Digital and Social Media has become the most common source of interactive activity in this generation. It is not only used by preadolescents and adolescents, it is used by many adults as well. The influence that digital and social media has given today’s youth and adults is tremendous yet harmful.
According to the first article The Clinical Report, 75% of teenagers own a Mobile Cellphones. I agree with this estimate because today’s youth would not know what to do on their own without a mobile device. For example: a professor asks a question about STDs, if they do not know it, the very first option that pops up in a youth’s mind would to look it up on google threw their mobile devices.
The Benefits of Digital and Social Media on an adolescent is that it helps enhance their socialization and communication abilities. Today’s adolescents have a hard time communicating with others but with social media sources such as Facebook,Twitter, LinkedIn or even Instant Messaging. It also helps enhance ways to learn. According to The Clinical Report, Today’s middle school and high school students are using social media to connect with each other to exchange ideas on homework, projects and future exams. I agree with this because not only due you enhance your chances to learn, you grow a connection with your clasthesesmates and eventually become good friends. It also helps an adult’s daily business activity become less stressful and more organized. Before, everything had to be hand-written on a calendar, now adults just simply can save it as an alert on their mobile devices. Finally, schools are now using blogs. This tool has helped improve writing, creative expression and language.
With many benefits of Social and Digital Media comes risks. The Risks of media amongst adolescents and adults are also high. An adolescent’s mind is very one-dimensional. If lead in the wrong direction, adolescents can make very serious mistakes. One risk on social media is Cyber-Bullying. Although Cyber-Bullying is rare with adolescents, they are still at risk. Another high risk of social media is Facebook Depression. This can occur when a Facebook user becomes severely consumed with Facebook that the user begins to show classic signs of depression which can lead to drug abuse, unsafe sex, erratic behavior even suicide. Finally, the worse risk of all in my opinion is Sexting. Sexting is basically sending or receiving explicit content or media from peers. According to The Clinical Report, 20% of teens have sent or posted explicit content of themselves. Sexting can cause emotional distress. It can almost become a serious as rape.
The way that these risks can be avoided is by educating parents about the threats of social media. Also, from to educate themselves about these risks so they do not make their own mistakes. Parents should keep a close supervision on their children’s use of social media that way they can not only educate them but also discipline their child.
The next article, How Facebook Is Changing the Way Its Users Consume Journalism by Ravi Somaiya talks about how Facebook is now becoming the new news source. According to this article, one-fifth of the world has an active Facebook account logging on at least monthly. Also, 30% of adults obtain their news threw Facebook. I agree with these estimates because this generation is now relying on Facebook for accurate and up-to-date news. Although, Google News, Yahoo News and Twitter are solid media news sources, Facebook has exponentially skyrocketed. Facebook is slowly becoming the new face of Journalism.
Digital and Social Media can have both a positive and negative impact on a person’s life. in order for people to not be falsely influenced, they must guide,be guided or self-guide themselves in the right direction. Media is strongly influencing the world and it is only a start to a digital phenomenon.
