Seneca once said, "Everything that exceeds the bounds of moderations has an unstable foundation.” This applies to social media as well. Social media’s impact on teens is complicated, affecting well-being, connections with others, and even academic performance. In order to be wise users of social media, teens need to know how it impacts their well-being.
The effect of social media on teens’ well-being is complicated. Social media offers teens the ability to talk to people with similar experiences, challenges, and struggles anonymously, which gives them desired support. James et al write, "The ability to communicate anonymously can mitigate barriers, such as shame, that interfere with support-seeking offline” (72). The authors explain that social media allows teens to ask for help and receive support they might not ask for otherwise because they can remainanonymous. While social media does offer anonymous support, that is not the only way adolescents use social media.Often times, people who use social media compare themselves to others or even experience crimes such as cyber bullying. James et al explained the negative impacts of social media on young adults’ well-being. “Several investigations document correlations between heavy media use and reduced well-being- related outcomes, such as diminishedlife satisfaction, internalizing negative experiences, and various dimensions of ill-being, such as depression, anxiety, attention problems, and stress” (James et al 72). When social media is used too much or irresponsibly,it can have serious, negative effects on people's lives. Limitingtime on social media and using it responsibly could help increase the positive effects on well-being while decreasing the negative. Social media not only impacts well-being, but can influence our relationships with other people as well.
When examining the effects of social media, we cannot only examine the media itself, but must also consider the personalities of its users. “The child'spersonality- not the platform-is the more important factor when determining the influence of social media” (K.Y.18). Every social media user is different, so its impacts are different for every user. The one consistent finding is that an excessive use of social media increases negative effects. Over the years, the social media use has dramatically inclined, "The proportion of teens who use social media multiple times a day has doubled over the past six years. In fact, 38 percent of teens today say they use social media multiple times an hour, including 16 percent who say they use it ‘almostconstantly’ (K.Y.18).Therefore, the negative effects of social media haveincreased due to the massive increase in social media use.That is why we are starting to see more and more negative effects from social media in younger generations.
Some argue that social media has only positive effects. While this sounds good, the reality is that social media’s impact is complicated and can be negative. Research has shown that toomuch time spent on screen media has a negative impact on academic performance.Peiró-Velert et al write, “Regarding academic performance, overall sedentary SMU [Screen Media Usage] is indirectly related to it, either because screen time displaces homework and learning … or because it involves intermediate processes that negatively affect academic performance” (7). When young adults use social media excessively, it lowers sleep time, which causes lower academic achievement. It is obvious that social media’s effects are not all positive. Social media is complicated and should be used responsibly.
Teens can control how social media effects them. If teens use social media wisely, it can improve their well-being, connections with others, and academic performance. Monitoring time spent on social media can curb negative effects. When spending time in person with others, teens can strengthen connection by putting down their phones. Scheduling time to be off the phone and sleep can improve academic performance. By exercising moderation in social media use, teens can create a more stable foundation for their lives.
Works Cited
James, Carrie, Katie Davis, Linda Charmarman, Sara Konrath, Petr Slovak, Emily Weinstein, and Lana Yarosh. “Digital Life and Youth Well-being, Social Connectedness
Empathy, and Narcissism.” Pediatrics, vol. 140. no. S2, November 2017, pp. 71-75.
Academic Search Premier, doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-1785F. Accessed 21 January
K.Y. “Social Media and Teens.” School Library Journal, vol.64, no.10, pp 18-18 October 2018, Academic Search Premier, Accessed 21 January 2020.
Pieró-velert, Carmen, Alexandria Valencia-peris, Luis M. Gonzales, Xavier Garcia-Massó Pilar Serra Anó, and Jose Devìs-Devìs." Screen Media Usage, Sleep Time and Academic Performance in Adolescents: Clustering a Self-Organizing Maps Analysis.”
PLOS ONE, vol. 9, no. 6, June 2014, pp 1-9, Academic SearchPremier, dio: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099478. Accessed February 2020
Research Paper Reflection Please Answer all questions in complete, and grammatically correct sentences.
Explain the process you went through to write this paper. be specific.
Me and my entire class went through a long process that expanded multiple class period. What we did during these class periods varied form read articles to taking notes and brain storming ideas. We also wrote every entry one at a time and we would hand the entries and paragraphs. They would be corrected and returned for us to make revisions
What qualifies your paper as an argumentative essay? What are the requirements for this genre of paper and how did you meet them?
An argumentative essay need to be based on factual evidence and you have to get all of your information from a reliable source that has been fact checked and has been proof read from multiple professionals.
Explain one thing you learned about reading research or taking notes on research that you can apply to your next research paper.
I learned that whenever you read you always have to look for the main idea or point of the paragraph because even if a article or paragraph seems one dimensional it inst and there is always something that you can find that will be help full.