Jenna Palermo Christofferson. (2016). How is Social Networking Sites Effecting Teen ’s Social and Emotional Development: A Systemic Review.

From Digital Culture & Society

Jenna Palermo Christofferson. (2016). How is Social Networking Sites Effecting Teen ’s Social and Emotional Development: A Systemic Review.

Social media is now so ubiquitous that it’s hard to remember a time when it didn’t exist. Social media use has been increasing given the simple fact that access to different types of media is more widespread. Children and teenagers are just as likely to use different platforms of media as adults, but the effects may be very different. The biggest difference between how media use affects children and teenagers versus how it effect adults is largely tied to development. During the earliest developmental level, teenagers and children from the attitudes and mores, or values that will shape their lives and growth. Those values and morals are tied to how much children view certain types of media. So, the impact of media use on children and teens is a question of how much exposure they have and to what type of media productions. Media offer entertainment, culture, news, sports, and education. They are an important part of our lives and have much to teach. But some of what they teach may not be what we want children to learn. In short, media can be defined as a means of communication. So, media is anything from two cans tied together with no distance, background, culture and time limit. In other words, social media has the power to make people feel more connected and feel less alone. The types of media used today are television, the internet, newspapers, smartphones, radio, magazines, games, and computers of all types. However, The studies gathered concluded that there are both risks and benefits to teenager’s social and emotional development when it comes to the use of social media.

Instagram, which now has 700 million monthly users, was founded in 2010. Twitter, home to 328 million users, only started in 2006. Even Facebook – the elder statesman, with two billion active users – is less than 15 years old, having been set up in 2004. What has changed? The current tool of children and teenagers communication go by a peculiar set of names, such as Wall Posts, Status Updates, Activity Feeds, Thumbs Ups, heart, Profiles are just some of the ways that youth today communicate with one another.

Social Media outlets are a force to be reckoned with. Social media has permeated the American lifestyle, and virtually no teen is immune (Boyd, 2015) Five aspects of the use of social media: 1. not many restrictions on creatively expressing oneself, 2. easy way to share information 3. informal support of other’s work, 4. general understanding and respect of other people’s forms of expression, 5. an alternative way of socializing.

The benefit From SNS use (Social networking sites):

From a developmental perspective, children and adolescents try to establish their identity and self-esteem in their relations with friends. Boyd (2008) concludes that their socialization is the major benefit of these sites and their continued use of social media. Furthermore, peer relationships are a social context influencing teenagers’ achievement of developmental tasks such as learning to get along with friends of both sexes, accepting ones’ physical body and keeping it healthy, becoming more self sufficient, as well as the ability to access health information, growth of ideas from the creation of blogs, videos, products and gaming, expansion of one’s online connection through shared interest to include others from more diverse backgrounds, acquiring individual identity and unique social skills, and becoming socially responsible.

The risk from SNS use (Social networking sites):

However, the objectives of this study are also to explore the harmful effects of media on children's mental and physical health. Some of the risks stated by Ahn (2011) include being exposed to cyberbullying, sexting and Facebook depression. Cyberbullying is defined as the deliberate use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages or comment on the post. Sexting is defined as the act of sending the sexually explicit photo or messages via social network platform. Facebook depression being deemed a new phenomenon, a depression that develops when teens spend too much time on social media sites and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression. Once ‘SNS depression’ has set in, the teen may become more at risk for social isolation and turn to risky internet sites and that may promote substance abuse, unsafe sexual practices or aggressive or self-destructive behaviors.

This study offers a systematic review of research surrounding the effects of SNS on youth’s social and emotional development. Contrary to the two studies that mention benefits from social media, the risks of SNS on the emotional development of teens, which cyberbullying and sexting are the top two emotional risk to teens. The author uses survey, methodology, data analysis and results to support all his points, which shows reasonable and trustful. The weakness of this report, Palermo didn’t throw out the point of how partners can protect and safely use social media.