Internet Usage Of Social Media

Since the Bulletin Board System there has been hundreds, and counting, of social networks created: most notably Twitter, Facebook, Kik, Snapchat, and Instagram. Today there are just over 3 billion active Internet users (45% of the world’s internet users), 2.1 billion of those people have social media accounts (Jeffbullas.com). People use social media for many numerous reasons. Most use social media to stay close to relatives and maintain social ties. Some of people’s most essential daily needs are accounted for by social media: whether it be interacting with friends or coworkers, following politics, or following the latest fashion trend set by the Kardashian

Utilizing social media has been shown to enhance communication, social interaction, and sharpen technical skills of teenagers. Benefits to teens of social media allow them to socialize with friends, make new friend, and even help each other on group projects or homework. Studies indicate that over 20% of teenagers log onto social media sites over 10 times in one day. A con in social media is that its has caused cyberbullying and online hate. Studies have shown that online harassment is no more common than offline harassment. Another con in social media is that sexting has increased 20% in teens. These teens have indicated that they have posted nude or semi nude photos of themselves. Teens do not realize the risk

The age group that uses social media the most is 12-17 but the majority of people who use it all together are under the age of 30. 42% of adults online use social media and 97% of teens online use social media. Three in four teens access the internet on cell phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Ironically, even though it is called social media, it actually causes a lot of people to become less connected with other people in real life. Steven Strogatz of Cornell University says “ social media sites can make it more difficult for us to distinguish between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through social media. By focusing so much of our time and psychic energy on these less meaningful relationships, our most important connections will weaken.” What this means is that we spend a lot of our time and energy online trying to create relationships with people online that distracts from real life people and social situations. Sure, social media is good for connecting

They include blogs, micro-blogs, photo or video sharing services, and other user experiences. Common features of social media sites include profile pages, contact or friend lists, the ability to create and share user-generated content between users, commenting capabilities and the ability to either privately or publicly message (Mergel, 2013). Popular platforms include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram and Pinterest. Major platforms still experience growth, as evidenced by the continuing increase in users of Facebook and Twitter. Of all adults online in the United States, 72% are active on Facebook and 23% actively use Twitter (Duggan, 2015). This represents an increase usage from 2012 data indicating a 67% usage rate for Facebook and 16% for Twitter (Perrin, 2015). Further, a 2014 Pew Research report shows that 52% of all online adults use two or more social media sites, which is a significant jump from previous years (Duggan, Ellison, Lampe, Lenhart, & Madden,

Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., Smith, A., &Zickuhr, K. (2010). Social media and young adults. Pew

Social media is described, by the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2015), as “forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)”. As few as 10 years ago the term social media was yet to be coined, but within that decade the use of these blogs, websites and sharing platforms has increased exponentially with no plateau in sight. From creating Instagram accounts for household pets, to sharing Halloween themed baking ideas over Pinterest, people today have access to social media outlets for almost everything. Today about 74% of people ages 18-65 use some form of a social networking site (Pew, 2014). Facebook takes the lead in social media usage with about 71% of those adults. LinkedIn and Pinterest are tied for second at 28% of users, 26% use Instagram, and Twitter falls last in the top 5 most used social medias with 23% of users (Pew, 2014). In September of 2013 the Pew Research Center measured that 90% of adults ages 18-29 used these social media outlets on a daily basis, which is an astonishing increase from the 9% that was measured in February 2005 (Pew, 2014). Due to the fact that young adults are increasingly involving themselves in these online platforms, it is very important to understand the long term and psychological effects (such as depression, social anxiety,

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

Collective Aviation Review wrote an article in 2011 about social media where they stated “Social media was relied upon by 774 million people worldwide in 2010 – including children, teens, and adults.” Children use social media to play games and enjoy their free time. Parents can allow their children to play on social media so that they are able to get work done while the child is busy playing games. Teens use media outlets to see what their friends are up to and to talk to them. They use outlets like Snapchat to send pictures of what they are doing and who they are with to friends. Adults use social media sites such as Facebook to share news with their friends and family around the world. Adults can also use social media to keep an eye on their

In this article the author discusses about the harmful actives that the internet dose to the youth. With two main points; cyber bullying and sexting, the author briefly discusses what they are and what threat that occurs from them. The article is useful to me because it shows the harmfulness on what could happen on the internet. However, this article is very vague and lakes a certain amount of information to achieve its point.

One serious issue is sexting, Sexting among teens is not only illegal, but harmful and dangerous among the sender and the receiver. Both are held responsible for child pornography and can be dealt serious consequences. Sexting causes an increase in teen suicides, anxiety self-esteem and involves pressure meaning another forum cyberbullying. Exposing these pornographic photos will not only stress the deliverer but lead to sexual harassment in conclusion.

My choice of this demographic is twofold. First, this is an age group which has adopted social media as part of their life. They are comfortable with the technology, and most are avid users. The second reason is that teens are teachable and willing to try new things or adopt new behaviors. Youth seem to be more motivated to change than to older adults. (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008) It is also this age group who are most affected by the societal trend away from relationships, so they would naturally gain benefit from increased social relationships.

Millennials and post-millennials use social media to stay informed on social justice issues. Zeynep Tufekci (2013) found that with the spread of the Internet in the last two decades, social movements have become increasingly reliant on new digital technologies for networking and information sharing. Social media platforms make it easy to spread a message across the world or spark conversations or discussions about social justice topics. The availability of social media is present on gaming consoles, smart phones, tablets, and laptops. As of September 2009, 93% of American teens between the ages of 12 and 17 went online, a number that has remained stable since November 2006 (Lenhart, Percell, Smith, & Zickuhr 2010). In comparison, young adults,

Many teenagers do not understand that they can get in serious trouble for sexting. Something that was fun and innocent at first doesn’t turn out that way. The Dallas News interviewed a teenager about sexting. “Sammy, a 16-year old from the San Francisco Bay Area who asked that his last name not be used, said he has shared naked pictures of himself with girlfriends. He also shared naked pictures of someone else that a friend had sent him.” Sammy said “I just don’t see it as that big of a problem, personally.” (News)This attitude is an attribute to the problem. If teenagers don’t realize the risk that is involved, they are more likely to participate in this new technologic phase.

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

With all the advancements in technology taking place there has been a lot of good that has come with it. Modern medicine, automobiles, and the cell phone which allows people to connect instantly. However with all the good things that have come with technology, there have also been bad things as well. One such thing would be cyberbullying and the addiction of smartphones. Smartphones have affected adolescents in ways previously not thought possible, such as causing poor social skills, addiction, and being used to cyberbully. Adolescents must be educated about the responsibility that comes with owning a smartphone. Smartphones should not be given to kids until they reach high school, because