Bryanna Krieger Ms. Lehmann English 2-2A 6 February 2020 Social Media’s Effect on Teens Seneca once said, “Everything that exceeds the bounds of moderation has an unstable foundation.” This applies 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 mediaon 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 authors explain that social media allows teens to ask for help and receive support they might not ask for otherwise because they can remainanonymous. 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 experience crimes such as cyberbullying. James et al explain the negative impacts 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 and decreases 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, 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, so its impacts are different for every user.The one consistent finding is that an excessive use of social media increases negative effects. The most vulnerable users say they use social media to express themselves creatively. “More than a quarter of teens said social media is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important for expressing themselves creatively. This was particularly true for the most vulnerable users” (K.Y.18). Vulnerable users have a harder time expressing themselves thanthose who aren't vulnerable user and don’t struggle to express themselves on social media plat forms which can cause people to use social media more. 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 connections by putting down their phones. Scheduling time to be off the phone and sleeping can improve academic performance. By exercising moderation in social media use, teens can create a more stable foundation for their lives. Page Break Work Cited James, Carrie, Katie Davis, Linda Charmarman, Sara Konrath, Peter Solvak, Emily Wienstien and Lana Yarosh. “Digital Life and Youth Well-Being, Social Connectedness, Empathy, and Narcissism.”
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Research Paper Reflection
Explain the process you went through to write this paper. Please be specific.
We had to pick one topic as a class to work on together. Then we read some articles related to the topic and took notes as we read. As we typed the paper, we included an introduction, two paragraphs dealing with the articles we read, a rebuttal, and finally a conclusion. We also wrote a work cited page along with an Annotated Bibliography.
2. What qualifies this paper as an argumentative essay? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them? It is a argumentative essay because the class was working together to prove our claim which was social media is complicated. There was a rebuttal involved in the paper and we gathered information to prove our point.
3. Explain one thing you learned about reading research or taking notes on research that you can apply to your next research paper. I learned that the more I am on my phone the less sleep I will get which will lower my academic performance and that social media tends to distract you from the people you are with an hanging around.