The Need for Civility in Social Media Essay

With social media growing and growing into a mass of accounts and profiles and different groups of people and clubs and websites and other things, what adolescents do on social media is something that many parents worry about. Not every parent is at ease with the fact that their child/teenager is out in open water; one young human being surrounded by millions of other human beings who are younger, the same age, or older than them. The article “Teenage social media butterflies may not be such a bad idea” takes a look at teenagers ' use of social media. Social media is a very important tool, allowing people to connect or continue their relationships without

I chose this article because as a teenager I have seen first hand the effects social media can have

Social media itself is a huge danger to society. It causes many suicides within the world because of the cyberbullying and spreading of rumors. “Recent studies have shown that one out of four teens have been the victims of cyberbullying and one out of six have admitted to having cyberbullied someone” (Trautner 1). The internet and social media is supposed to be used to communicate with friends and for searching information, “Kids use technology different than their parents do. Sometimes it is hard for adults to understand that this can even be a possibility” (Trautner 1). It is not supposed to be used to bully someone, especially not to the point where the victim would think about suicide. “One of the statistics that has been highlighted within this news coverage is the threefold increase in the suicide rate for girls ages 10 to 14. The rates for girls in this age group increased from 0.5 to 1.5 per 100,000 during this time period. The increases for boys in this age group were not as high, climbing from 1.9 per 100,000 during 1999 to 2.6 per 100,000 in 2014” (Olsen

Social Media is a form of communication in which a person shares information, personal ideas, and thoughts online. The foundation of social media began in 1997 when the first social media site Six Degrees was developed. Since 1997, social media has become an iconic name and has become part of this generation's conversation. There are over 100 million people using social media to gain access to the digital world, with over 20 social media sites including Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram (Milanovic 1). Roughly 80 percent of teens and 20 percent of adults use social media daily and almost half of the users were bullied or criticized for a single comment. Comments that include discrimination, sexism, or political beliefs can be retweeted to thousands in a matter of hours. “Accusations go viral, globally, within hours, and instead of having dozens of angry voices baying for your blood, you have tens of thousands” (Haley 1). Although social media has made it easier to communicate these sites, make it easier to be critical or prejudiced to others online instead of face-to-face.

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.

“While fights can erupt at any school, the theory is that violence often shows its ugly head-first on social media before it occurs” (Solnik, 2016). Any Web site that allows social interaction is considered and referred to as social media sites. Today’s teens, like our students, has a portal for entertainment and communication, which has significantly grown in the last few years. “For this reason, it is important that parents become aware of the nature of social media sites, given that not all of them are healthy environments for children and adolescents” (O’Keeffee & Clarke-Pearson,

In our society today, social media is a monster because it has created unrealistic social expectations and unhealthy relationships with ourselves and others. Social media has become a central platform to everyone in our society today and can cause many problems for a large portion of the users. Many of the problems that associate with social media can cause mental and physical harm to users such as, depression, which can lead to suicidal thoughts or actions, eating disorders, and even lowered self-esteem due to the unreasonable comparisons that people make when compared to popular and successful people. One major issue that social media has brought up is the exploitation of the anonymous identification which bullies use to hide from their victims. This can single handedly cause the issues that was recently stated. The social media crowd is now influencing young teens and kids to do drugs. It causes a sort of pressure for some adolescents to engage in illegal activities such as, smoking and drinking. This can be a real danger because they are too young to realize what they are doing to their bodies and could truly put their lives in danger. Social media also causes a learning deficiency in a large portion of students. These students are constantly on their phones and it takes their full attention away from the task at hand. This causes procrastination of assignments and can lead to lower grades. They are not disciplined enough to control themselves and stay away from their

As social media gets popular and provides an easier access to the Internet, the more difficult it gets to control people’s outburst. Many people wonder, “What is the difference between traditional bullying and cyber bullying?” “What is cyber bullying?” Traditional bullying is when a person is bullying another person face to face. However, with cyber bullying is different. Cyber bullying occurs through out social media and on the Internet. Once in a while I overhear a person questioning about how teens and young kids use social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and etc. Social media has its pros and cons, pro because it gives us an easier to access to sources when we need it right away. Social media also has its cons because social media is very powerful tools, which can be taken advantage of like for example, making shanky comments on pictures or post inappropriate information about another person. Therefore, how fast is cyberbullying expending? How can we use the Internet in a positive way? Two great essays by Jesse Fleck, Leigh Johnson-Migalski, Jemica Carter, and Feleta Wilson explain these reasoning’s.

“As the use of social media increases and becomes an integral part of nearly every student’s life, problems arise when student expression on these sites turns into threats against the school or other students, implicating both student safety and the speaker’s right to free speech” (Hughes 208). There’s no denying that social media has become a part of most people’s daily life. We have sites like Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc. These websites, or apps, allow us to express ourselves in any way possible, whether it’s supporting families who lost a member in a mass shooting, trying to impeach the latest president, or donating to those who are victims of natural disasters. It’s not always that social

Various individuals long for a time when technology did not take over the world. For teenagers, it is difficult to imagine a life without the World Wide Web and its countless perks at their fingertips. Social media consumes young lives more than any other form of technological advancement. Social media has a few pros, but also its fair share of cons.

Despite the positives, there are many negatives associated with social media. Using social media can make a person more vulnerable to predators and cyber bullying. In this age, “Cyber bulling is quite common, can occur to any young person online, and can cause profound psychosocial outcomes including depression, anxiety, severe isolation, and tragically suicide” (“American Academy of Pediatrics”). Cyber bullying impacts society in a negative way because it is harming young teenagers’ minds. Bullies, torment, threat, harass, and even embarrass their victims by using different forms of social media. Using social media can also decrease privacy for an individual. People often give out their personal information not knowing who can see it. To average internet users, “A false sense of security may leave social networking site users vulnerable to security attacks such as hacking, leaking sensitive information, and sending viruses” (“ProCon”). Furthermore, Social media can also lead to brain disorders and can cause people to have a hard time interacting with people face to face. “Social networking entices people to spend more time online and less time talking to a person face to face.” (“ProCon”)

Social media is causing teenagers to be negatively influenced. This is an issue, because teenagers are extremely impressionable and social media is negatively impacting their lives each day whether they are conscious of this or not. One anonymous author who wrote the article, “Teen’s Use of Social Media: Positive or Negative?” states, “90 percent of teens have used social media” (Teens’ Use of Social Media). In this statement, it is clear that a large majority of teenagers have already been exposed to some type of social media. Since teenagers learn from direct observation and experience, it is a huge problem when they witness things on social media that concern sexist, racist, or homophobic content. Many teenagers even say that they have an addiction to social media. Teens who have had bad experiences online or who do not use social media on a regular basis said that they have a stronger urge to stay away from the internet. Even though there are many negatives to social media there are some positives as well. NickMcGillivray who is affiliated with the website, TurboFuture wrote the article, “What Are the Effects of Social Media on Youth.” In his article, he states, “There are many positive aspects, but there are equally as many dangers that come with the use of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Google +, Tumblr, Instagram, gaming sites, and blogs” (McGillivray). In this statement, he makes it clear, that social media has both positives and negatives. One positive of social media that impacts teenager’s lives would be, how they are able to communicate with their teachers and other classmates at any time. This makes it easier for

Studies have shown that the average person now spends more time each day on their phone and computer than they do sleeping according to Nick McGillivray (“What are the Effects of Social Media on Youth?). Social has become part of our social society, especially for the many youths. There are positives to being on social media and also equal amounts of danger that come with using social networking sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. These social networking sites also have effects on today’s youth by altering the way they behave, the way they learn, in not only a classroom setting but also in the real world setting, and the way that they socialize with their peers and others.

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

The project aim at teenagers, therefore sample group is between 13 to 19. I will set the sample sizes in 50 participants since it is easy to identity and more precision. If a sample sizes increase, it is very hard to estimate and become not accurate. Also, I’m worry about the extremes data can’t make a balance out, so the project prefers small sample sizes. It can take less effort to gain and maintain people, it is easy to produce significant results and comfortable to find a group of people. I will obtain samples from friends or friends’ sister and brother.