Long 1 Jonathan Long Professor Rand ENGL 1102 23 March 2014 The Psychological Effects of Social Media on Adolescents

Online social networking via sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become progressively prevalent over the past decade, especially among adolescents and younger adults. In a few split seconds, individuals can post to Facebook, Twitter, or other widespread social media platforms with what they are currently undertaking, what they are thinking, where they are located at, and whom they are with. Social media has offered todays youth a portal for entertainment and multi-way communication that allows users to share interests, news, and other varieties of information. The intimidating part of this phenomenon is that this posted information is shared with the entire world for anyone to view and provide feedback. Engaging in various forms of social media is a routine activity that research has shown to benefit adolescents by enhancing communication, social connections, and technical skills (OKeeffe 800). Children and adolescents often consider the use of information technology, like social media, to be a necessity to their daily lives such as opening Twitter and Facebook to see the up-to-the-minute news from their friends and family. Using social media platforms have become part of modern adolescence. According to Dr.Rosen, This generation of individuals, known as the iGeneration, is the only generation to have gone through their entire teen years with social networking sites at their fingertips (Rosen). Looking around at my previous high school, and now at college, I observe something very common among my peers; they are always attached to their phones exploring social media everywhere they go. They are posting statuses

Long 2 about school, friends, posting pictures while also following the feed of other friends. It seems like these individuals would not be able to get through the day without having their smartphone within reach to see the latest news from their friends, or to post about whats going on in their lives. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, because of an adolescents limited capacity for self-regulation and susceptibility to peer pressure, children and adolescents are at an increased risk as they use and experiment with social media and are more exposed to bullying, privacy issues, internet addiction, depression, and sleep deprivation (OKeeffe 800). Adolescence is a time of every persons life that is exciting, but always somewhat dreadful. For most teens, the transition from a child to an adult is filled with ups and downs, disappointments, and self-confidence and insecurity issues (Rideout 7). I believe my question, how does the use of social media affect adolescents psychologically, is worth inquiring about due to dramatic changes I observe in todays culture. Small questions branch out from my main inquiry, such as how does the use of social media affect the way teens think during this adolescent period? Does it make them look differently upon their peers? How does it affect

them emotionally? Can teens become depressed based on what their peers post? How do teens develop socially from these web behaviors? These questions and others raise my concern about a teens mind that regularly use such websites either on a desktop computer, or on a mobile device. Im interested to know how it has changed teens since social media began to evolve. According to a study by Pew Internet in September 2009, an astounding 93 percent of American teens aged between 12 and 17 had accessed the Internet in some way (Lenhart 9). Among this same adolescent group, both boys and girls are equally likely to explore the World Wide Web, but younger teenagers aged 12 13 are least likely to use the internet versus teens aged 14 17 (Lenhart 9). This percentage has remained relatively stable since a previous study

Long 3 in November 2006 (Lenhart 9). Over the past decade, American young adults have been the most likely age group to go online despite growth among other generations (Lenhart 9). Nearly two thirds of teen Internet users access the Internet at least once per day, with 36% of teens reporting being on several times per day. Among the websites these teens are accessing include Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Many adolescents use social media as an outlet to express their emotions. According to a survey conducted by Common Sense Media, 90% of all American teens have used social media, three-quarters of them have a social networking site, and nearly one in three teens visit their social networking profile several times a day or more (Rideout 7). In his presentation to parents at the 2012 Young Mind Conference, Dr. Larry D. Rosen boasted the statistic of his previous research that one out of every four minutes spent on the Internet is spent on Facebook, and an astounding one out of every five page views is on Facebook (ThinkandBeHappy). In the same Common Sense Media survey, some teens reported a positive impact of social media use on their emotional well being rather than a negative consequence, stating that they dont think their use of social media affects their social and emotional well-being whereas in the same study, few teens reported using social media does affect how they feel about themselves and their social situation (Rideout 10). I question this because I see teenagers become upset and enraged from things other post on social media based on personal observations in high school, college, and the general public. Most adolescent teens experience a range of emotion from multimedia posted on these websites due to over-active hormones. Forty-three percent of teen social media users answered strongly agree or somewhat agree on a survey administered by Common Sense media saying they sometimes feel left out of excluded after seeing photos of other people together online (Rideout 23). Being around friends is something

Long 4 all teens, including myself, always strove for and when scrolling through social media, teens can discover these pictures which could result in decreased self-esteem and even depression (Rideout 23). One huge aspect of teens online life that also ties in with emotion is cyber bulling, which is essentially the same thing as bullying but via technological means. Teens are more apt to engage in cyber bulling because of the lack of face-to-face confrontation, and because they report it being easier. Teens whom encounter hateful or discriminatory content while scrolling through social media often describe these comments/posts as being sexist, homophobic, or racist towards a peers culture or lifestyle (Rideout 24). One in four teen social media users say they often encounter one or more types of these derogatory comments each day when scrolling through social media (Rideout 24). This statistic is very alarming to me due to the number of adolescent social media users there are out there and the corresponding toll this can take on emotional well-being. Seeing these comments often makes teens feel isolated because these comments make them believe they do not fit-in. These thoughts could lead to depression, loneliness, self-rejection, stress, and aggression (Pickhardt). On a lighter note, in the same research study, one in four teens reported that the use of social media, posting statuses, and tweets make them feel less shy, more outgoing, have higher confidence, higher popularity, and more sympathetic towards others (Rideout 10). I look at this study and cannot help but wonder why teens believe using social media makes them less shy. I reason in this way because teens arent really conquering their shyness, as they are not having usual face-to-face conversations. Instead, they are pecking their fingers away on a keyboard and posting it for just anyone to see. Despite my thinking, 49% of teens in this same study reported that they prefer face-to-face communication to texting or conversation over social media

Long 5 (Rideout 11). But yet, most teens pick up their phone and message someone via text, or social media rather than talking face-to-face. Teens who use social media websites also show symptoms of narcissism. Narcissism can be defined as a fascination with one selfs physical or mental attributes. Since the uprising of Facebook and Twitter around 2004, psychologists have been studying its effects and how it might impact narcissism. Jarrod, a 16-year-old avid social media user states to Dr.Larry D. Rosen, My friend Damon is such a glory hog. He is always on Facebook posting where he is at every moment. Its like he is sounding a trumpet to announce that he has arrived! He has like 2,500 [Facebook] friendsHe must do five status updates a day and if nobody says anything he starts commenting on his own updates. His photo doesnt even look like himthe weirdest thing is that if you tag him in a photo and he doesnt like the way he looks he will ask you to untag him. (Rosen 17) From this adolescents quote, I can glean that teens use social media as an outlet to put themselves out there in hopes of obtaining admiration. One thing that researchers agree upon is that young people tend to be more self-involved than the rest of the world on social media websites (Bowman). University of Michigan researchers performed a research study on younger aged students and found that students who scored high on the narcissism scale were frequent Twitter posters [and] posted more frequent status updates on Facebook (Bowman). During adolescence, teenagers are starving for attention and want their peers to notice them and their abilities. Its easy to post on Facebook or Twitter and tell your collection of friends or followers your latest achievements over others in search of feedback from these friends. In result, this can either lower or increase their self-esteem. Teens can reply to these posts and tell their friends congratulations on such achievements, but some teens can also respond with derogatory comments that can damage their self-esteem.

Long 6 Resulting from this inquiry and the many questions derived from it, It seems that social media has both a positive and negative effect in the way adolescents function in a technologically driven society, through which parents seem to struggle to find a proper mean of balancing interaction via social media and face to face sociability. Parents may find it difficult to relate to their technology savvy children for various reasons including lack of a basic understanding of the new forms of socialization and the inability to keep up with an everchanging tool they were not accustomed to using as they were growing up. The end result of this as I have deemed is a digital divide because parents are unable to connect with children due to this gap in knowledge and technical skills. Even though this gap exists doesnt mean parents cannot become involved in some way. From my experience as being a computer technician and manager for an IT company who continually has conversations with parents and adolescents concerning technology, I would suggest for parents to create their own social media accounts and follow their children. This is an easy method to see exactly what they are doing on social media and if you see something that alarms you, its easy to bring up and discuss with your child. Numbers from my research show that teens report overcoming shyness; however, I tend to not agree due to myself being in their same age group. As most parents could agree, how often do you see your childs face in front of a screen texting or using social media and being completely silent, rather than engaging in a face-to-face conversation? Probably more than you would like to admit. Also, have you ever inquired what emotions they may be experiencing while being glued to their screen? What could their peers be saying about them? They could secretly be depressed from things they see that directly relate to them on social media. As parents, you should continually be checking in with your children and their technology usage during their adolescent development period.

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Works Cited Bowman, Katy. Up for Debate: Does Social Media Breed Narcissism?. Up for Debate: Does Social Media Breed Narcissism? - Cogito. Cogito, n.d. Web. 29 March 2014. Clinical Report. Clinical ReportThe Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families. n.p., n.d. Web. 29 March 2014. Kanchewa, Stella. Adolescents Digital Media Use and Friendships. The Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring, n.d. Web. 19 March 2014. KITV. Psychologist Discusses Facebook Addiction. YouTube. YouTube, 31 October 2009. Web. 19 March 2014. Lenhart, Amanda, et al. Social Media & Mobile Internet Use among Teens and Young Adults. Millennials. Pew Internet & American Life Project (2010). Google Scholar. Web. 19 March 2014. News, ABC. Teens Are Leaving Facebook: This is Where They Are Going - ABC News. ABC News, n.d. Web. 19 March 2014. O'Keeffe, Gwenn Schurgin, and Kathleen Clarke-Pearson. "The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families." Pediatrics 127.4 (2011): 800-804. Rideout, Victoria. Social Media, Social Life: How Teens View Their Digital Lives. Common Sense Media , (2012): 7-27. Print. 19 March 2014. Rosen, Larry. iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming its

Long 8 Hold On Us. Palgrave Macmillan, (2012): n. pag. Print. 19 March 2014. Taylor, Jim. The Power of Prime. Technology: Is Technology Stealing Our (Self) Identities? | Psychology Today. Psychology Today, n.d. Web. 19 March 2014. ThinkandBeHappy. Larry Rosen 'How social networking can both help and harm our kids' at Young Minds 2012. Youtube. YouTube, 23 August 2012. Web. 29 March 2014

Long 9 Reflection The inquiry project was stressful, but joyous to me. Since my inquiry project was based on something that I am passionate about (technology), I was eager to dive in and learn more about its effects on adolescents specifically involving social media. I struggled the most with putting these sources together to create an overall argument towards adolescent usage of social media. I've never been too fond of writing so I often struggle when it comes to articulating a concise and valid argument. During this writing process, I procrastinated a lot more than I should have which contributed to even more stress. In the midst of this stress, I switched my inquiry question from dealing with social media effects on education to its effects on adolescents psychologically, thinking I would find more sources on this. My assumption about this was correct. I was able to find varied sources from books, to essays and videos. But yet, I wondered how I could bring these all together. I started by searching for sources reading them a few times through to find out exactly what it was I wanted to pull out of that source and wrote a paragraph from it with in text citations. I was hoping by doing this I would be able to just place these smaller paragraphs into a larger essay and boom, there would be my inquiry paper. It kind of worked out when I did this, but I feel like I have some large organizational and fluidity issues. But Ive worked very hard the past two days having not only myself, but my peers to read over my paper and point out gray areas, and areas of uneasy transition. The result of this is the draft above. Analysis and evaluation in my personal opinion was required in this project as well, which was something I was not used to. All research-involved papers I have written in the past for my academics have been based all on facts and included no personal option, so this was very different for me to write.

Long 10 In my research, I came across a lot of interesting facts. Its interesting just to study how much social media has really grown over such a short time span. This adoption rate among all age groups, not just adolescents, is phenomenal to me. Following this inquiry, I am curious to continue following social media development and teenage usage. Its important to look at historical facts of Internet usage for this project to fully understand the exponential growth this tool is experiencing.