The Effect of Social Media on the Physical, Social Emotional, and Cognitive Development of Adolescents

This paper explores the possible problems that the usage of social media can have on the physical, social emotional, and cognitive development of adolescents. Adolescence is such a crucial and vulnerable stage in development, where teenagers begin to form their own identity and create meaningful relationships, but social media can have a profound effect on areas of their development. Social media offers new opportunities and challenges for adolescents more today as a generation than ever before. Issues regarding body image, academic achievement, and self-esteem and the connection to social media usage is reported. The issue of cyberbullying and its connection to social media is examined, and the importance of empowering adolescents who have been victimized through bullying is discussed. The paper presents a variety of social networking sites that put adolescents and their information in danger, and it concludes with possible recommendations that parents may utilize in order to be able to talk to their adolescents about social media usage and the possible detriments that can occur. THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON Bryant 3 Context In today’s society, media is connected to almost everything that humans interact with. It can be used in education, finance, entertainment, and for social interactions. Almost every week there is something new being discussed in the field of technological study field regarding media. Whether it is a new app, a new phone, or even a new song, media can have profound influences on people’s attitudes and beliefs. One might argue that given the prominent role that technology plays in the 21st century, it is important to consider its effects on human development. Technology gave birth to social media, which has been on the rise since its creation. Adolescents have become attached to smartphones in recent years, which can act as a gateway to social media and its many features. If that is the case, then precautions need to be taken and attention needs to be paid to social media and its use in order to understand the possible detriment that may occur to an adolescent’s development. The issue that can occur with the use of social media is that children can possibly start an account earlier than what the social networking site requires by just changing their birthday. Garber (2014) states that most social media sites, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat require that the users are 13 years old or older. Youtube requires that the account holders are 18 years old or older, but they also allow children as young as 13 to join as long as they have their parent’s permission. The problem here is that there is a growing number of children signing up for social media at a younger age than what the sites require, with or without their parents knowing (Garber, 2014). It is important to emphasize the possible harm that may occur through the use of social media and if a child is using it at an age that is not even close to being appropriate, then that can be especially harmful. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON Bryant 4 Act (COPPA) is a law that was passed in 1998 that protects every child under the age of 13 from having their personal information collected, and the operators of the websites and online services must provide notice and permission from parents if it was going to occur (Garber, 2014). This law can only protect children under 13, so if a child lies about their age on social media, then there is nothing that COPPA can protect. This can cause numerous ethical issues. Private information of the child is more vulnerable, research studies can be disrupted, and the companies themselves can be liable if anything serious occurs. Adolescence is the next step in the lifespan and that is when children will be able to think and reason more logically, which can avoid situations like this, but until then it is the parent’s responsibility to monitor their children and assist them in understanding why they should not lie about their age on social media. Adolescents are starting to figure themselves out and trying to explore their environment to form an identity. They are also undergoing major changes physically, cognitively, and socially. Media can influence some of these features of development since it changes the way people communicate and allows them to be connected at all times of day. As practitioners in the field of Psychology and Education, we need to make sure that the decisions we are making, in connection with media, are developmentally appropriate for adolescents. These developmentally appropriate decisions should take into account all of the developmental domains. If they do, then there needs to be a reexamination, so that a child may develop successfully in all aspects of their life. Media Media is such a broad concept and encompasses so many instruments that we use in society, but the most prevalent would have to be computers and personal devices, such as THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON Bryant 5 smartphones. The concepts for the computer began around 1801 in France, where Joseph Marie Jacquard invented a loom that uses punched wooden cards to automatically weave fabric designs. Almost every year there was new advancement in computers all the way until present day. Of course, today we have a lot more than just computers. Smartphones can do almost anything that a computer can do, if not more. They have more processing and computing power than any of the early models of computers even had available (Zimmermann, 2017). Personal devices, such as smartphones, allow society to compute on the go, but it also provides a source of communication. The communication features would lead to the birth of social media. With the introduction of technology in society, social media and its use has been on a rise since its creation. Lenhart (2015) reports that 92% of adolescents report going on social media daily, while 24% of that statistic go online “almost constantly”. Only 12% of teenagers between 13 to 17 report that they have no type of cell phone. According to Lenhart (2105) the most popular social media platform for adolescents would be Facebook, followed by Instagram, and then Snapchat. Arguably, the popularity of these platforms have changed since these data were initially gathered. Among these teens about 71% use more than one social media site. Lenhart (2015) found that boys and older adolescents are more likely to report that they visit Facebook more often than the other social media platforms. Family income leads to an association among social media sites as well. For example, teenagers from more affluent families use Snapchat more, while teenagers from lower income families report using Facebook more. Social Media has become an enormous part of an adolescent’s everyday life and it is an astonishing development in society, but there can also be negative consequences that can impact development among adolescents in society. THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON Bryant 6 Adolescent Development and Technology Computer use, social media, and adolescence seem to be intertwined these days. It is rare to see a teenager without a smartphone or a social media account. Social media offers adolescents new opportunities and challenges that were not there before. Most of the time, parents will have to ask their children for help with a new phone or creating a social media account. This is due to the fact that adolescents have grown up with technology and the technology is new to the parents. The children are digital natives, while the parents are digital immigrants (Prensky, 2001). Adolescents have grown up during the age of technology, while older adults have adopted many of the aspects of new technology within their life, and they had to learn to adapt to their new environment. A new challenge that has occurred would be the “language barrier” between the two populations. This can make it difficult for parents to know what is okay and what is not in terms of media use and technology. It is important for researchers and practitioners to stay up to date on all of the advantages and disadvantages of media use and technology, so that parents are able to understand the short term and long term effects. With the incorporation of technology in almost anything within society, it seems that the ‘digital immigrants’ are adapting, but they really do not have a choice (Prensky, 2001). Technology will be on the rise for a long time and people will have to keep adapting. Media use in adolescence is centered around one common theme; staying connected at all times. Communication has undergone a complete transformation with the advent of social media. People can use social media to stay in touch with friends, make plans, get to know someone, and present themselves to the world. Shapiro & Margolin (2014) found that 73% or more of all adolescents use social media. They also believe this is an underestimate. The idea of social THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON Bryant 7 media seems to be wonderful, but it is the constant use and psychological harm that makes social media use dangerous. On average, 11-18 years olds spend over 11 hours a day exposed to electronic media (Shapiro & Margolin, 2014). Social media can disrupt activities that are supposed to be solitary and even interrupt ongoing face to face personal interactions. For example, homework and studying are often interrupted by social media --potentially impacting the quality of the work the child produces. Adolescence is a time for self-discovery and attempting new social skills, and establishing values and affiliations (Shapiro & Margolin, 2014). Social media can definitely promote these crucial aspects of adolescent development, but it an also expose adolescents to unhealthy aspects as well. Physical Development and Social Media Social media can be used by adolescents to explore topics that interest them or to even seek friendship, through the