Social media’s been a major part of everyone’s lives. It is something that a lot of people have been complaining about and making money out of. There have been many events relating to the use of media and violence, intrusion of privacy and committed crimes based over internet beliefs. It is being debated whether social media has been a positive influence on everyone’s lives and whether it should be monitored on a stronger level.

Social media has introduced many people and connected many people to others who share very similar characteristics around the world. It has united people, who, otherwise would have never seen or spoken to each other. There are many medias that a lot of teenagers use today. Many of the medias attempt to hook teenagers by appealing to the idea that they will be the ‘popular’ kid in school. Valerie Barker, a PhD in Communication, addressed this idea on the paper “Older Adolescents’ Motivations for Social Network Site Use: The Influence of Gender, Group Identity, and Collective Self-Esteem” Barker states that there is a huge discrepancy on who uses social media. Gender is a primary factor in that “Boys focus on features and entertainment; girls seem more interested the relational aspects of social media” (Barker). Age is often an indicator of what they might be looking for online. Grouping refers to the shared ideas that teens have over a specific topic, which is also another major factor in the use of the media, if more teens are interested in a certain topic, it is more likely that the group itself will grow and become widespread, possibly influencing others. Lastly, self-esteem is also a major factor involved in the use of medias. For example, Instagram, is a social media based on sharing images with the world about your life. Each media has a general idea of focusing on a user follower base and people liking what they see to incentivize the use of the media platform.

Multiple social medias have implemented features that has helped boost their users’ self-esteem. Instagram has a like and follow feature that makes for a lot of social media icons based on their appearance. YouTube has a system where a person, or group of people can create clip with content, they upload it to the site where millions of people are free to access it and the viewers have the chance to engage with the video by liking it or disliking it as well as ‘subscribing’, which is the same as following. This gives people confidence to be themselves, the approval of the audience gives the person a higher sense of self-esteem which they might be having a hard time with the outside world.

A YouTube video by CBC News where Yalda T. Uhls, a PhD in children’s psychology supports this idea of a higher self-esteem in children. In the video Uhls asks teens how they feel about social media, how often they use it and what they value from it. Many teens answered with the idea of fame in mind. Uhls deduced that the media is essentially just another way to express one’s emotions. The difference between now and then is what emotion is being portrayed, most of it falls under the feeling and need for one’s satisfaction and attention over the sense of community. The video compares old TV series like the Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days to the more modern form of TV entertainment like Hannah Montana. Uhls states that the current number 1 idea being shown is fame. This has resulted in many teens also expressing themselves in unique videos with the hopes of being famous mostly being set on YouTube.

Due to the popularity of YouTube, many people are able to continue on this journey and make a living off of it. Dewey’s article on the Washington Post reiterated the popularity of YouTube their article, “The surprisingly profound reason why teenagers love YouTube celebrities”. They mention that there is a tremendous user-base that it interested in these content creators who have gained so much popularity compared to the celebrities from movies and TV shows. The interest had arisen from the fact that these people making videos were creating content that was “felt” realistic. The viewers felt that they watched something that they could connect to and felt that this person would express their emotions on a larger scale. In the outside of YouTube world, celebrities are accustomed to look appealing to the people and create professionally made content. “Teens today want their celebrities to be open and transparent” (Dewey). The casual style of videos that a lot of YouTubers make appeals to the majority, which is also influencing many people to be themselves, adding a place to raise one’s self esteem, like previously stated.

However, media usage has not always been on its highest point. There has also been the idea of teenagers using the media to look up critical information about their health or about specific decisions to make in their daily lives. Ellen Wartella, a scholar for the effects of media on children’s development states, “A 2010 Pew Research Center report indicated that 31% of youth ages 12-17 report looking up fitness-related information online, a slight increase from 28% in 2006.” Teenagers were relying on the data they find online to diagnose themselves if they feel in a need for an idea on what to do and how to self-diagnose a condition they currently go through. Recently, more teens have been aware of the potential risks of self-diagnosing using the internet. “However, one study among low-income youth indicates that they may be very wary of using social networking sites for health-related questions, due to the lack of anonymity that these sites afford” (Wartella). Despite the economic situation of a lot of the teenagers in the lower end they have been more self-aware of the potential harm that they could be causing themselves. Although it would be helpful to these teens to have some access to healthcare, it is much more dangerous that the teenagers attempt to treat themselves from what they find online especially with the chance that this information is misleading.

On top of that, there has also been a strong negative influence in the idea of what is ‘popular’ and ‘cool’ between teenagers. In the current years, there has been a rise in the use drugs and social media. A lot of teenagers are showcasing the use of drugs by taking videos of themselves smoking, intaking or creating shapes with a substance as a way to look ‘cool’ to others. Many teenagers share their videos on popular media platforms like Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook to show this type of content. If one were to add someone who uses any drug, e-cigarette or a hookah, you are likely to see that these teenagers are generally trying to impress others by their ability to create unique shaped clouds with a song in the background. This type of content sharing on the media is strongly influential to a lot of people new to this type of trend. The ‘cool’ look of doing such things can negatively influence newer generations into trying these types of things. Matt Richtel from The New York Times also reported on this rise in vape through the release of data by the Center for Disease Control. “Sixteen percent are 18 or younger. “More than half of cases are under 25 years of age” This article reported on the increase on the disease count throughout the years reported. The effects of this has cause many teens and young adults to intake this substance and consequently become addicted to it.

Another negative effect of the medias on their users is the side effects of that need to obtain popularity in some form. There was a story posted on Twitter about a K-pop idol who was stalked by a person based on images she posted online. This is on a different level in terms of risks for all people. This causes fear in some users who are internet famous around the world. If a person can trace back your location, this is more than something all people should be worried about on the internet.

There is some behind the scenes things going on between media growth within teens. The popularity of the medias has allowed for a lot of people to ‘monetize’ their content and earn revenue for what they create which is wat allows them to make money off of what they make. This is how a lot of YouTubers make their money for what they make. The ability to create content, use it to possibly help or give a person something to watch or read about comes with a catch. Due to the increase of the popularity in these forms of media, a lot of companies and people are using this to grab the attention of any viewer to click on their content, view it and obtain money from it. Currently, there are many YouTubers creating content solely for the economic benefits. A lot of websites, news and opinionated websites are creating content solely for the economic benefit through the inclusion of ads on their site. It is almost reoccurring, that many sites will ask that you subscribe to them, purchase a book, merchandise, or shop on a related store for something that could interest them on the idea that the creator profits from it.

Many people have attempted to overcome this type of technique for users through the use of ‘Ad-block’. This is an extension on Chrome that allows people to bypass the targeted advertisements in each site. Because of the extension a lot of companies and individuals have been affected by this and have lost money that they otherwise would have earned without the extension. The New York Times article “Use of Ad-Blocking Software Rises by 30% Worldwide”, stated, “Facebook has tried to ban it. Google has attempted to outsmart it.” The rise of Ad-block has created an issue with people that live off of the revenue from advertisements on their sites. It had gotten to a level where Google and Facebook have attempted to combat it by removing it which has not been successful. This has created a more toxic end of media and created a lot of issues between the people and companies. For example, in YouTube, has a couple of channels that create ‘click-bait’ content. This is usually viewed as something with an appealing image or title that convinces someone to click on the video or website to view what that video is about and how it related to the image or title they saw. One example of this type of content is shown below. The content creator has edited an image of something many people are accustomed to and manipulated the image stating that the irregular version of that object is better than the original.

Source: Reddit (r/MidlyInfuriating)

This is a blatant form of manipulation of content to get more attention. In the online world, there have been a lot of articles phrased, concentrated on the idea of popularity and the inclusion of the latest fads.

In the end, the inclusion of social media on the lives of teenagers today has created a lot of risks and benefits. It is clear that there is a strong influence in the lives of teenagers. There are a lot of positive influences that have changed the way that teenagers today are able to live compared to a couple years ago. There have been a lot of negative influences that have also arisen and created different problems for the modern-day teenager however these can be limited and controlled.

Works Cited

@ABC. “Man arrested on suspicion of stalking female pop idol by studying reflections of her pupils in social media photos and using Google Street View to find where she lived.” Twitter, 12 Oct. 2019, 2:59 p.m., https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1183094904668459008.

Anderson, Stuart. “America’s incoherent immigration system.” The Cato Journal, vol. 32, no. 1, 2012, p. 71+. Gale Academic Onefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A282214839/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=38341c7d. Accessed 10 Sept. 2019.

Barker, Valerie. “Older Adolescents’ Motivations for Social Network Site Use: The Influence of Gender, Group Identity, and Collective Self-Esteem” Published 2009. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Valerie_Barker/publication/24144687_Older_Adolescents%27_Motivations_for_Social_Network_Site_Use_The_Influence_of_Gender_Group_Identity_and_Collective_Self-Esteem/links/53e959650cf2fb1b9b670ae1.pdf. Accessed 2 Oct. 2019.

Chao, Dingding, et al. “Social influence of e-cigarette smoking prevalence on smoking behaviours among high-school teenagers: Microsimulation experiments.” PLoS ONE, vol. 14, no. 8, 2019, p. e0221557. Gale Academic Onefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A597815869/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=cbb315bd. Accessed 2 Oct. 2019.

Dewey, Caitlin. “The Surprisingly Profound Reason Why Teenagers Love YouTube Celebrities.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 7 Aug. 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/08/07/the-surprisingly-profound-reason-why-teenagers-love-youtube-celebrities/.

“How social media is affecting teens” YouTube, uploaded by CBC News: The National, 24 February 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QWoP6jJG3k.

Richtel, Matt, and Sheila Kaplan. “Vaping Illnesses Increase to 530 Probable Cases, C.D.C. Says.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Sept. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/health/vaping-cdc.html.

Scott, Mark. “Use of Ad-Blocking Software Rises by 30% Worldwide.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 Feb. 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/technology/ad-blocking-internet.html.

Wartella, Ellen, et al. “Teens, health and technology: a national survey.” Media and Communication, vol. 4, no. 3, 2016, p. 13+. Gale Academic Onefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A459001252/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=5f062ab9. Accessed 2 Oct. 2019.