Nakiya Goings Ms. Lehmann English 2-2A 6 February 2020 “The Effects of Social Media”
Seneca once said, “Everything that exceeds the bounds of moderation has an unstable foundation.” This applied to social media as well. Social media’s impact on teens is complicated, affecting well-being, connections with others, and even academic performance. In order to be wise users of social media, teens need to know how it impacts their well-being. The effect of social media on teens’ well-being is complicated. Social media offers teens the ability to talk to people with similar experiences, challenges, and struggles anonymously, which gives them desired support. James et al write, “The ability to communicate anonymously can mitigate barriers, such as shame, that interfere with support-seeking offline” (72). The author explains that social media allows teens to ask for help and receive support they might not ask for otherwise because they can remain anonymous.While social media does offer anonymous support, that is not the only way adolescents use social media. Often times, people who use social media compare themselves to others or even experience crimes such as cyberbullying. James et al explain the negative impact of social media on young adults’ well-being. “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” (James et al 72).When social media is used too much or irresponsibly, it can have serious, negative effects on people’s lives. Limiting time on social media and using it responsibly could help increase the positive effects on well-being while decreasing the negative. Social media not only impacts well-being, but can influence our relationships to other people as well. When examining the effects of social media itself we cannot only examine the media itself, but must also consider the personalities of its users. “The child’s personality – not the platform – is the more important factor when determining the influence of social media” (K.Y. 18). Every social media user is different for every user. The one consistent finding is that an excessive use of social media increases negative effects. On the other hand, social media gives teens an outlet for their creativity. “Teens said that social media is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’important for expressing themselves creatively. This was particularly true for the most vulnerable users” (K.Y. 18). Social media, on the other hand, is great for teens to show their creative side, but also shows a negative side for the more vulnerable teens on social media who are more impacted by both positive and negative aspects of social media.This shows users that social media should be used wisely. Some argue that social media has only positive effects. While this sounds good, the reality is that social media’s impact is complicated and can be negative. Research has shown that too much time spent on screen media has a negative impact on academic performance. Peiró-Velert et al write, “Regarding academic performance, overall sedentary SMU [Screen Media Usage] is indirectly related to it, either because screen time displaces homework and learning... or because it involves intermediate processes that negatively affect academic performance” (7). When young adults use social media excessively, it lowers sleep time, which causes lower academic achievement. It is obvious that social media’s effects are not all positive. Social media is complicated and should be used responsibly. Teens can control how social media affects them. If teens use social media wisely, it can improve their well-being, connections with others, and academic performance. Monitoring time spent on social media can curb negative effects. When spending time in person with others, teens can strengthen connection by putting down their phones. Scheduling time to be off the phone and sleep can improve academic performance. By exercising moderation in social media use, teens can create a more stable foundation for their lives. Works Cited James, Carrie, Katie Davis, Linda Charmarman, Sara Konrath, Petr Slovak, Emily Weinstein and Lana Yarosh. “Digital Life and Youth Well-Being, Social Connectedness, Empathy, and Narcissism.” Pediatrics, vol. 140, no. S2, November 2017, pp. 71-75. Academic Search Premier, doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-1785F. Accessed 21 January2020. K.Y. “Social Media and Teens.” Social Library Journal, vol.64, no.10, pp. 18-18 October 2018, Academic Search Premier, Accessed21 January 2020. Peiró-Velert, Carmen, Alexandria Valencia-peris, Luis M. Gonzalez, Xavier Garcia-Massó, Pilar Serra Añó, and Jose 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 February 2020. Research Paper Reflection 1. Explain the process you went through to write this paper? Please be specific. We had to decide on what we wanted to argue about. We chose to argue about social media. We then chose to argue about why social media is complicated. By going through loades of papers finding proven evidence of the impacts social media has on individual users. 2. What qualifies this paper as an argumentative essay? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them? This qualifies as an argumentative paper because we chose to argue why social media is complicated and we have evidence to prove why it is. Argumentative essays require factual evidence, stating your resources, claim, and rebutal. We put a quote, then we explained the quote, we then had to explain why we chose that quote we would repeat these steps in order for every paragraph. 3. Explain one thing you learned on reading about research or taking notes on research you can apply to your next research paper. I learned that you have to first start off with what your topic is going to be then state what you want ot argue about. I also learned that you have to have quotes to state your claim as evidence.