Estevan Contreras MS. Lehmann English 2-1B 7 February 2022 Screen Media Use and Its Effects on Teens Each day, 11 teens die in crashes by texting and driving(Arrive Alive). This provides a glimpse into teens’ complex relationship with social media and how it affects them. Teens should be responsible with social media use because it impacts teens’ well – being, social connectedness and academic achievement. In examining social media’s impact on well-being, it is clear the 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 as shame, that interfere with support seeking offline”(pg 72). Being able to ask for help anonymously has a positive impact on teens’ lives because it allows people to ask for help without being 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”(pg 72). When young adults use social media to compare themselves to others, negative outcomes will follow. When social media is the only 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. The impact of social media on young adults is complicated and it cannot be confirmed as the cause or the effect of teens’ behavior and their connections with people. The survey conducted by Common Sense Media shows it is a young adult’s personality that determines social media’s impact. “The 17 percent who scored 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”(18). This information is subjective because everyone has a different personality. Having said that, the impact is also based on the amount of time teens spend on social media. The usage of social media amongst young adults has increased, and some teens even use it constantly. “The proportion of teens who use social media multiple times a day has doubled over the past six years. In fact, 38 percent of teens today say they used social media multiples times an hour, including 16 percent who they use it almost constantly (K.Y. 18). The amount of usage amongst teens varies widely, and is hard to comprise enough information to make hard evidence. The impact of social media is hard to pin down since it all depends on how teens use it and how often they use it. The impact of social media is complicated, but some same say it isn’t as complicated as it may seem. Some argue that the dangers of social media have been over exaggerated. 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”(Peiro-Velert et al 5). The study found that the more time students on their screens, the less time they had to sleep, which resulted in lower academic . It’s obvious that social media’s impact is complicated and people should be aware of how they use it. By using social media responsibly, teens can minimize its impact on their health, connections with others, and success in school. Being aware of how they use social media can minimize its effects on teens. Teens like social media and have become more distracted by it and should become aware of how they use it. The amount of time that teens spend on social media indirectly effects academic performance. Social media’s impacts have gone so far as to take lives, and thus makes it crucial that teens know to use it appropriately.
Work cited Carrie James, Katie Davis, Linda Charmaraman, Sara Konrath, Petr Slovak, Emily Weinstein, And Lana Yarosh. “Digital Life and Well-being, Social Connectedness, Empathy, and Narcissism.” Pediatrics, Vol. 140, no.52, November 2017, pp. 71-75. Academic Search Premier, doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-1758F. Accessed 21 2020 January
Y.K. “Social media and Teens.” School Library Journal, Vol. 64, no.10, October 2018, pp.18-18. Academic Search Premier. Accessed 21 2020 January
Peiro-Velert Carmen, Alexandra Valencia-Peris, Luis m González, Xavier Garcia- Massò, Pillar Serra-Ano, Josè Devis-Devis. “Screen Media Usage, Sleep Time, and Academic Performance in Adolescents: Clustering a Self Organizing Map Analysis.”Plos one, vol 9,no 6, June 2014, pp
Patrick. “Texting While driving Facts” arrivealivetour.com, September 2017
Please answer all questions in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
1. Explain the process you went through to write this paper. Please be specific. I followed exactly what Ms.lehmann's did on the board and all her step by step instructions.
2. What qualifies this paper as an argumentative essay? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them? It has a clear 2 sides and their is plenty of evidence for both sides. It has evidence and very little opinion.
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 notes suck. I learned that college is going to the equavilent to walking on legos 24/7