Mary Meyer
Ms. Lehmann
English 2-1B
28 February 2020
Impacts of Social Media on Teenagers
Is it possible that social media is causing negative impacts, especially on teenagers? Even with the possible impacts, teenagers have the control on how much they use social media. Teens should be responsible users of social media because social media impacts teens’ well-being, social connections, and academic achievement. In examining social media’s impact on well-being, it is clear the connection is complex.
How we use social media impacts our well-being. Social media has both positive and negative impacts on teens’ emotional health. There are a range of challenges teens face in life, and social media allows them to seek out help they might not get otherwise. James et all write, “The ability to communicate anonymously can mitigate barriers, such as shame, that interfere with support-seeking offline” (72). Being able to anonymously ask for help has a positive impact on teens’ lives because it allows people to ask for help without feeling judged so that they can get the help they need. Having considered the positive impact of social media, users must also be aware of the negative. Social media has been blamed for many negative impacts on peoples’ lives. James et al explain, “Several investigations document correlations between heavy media use and reduced well-being - related outcomes, such as diminished life satisfaction, internalizing negative experiences, and various dimensions of ill-being, such as depression, anxiety, attention problems, and stress” (72). When young adults use social media to compare themselves to others, negative outcomes will follow. When social media presents the good things in our lives as the only things, users can lose sight of the reality of life, making them fell less satisfied with what they have. The impact that social media has on adolescents’ well-being depends upon how it is being used.
Young adults use social media to communicate with each other more often. A survey has been done to see how often adolescents use social media to communicate and changes in popular styles of communication. The survey conducted by Common Sense Media showed that it is a young adult’s personality that determines social media’s impact. “The 17 percent who scored in the low-SEWB group were the most impacted by social media interactions, suggesting that the child’s personality –not the platform- is the more important factor when determining the influence of social media” (K.Y. 18). Because everyone has a different personality, we can’t always know how social media affects everyone; it depends on the person. Even though the effects of social media vary, the majority shows increase in one brings decrease in the other. Over time, teens use less face-to-face communications and have replaced it with media communications. “Teens’ preference for face-to-face communication with friends has declined substantially, and their perception of social media’s interference with personal interactions has increased” (K.Y. 18). As face-to-face communication has gone down, the interference with personal interactions has raised in its place. As teenagers have used social media more to communicate, they have had less face-to-face communications.
Some argue that the dangers of social media have been overexaggerated. Despite the appeal of this argument, the negative effects of social media cannot be ignored entirely. Using social media too much has been connected to a lack of emotional and physical well-being as well as weaker social connections. Success in school has also been impacted by screen time. “Academic performance is directly related to sleep time and inversely related to overall sedentary SMU [screen media use] among the students who participated in this study” (Peiró-Velert et al 5). The study found that the more time students spent on their screens, the less time they had to sleep, which resulted in lower academic achievement. It’s obvious that social media’s impact is complicated, and people should be mindful of how they use it.
By using social media responsibly, teens can minimize its impact on their health, connections with others, and success in school. Being aware of how they use social media can help minimize impacts on teens’ well-being. Teens’ time on social media affects their social connection, and they should be aware that they are being distracted by social media. Long periods of time on social media affects the user’s sleep, which affects their academic achievement, and teens need to be aware of that. They have control over the time spent on social media. There are negative effects of social media on teenagers, but they can control their use of social media.
Works Citied
James, Carrie, Katie Davis, Linda Charmaraman, Sara Konrath, Petr Sloavak, Emily Weinstein, and Lana Yarosh. “Digital Life and Youth Well-being, Social Connectedness, Empathy, and Narcissism.” Pediatrics, vol.140, no. 52, November 2017, pp. 71-75. Academic Search Premiear, doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-1758F. Accessed 21 January 2020.
K. Y. “Social media and Teens.” School Library Journal, vol. 64, no. 10, 21 January 2020, pp. 18. Accessed 21 January 2020.
Peiró-Velert, Carmen, Alexandra Valencia-Peris, Luis M. González, Xavier García-Massó, Pilar Serra-Añó, José Devís-Devís. "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 Search Premier, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099478. Accessed 10 February 2020.
Research Paper Reflection
2. What qualifies this paper as an argumentative essay? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them? This paper has a main statement that is arguable. The paper is the argument of the claim and backup from other reliable sources. I made sure to make references to any quotes and have a works citied to go with it.
3. Explain one thing you learned about reading research or taking notes on research that you can apply to your next research paper. Writing down a couple of quotes and then making an introduction and explanation for them really helps when putting the research paper together.
Ms. Lehmann
English 2-1B
28 February 2020
Impacts of Social Media on Teenagers
Is it possible that social media is causing negative impacts, especially on teenagers? Even with the possible impacts, teenagers have the control on how much they use social media. Teens should be responsible users of social media because social media impacts teens’ well-being, social connections, and academic achievement. In examining social media’s impact on well-being, it is clear the connection is complex.
How we use social media impacts our well-being. Social media has both positive and negative impacts on teens’ emotional health. There are a range of challenges teens face in life, and social media allows them to seek out help they might not get otherwise. James et all write, “The ability to communicate anonymously can mitigate barriers, such as shame, that interfere with support-seeking offline” (72). Being able to anonymously ask for help has a positive impact on teens’ lives because it allows people to ask for help without feeling judged so that they can get the help they need. Having considered the positive impact of social media, users must also be aware of the negative. Social media has been blamed for many negative impacts on peoples’ lives. James et al explain, “Several investigations document correlations between heavy media use and reduced well-being - related outcomes, such as diminished life satisfaction, internalizing negative experiences, and various dimensions of ill-being, such as depression, anxiety, attention problems, and stress” (72). When young adults use social media to compare themselves to others, negative outcomes will follow. When social media presents the good things in our lives as the only things, users can lose sight of the reality of life, making them fell less satisfied with what they have. The impact that social media has on adolescents’ well-being depends upon how it is being used.
Young adults use social media to communicate with each other more often. A survey has been done to see how often adolescents use social media to communicate and changes in popular styles of communication. The survey conducted by Common Sense Media showed that it is a young adult’s personality that determines social media’s impact. “The 17 percent who scored in the low-SEWB group were the most impacted by social media interactions, suggesting that the child’s personality –not the platform- is the more important factor when determining the influence of social media” (K.Y. 18). Because everyone has a different personality, we can’t always know how social media affects everyone; it depends on the person. Even though the effects of social media vary, the majority shows increase in one brings decrease in the other. Over time, teens use less face-to-face communications and have replaced it with media communications. “Teens’ preference for face-to-face communication with friends has declined substantially, and their perception of social media’s interference with personal interactions has increased” (K.Y. 18). As face-to-face communication has gone down, the interference with personal interactions has raised in its place. As teenagers have used social media more to communicate, they have had less face-to-face communications.
Some argue that the dangers of social media have been overexaggerated. Despite the appeal of this argument, the negative effects of social media cannot be ignored entirely. Using social media too much has been connected to a lack of emotional and physical well-being as well as weaker social connections. Success in school has also been impacted by screen time. “Academic performance is directly related to sleep time and inversely related to overall sedentary SMU [screen media use] among the students who participated in this study” (Peiró-Velert et al 5). The study found that the more time students spent on their screens, the less time they had to sleep, which resulted in lower academic achievement. It’s obvious that social media’s impact is complicated, and people should be mindful of how they use it.
By using social media responsibly, teens can minimize its impact on their health, connections with others, and success in school. Being aware of how they use social media can help minimize impacts on teens’ well-being. Teens’ time on social media affects their social connection, and they should be aware that they are being distracted by social media. Long periods of time on social media affects the user’s sleep, which affects their academic achievement, and teens need to be aware of that. They have control over the time spent on social media. There are negative effects of social media on teenagers, but they can control their use of social media.
Works Citied
James, Carrie, Katie Davis, Linda Charmaraman, Sara Konrath, Petr Sloavak, Emily Weinstein, and Lana Yarosh. “Digital Life and Youth Well-being, Social Connectedness, Empathy, and Narcissism.” Pediatrics, vol.140, no. 52, November 2017, pp. 71-75. Academic Search Premiear, doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-1758F. Accessed 21 January 2020.
K. Y. “Social media and Teens.” School Library Journal, vol. 64, no. 10, 21 January 2020, pp. 18. Accessed 21 January 2020.
Peiró-Velert, Carmen, Alexandra Valencia-Peris, Luis M. González, Xavier García-Massó, Pilar Serra-Añó, José Devís-Devís. "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 Search Premier, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099478. Accessed 10 February 2020.
Research Paper Reflection
- Explain the process you went through to write this paper. Please be specific.
2. What qualifies this paper as an argumentative essay? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them? This paper has a main statement that is arguable. The paper is the argument of the claim and backup from other reliable sources. I made sure to make references to any quotes and have a works citied to go with it.
3. Explain one thing you learned about reading research or taking notes on research that you can apply to your next research paper. Writing down a couple of quotes and then making an introduction and explanation for them really helps when putting the research paper together.