Introduction
With the observation of the present-day system of media information and the structure of the ecosystem, it is difficult to restrain evolving changes occurring in the past five to ten years. The modification includes the development of various small and smart devices that are easily available to children. The presence of internet connections at all times and an excessive amount of content affect the lives of children in different ways. Television and the devices related to mobiles have seen a transformation with the applications used by adults and teenagers. Parents are in a difficult position to monitor the online activities of their children. There are two primary factors that contribute to making the lives of children sophisticated. The first trend involves YouTube and new celebrities. The second recent trend in society is in-app purchasing. Trends are evolving with the passage of time, but in the present time, researchers have noticed rapid development occurring in the minds of children.
Discussion
Trend: YouTube and Celebrities
Now, children prefer to use YouTube over any other media instrument or application. Studies conducted by the researcher showed that males older than twelve years reveal that, among the sources of video content, they prefer YouTube and television. The features and the elements associated with YouTube inspire and attract the attention of adults. Learning advanced skills through regularly watching how-to videos is also influencing the mind of a teenager or a child below ten years. Peers enjoy sharing and discussing topics through the usage of popular YouTube content, which is used as playground currency among teenage friends (Boyd, 2014). The increasing trend of fascinating the young generation through the influence of bloggers is consistently appealing to teenagers.
These vloggers express their feelings and the issues related to them through the recording of videos. They upload their respective videos on the pages that belong to them. Many people watch and comment on the uploaded videos and hence make the activities fascinating. There are also certain bloggers who earn money through the smart use of YouTube applications. Mentioning a particular product in those videos provides careers and money to teenage children. Nowadays, YouTube celebrities are an aspiration and ideal for the young generation of the postmodern world. The excessive interest of the trendsetter is those individuals who play a fundamental role in the expansion and development of certain ideas, which lead to the information of promotion of the particular content added to the video. Knowledge of paid endorsement mostly comes through these trendsetters. The notable point is that around forty-seven percent of the children are aware of the fact that YouTube owners paid for the advertising and those brands associated with the application.
Effects of the YouTube Trends
Digital media is providing increased access for children, and most adults excessively use internet channels and videos. Google and related staff provide the opportunity for individuals to examine the reliability of the available content. The understanding level of these teenagers is not high enough to provide details of the paid funding and advertising of the specific content. Studies conducted by the FCC (Federal Communication Commission) have concluded that fifty percent of users who use search engines are around the age of fifteen. These visitors to the internet have critical judgments with their belief that some websites are accurate and true while others are not. However, nineteen percent of teenagers have the opinion that those engines with the enlistment of their information will be true (Heider, 2014). In the same way, around twenty percent of the children do not think of the veracity of the material available; they just visit the websites.
Regardless of these trends, children are becoming smart in the era of information. They are preceding their elders and arguing against the style of communication. The information and the traditional way of exchanging views are no longer available to convince the child, as his preferences are changing rapidly. However, being smart in this world is not the primary purpose of an individual because there are numerous issues that can harm the mental and social capability of the child. Just plunging into the digital world and leaving practical life can have severe negative effects on adults. According to CNN’s 2017 reports, most children are active on social media at the age of ten years. Variety magazine also reports that out of ten teenagers, six are frequent visitors to YouTube. The age of these individuals is calculated as thirteen to seventeen. Other than traditional celebrities, these young individuals have close relationships with video chats and communications.
Through social media, teenagers and trendsetters have unfolded themselves as models for others, and they are seen in the streets where fans often recognize them. The interesting thing here is that these people are ordinary individuals like those people living next door in common societies. Being famous online is limited to those who are users of online applications and networks. Parents of these online users are also unaware of their activities and behavior. Unawareness among the guardians of the young can have a severe impact on life and other activities (Kalmus, 2015). The researcher’s advice to parents is that they should know about their children’s activities, and they should set certain rules to tell them what they can or cannot do. The negligence of guardians in overseeing the behavior and activities of their minors would lead to serious harm to the whole community.
Influence of Recent Trends
Influencers who use social media spread their message among groups, friends, and relatives without incurring expensive costs. These are the YouTubers who influence the lives of adults and children. The decision-makers in this era mostly focus on variant marketing that operates through online resources. The consumer has the habit of copying others. They can meet their dream through decision-making. Before web usage, decisions were based on advice and advertisements published in newspapers. Purchasers in the modern age have opinions and experiences of personal sharing through social media networks. The online reviews available to every person also provide input for the decision-making of what to purchase and what not to purchase. The matter of routine activity is that before buying anything, people search for the price and online availability of the item they demand. YouTube became a nice place for serving, branding, and promoting low-cost products.
By regularly watching the behavior, language, and clothing of the Tubers, teenagers like to wear and react in the same way. This kind of influence also affects the mood and lifestyle of adults. Older and mature individuals are mostly associated with social media networks and programs running on YouTube; they do not feel cursing and swearing from young people. Parents always have problems with their teenagers who imitate the behavior and language of the person operating on social media. One of the popular games is Minecraft, mostly played by children. Through this game, YouTube swore much more than expected. Elementary school children are famous for playing the game on the internet (Pontes, 2014). There are many parents who mostly require advice to restrict their children from using language and engaging in bad behavior. Children are thus smart with the use of the internet and activities related to online business. Other than civilization issues, they are enjoying the globalized world with a variety of challenges and opportunities connected with their future.
The critical and cognitive skills of children are improving with the engagement of their brains in complicated tasks. They have a better chance of discovering and understanding the actual and virtual worlds. The information is available, but if children are not getting benefits from the use of the internet, they will be no smarter and will live lives just as other people have in society. However, it is important to know that toddlers might detract from their actual activities because of the easy access available to them. They do not have the ability to grasp certain information, which can easily be answered by the internet. In present education, the young generation is increasingly using internet resources and putting those answers against the questions assigned to them by the teacher. The concept of hard work is no longer present, and the quest for obtaining knowledge is lacking with the advent of online and social media networks. The state, educational institutions, and research institutes should consider the point and ban the use of digital media for educational purposes. The opposite of this is the knowledge and sources of the books, which every student must learn and try to understand. The second option of enhancing knowledge can enhance the reading of the students. Google is not the only solution to solve problems. Rather, there are frequent means and positive ways that can develop and enhance the lives of toddlers. Technological trends are changing and will revolve around humans. The actual problem is that we are getting all those positives operating in an online setting.
Trend II: In-app Purchasing
The advent of the trend that is associated with in-app purchasing has brought new avenues for young people to get the benefits and make their lives easier. Studies have been conducted in this regard, which indicate that enhancement in the ownership of phones and smart devices is prevalent among children. At a lower age level, a child between five and seven years old owns a smartphone. Only four percent of these toddlers have mobiles at their lower age. The alarming condition arises when seventy percent of individuals aged fifteen or less possess ownership of a mobile (Rathore, 2016). Among older children aged fourteen or older who also possess tablets, the proportion is forty-five percent. Easy access to smart devices provides children with their own wealth of devices, which include important applications. Games are downloaded to these devices easily, and toddlers play them while spending increasing amounts of time on them. A short look at the other side of the benefits reveals that eleven percent of teenagers and around six percent of toddlers are of the view that they are feeling obstacles and depressed by purchasing online applications.
Donghui Cho’s research, which he submitted to the University of Michigan, was about the problem of in-app purchasing and its effects on the average American citizen. He interacted with children aged six to twelve about the actuality and reliability of the purchase of games and playing online. The players in such kinds of games are convinced to spend money. He was surprised during the investigation process when he met a child who had spent around forty-five hundred dollars while playing a game on a tablet. The child had one hundred transactions, which were not known to his parents. The guardians of the respective child learned of the loss of their money after receiving the credit card bill. The investigator points out these in-app purchase risks as shocking alerts for parents to take care of their children before they face big losses (Sheth, 2016). The research also reveals that sensible children are also doubtful about the money they have to pay before the start of the game. However, there are students between the ages of twelve and fifteen who reveal that they know about the rule of pay to win, and it has happened in almost all the games in which they participate. In the conclusion of Cho’s studies, he got the response of fifty percent of individuals who are fifteen years old and are of the view that paying in advance for the game is an unnecessary and useless rule.
Considering these emerging trends, the important factor for guardians is that they must know and learn technical tools associated with payment and related aspects of social media use. They should also monitor the funding and the worth of the material provided on the internet through social media. Studies have indicated that parents mostly use mediation techniques to keep their children far from any harm posed by online associations. Education is important, but guardians primarily need to focus on those skills that can divert the attention of their children from excessive use of the internet. They have multiple options in choosing against the reliability of the source, and the information requires validation. Researchers have conducted structured interviews. Certain main identification points were made in the study.
The impact of the internet on the behavior of the child in making him smart is too high. According to the studies, they ask the children how much time they spend on the Internet. The child responded that he regularly visits YouTube and he cannot live without the use of online machinery. The toddler knows at what time and what kind of video the operator of pages on the YouTube account will upload (Škařupová, 2017). The intensity of the brain and quickness shows how children get smart from the diverse use of social media. The majority of teenagers watch movies immediately after returning from school. Weekend days are spent regularly watching YouTube. Traditional celebrities do not have the chance to meet or interact with the children other than at concerts. Even celebrations are offered by the Tubers at their fixed times. For example, in New York, many teenagers gather to have pictures and fun with their favorite YouTubers. The interesting factor is that regardless of how smart children are, there are parents who do not know about the use, access, and information of the online community.
Conclusion
To sum up the arguments regarding the smartness of children living in the United States, it is advisable that parents monitor and regulate their children’s activities. Other than the positives of the internet, it also created obstacles for parents to know about the activities of their children. In general, technology is not the problem associated with isolation. It is actually the outlet that reveals the problem. Changing trends and factors will contribute to making our children smarter, but we will have to choose to save our children from becoming distracted and restrain the excessive use of the internet.
Works Cited
Boyd, D. (2014). It’s complicated: The social lives of networked teens. Yale University Press.
Heider, K. L., & Jalongo, M. R. (Eds.). (2014). Young children and families in the information age: Applications of technology in early childhood (Vol. 10). Springer.
Kalmus, V., Blinka, L., & Olafsson, K. (2015). Does it matter what mama says: Evaluating the role of parental mediation in European adolescents’ excessive internet use. Children & Society, 29(2), 122-133.
Pontes, H. M., Griffiths, M. D., & Patrão, I. M. (2014). Internet addiction and loneliness among children and adolescents in the education setting: an empirical pilot study. Aloma: Revista de Psicologia, Ciències de l’Educació i de l’Esport, 32(1).
Rathore, M. M., Ahmad, A., Paul, A., & Rho, S. (2016). Urban planning and building smart cities based on the Internet of Things using big data analytics. Computer Networks, 101, 63-80.
Sheth, A. (2016). Internet of Things to smart not through semantic, cognitive, and perceptual computing. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 31(2), 108-112.
Škařupová, K., Ólafsson, K., & Blinka, L. (2016). The effect of smartphone use on trends in European adolescents’ excessive Internet use. Behavior & Information Technology, 35(1), 68-74.
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