Recently an article was written by Samantha Taylor about teenagers using social media and texting to contact and connect with each other. The article portrays an teenagers using social media as being anti-social. I feel humiliated and very offended and I’m sure other teenagers that viewed your article would feel the same. The article will have an influence on how people look at teenagers.
Yes, there are some negative points about using social media that can be addressed in the article informing teenagers on how to stay safe whilst using it, however, at the same time there are a many positive points about using social media.
To begin with, Jonathan Franzen mentions that teenagers have become a generation that can’t relate face-to-face. With little evidence, Franzen is unable to accurately blame social media for this. As Franzen refers to us as a ‘Generation that can’t relate face-to-face’ he is giving others an impression that he finds teenagers a disgrace as we are changing the generation into an anti-social society. This is unacceptable language to use to describe teenagers. As technology improves giving us easier ways to communicate, we adapt to the technology that we are born into. As technology is forever improving so we will keep adapting to it. This article is quite bias as not every teenagers does and is what is mentioned in it. This gives Franzen no right to talk about the ‘future generation’ as all we are doing is adapting to new technology.
In fact, social media makes it easier for people to socialize with others, (i.e. friends and family) without having to be face to face with them. This is a good thing as they’re able to speak to other people without having to be in same place. Another reason why social media has made a beneficial impact on us, is that we are able to speak to new people that we may have not been able to talk to in person, and if all goes well, manage to meet them whilst following safety terms.
Additionally, the second point that I picked up from the article was when, Samantha mentions an interview on TV with American comedian Louis CK. He mentions that he wouldn’t give his daughters mobile phones for fear they wouldn’t develop empathy. But this is wrong. Very wrong. Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Skype allows us to communicate through the internet. Youtube is a social network where people can post and watch videos then gather feedback from people from all around the world. This gives different emotions whether the feedback is good or not. Skype is a good example of how empathy can be linked with social networks. As you are able to video call, this is equivalent to seeing someone face-to-face.
Facebook also can be used as a “noticeboard”. For school, teachers can create a group in Facebook and add the students into it and post a reminder message for students in the group. With this, students will be reminded when is their upcoming test and study for it and will not miss on any important things because the teacher can pass the message through Facebook and even if the students were absent, he or she will get to know. A teacher could also share and recommend a hyper-link of a web page with the students that may help them to revise. So this isn’t just beneficial with socializing, it is also beneficial for education.
Furthermore, there are undoubtedly disadvantages too such as; One of the most important of these is the intrusion into the lives of others. Some teenagers are obsessed with social networks.Teenagers who are obsessed to social networks often go online with their phone almost every hour to have their status updated. Some of them even do that during lesson and will affect their studies. But these problems can easily be resolved with help from their parents. For example, their parents taking control of how long they use their social networks.
There are advantages and disadvantages connected with social networks. With the help of parents guidance, social network will be better and safer for teenagers.
Aatif Muhammad
A student at London Nautical School
Recent Comments