The Importance Of Digital Media

With the advent of information technology, the ways different aspects of life work and operate have changed a great deal. Media has always had a great influence in molding the culture of a society. There was a point of time when television and radio were invented and when computer was invented and there was little connection between the two. Time then travelled fast then through the age of cassettes, records, VCDs, DVDs, flash drive and then the internet. Media also started to go satellite on a massive scale and there came a point of time when media and digital communication systems became closely integrated with one another, opening the dimensions to digital media.

In the last ten to fifteen years accompanying the dawn of social media, means of communication among friends and strangers have been easier than ever. Since its creation in 2004, Facebook has grown into the largest social media site on the Internet with 30 million users and counting. The ability to catch up with former high school friends who are now across the country or see how an aunt in Pittsburgh has been doing since the birth of her son are now as simple as the click of a mouse. However, the amount of “friends” acquired on social media may not be an accurate reflection of how many close relationships one truly shares. In an article from Bigthink.com titled “Do You Have Too Many Facebook Friends?”, Steven Mazie gathers research from Pew Research Center about statistics surrounding Facebook

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

In Melissa Healy’s article, published on May 18, 2010, Los Angeles Times, “Teenage Social Media Butterflies May Not Be Such a Bad Idea,” she argues that social media and their social skills may not be such a catastrophe after all and that teenagers who use social media are psychologically healthiest. Healy supports this claim by first describing how, according to the research found by Amori Yee Mikami, social networking sites are mostly used to, not to converse with strangers online, but to interact with friends they already know and said, “So people of well-adjusted teens may have little to worry about regarding the way their children behave when using social media. It’s likely to be similarly positive behavior.” Then, she makes a connection

How has technology and the Internet have brought young people closer together? For today’s teens, friendships can start digitally: 57% of teens have met a new friend online. Social media and online gaming are the most common digital venues for meeting friends. Phone calls are less common early in a friendship, but are still an important way that teens talk with their closest friends.

Social media has been known to help students develop important knowledge and social skills. “At first glance this may seem like a waste of time; however it also helps students to develop important knowledge and social skills, and be active citizens who create and share content.” (Chen 3). The more time teens spend on social media the more they become aware of their own social side and how to interact with others, especially their peers. “Some types of social media has beneficial effects, like helping adolescents establish some sense of identity and build networking skills” (Riley Davis). Too much time being spent on social media can also exploit teens to some harsh realities that they’ve probably never experienced in their lives before.

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

In this article Rosen uses a plethora of examples and sources to make her argument/ideas credible. Rosen used one of Stanley Milgram’s studies to show how there were “six degrees of separation,” but now with social media people are connected by closer to three degrees of separation, according to Duncan J. Watts. Rosen uses the essay “The Strength of Weak Ties” by sociologist Mark Granovetter to strengthen her argument on how social media is mostly weak ties and not true real friendships. Also she uses a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project that states “ more than half of all Americans between the ages of twelve and seventeen use some online social media coverage of social networking site.” Then Rosen goes on to say how there is a “nearly unbridgeable generational divide, with tech-savvy youngsters redefining friendship while their doddering elders look on with bafflement and increasing anxiety.” This survey helps Rosen’s argument that states how friendship is not the same anymore.

Our world gets more digital every day. Nearly everyone has a smartphone and a computer. Even more people have a TV and if people do they are in contact with the digital world everyday.

The use of social networking sites is rising at great rates. According to a report conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in 2012, ninety-five percent of individuals aged 12-17 use the internet; and eighty-one percent of those use social network sites (Pew Interest). Although it is known that social media can have a useful impact on lives, often times people forget that with a positive comes a negative. The continual use of social network sites will impact teen lives more negatively than positively because they can cause huge distractions from valuable and critical pursuits like education; they can also cause mental health issues and a reduction in communication skills.

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,

Teens feel as if social media has more positive effect on their relationships. These positive effects include confidence building and can also make them more unhibited. According to source, The Upside of Selfies: Social Media Isn’t All Bad Kids, “One in five teens said social media makes them feel more confident, compared with 4% who said it makes them feel less so. When it comes to relationships with friends 52% of teens said social media has made them better versus just 4% who said it has negatively affected those relationships” (Wallace,1). With the data found in a survey taken by Common Sense Media group, more teens feel as if social media makes them more confident to make more friends rather than not. They will then, go out, find friends and try to connect with others to improve their overall relationship status with others. According to Kelly Wallace, ““On the whole, teens said they feel that social media has a more positive than negative impact on their social and emotional lives, they believe that social media helps their friendships, makes them feel more outgoing and gives them confidence” said Shira Lee Katz, Common Sense Media’s director of digital media” (Wallace,1). The director of Common Sense Media pulled information from her surveys and data and concluded that teens generally feel as if social media improves the relationships they have with other friends. When teens notice that social media improves relationships with friends, this feeling of accomplishment helps them come out of their shell which increases their confidence and encourages them to make more friends. For some people it’s difficult to make new friends, but social media is the starting point

Even though social media isn’t only used for social interaction, it is an important aspect of adolescents’ lives. Social media provides an avenue for them to stay connected with peers they have met through school, sports teams, church, etc (Ito, 2008). Social networking can also help shy adolescents have a more non-threatening way to interact with peers because they aren’t interacting face-to-face (Rosen, 2011).

Did you know according to the Department of Health and Human Services that 94 percent of teens use social media? Which has showed us social media is a major problem. Social media is applications and websites that people create and share information, ideas, and messages. Social media has caused many problems, including it has contributed to people being isolated. Isolation is to be set apart or separate and to be alone, which is harmful because you can lose basic social skills. Social media harmfully isolate people and users because it causes people to not fully engage with others, they do not make friends, and they lose practice on basic social skills.

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