy Rohampton. Rohampton’s article reflects heavily on the influences that social media has on Millennials whether it be on a general scale and lifestyle. A particular case among Millennials are teens that are forming