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Introduction The speed of social media’s progression is at an alarmingly high rate. New Yorkers received tweets about an east coast earthquake thirty seconds before they had even felt it. To older generations, this social media explosion seems unfamiliar and strange; however, this has become custom for teenagers in their everyday lives. That being said, social media can have great effects, both negative and positive, on teenagers in today’s society. For example, research that would have once taken a student countless hours in a library can now be done in a matter of seconds on Google.
With smartphones and wireless access, these social media sites can be reached anywhere, anytime. But with this freedom comes a great negative impact, specifically regarding teenagers; it goes to such extent that teens are more concerned about their follower to following ratio on Twitter than any economic or political issue. Today, teens seem to find difficulty in ‘disconnecting. Social media has given teens a medium in which they can create a new life for themselves, all from the palm of their hands. At the age of identity crisis’ and uncomfortable changes, this creates major bullying problems.
For instance, anonymous messaging on Tumblr allows teens to hide behind the keyboard instead of facing their problems in person. This also brings suicide and depression rates up, as there is no escape from the bullies over the internet. Social media has also made teens less sensitive to unacceptable behaviour. Sexting is a perfect example of how comfortable teens are online. Sexting can be defined by Urban Dictionary as “Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit essages and/or photographs, primarily between mobile phones” .
Many teens today are more than comfortable to participate in sexual activity online with someone. Social media applications such as Snapchat (an application where people can send pictures and/or videos to one another which get deleted after 10 seconds) make it extremely easy for teens to engage in this inappropriate behaviour. Teens feel safe behind their computer screen or phone so they will post nude or semi-nude pictures; sometimes even engaging in sexual conversation through Facebook messaging or exting.
This is not to say all teens participate in this kind of behaviour, however it has become an increasingly alarming problem. No matter what it is; sexting or bullying, teens are more comfortable doing these things behind their screens than they are in person. Social media has made this easier for them to embrace things they would not otherwise. that teens today who are highly engaged in social media are likely to be having an identity crisis. Social media has made it easy for teens to be someone they are not or have a “double life.
Every day, posts are made that completely contradict what the person is like in real life. Social media has ruined the innocent teenager, due to the many negative effects on teens due to social media. It’s important to remember these things when raising or ministering to a teenager. Social media is changing the way teens live; it is affecting who they are, what they do, and how they interact. The things above are Just a few of the negative effects social media is having on teens. The purpose of this study is to determine what negative effects social media has n teenagers in today’s society.
Surveys will be administered to 400 students in grades nine to twelve, both male and female at Sacred Heart High School. Interviews might also be conducted to determine how many of these of cases are reported to Ottawa Police. The limitations that might be encountered throughout this research is the dishonesty of teenagers and the embarrassment to admit and or participate in the surveys. The surveys will be handed out to a random selection of students thus the results may be represent unfairly for certain grades.