SOCIAL NETWORK IMPACT ON YOUTH
INTRODUCTION
Online social media have gained astounding worldwide growth and popularity which has led to attracting attention from variety of researchers globally. Although with time all generations have come to embrace the changes social network has brought about, teenagers and young adults are the most fanatic users of these sites. According to various research studies in the field of online social networks, it has been revealed that these sites are impacting the lives of the youth greatly. When using these sites such as Twitter, Facebook or MySpace, there are both positive and negative effects on the youth.
POSITIVE IMPACTS
It is inevitable to ignore the fact that nowadays social network plays an essential role in teenagers’ lives. Most youths are spending at least an hour in these popular social media sites. Generally, 1 out of 7 minutes which are spent online by most of those who can access internet is spent on Facebook according to Shea Bennett. One may ask how spending all that time on the social media sites may have a positive impact on them. Well, social media helps the youth and any other user updated with what is happening around the world, help the teenagers stay connected and interact with each other even if they are many miles apart. This strengthens their relationship even if they finished school and moved to different locations they stay connected and update one another.
In addition, social media sites have provided a platform whereby the youth can create groups and pages based on their common discipline and end up building connections and opportunities for their respective careers by updating various topics to discuss. Youth who have been interviewed they say that social media has become their lifestyle and it makes their lives easier and efficient.
NEGATIVE IMPACTS
While on one hand social network sites seems to bring people together and connected on the other hand it creates social isolation in regard to BBC News report. As the youth tend to spend many hours on these sites, they rarely have face-to-face interaction. According various studies, scientists’ evaluation determined that social isolation can lead to a host of emotional, psychological, physical and mental problems which include anxiety, depression and somatic complaints among many others.
Other negative effects of social networking various people suggested included encouraging poor spelling and grammar, exposing underage to online predators, allowing spread of misinformation that is perceived as fact, decreasing productivity as those who are supposed to be working spend time in the sites to chat, provide a perfect platform for cyber bullying and providing details that increase risks of identity theft.
CONCLUSION
Social networking clearly portrays both positive and negative effects on the youth. It is decision of an individual to make whether to continue using the sites or not.
Direct link: http://www.speechprosody2012.org/academic-essay-sample-social-network-impact-on-youth.asp
SOCIAL NETWORK IMPACT ON YOUTH
Social media is a term used to describe the interaction between groups or individuals in which they produce, share, and sometimes exchange ideas over the internet and in virtual communities. The impact of social networks on young people is significant. Children are growing up surrounded by mobile devices and interactive social networking sites such as Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook, which has made the social media a vital aspect of their life. Social network is transforming the manner in which young people interact with their parents, peers, as well as how they make use of technology.
The effects of social networking are twofold. On the positive side, social networks can act as invaluable tools for professionals. They achieve this by assisting young professionals to market their skills and seek business opportunities. Social networking sites may also be used to network professionally. On the negative side, the internet is laden with a number of risks associated with online commuinties. Cyber bullying, which refers to a type of bullying that is perpetrated using electronic technology, is one of the risks.
Bullies have taken to internet sites such as Twitter and Facebook, where the hide behind the anonymity provided by the internet to carry out their despicable acts. Young people also run the risk of inadvertently disclosing their personal information since on most occasions; they usually neglect to read carefully websites’ privacy policies. Whenever young people fail to read the policies and disclaimers, they are exposed to risks of having their personal information disclosed. This is especially a serious matter in light o the rising cases of cyber crimes such as identity theft. New studies reveal that social networks have the ability to sway people to spend money by running advertisements on the user’s page . Such forms of near-subliminal advertising can subconsciously cause an individual to buy certain merchandise.
It is becoming increasingly clear that social networks have become part of people’s lives. Many young people are using their tablet computers and smartphones to check Tweets and status updates from their friends and family. As technology advances, people are pressured to adopt different lifestyles. Social networking sites can assist young people to become more socially capable. However, they may also make them clumsy and incompetent, as well. Therefore, it is imperative to exercise caution and restraint when dealing with such issues.
Direct link: http://www.askwriter.com/social-networking-impact-on-youth-an-essay-sample
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EFFECTS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ON TODAY’S YOUTH
Times have surely changed. The world has been made flat by the World Wide Web. Today, we live in a world where contacting someone, sharing our journeys as well as our thoughts is just one click away. Social networking sites are now available to cater to one’s immediate social needs. These networking sites have made it possible for us to chat with friends who live in distant places as well as share with them pictures and videos of whatever we are up to instantly. Today, it is very hard to find a teenager who doesn’t have a Yahoo, a Gmail, a Facebook, or a Twitter account which they use to keep in touch with friends, to express or share what they have in mind and to use for school-related purposes. No doubt, Social Networking Sites are of great help in the youth’s daily life; however, it has positive and negative effects which depend on how a person will utilize it.
As we all know, the youth of today would use social networking sites in order to pour out all their ideas and emotions. They would post or tweet anything that they have in mind as well as “like” or “share” posts, pictures or links which they think are interesting. All these activities may be a teenager’s way of releasing stress. It is also one way for sharing with others different knowledge which are not taught in school by sharing links, pictures or videos about details of a place, a thing, or a topic which has been overlooked during a discussion in class. They can even use these to cheer up friends who just had a bad day by posting something funny and then “tagging” their friends. Also, letting the youth share what’s in their mind in a public area can serve as a remedy for timidity because it helps them get used to telling people what they think on a certain topic. Indeed, the youth are able to benefit from this feature of social networking sites; however, there are also negative effects which go with this. There are certain studies which show how that excessive expression of thoughts can lead to turning our youth vain and ego-centric. There are those who would take pictures of themselves just to post them in Facebook while there are others who tweet every action, every activity that they are doing on Twitter. It’s as if they are documenting their lives using these sites—like using them as their “public diaries”. Aside from this, there are also those people who post negative things about people whom they have had conflicts with. There are a lot of people who do not think thoroughly about what they are about to post. They tend to prioritize what they feel than the effects of the act that they are about to do. Cyber bullying also emerged because of this. There are those who blackmail people by threatening them that they would post something embarrassing regarding that person if they don’t abide by what the cyber bully wants.
Apart from expressing ideas and emotions, the youth use these sites in order to communicate with other people. They are able to keep in touch with their friends without having to exert money and effort in meeting up with them at some place. It is cheaper than using a cellphone because they wouldn’t have to spend on load in order to text or call their friends using cellular phones and it is faster than snail mail because you wouldn’t have to go to the post office to mail it and wait for a few days just so your friends can receive it. It makes communicating easier and faster. Also, one is able to communicate with their friends at any time of the day. They will be able to satisfy their immediate social needs at any given time in the comfort of their own homes. They wouldn’t have to worry about spending money on transportation as well as on load just to meet up with friends. Also, they need not exert effort in going out of the house as well as worry regarding the dangers which they may encounter outside of the house. This makes everything convenient for out modern youth; however, they should know how to use these properly. The youth of today tend to put this first before accomplishing home works and projects. They would rather spend their extra time in chatting with friends rather than studying their lessons in advance. Some would even opt to just forget about their projects and home works entirely inn order to use these sites. Teenagers nowadays are sometimes inclined to satisfy their social needs first before accomplishing what it is they need for school.
There are also those who prefer to explore the more functional side of these networking sites by using it for school-related or academic purposes. There are students who would arrange online conferences in order to talk with each other regarding group projects after school hours. This makes it more convenient for them because they don’t have to stay too long in school just to talk about their project. Some would decide to create Facebook pages or Yahoo groups for their sections/classes. They use these groups in order to remind each other about home works and projects which are nearing the deadline. They sometimes use these to announce upcoming school events as well as the details to the projects given by the professors. They are able to discuss with each other the unclear parts of a professor’s lecture. These groups also make it more convenient for the class officers to communicate with the class—e.g. a teacher asks for each of the students’ 1×1 pictures from the secretary, the secretary will simply post in the group that each one of the students must provide him with their pictures the following day. Also, there are professors nowadays who opt to send in advance their powerpoint presentations to the students so that they may be able to read it before the discussion and be able to participate during the discussion. Some would even send the details of their assignments and projects for the class in order to save time—they wouldn’t have to explain it further in class because everything is already in the e-mail/ post. This is really useful for the students of today; however, some negative effects also accompany it. This helps students aid each other for school but it makes them depend solely on each other and it makes them take things for granted. Everything is already given to them—the powerpoint presentations, links for their research, etc. They would of course take these and review them rather than research on their own. It’s making life too easy for the students.
No doubt, Social Networking Sites are of great help in the youth’s daily life; however, it has positive and negative effects which depend on how a person will utilize it. Social Networking Sites can benefit us in numerous ways and that it can make life easier for us; however, we should keep in mind that everything in life should be taken in moderation —in this case, done in moderation. We should always set our priorities straight and remember that despite being given all that we need, a little extra work wouldn’t do us harm.
Direct link: https://roundthebendthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/10/20/effects-of-social-networking-sites-on-todays-youth/
