Alexis VanSickle
Ms. Lehmann
English 2-1B
7 February 2020
Social Media and Teens
Seneca once said, “Everything that exceeds the bounds of moderation has an unstable foundation.” When usage goes unchecked, things become unbalanced. Teens should be responsible users of social media because it affects their well-being, social connectedness, and academic achievement. In examining social media’s impact on well-being, it becomes clearer that connection is complex.
How we use social media impacts our well-being. Social media has both good and bad impacts on teens’ emotional health. There are a range of challenges teens face in life, and social media allows them to seek out help they might not get otherwise. James et al write, “The ability to communicate anonymously can mitigate barriers, such and shame, that interfere with support-seeking offline” (72). Being able to anonymously ask for help has a positive impact on teens’ lives because it allows people to ask for help without feeling judged so that they can get the help they need. Having considered the positive impact of social media, users must also be aware of the negative. Social media has been blamed for many negative impacts on people’s lives. James et al explain, “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” (72). When young adults use social media to compare themselves to others, negative outcomes will follow. When social media presents the good things in our lives as the only things, users can lose sight of the messiness of life, making them feel less satisfied with what they have. The impact that social media has on adolescents’ well-being depends upon how it is being used.
Social media affects today’s youth’s connections. The personality of everyone is unique, and the survey conducted by Common Sense Media showed that it is a young adult’s personality that determines social media’s impact. “The 17 percent who score in the low-SEWB group were the most impacted by social media interactions, suggesting that the child’s personality – not the platform – is the more important factor when determining the influence of social media,” (K. Y. 18). Because everyone has a different personality, we can’t always know how social media affects everyone; it depends on the person. Some teens even use social media to express themselves. “More than a quarter of teens said social media is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important for expressing themselves creatively” (K. Y. 18). Because of social media, teenagers are becoming more creative in the ways that they express themselves. However, we need to give more vulnerable teens the skills to use it safely and responsibly.
Some argue that the dangers of social media have been overexaggerated. Despite the appeal of this argument, the negative effects of social media cannot be ignored entirely. Using social media too much has been connected to a lack of emotional and physical well-being as well as weaker social connectedness. Success in school has also been impacted by screen time. “Academic performance is directly related to sleep time and inversely related to overall sedentary SMU [screen media use] among the students who participated in this study” (Peiró-Velert et al 5). The study found that the more time students spent on their screens, the less time they had to sleep, which resulted in lower academic achievement. It’s obvious that social media’s impact is complicated, and people should be mindful of how they use it.
By using social media responsibly, teens can minimize its impact on their health, connection with others, and success in school. Being aware of how they use social media can help minimalize the negative impact on teens’ well-being. Social media’s impact over teens can be connected to personality and how they use social media. The amount of time teens spend on social media affects their academic achievement level; luckily, teens can control this. As long as youth control their usage of social media, they won’t have to find out just how right Seneca is.
Page Break
Work Cited Page
James, Carrie, Katie Davis, Linda Charmaramann, 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: 10.1542peds.2026-1785F. Accessed 21 January 2020.
K.Y. “Social Media and Teens.” School Library Journal. vol. 64 no. 10, Pp. 1-3. Academic Search Premier, Accessed 21 January 2020.
Peiró-Velert, Carmen, Alexandre Valencia-peris, Luis M. González, Xavier Garcia-Massó, Pilar Serra Añó, and José 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 10 February 2020.
Research Paper Reflection
1. Explain the process you went through to write this paper. Please be specific.
Our class decided on a topic together and our teacher found us good articles on our topic. We then took cornel notes and typed our papers together. Our teacher reviewed our papers and we then revised them for a final draft.
2. What qualifies this paper as an argumentative essay? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them?
Main claim, evidence, rebuttal, comes back to main claim, conclusion, these are all in my paper.
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 how to check my sources to back up my evidence.
Ms. Lehmann
English 2-1B
7 February 2020
Social Media and Teens
Seneca once said, “Everything that exceeds the bounds of moderation has an unstable foundation.” When usage goes unchecked, things become unbalanced. Teens should be responsible users of social media because it affects their well-being, social connectedness, and academic achievement. In examining social media’s impact on well-being, it becomes clearer that connection is complex.
How we use social media impacts our well-being. Social media has both good and bad impacts on teens’ emotional health. There are a range of challenges teens face in life, and social media allows them to seek out help they might not get otherwise. James et al write, “The ability to communicate anonymously can mitigate barriers, such and shame, that interfere with support-seeking offline” (72). Being able to anonymously ask for help has a positive impact on teens’ lives because it allows people to ask for help without feeling judged so that they can get the help they need. Having considered the positive impact of social media, users must also be aware of the negative. Social media has been blamed for many negative impacts on people’s lives. James et al explain, “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” (72). When young adults use social media to compare themselves to others, negative outcomes will follow. When social media presents the good things in our lives as the only things, users can lose sight of the messiness of life, making them feel less satisfied with what they have. The impact that social media has on adolescents’ well-being depends upon how it is being used.
Social media affects today’s youth’s connections. The personality of everyone is unique, and the survey conducted by Common Sense Media showed that it is a young adult’s personality that determines social media’s impact. “The 17 percent who score in the low-SEWB group were the most impacted by social media interactions, suggesting that the child’s personality – not the platform – is the more important factor when determining the influence of social media,” (K. Y. 18). Because everyone has a different personality, we can’t always know how social media affects everyone; it depends on the person. Some teens even use social media to express themselves. “More than a quarter of teens said social media is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important for expressing themselves creatively” (K. Y. 18). Because of social media, teenagers are becoming more creative in the ways that they express themselves. However, we need to give more vulnerable teens the skills to use it safely and responsibly.
Some argue that the dangers of social media have been overexaggerated. Despite the appeal of this argument, the negative effects of social media cannot be ignored entirely. Using social media too much has been connected to a lack of emotional and physical well-being as well as weaker social connectedness. Success in school has also been impacted by screen time. “Academic performance is directly related to sleep time and inversely related to overall sedentary SMU [screen media use] among the students who participated in this study” (Peiró-Velert et al 5). The study found that the more time students spent on their screens, the less time they had to sleep, which resulted in lower academic achievement. It’s obvious that social media’s impact is complicated, and people should be mindful of how they use it.
By using social media responsibly, teens can minimize its impact on their health, connection with others, and success in school. Being aware of how they use social media can help minimalize the negative impact on teens’ well-being. Social media’s impact over teens can be connected to personality and how they use social media. The amount of time teens spend on social media affects their academic achievement level; luckily, teens can control this. As long as youth control their usage of social media, they won’t have to find out just how right Seneca is.
Page Break
Work Cited Page
James, Carrie, Katie Davis, Linda Charmaramann, 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: 10.1542peds.2026-1785F. Accessed 21 January 2020.
K.Y. “Social Media and Teens.” School Library Journal. vol. 64 no. 10, Pp. 1-3. Academic Search Premier, Accessed 21 January 2020.
Peiró-Velert, Carmen, Alexandre Valencia-peris, Luis M. González, Xavier Garcia-Massó, Pilar Serra Añó, and José 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 10 February 2020.
Research Paper Reflection
1. Explain the process you went through to write this paper. Please be specific.
Our class decided on a topic together and our teacher found us good articles on our topic. We then took cornel notes and typed our papers together. Our teacher reviewed our papers and we then revised them for a final draft.
2. What qualifies this paper as an argumentative essay? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them?
Main claim, evidence, rebuttal, comes back to main claim, conclusion, these are all in my paper.
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 how to check my sources to back up my evidence.