The Parent Trap Analysis

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

Kardaras, Nicolas. "Generation Z: Online and at Risk?." Scientific American Mind, vol. 27, no. 5, Sep/Oct 2016, pp. 64-9. MasterFILE Premier. Kardars discuss generation z use of social media affecting them negatively. He opens his article with a story of Heidi who becomes addicted to social media when her school issues her a Chromebook. Before Heidi is issued the laptop, she was a sweet innocent girl and after having it for a semester she became someone her parents could not recognize. He states that social media is a “perfect storm” for humans because having a social connection key to “happiness and health”. Having the ability to always use social media leads to hyper texting the illusion of a real connection making it hard for teens to have face to face conversations, making a teens become “glow kid[s]“, someone who is raised on mostly digital social interactions. Facebook depression” can result in the teen to have lower grades and behavior problems in teens. He concludes his article with facts proving that Facebook can become addictive in some people. This source helps support my thesis that Facebook affects teens mental health.

I wonder what happened to society? Back in my day everyone loved to hang out and socialise it was considered as being a human being. These days’ teenagers would much rather prefer to socialise with people through the use of the internet. Now it’s not the internet that’s a problem, and I am not saying that people should not browse through the web, but social media is damaging our teenagers lives.

One of the many negative points in this article is that there has been a decline in teenagers’ social abilities in the recent generations. In the article it says, “The number of teens who get together with their friends nearly every day dropped by more than forty percent from 2000 to 2015 and the decline has continued to become steeper” (Twenge). After reading this article I realized the difference in the amount of times I hung out with my friends in high school than I did in middle school. Middle school was around the time I got my first smartphone and not many people had one, so I wasn’t constantly on it and neither was anyone else. We also couldn’t even bring our phones to school if we had them; this forced us to communicate in class and during passing period, instead of having our faces glued to our phones. Since we were always talking face to face, it was easy to have many

Older generations don’t realize how much technology has affected this generation of teenagers, along with the social media that comes along with the technology. As stated in “How Social Media Changed Teens’ Lives Forever”; “Negative posts or comments also can do great damage to a teen’s self-esteem.” (Ashley Black, Thomas Atseff and Colleen Kaveney) While many parents think social media is just a way to connect with others, many teenagers take it for granted. For example, “quitting social media because it made her miserable and obsessed with appearing perfect online”, is what a teenager felt about social media and what it has done to her. Though many think that social media is a great way to connect, teenagers take it to another level.

She tells of several strategies use by teenagers to avoid parental attention, such as leaving their cell phones at home or just not answering them when parents call or text, which in turn causes the parents increased anxiety. The extra stress from this always connected society causes some parents and teenagers to envy a time in the not too distanced past where there were no cell phones (Turkle 432). Despite the understandable quest for autonomy, the author also states that it is not unusual for a college student to text his or her parents fifteen times a day (Turkle 435). This seeming dichotomy is not surprising to me. Although younger teenagers often feel stifled by their parents inescapable overwatch, as they come of age, many of them will form relationships where they share and seek out advise with their parents.

This specific generation has changed severally from past generations. Today’s youth have become attached to technology and can’t seem to let go of it. People have become dependent on technology; they make sure they check social media before they proceed to do anything else. Past generations focused on having a social life, getting out of the house, and having good relationships with friends. Twenge (2017) says that “the allure of independence, so powerful to previous generations, holds less sway over today’s teens” (p. 5) which is alarmingly true. Teens today spend more time at home interacting with their friends through social media rather than in person. Today’s teens have also let meaningful relationships slip away, many have put themselves in depressing states and end up feeling lonely because the lack of interaction and quality time with other individuals has gone away. Young people now focus on their likes and views rather than a significant other and being in relationships that could bring them joy. This newer generation lacks the independence past generations had. Past generations thrived to be on their own and have the ability to do what they wanted when they wanted. Past generations freedom came from having jobs and making money; teens today have lost the vigor to get jobs and make money. Many eligible young people have lost their strive to get jobs and have an income, many rely on their guardians to take care of them and pay for all of their necessities. However, Twenge mentions in the article, “Independence isn’t free – you need

Social networking is the mainstream way to communicate with anyone. Teenagers are obsessed with social networking, no one calls each other unless it’s extreme circumstances or their mother. Sharing pictures, sharing life stories, and sharing opinions online has been the way of life and the norm for kids growing up with computers and smart phones. The parents to this generation have not grown up in the same environment and have different standards for online activity. In the Article “ 10 Reasons Why I Avoid Social Networking Services” written by Alan Norton, he lists why he does not use social networking services. His personal beliefs are backed up with statistics and hold true to many people in his generation but not in the younger ones.

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

According to Twenge, the number of teens that go out with their friends has decreased by 40 percent compared to earlier generations. Twenge compares iGens to different generations such as Gen X (born between 1965 and early 1984), baby boomers (1946-1964) and Millennials (born around 1982-2002). Twenge emphasizes on the time teenagers spend on their phones. Social media plays a huge role in this. In accordance to Twenge, different forms of social media like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are what teenagers spend more time on. According to Twenge, the more time teens spend on smartphones the greater they are at risk for suicide, depression, and loneliness. Twenge also explains how teens are not receiving an adequate amount of sleep, many teens now sleep less than seven hours. Twenge concludes the article by sharing her own experience with her children and technology, she recommends parents to limit the time their children spend on phones. (59-65)

The fact that teens of this generation are being more antisocial than in the past is vividly shown throughout society. This claim is mainly stated while Twenge is talking to a 13-year-old girl named Athena. Much like any other average American teenage girl, Athena enjoys pastimes such as watching Netflix, going to the mall with friends, browsing the internet, and much more. Although these all sound like fun things to do, they all have one thing in common: teens are not spending quality time with anyone while doing these activities. Now, going to the mall does require you being with someone face to face, but the majority of the time that teens spend with each other is on their phone. They’re usually on some social media app, capturing the entire event of being together, or they’re talking to other people that are not there instead of speaking to people face to face. As Athena states, “I think we like our phones more than we like actual people” (pg.2). This rings true to prove the fact that to some teens, there is no need to wonder outside of their comfortable beds to socialize; their friends are just one quick text, Snapchat, or phone call away. The more we stay in our bed on our phones, the more we will want to spend time alone than with other people, which can

In her article, “Parent Trap: Are False Abuse Charges a Common Tactic in Child Custody Battles?”, Cathy Young addresses the issue of child custody disputes in relation to the gender wars. She begins with laying out the two differing views of false abuse cases: feminism versus father’s rights activists. Young states that, “Both sides in this controversy--the feminists and the fathers' advocates--see wrongdoing, arrogance, and abuse of power by the courts and the social welfare agencies... Although there seems to be no good alternative to government power in these cases, public scrutiny can be a check on the judges and social workers. But if this scrutiny is based on women good/men bad gender politics, it will hurt parents and children alike

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.

How much different can “The Parent Trap” from 1961 and “The Parent Trap” from 1996 really be? If you have seen both movies you might not recognize all the differences. Overall they have almost the same storyline and watchers probably won’t notice any differences if they aren’t looking for them specifically. I never noticed the differences until I watched both of them again a few days ago.

Young adults’ reliance on the internet has developed into an addiction, resulting in teenagers to feel isolated and disconnected from their peers. In an experiment conducted in “The Effect of Social Network Sites on Adolescents’ Social and Academic Development: Current Theories and Controversies” June Ahn “found that longer use of the Internet was related to increased depression, loneliness, and smaller social circles.” The younger generation lacks genuine socialization because of the extensive amount of time teenagers spend isolated in their own virtual world. The lack of physical interaction has taken a toll on youths’ ability to develop social skills and friendships. With a lack of these social skills, today’s youth will experience trouble socializing, affecting their ability to create and maintain friendships. Furthermore, in Keith Hampton’s article “Is Technology Making People Less Sociable?” he reveals today’s youth, “spend so much time maintaining superficial connections online