The Impact Of The Internet On Teenagers

Social media is nothing, but a distracting, timewasting, nuisance to everyone surrounded by it, right? Wrong. Social media has changed the world as we know it. People can share information quickly, publish their thoughts, and exchange their ideas. Social media is becoming a certainty in this modern age, which is why it should be embraced rather than criticized. Although there is concern over potential for cyberbullying and lack of privacy, the use of social media is inevitable in teenagers’ lives, and necessary to the positive development of adolescents because it allows adolescents to gain confidence when interacting with others, it encourages users to create and maintain friendships, and it can facilitate learning while promoting educational growth.

The article, “What Adolescents Miss When We Let Them Grow up in Cyberspace,” written by Brent Staples discusses negative influences that internet has toward teens. The author elaborates that teens are far more comfortable with online conversations. Social Media has high expectations to how a teen should act or look. Media emotionally scars teens, demanding them to have clear skin and skinny body. The more people that are connected to their phones, higher the chance of losing relationships. The internet has left many teens with unreal social skills. Real life experiences such as law, teens are not knowledgeable. Teenagers miss out on life experiences that can help them grow into adulthood.

Online social network has gained astounding worldwide growth and popularity which has led to attracting attention from variety of researchers around the world. In Carla Poertner article,”Is Facebook Making Us Stupid,Boring and Insecure?” She is right on target about youth being impacted over social networking. Social media has influenced youths whether it being their motives, lifestyle, or even a choice and ways of their realizations. Although, some will argue saying that social network is a good influence towards young people it is morally wrong due to getting themselves into addiction leading to danger, lack of concentrating in school, even their physical and psychological health. In other words, generations of teenagers and young adults

Many would agree that technology has advanced remarkably, in the past decade and has impacted the the as we know it in so many good ways. However, it has come with some downfalls as well. One of these downfalls is, the impact technology has on teenagers especially when it comes to social media and instant messaging. With that being said, there is this epidemic that the younger generations face with the internet. This includes, being harassed over the internet or cyberbullying. Unfortunately, bullying has always been an issue especially among young adolescents. However, now we have the same issue yet the bullies are able to hide behind a computer screen and this has been affecting teenagers in a negative way just as traditional bullying has. According to Merriam-Webster cyberbullying can be defined as “the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person (such as a student) often done anonymously”. Cyberbullying usually results in embarrassment and can sometimes lead to an even worse feeling if continued. According to the indicators of school crime and safety report done in 2013; 6% of students in middle school were cyberbullies and 16% of high schoolers reported that in the past year they have been harassed over the internet. Even though those numbers are smaller than students who get bullied in person, cyberbullying still has negative effects on the victim. The purpose of this paper is to reach out to kids who

Melissa Healy, a reporter of the Los Angeles Times, in the article Teenage Social Media Butterflies May Not Be Such A Bad Idea, claims that kids who spend lots of time on social media are not the least well-adjusted, but psychologically healthiest. Healy supports her argument by demonstrating how social media is beneficial to a teen’s health. According to a three-year Digital Youth Project, when teengars use social media, it helps them develop important social skills such as communication, grappling with social norms, and developing technical skills. Psychology professor Kaveri Subrahmanyam describes that teens behave the same between offline relationships and online ones, so most teens will use the internet safely. The author’s purpose is

The internet is one of the world’s most influential platforms. Since the creation of the internet, social media and media itself have made their way into being more and more prominent in the lives of humans, especially in the lives of our youth. According to an article in The Washington Post, “Teens spend nearly nine hours a day consuming media” (Teens Spend Nearly 9 Hours a Day Consuming Media). , which means it is where most of their time is being spent, whether that is in school, at work, or, at home. Although there are many great things that are learned and shared on the internet through all types of media, there are many negative factors shared as well that are just as impactful.

It vital for parents to be aware and continuously monitor their kid’s online activity. For the most part, children in the United States have an easy access to technology; moreover, it is even part of the public education system. Many kids have a social media account, which is viewed as a norm today. Author Fields indicates that “adolescence is a period of significant emotional, physical and social growth for both boys and girls” (Inside Social Life 139). During this time, where kids are discovering themselves, they can communicate and be impacted by a massively diverse population.

A new epidemic has fallen over America and is spreading like wild fire across the states as more and more fall victim to its claws. That epidemic is known as internet addiction which many of today’s youths are prone to due to the widespread usage of technology. Excessive use of the internet has proven hazardous to the generation because it decreases cognitive ability, impairs social development, and increases health problems. Since the current American society relies heavily on technology and web searches through google, the internet has become a necessary essential and making addiction almost inevitable.

From a young age, all an individual could want is to fit in and strive to be the best that they could be, with this social media play’s a huge role. In this day and age almost everyone uses technology for school, work and most importantly recreation. From computers, to phones, to tablets, we use everything and the internet is the gateway to accessing anything we could possibly imagine, therefor it is extraordinarily easy for young children and teenagers to excess the internet as well. For most the internet seems like the place to go to look up anything you want and to get the answer handed to you immediately but for some the internet can be the gateway to unrealistic expectations for young adolescence’s striving for perfection in their lives.

There is no doubt that children and adolescent have an attitude problem and a bad behavior. But what some people fail to notice or bring attention to is why? Some may say that it is stress, or a habit, but while those ideas may be true, one of the major factors is the media. The media influences adolescents ' attitudes and behaviors significantly causing them problems in the future. A study done by the Salem Health shows that the ideas and/or images that are portrayed on the internet can actually affect the way children view the world and the people who live around them. The media reinforces or encourages gender and ethnic stereotypes along with rude and judgmental behavior

As children grow up, every situation they are exposed to has the power to have a lasting impact on their development. Even overhearing a simple conversation can aid or hinder a child in their growth as they learn to navigate the world. Due to the impressionable nature of youth, it should come as no surprise that something as far reaching as the media can have powerful effects on children and teens. In the modern world, media is everywhere and it is unavoidable. People are exposed to numerous types of media from a very early age. Phones, television, video games, and the internet, all have huge impacts on what people think and how they live their lives. Those impacts can especially be seen on children and teens because they are still developing their personality and worldview.

According to Anson Alexander who has a Bachelor of Science in international business and information systems, an infographic that provides statistics related to Internet addiction was published in 2012 and1 out of every 8 Americans experiences signs of internet addiction. The infographic found that in a small study, 82% of people were found to spend more time online than expected (Alexander, B.Sc.).

Mass media has a negative impact on our children and teenagers. Besides television viewing, other technology-assisted communication have profound impacts. Everyday more and more kids are seeing violence and inappropriate behavior as normal. The National Center for Biotechnology Information Advances reports that the average child sees 12,000 violent acts on television annually including many depictions of murder and rape. Studies have demonstrated that heavy doses of television contributes to more aggressive behavior while others link TV or newspaper publicity of suicides to an increased suicide risk. Younger individuals are exposed to explicit material on a daily basis. Social networks can make bullying easier, sexting is at the click of a button, that could affect and depression..

The students with low-risk and no-risk for Internet addiction showed significantly less issues with these three factors (Kim et al.). The results of this study show that overuse of the Internet is negatively impacting the health and development of adolescents in many ways.

Every person goes through the period of being a teenager which is 13-18 years. This period is often characterized by unstable emotional state and even psychological stresses. During this period young people are shifting from being a child to being an adult person. In addition, a lot of young people try to establish their roles in the society, to understand their feelings and attitudes. This investigation might be accompanied by the feelings of fear, nervousness and vagueness.