The Windsor Gazette

Social Media and Teenagers

Tuesday, May 08, 2012 By Emily Herschel

The Effects of Social Media on Teenagers Social media is anything from Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter to Club Penguin and Sims. The definition of social media given by Merriam-Webster is “forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos).” Teens use sites like; Facebook and Twitter more often than adults in most cases, posting status updates and pictures more often. Communicating with your peers is an essential part of growing up and being a teenager; social media is a tool that makes communicating simple. With the click of the mouse and you can communicate with your friends from around the world. Social media can be an amazing thing if you use it correctly. Abusing social media is simple; you are hiding behind your screen, typing things that in most cases you wouldn’t say to someone’s face. You can say anything and most people do without thinking of the consequences. For example, when you run into that person face to face next. About as soon as social media became big so did cyber bullying. Cyber bullying can be nasty because kids, in most cases, can say things that they want, things they wouldn’t have the guts to say if they were actually in the person’s face. Was life better without social media? Were teens better behaved? Were teens safer? Social media makes kids less apt to communicate with people face-to-face. Social media tools could lead to the result of people not being able to hold real conversations. Some people will do anything to avoid a real conversation. For example, in school children would much rather email their teachers about extensions on work or help with homework instead of confronting them. In most cases if there is a conflict between two kids it’s easier to say something over Facebook or text them instead of confronting them. At the time, it may seem easier but imagine a world where no one can hold an actual conversation. Where if you saw someone you knew, you wouldn’t know how to talk to them. If you weren’t able to communicate unless you had access to the internet or had cell phone reception. There is nothing online ensuring people are being completely honest about everything they post, and since you can’t see people face-to-face there is no way of knowing if people are who they really say they are. Child molesters or just your common sketchball could be disguised as one of your peers. They could be disguised as someone you know. Security isn’t always what you think it is when you sign up for a social media site. People who don’t know the privacy policy of a website are more vulnerable to security attacks or being hacked. Even when you delete things like videos and pictures they are still on the web. Things that you think had been previously deleted could still be out there. If someone hacks your account they could find private messages and other things that in some cases could get you in a lot of trouble. This is why there is that old saying, “Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see.” Employers have been known to ask people for their Facebook passwords in order to see what the people post. Not only do these employers want to see the public information, they want to see it all to see what exactly what you post. It was recently discovered that this violates the terms and use policy of Facebook by giving out your password. Not only does it violate the terms and use policy, it violates your privacy. It should not be required that you give your password to employers. Just because you are applying for a job, doesn’t mean you can’t have a personal life. But again this is where the “Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see” idea comes in. It also violates the privacy of anyone you have on your friends list. They might have made their Facebook page private to anyone but their friends list and now your employer can view their page as well. Most things are good in moderation. If you spent countless hours checking your Facebook and updating every move you make it is going to become who you are. You might have troubles holding a real conversation. But if you use social media sites for the reasons they were created, communicating with your friends, they can be very useful.