Impact of Social Media on Teenagers and Younger Adults

1. Impact of Social Media on
Teenagers and Younger Adults
Mohamed Alketbi
Prof. Rhoades
English Composition II 501
13 July 2018

2. High engagement with mobiles for teenagers/young
adults
Teenagers and young adults are generally seen with mobile phones in
present day. Teenagers check updates on social media or could be seen
taking photos with friends.

3. Social Media Use Statistics
• Social media use statistics of
teenagers
• 51% of teenagers present in age
group 13-17 years use Facebook
(Anderson and Jiang).
• Positive reasons for teenagers to
connect over social media.
• 31% of teenagers have positive
opinion on social media
(Anderson and Jiang).

4. Social media Benefits
• Serves as platform of communication
for teenagers (Reid and Weigle 73).
• Helps young people in job search.
• Teenagers get business connections
with help of social networks like
LinkedIn (Blaschke 21635).
•
• Helps teenagers to get academic
connections.

5. Risks of Social media
• Cyberbullying
• Suicidal tendencies
• Peer pressure
• Addiction

6. Position and Thesis
• Though there are certain negative impacts
reported of social media, these media
platforms are helpful to the teenagers and
young adults in learning, development of
skills, promotion of interests, job search, and
building of support system.

7. Social Media-Promotion of Learning
• Social media platforms promote learning
among teenagers and young adults.
• Social media data ( Twitter data in
Research)
• Lisa Blaschke, faculty member at Center for
Lifelong Learning University of Oldenburg,
Germany states that initially use of social
media was passive in classrooms and then it
became widespread (Blaschke 21635).

8. Social Media-Promotion of Learning
• Paul Tess, who is from Educational Psychology Department of
the University of Montana, states that the ubiquity of social
media in university, is helping to bring change in the ways of
collaboration, learning and communication of the students
(Tess A60).
• Social media aids in learning outside the classroom .
• Increase in independence of learning seen as students can
involve in the management of learning environments
(Blaschke 21635).
• Useful case study is that of UMUC course where twitter is
used for purpose of research and mind-mapping tools aided
learning, (Blaschke 21635).

9. Social Media-Skill Development
• Social media helps in development of skills and interests in young adults and
teenagers.
• Social media helps with new skill learning and also practicing them (Reid and
Weigle 73).
• Allows teenagers to develop skills in personalized environment as in social media ,
so that they become self-directed learner (Blaschke 21635).
• Creativity and writing skills are enhanced online ("Social Media Use").
• Career skills imparted are giving introduction, connecting, interacting and sharing
of experiences (Rutten 148).

10. Social Media –Job Search Effort and
Networking
• Social media gives boost for job search efforts of teenagers and young adults.
• Ioannis Nikolaou states that "most job seekers and human resource professionals"
use social networking sites more (Nikolaou 179).
• LinkedIn provides more opportunities of professional networking.
• Young people can connect with employers, hirers and other job seekers.
• Social media platforms help in providing referrals for job applicants and it helps
young people and also the companies (McCabe 88).

11. Social Media –Support system for
Teenagers and Youngsters
• Social media helps in building support system for teenagers and young adults.
• Provides support system for homeless people for securing jobs, and housing along
with other services (Fultonberg).
• Serves as cultural bridge for teenagers.
• Addresses the emotional needs of teenagers through online support networks.

12. Social Media –Support system for
Teenagers and Youngsters
• Social Media helps connecting cancer
survivors among young adults and teenagers,
thereby increasing support for them (Warner
et al. 1034).

13. Social Media –Support system for
Teenagers and Youngsters
• Social media platforms help LGBT youth, as
they provide the needed community, and friend
support, thereby helping their mental and
physical health (Sneapp, et al 420).

14. Negative effects of Social MEdia
• Cyberbullying
• Addiction
• Suicidal tendencies
• Cyberstalking and cyber harassment involving young adults (Luxton et al. S195-
S200).
• rumor spreading
• Peer pressure
• Unrealistic opinions of other people's lives
• Facebook Depression

15. Conclusion
• Social media is highly useful for teenagers and young adults
in areas of learning, skill development, promotion of
interests, job search and development of support systems
for them.
• Despite negative impacts given in research, it should be
noted that it does not apply to all people
• Social media aids teenagers provided there is good parental
supervision and guidance.
• With the help of parents and educators , teenagers can
develop the needed career skills that can aid in job search.
• These platforms aid in providing support systems for
healthy development of teenagers.

16. Works Cited
• Anderson, Monica and Jingjing Jiang. "Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018", Pew Research Center. 31 May, 2018.
http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/. Accessed 24 June 2018.
• Blaschke, Lisa Marie. "Using social media to engage and develop the online learner in self-determined learning" Research in Learning Technology,
vol.22, 2014, p.21635 http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v22.21635. https://journal.alt.ac.uk/index.php/rlt/article/view/1458/html. Accessed 2 July,
2018.
• Fultonberg, Lorne. "Research Examines Benefits of Social Media for Homeless Youth" University of Denver. 17 April, 2018.
http://news.du.edu/research-examines-benefits-of-social-media-for-homeless-youth/. Accessed 1 July 2018.
• Luxton, David D., Jennifer D. June and Jonathan M. Fairall. "Social Media and Suicide: A Public Health Perspective", American Journal of Public Health
vol. 102, no. 2, 2012, pp. S195-S200. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300608 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3477910/. Accessed 29 June
2018.
• McCabe, Mary Beth."Social Media Marketing Strategies for Career Advancement: An Analysis of LinkedIn". Journal of Business and Behavioral
Sciences. vol.29, no. 1, Spring 2017. pp. 85-99.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Bacon2/publication/312977642_Signaling_with_Stock_Issues_and_Repurchases_A_Test_of_Semi-
Strong_Form_Market_Efficiency/links/59c92814aca272c71bcde252/Signaling-with-Stock-Issues-and-Repurchases-A-Test-of-Semi-Strong-Form-
Market-Efficiency.pdf#page=86. Accessed 3 July, 2018.
• Nikolaou, Ioannis. "Social Networking Web Sites in Job Searchand Employee Recruitment" International Journal of Selection and Assessment, vol.22,
no. 2, June 2014. pp.179-189. www.academia.edu/download/36020216/SNWs_Nikolaou_IJSA.pdf. Accessed 2 July, 2018
• Reid, Dana and Paul Weigle. "Social Media Use among Adolescents: Benefits and Risks" Adolescent Psychiatry, vol. 4, 2014, pp. 73-80.
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264676034_Social_Media_Use_among_Adolescents_Benefits_and_Risks. Accessed 2 July 2018.
• Sneapp, Shannon, D. et al. "Social Support Networks for LGBT Young Adults: Low Cost Strategies for Positive Adjustment" Family Relations:
Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Science, vol. 64, no.3, pp. 420-430. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12124. Accessed 2 July, 2018
• Rutten, Mariëlle .” Usefulness of Social Network Sites for Adolescents’ Development of Online Career Skills”. Educational Technology & Society, vol.
19, no. 4, 2016, pp. 140–150. www.ds.unipi.gr/et&s/journals/19_4/12.pdf. Accessed 3 July 2018.
• Tess, Paul A. "The Role of Social Media in Higher Education Classes (Real and Virtual) – A Literature Review", Computers in Human Behavior, vol.29,
no.5, 2013, pp.A60-A68.
• https://navigator.kommit-projekt.de/data/reading/The_role_of_social_media_in_higher_education_classes_%28real_and_virtual%29_112888.pdf .
Accessed 23 June 2018
• "The Impact of Social Media Use on Social Skills" 2018. New York Behavioral Health. http://newyorkbehavioralhealth.com/the-impact-of-social-
media-use-on-social-skills. Accessed 2 July 2018.
• Warner, Echo L. et al. "Social Well-Being Among Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer: A Systematic Review" Cancer, vol. 122, vol. 7, 5
February 2016. pp. 1029-1037.DOI: 10.1002/cncr.29866, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/cncr.29866. Accessed 2 July, 2018