Discussion Thread: Course Reflection
Over the past eight weeks, the topic that I focused on was the impact that social media
has on the development of high school students. One of the things that shocked me was that there
were plenty of positive impacts that social media has on their development. The reason that this
shocked me was because many people tend to highlight the negative impacts and it causes
society to ignore the positive impacts that exist. For example, I learned that some high school
students use their social media platforms to tutor one another on difficult academic topics. In
addition, they use their platform as a healthy outlet when they need to express themselves. It is
important to have an outlet to express yourself because it can help to release any frustration
and/or anger that may exist when it comes to certain situations.
There were some challenges that I experienced while drafting this assignment. While
conducting my research, I found that I was difficult for me to find resources that were related to
high school students specifically. I noticed that a lot of the research mentioned all students in
general. There were a few articles that I was able to locate, but there were not many. The most
difficult part of the writing process is having to make sure that my text did not exceed the word
count limit. My effort toward ensuring this did not happen shocked me. The reason is because I
set limits on the maximum number of words for each section of the paper. I saw a lot of personal
growth while working on this assignment because this was one of the first assignments where I
did not procrastinate. Although I was disappointed in the grade that I received, I am happy with
the finished product that I submitted.
While writing my assignment, I referenced some thoughts from theorist Abraham
Maslow. He created the hierarchy of needs, which is a tool meant to provide a reason behind
why people are motivated. He used this same pyramid of needs in order to emphasize the
importance of fulfilling the physiological needs of students before their cognitive development
needs can be met. One thing about this theory that confuses me still is that each student may
have different needs that can impact their cognitive development. Therefore, I would ask
Abraham Maslow why he chose not to embrace differences in the needs of students when
creating his hierarchy of needs (Koltko-Rivera, 2006).
After submitting my final course project assignment, my research and work led me to
some best practices. One best practice is that parents should monitor the social media use of their
children. This is important because you want to be aware of the people that they engage with,
things that the post, and any other information that can be gathered about their actions on the
applications. Another best practice is that schools should enforce a policy where students are not
allowed to bring their phones into the classrooms. This can become a distraction because
students tend to focus on their phones instead of their lessons. The students should be forced to
leave their phones inside of the school locker. Giving my current understanding of this topic, our
effort might produce the most value by emphasizing the importance of parents establishing a
great connection with their children. Children should feel that they have an open-door policy
with their parents and they should feel comfortable with telling their parents about things that is
going on in their life. This will bring awareness to the many things that children experience
while using social media.
References
Koltko-Rivera, M. E. (2006). Rediscovering the later version of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:
Self-transcendence and opportunities for theory, research, and unification.Review of General
Psychology,10(4), 302-317.8https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.10.4.302
