Teens and Social Media

 

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Being new to the world of middle school teaching it was important to me to dig into what influence social media has on todays’ teens.  To try and understand the effects of social media and reasons it is so widely used, I read a few articles.  In the articles I read, there were things that both surprised me and gave me hope.

In both Lucy Handley’s article and Taylor Fang’s article the fact that many teens keep their accounts on private and are only friends with people they know was comforting to me.  In our digital citizenship lessons, we put such an emphasis on internet safety and not giving out personal information online.  I hope that like the teens interviewed, my students are being cautious with who they share their information with online.

I was also surprised to learn that a lot of teens, after the initial excitement of posting, have let posting to sites like instagram fall to the wayside.  They are still communicating via Snapchat or WhatsApp, but aren’t posting in order to get likes.  Taylor Fang, a senior in high school, said,

Yet by high school, this cycle of presenting polished versions of myself grew tiring. I was tired of feeling like I was missing out. I was tired of adhering to hypervisible social codes and tokens. By 10th grade, I was using social media only sporadically. Many of my friends were going through the same shifts and changes in their ideas about social media.

I can relate to this sentiment.  I am currently in a period where I am taking a break from social media.  As a new mom, it gave me too much anxiety to have so many people giving input on my daughter's life.  It was comforting to read that teens are coming to the same conclusion.  I worry about the kids who are not able to step away and are feeling pressures of social media however.

Fiza Pirani’s article What is a ‘Finsta’. Highlights that teens are aware that the images and personas they are putting out on their instagram are not realistic portrayals of their lives. Teens are even creating fake accounts to be more real with their friends.  The trouble with these fake accounts is this is where a lot of the online bullying is taking place.

The biggest conclusion I can draw from these articles is that I will continue to instill the values of integrity and compassion in my students and hope that spills over to their online habits.  I am also clinging to the hope that social media will burn out by the time my daughter is at the age my students currently are.