Social Media Impact on Teenagers Essay

Social Media on Teenagers -- Literature Review

Setting Description

The recent technological advancements have transformed modern communications by generating new ways for interactions. One of the by-products of these advancements is the emergence of social media, which has become an important communication tool in today's society, especially among teenagers. Teenagers are increasingly using social media networks for interactions because of the numerous advantages of social networking sites. However, the substantial use of social media by teenagers has become an alarming issue that is characterized by concerns regarding privacy and security. Actually, the impact of social media on teenagers aged between 13 and 19 years has become the focus on numerous studies. This is primarily because teenagers are increasingly trying to be socially active and struggle to cope up with school. The existing studies have attempted to determine the various impacts of social media on teenagers and how negative impacts can be addressed. However, it is still inconclusive why social media remains attractive to teenagers that they dedicate more time to it instead of school.

Statement of Problem or Situation

Modern communications have been significantly transformed by rapid technological developments that have contributed to emergence of social media. As previously indicated, social media has developed to become an important tool of communication in today's society, especially among teenagers. However, social media continues to have numerous impacts on teenagers aged between 13 and 19 years. Teenagers who increasingly use social media have to grapple with attempts to be socially active and the need to keep up with school. Recent statistics indicate that social media have considerable negative impacts on teenagers because they dedicate more time to it rather than focus on school work. Therefore, while social media enhances communication and is attractive, it has considerable effects on teenagers in relation to school.

Literature Review

The impact of social media on teenagers has become a major issue for parents, teachers, and the public. This is primarily because social media is so attractive to teens to the extent that they dedicate more time to it instead of school. As a result of increased attractiveness and use of social media among teenagers at the expense of school, the impact of social media on teens has been the subject of increased scrutiny. Actually, numerous studies have been carried out to examine this issue in order to determine why social media is so attractive to teenagers and its related impacts. A review of existing literature on the issue demonstrates several positive and negative impacts of social media on teenagers in relation to school.

Bad Sleeping Habits

Dimitriou, Knight & Milton (2015) conducted a study in which they examined how social media and drinks prior to going to bed have significant impacts on teenagers' academic performances. These researchers pointed out that environmental factors like sleeping patterns or habits have considerable impact on academic performance. These environmental factors are in turn influenced by the individual's behaviors and habits, especially before bedtime. In this study, the researchers pointed out that sleep quantity has a close, direct link to academic performance whereas the quality of sleep is closely linked to cognitive assessment. Following a study on 48 students aged between 16 and 19, the researchers concluded that social media use and drinks before bedtime contributes to bad sleeping habits that affects academic performance.

Woods et al. (2015) concur with Dimitriou, Knight & Milton (2015) that social media contributes to bad or poor sleeping habits among teenagers and eventually affect their academic performance. Woods et al. (2015) conducted a study to demonstrate how social media use is closely linked with poor sleep quality and low self-esteem among teenagers. These researchers carried out their study on 467 teenagers from the University of Glasgow to determine the overall and night-time-specific use of social media by these individuals. They determined that teenagers' presumed need to be available on social media at all times contributes to depression, anxiety, and poor sleep quality. Even though they concur with Dimitriou, Knight & Milton (2015) that social media affects teenagers sleeping habits and sleep quality, Woods et al. (2015) do not argue that social media affect teenagers' academic performance. In contrast, these researchers state that there is a strong link between use of social media and an individual's health and well-being.

Student Retention and Development of Social Skills

Eckles & Stradley (2012) carried out a study to analyze student retention using archival data and based on social network analysis. The goal of the study was to determine the probable link between first-to-second-year retention and social network variables for a group of first-year students at an arts college (Eckles & Stradley, 2012, p.165). The study demonstrates that social media has greater impacts on student retention, which is determined by their friends' retention levels within the same social network. In essence, social media contributes to this because the retention and attrition behaviors of a teenager are significantly influenced by those of immediate relationships in the social network.

Sung (2014) seemingly agrees with Eckles & Stradley (2012) in his analysis on the differential impact of social-emotional behaviors on academic performance of language-minority students or teenagers. The researcher highlights the significance of social skills for school success of these teenagers given the increased tendency by these students to perform at lower levels and increased chances of school failure. In this case, social media acts as means through which language-minority students develop necessary social skills for school success. Actually, Sung (2014) argues that these students tend to demonstrate lower performance and risk school failure when they are limited in English proficiency (p.393).

Mastrodicasa & Metellus (2013) provides a different perspective of the impact of social media on development of social skills and student retention through examining the effect of social media on college students. They argue that social media has several positive and negative impacts on college students (Mastrodicasa & Metellus, 2013, p.21). Unlike Eckles & Stradley (2012) and Sung (2014), Mastrodicasa & Metellus (2013) state that the impact of social media on college students depends on the type of activities they engage in when using social networking sites. They postulate that social media is not the problem but the specific purpose and use of these sites and activities.

Loss of Privacy and Security

Vanderhoven et al. (2014) examined teenagers' behavior on social media, especially Facebook given that the significant use of social media by these individuals has generated concerns regarding security and privacy. The observational study focused on examining Facebook behavior of teenagers in light of safety and privacy. The study found that social media contributes to loss of privacy and security among teenagers. This is primarily because teenagers post lots of personal and risky information on their profile pages on social networking sites like Facebook. According to these researchers, the loss of privacy and security by teenagers who increasingly use social media is because they hardly manage their privacy settings in the social networking sites.

Management of Personal Health Information

Van der Velden & El (2013) examined teenage patients, privacy, and social media in light of increased use of social networking sites for communication. Through the qualitative study, the researchers concluded that many teenagers do not reveal their personal health information on social networking sites. While teenagers utilize social media to stay updated about their social lives, they do not disclose personal health information such as diagnosis and treatment of their conditions.

Improved Academic Participation

Jimoyiannis, Tsiotakis & Roussinos (2013) examined students' participation and presence in an educational blogging community through social network analysis. These researchers seemingly reject the notion that social media contributes to poor academic performance. They contend that social media enhances academic participation through promoting collaborative learning in an educational blogging community. The researchers found that many students are generally active and demonstrate learning presence within their specific educational community resulting in enhanced academic participation.

Daclan (2013) concurs with these claims through an analysis on the impact of integrating instructional materials in some social networking sites on the awareness and practice of laboratory safety by students. The researcher contends that adolescent students enhance their practice of laboratory safety through exposure to online social networking-based health education, which translates to improved academic participation.

Steele (2005) provides a different view of social media impact on teenagers, particular with regards to school. The study was conducted on the premise that today's world is challenging for parents and policymakers because of the increasingly changing media landscape. The researcher proposes the need to determine what makes harmful media content. However, Steele (2005) concurs with Mastrodicasa & Metellus (2013) that social media is not necessarily harmful for teenagers but their activities on these social networking sites.

References

Daclan, J.R.L. (2013, October). Online Social Networking-based Health Education: Effects on Students' Awareness and Practice of Laboratory Safety. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 12(4).

Dimitriou, D., Knight, F.L. & Milton, P. (2015, December 1). Social Media and Drinks Before Bed Affecting Teenagers' School Performances. Community Practitioner: The Journal of the Community Practitioners' &…