Research Paper

The Negative Effects of Social Media on Children and Adolescents

The popularity of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace have taken over the world in ways that people would never imagine. As social media sites become more important and influential in society, many fail to realize the danger that these sites create for our children and adolescents. “During the last 5 years, the number of preadolescents and adolescents using such sites has increased dramatically. According to a recent poll, 22% of teenagers log on to their favorite social media site more than 10 times a day” (Schurgin O'keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011). There are a number of worrying aspects to this interpersonal dimension called social media. Examining the ways children and adolescents utilize media sites, including communicating with unknown predators, will prove the dangers of social media.

An area of increasing concern among today’s children and adolescents is cyberbullying. “Cyberbullying is the use of modern technology to threaten, embarrass, and target another person” (The Nemours Foundation, 2012). While bullying behavior has always been a part of this society, suggestions are that since the implementation of social media, there is the convenience for this behavior to occur particularly more intense. With traditional bullying which is usually planned, the victims are normally in the presence of the bully, and it is a case of the bully seeking power and control and is sometimes aggressive. These characteristics are not the same with cyberbullying, this modern day form of bullying is more common among teen and adolescents especially those who frequent social media sites, many of those who engage in cyberbullying may have self esteem issues and think that by bullying someone else that they can feel a sense of power. Cyberbullying mainly occurs behind closed doors where bullies use anonymity to attack their victims, more often than not it starts out as an email or a...