Research Paper

Impacts of social networks on young generation

1. Introduction

a. Hook: What are the impacts of social media on young children and teenagers?

i. Some online platforms used for interaction in social networks include: Facebook, twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp (O'Keeffe, Schurgin & Kathleen, pg.800).

ii. Social networks can be used to share information or ideas, and get connected to a relative or friend who is difficult to stay in touch with.

iii. However, young generations are misusing social networks, which leads to antisocial behaviour, addiction to social networks and lack of time with relatives or friends

iv. Putting proper strategies and some restrictions on use of social networks can reduce effects on young generations.

b. Thesis statement: The use of different forms of social media is affecting a large percentage of the young generation hence rendering ability to do their work effectively.

2. Body section 1: Continuous innovations of new technology has generally affected younger people through the creation of social online platforms (Isabela, Adam & Rutger 66-70).

a. Some of the problems associated with continuous use of social media by young generations are:

i. Addiction to social media which leads to students forgetting to do their duties and class work hence performing poorly. Addiction is a type of psychological problem. Social media addicts have the following characteristics;

1. Youth addicted to social media have obsessive thoughts about the internet. “The addict is preoccupied with the Internet thinks about previous online activity or anticipates next online session”( Ma, Hing Keung, pg.2187)

2. They spend an overly excessive amount of time on social networks.

3. Addicts have diminished impulse control which is associated to the reduced emotional self-regulation to regulate an individual’s impulses to reach an objective or a goal (Ma, Hing Keung, pg.2189)

4. They show tolerance symptoms which is referred to as “needs to use the Internet with increased amount of time to achieve satisfaction” (Ma, Hing Keung, pg.2190)

5. Internet addicts tend to have less romantic and friendship relationships and instead live lonely lives. This is because they believes social media is the only thing can satisfy their needs.

6. They spend less time with their family members and their parents and usually have tension when they are with them.

7. Thy have low academic performances, increased risks to diseases, and show withdrawal symptoms (Ma, Hing Keung, pg.2190).

ii. Psychological problems such as depression are created if there is network failure or cyber bulling by others on social media. Cyber bullying creates physiological problems such as depression of the person being bullied as well as low self-esteem.

a. Cyber bullying leads to withdrawals by the victim from the family members (O'Keeffe, Schurgin & Kathleen, and pg.801).

b. Victims do their best to alter their appearance in the hopes of fitting into society.

c. It also causes people to change their personalities for the worse. They often become angry or sad.

iii. Social media also causes antisocial behaviour because young generations have little time to interact with their peers or relatives. Instead, they spend most of their time on the social media.

a. Anti-social behaviour is defined as “patterns of behaviour where a person disregards the feelings of others.” Social media encourages the use of violence among the youth because of the types of videos that are watched and shared.

b. It encourages withdrawal from the society by youth spending their time commenting on their pee problems instead of doing something important.

iv. Moral degradation because of watching harmful videos or other graphical scenes on social media since there are little regulations on online video content.

3. Body section 2: Use of social networks can have a lot of benefits if properly used.

i. Sharing information from different areas of the world as it occurs instantly.

a. Social media networks such as Facebook and WhatsApp have enabled people from different geographical areas to quickly share information. The information can be of various formats such as written text, videos, photos, or audio files.

b. The media platforms have enabled fast and reliable exchange of information between various youth users. “Information exchange through social media can be reliable”.

c. It has enabled strangers to get to know each other effectively since they can use various additional features of the social media to communicate.

ii. Exchange of business ideas leading to entrepreneurship skills through globalization. A youth from the USA can share his or her business ideas to the others from China, thus implementing their ideas individually or as a partnership.

iii. Advertisement of products or businesses hence securing market opportunities by online advertising (Skaar, Håvard,pg.240) Youths can start their own organizations and then can market their products or services.

1. The benefits of online marketing and advertisements are many. Of them is that it is easy to reach a wide customer target. Almost every youth uses social media on their daily operations and therefore it will help them reach their primary target customers.

2. Online advertising enables interactions between the organizations and the customers (Skaar, Håvard, pg.240). This is because customers can provide feedback to the firm on their services and products who then respond directly to them or implement the opinions raised.

3. Businesses that uses social media marketing have no worries about the opening and closing hours. This is because they can conduct business operations at any time and work to ensure they satisfy the need and wants of the customers.

4. “It is less costly to run and market a business through online platforms” such as Facebook. Therefore youth can utilize this opportunities to be entrepreneurs even if they do not have sufficient starting capital.

iv. Tracing a lost friend or relative through tracing applications and software.

A. GPS can be used in tracking electronic devices when lost. When a person gets lost, the GPS of his or her device such as iPhone will be used to tack his location and the whereabouts.

B. TiSPY is an application that parents can use to track their children and when lost it will provide information about their location

4. Body section 3: Every problem related to effects of social media use in youth can be solved. Problems which are linked to social networks can be minimised or addressed to save future generation (Acquisti, Alessandro, and Ralph Gross pg.2).

a. If people pull their efforts together, issues will be handled easier.

i. Collaboration from private and governmental organisation from the whole world to help fight the menace.

a. They have to work together to educate the youth and world at large on ways of using social media and the internet correctly to avoid problems of addiction (Acquisti, Alessandro, and Ralph Gross, pg.4). This can be achieved through public awareness and conducting educational seminars in the all over the world.

b. Youths must be educated on the importance of having connections to the real world. Having connections to the world means the youth can create friendships with people surrounding them.

c. The government can work with stakeholders to help introduce a law that will limit usage of social media, but would be in accordance with provisions of the constitution of freedom of speech and information sharing.

ii. Involving parents, friends, relatives and the affected group so that opinion is gathered from different people (Acquisti, Alessandro, and Ralph Gross, pg.6). This helps to ensures all stakeholders have been included in the making of effective decisions.

1) Parents can give their experiences on how social media has negatively affected their children.

2) Each parent who has a child that has been influenced negatively will give opinions and alternatives to social media.

iii. Any other interested party can also be involved such as religious leaders or well-wishers. This is because they form part of the essential stakeholder hence application of consultative and participative management system.

b. Strategies and restrictions which can be incorporated to reduce moral degradation of young generation need to be well analysed (Isabela, Adam & Rutger pg. 67).

i. Allowing young children to use social networks for learning purposes and gathering information related to their class work is beneficial. This is achieved through the following ways;

1) Education and open communication. Parents can educate their children on advantages and disadvantages o social media. They can ask their children which types of social media they may want to use. Kids are then taught how to avoid strangers and should be encouraged to come for parental guidance when need arises (Spiteri Cornish& Lara, pg.440).

2) Children are advised on being safe first. This helps to avoid cyber stalking called “catfishing” where a user sets up a fake profile and uses it for abusive purposes. (Spiteri Cornish, Lara, pg.441).

ii. There needs to be huge restrictions before usage. Having heavy restrictions on access of some information in social networks is essential.

iii. Modern technology that traces information and websites accessed plays a significant role. Incorporating new technology which detects when a young child is accessing harmful videos or graphics (Isabela, Adam & Rutger pg. 70).

5. Conclusion

a. Young generations are being affected by use of social networks hence lack of proper exercise of their duties.

b. Introductions of new technology such as different ways of using internet has contributed to easy access of social networks by young people.

c. Addiction to social networks is highly linked to antisocial behaviour and lack of time to spent with friends and relatives. These anti-social behaviours include; having obsessive attitudes internet and excessive use or the internet.

d. Strategies and restrictions can be put in place to minimise impacts of social networks. These strategies involve having collaborative measures between the government and the private organizations as well as involving parents and all other stakeholders within the system in coming up with effective measures.

Work Cited

Acquisti, Alessandro, and Ralph Gross. "Imagined communities: Awareness, information sharing, and privacy on the Facebook." International workshop on privacy enhancing technologies. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2006.

Isabela Granic, Adam Lobel, and Rutger C. M. E. The Benefits of Playing Video Games. Engels Radboud University Nijmegen .2014: (66-70)

Ma, Hing Keung. "Internet addiction and antisocial internet behavior of adolescents." The Scientific World Journal 11 (2011): 2187-2196.

O'Keeffe, Gwenn Schurgin, and Kathleen Clarke-Pearson. "The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families." Pediatrics 127.4 (2011): 800-804.

Skaar, Håvard. "Branded selves: How children in Norway relate to marketing on a social network site." Journal of children and media 3.3 (2009): 249-267.

Spiteri Cornish, Lara. "‘Mum, can I play on the internet?’ Parents’ understanding, perception and responses to online advertising designed for children." International Journal of Advertising 33.3 (2014): 437-473.