ECON 111
TTH 2:35-4:10
Many teens tell survey they’re addicted to social media and texts.
Nine out of 10 teens text and use social media sites — a good chunk of them daily — but they still prefer communicating face to face, according to a survey. A national survey of more than 1,000 people between the ages of 13 and 17 by the child advocacy group Common Sense Media shows how pervasive mobile communications has become for that age group. “Today’s 13- to 17-year-old are the first generation to go through their entire teen years with such an array of digital devices and platforms,” said Common Sense Media CEO James Steyer. “This report reads like a primer for parents to teens and tween — to help them understand how their kids are engaging with technology and to highlight any impact it might be having on their social and emotional well being.”Text messaging is still the favored application of teens for communicating.Two-thirds of respondents said they text every day and half said they visit social networking sites daily. One-quarter of teens use at least two different types of social media a day.
Facebook, which is considering lowering its age minimum, dominates teens, with seven out of 10 people surveyed saying they have an account compared to 6 percent for Twitter and 1 percent for Google Plus and MySpace.In the report called “Social Media, Social Life: How Teens View Their Digital Lives,” Common Sense Media found that their adolescent respondents felt social media was beneficial.
Half of teens said they feel social networks have helped their friendships, while only 4 percent said the platforms have hurt relationships.Three out of 10 teens said social networks made them feel more outgoing, compared to 5 percent who said they felt more introverted.Still, half of all respondents said real-life communication is the most fun and fruitful for their relationships. Only 4 percent prefer to talk on the phone.
Negative effects of Facebook on teens who overuse this social media include:
- Teens who use Facebook frequently may become narcissistic. If you are not already familiar with that term, dictionary.com describes narcissism as an, "inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity." Most likely these are not the character traits you desire for your child.
- Teens who have a strong Facebook presence may display psychological disorders, such as anti-social behaviors, and mania & aggressive tendencies. An anti-social child often does not consider the effects their actions have on others. This can be quite dangerous, especially during the already-volatile teen years. Perhaps this should be termed the anti social media effect.
- The Facebook effect is real, but teens who "overdose" on technology daily, and this includes video games too, have higher absenteeism from school and are more likely to get stomach aches, have sleep issues, and feel more anxious and depressed.
Negative effects of being addicted on texts may cause:
- Severe Psychological Disorders.
Mobile-addicts tend to neglect obligations of important activities (e.g. job or studies), drift apart from friends and close family, deny the problem and think about the mobile phone constantly when they do not have it with them. "Most mobile-addicts are people with low self-esteem and problems to develop social relations, who feel the urge to be constantly connected and in contact with others."
Positive Side Effects of Facebook and Social Media
On a happier note, there were a few benefits to Facebook use, including:
- Development of a "virtual"empathy which actually affected friends' moods positively, and caused teens to be more empathetic in their everyday lives, as well. It seems that encouraging comments online can put a smile on someone's face and improve moods.
- Facebook and other social networking sites give shy children a way to socialize which might otherwise be lacking altogether. Hopefully, this virtual training ground can extend into actual face-to-face interactions.
- Use of Facebook may impact self-esteem in a positive way and allows children to develop their self-identity. Choosing a profile photo, listing likes & dislikes, favorites of this-and-that, quotations, and the like, all "force" your child to become more self-aware.
Positive effects of using cellphones are:
- Cellular phones are forms of communication.
- It help us to connect to other people through calls and texts.
I suggest that teens should lessen their time using their phones and surfing the internet and spend it studying their lessons so they can excel in class. They should help their moms doing the household chores. They should also control and manage their time using their phones and surfing the internet. They should know how to prioritize things in order for them to spend their time wisely.
