Social Consequences Of The Internet For Adolescents: A Decade Of Research

In the modern world today, technological advancements have changed the entire world and spread all over it. It includes the technology of the internet, which is used now to connect with the world. The Internet is the way to communicate and connect with every area or country of the world. Also, its use gives an opportunity to gain any information within no time. In the article “Social Consequences of the Internet for Adolescents: A Decade of Research,” two authors, Patti M. Valkenburg and Jochen Peter, explore the use of the Internet among adolescents and describe its social consequences. In this paper, the important points and aspects of this article will be discussed briefly.

Adolescents and youngsters today are the ones who are consistent users of the internet and spend a lot of time on it. They spend more time on the internet daily compared to adults as well and they are social media users more than adults. Social media is a platform to communicate with the global world and its different countries people. Adolescents mostly use the internet to use social media. Nowadays, instant messaging is the most used technology among adolescents to connect with the world; it includes popular instant message apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, WeChat, Viber and many more. These apps give the opportunity to connect anywhere in the world for free with the use of the internet. The Internet is giving so many advantages to its users as well as many disadvantages to its users.

Adolescents are using the internet and social media and providing self-disclosure to the world. Self-disclosure refers to information about a person’s identity that is exposed on the Internet, and anyone in the world can see it. Its biggest example is Facebook, which provides the opportunity for individuals to use self-disclosure. According to the authors of the article, the study of different researchers explains that it is reasonable for us to consider that online self-disclosure opportunities and use show a positive relationship between two major points, which include online communication and the social connectedness of the people. Moreover, further study is required to investigate its positive and negative impacts and aspects.

Many recommendations and reasons are explained in the article. Online communication might be a better and more positive interaction as compared to face-to-face communication methods between two or more people. It includes several important points like self-disclosure, or the positive interaction of online communication between two people is the result of care, friendship, and love between both individuals. The authors of the article suggest many further points for future study in this perspective or area. It includes the different uses of social media apps and their results, the use of instant messengers in public chat rooms, effects and impacts of different communication technologies. The use of social media and its increased use among adolescents has positive as well as negative impacts, which should be explored by future researchers. Its positive impacts might include positive interaction and the best time. Also, its negative impacts might include cybercrime and online harassment.

In the modern and global world today, technological advancements are consistently changing and revolutionizing the world. Technological advancements are the ones that reduce the distances between people. People are using technological devices to make their tasks easier. Among the great technological advancements, social media is the one that is greatly popular and famous around the globe. Social media is a powerful technology that is designed to make it easier for people to share information, ideas, concepts, career interests, knowledge and several other types of expressions that are important to share with the world. Social media makes it easier for people to share their current stories and information and make new friends through the platform of virtual communities and virtual networks around the world. Social media is an online platform, and people use it through the internet. Now, in the most developed nations in the world today, numerous people are consistent users of social media and changing the ways of their lives. Now, it is effortless to scroll down a mobile screen with the latest and most global information that is important or worth knowing. With the influence of social media, now it is effortless to stay in touch with family and friends. There are several platforms of social media, including Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Social media is impacting the lives of people positively and making it easier for them to stay connected with the world. Social media has positive effects on how an individual views himself/herself, how he/she views others and their opinion about society.

Social media positively affects the views of an individual, helps to achieve support from friends and family and improves self-esteem and confidence. Social media allows an individual or a person to connect with the world and share his/her life story with friends and family members. For example, Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms, which provides the opportunity to like, share, comment and express feelings with friends and family. If an individual shares his/her picture on social media, he/she gets the views of friends and family who express their feelings about the picture. The family members mostly boost the morale of the individual and comment positively on the picture. Facebook gives the opportunity to add the details of an event or add any location with the use of emotions in which people can tell other people about the places they visit or have certain different feelings. In Snapchat stories, people have the opportunity to discover different stories about other people.

It is now effortless to view others’ experiences, ideas, views, and perspectives. For example, a person needs some suggestions about a healthy diet, and then he/she will use social media to get that information easily with the life experiences of other people. Sharing people with other family and friends boosts their ambitions, which leads to an increase in the confidence level of people. Social media is also helping to spread awareness about the wrong phenomenon so that people could be able to make them right. Social media is now also used to educate people, and with the use of tutorials and the latest videos, information can be spread easily and efficiently. Social media allows youngsters to be creative and innovative, primarily related to their school and college tasks, by making them more efficient and effective. Social media enhances self-confidence and makes a person able to deal with the world with confidence.

Social media positively impacts how someone views others and how others view someone by helping us keep in touch with loved ones and inspiring us. Social media provides the opportunity to share personal and social information with friends and family, and in that way, people consistently get in touch with the people they know and have an important place in their lives. In the busy world today, there is not much time for people to spend much time with friends and family and learn about current events. But social media makes it easier for people to get in touch with family and friends and know about their life events. By getting in touch with family and friends, people can motivate and encourage other people who build up their confidence level. For example, family praises any achievement that motivates people to do more good and have more achievements in their lives.

Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram provide ways and reasons for people to stay motivated and inspired by the success stories of other people’s lives. Social media has reduced the differences between people, and now it is effortless to make friends anywhere across the globe. It provides speedy communication, and now audio and video chatting options give numerous ways for people to stay connected with their loved ones. It is a great way to stay in touch with friends and family, and it strengthens the relationships between people. It improves the ways of thinking by adding several creative and innovative ideas into the minds of youngsters and children.

Social media positively affects society as a whole by providing people with jobs and keeping us informed. Organizations, enterprises, academic institutions and companies now have the opportunity to publish the latest recruiting options online so that more effective and efficient people can take advantage of the job opportunities. Social media is now serving as the place that provides the latest information about jobs and current events, making people able to enhance their knowledge or get jobs easily. Social Media platforms like Snapchat and YouTube pay the people who become famous and successfully run their channels with lots of subscribers. Now, people are getting jobs online, and it is effortless to enhance any specific skill and use it to earn money online through social media. Teens and even adults get current events from the use of social media. Students can take the latest information and help from social media for their projects, assignments, and tasks, which makes their work more useful and valuable. LinkedIn is a professional social media platform that provides the opportunity to inform the world’s competent people about the latest job openings and to take advantage of the opportunity efficiently. Also, people who are not able or qualified for specific job positions share the job information with their friends and family lists so that other people can get the opportunity.

Social media provides people with numerous ways to connect with the world. Social media has positive effects on how you view yourself, how you view others and your view of society. It provides ways to communicate with other people, which positively enhances the self-esteem, confidence level and awareness about certain things and current events. It is impacting positively the lives of the people by providing numerous opportunities to stay in touch, enhance self-esteem, increase knowledge and polish the skills of the people.

Works Cited

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Parrack, Dave. “11 Linkedin Features You Aren’t Using (But Should Be).” MakeUseOf. N.p., 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2017.

Santhosh, Harini. “6 Positive And 4 Negative Effects Of Social Media On Children.” MomJunction. N.p., 2017. Web. 24 Nov. 2017.

Valkenburg, Patti M., and Jochen Peter. “Social Consequences Of The Internet For Adolescents”. Current Directions In Psychological Science, vol 18, no. 1, 2009, pp. 1-5. SAGE Publications, doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01595.x.