Advantages and Disadvantages of Teenagers Use of Social Media                   Table of Contents Introduction. 3 Theoretical Basis. 3 Social Media Engagement Theory. 3 Application of Theoretical Concepts. 5 Social Interactions. 5 Technical Features. 6 Positive Arguments for Teenage Use of Social Media. 8 Socialization. 8 Consultation. 9 Skill and Talent Development 9 Negative Arguments for Teenage Use of Social Media 600. 10 Cyberbullying. 10 Disconnect with ‘The Real World’ 10 Sexual Texting (Sexting) 11 Deprived Educational Performance. 11 Conclusion. 12 List of References. 13    

Introduction

In as much as social networking sites have connected at least one-third of the global population, Livingstone (2008, pp. 393-411) identifies that, modern teenagers have become profuse users of social media. This is realized from the increasing rate in which teens spend uncountable hours on social media platforms to exchange feelings, ideas, personal information, videos as well as pictures. Irrespective of social networking sites favorable or unfavorable nature, their use amongst modern teenagers continues to grow on a daily basis. O'Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson (2011, pp. 800-804) posit that, the impact of embedded risks and benefits of social media have majorly targeted the teenagers due to their consumption of the ideal product without proper knowledge of its consequences. Resultantly, numerous controversies and questions have emerged from researchers and scholars regarding the impact of social media to the development of teenagers in the modern society (Van Der Velden and El Emam, 2013, pp. 16-24). It is for this reason that this study intends to critically investigate available literatures regarding the advantage and disadvantages of social media use amongst teenagers. However, a theoretical basis will be formed alongside a hypothesis relating the provided theory as well as the practical usage of social media amongst modern teens.

Theoretical Basis

Social Media Engagement Theory

The inception of the Social Media Engagement (SME) theory was focused on the interaction between a social media user and the service provider (Di Gangi and Wasko, 2016, pp. 53-73). Nonetheless, the theory has been further extended to concentrate on the social interactions amongst users supported by a mutual social networking platform such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, among others (Barker, 2009, pp. 209-213). The SME theory first of all features on the role of technology in social media use as it is identified as the underlying requirement that facilitates interactions among social media users. Advancement in social networking technologies has provided a new user experience in unique ways of connectivity that were never thought possible before, as posited by Ahn (2011, pp. 147-163). User experience from the SME theory is further subdivided into two: the derived experience from the technical features within the social networking site and the experience derived from the users’ interactions. According to Madden, et al. (2013, pp. 2-86) the social interactions amongst social media users are the base for evaluation and guidance to whether a user should be intensely involved in the exploitation of social networking activities or not. Technical features on the other hand have been defined as the prospective capabilities of technologies used. In details, technical features encompass the: flexibility to use provided features for several purposes; extent to which a user can interact and retrieve information; ability to integrate content; and the ability of features to evolve in order to meet the specified users’ needs and expectations. Ideally, the Social Media Engagement theory has been centralized on the concept that, a greater usage of modern social networking sites is retrieved from higher user engagement. Usage is closely determined by the technical features a social media platform provides to its users. Relatively, the definition of usage is referred to as the frequency a user is able to contribute, retrieve or explore content within the social networking site (Di Gangi and Wasko, 2016, pp. 53-73).

Application of Theoretical Concepts

  Figure 1: Social Media User Engagement Model Source: (Di Gangi and Wasko, 2016, pp. 53-73)

Social Interactions

As illustrated in the figure 1 above, user experience evolves from the social interactions and technical features provided by a social media service provider. In terms of personalization, Schiano, et al. (2002, pp. 594-595) identify that social media users normally define their social identifies based on their preferences based on their focused attention towards their topics of interest. For instance, most teens will use Facebook as a media platform for sharing information via Messenger and post videos and photos of themselves and acquaintances on their timelines (Valenzuela, Park, and Kee, 2009, pp. 875-901). Secondly, the aspect of access to social resources refers to the ability of a user to easily gain access to information and other users through a social media platform. For instance, most teenagers use YouTube as a social platform to access information on Do It Yourself (DIY) tutorials. This information can be shared further to their peers on other platforms like Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, among others through links. This therefore introduces the third aspect which is access to critical mass which refers to the perceived access teenagers are granted to interact with a larger population of social acquaintances who are of different age-groups. Resultantly, this exposes them to potential risks such as cyberbullying. According to Eastin (2005, pp. 62-75) most teenagers do not assess the perceived risks they are likely to encountered when exposed to social media platforms. Lastly, the aspect of transparency relates on the degree information can be balanced amongst users of the social media platform. Through transparency, teenagers find social networking sites as a trusted community where their participation is neutralized through the allowance to disclose acceptable information to their friends.

Technical Features

The aspect of completeness among all age groups is defined by Di Gangi and Wasko (2016, pp. 53-73) as the ability of a social media site providing its users with the ability to access information that suits their individual needs due to their demand for content gratification. User engagement amongst teens has been elevated due to the fact that their demand for connectivity with both known and anonymous friends is provided. One of the technical features that most teenagers are sensitive while choosing what social media to actively participate in is based on the aspect of flexibility (Madden, et al., 2013, pp. 2-86). Lee (2009, pp. 509-531) contrariwise poses the impression that social media platforms should have limitations that restrict usage of certain technical features by teenagers in order to evade occurrence of cyberbullying and moral deprivation. However, O'Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson (2011, pp. 800-804) further argue that social media platforms invest on making their sites flexible across all age group in order increase user engagement rates. As a result of development in modern technologies, it is realized that most social media platforms have transformed their interfaces to suit the contemporary needs and expectations of their users. It is through the evolving nature of technical features that increases user engagements (Duggan, et al., 2012, pp. 1-9). Taking Facebook as an example, the update on its user interface encourages users to express different emotions on photos, statuses or videos uploaded on their friends’ timelines through emoji’s, as well as like, sad, surprised, happy, angry and love buttons. The aspect of integration in relation to technical features, relates on the degree to which users can intermix content on the social media platform (Barker, 2009, pp. 209-213). For instance, teenagers can not only share information but also wish their friends birthday wishes and schedule for upcoming events on the Facebook site (Valenzuela, Park, and Kee, 2009, pp. 875-901). Both social interactions and technical features contribute equally to a teenager’s social media engagement through building an individual involvement in a particular social networking site which also creates a personal meaning to the user (Eastin, 2005, pp. 62-75). For instance, most teenagers use Instagram as a social media platform to display photos of themselves while using FaceTime and WhatsApp as their major communication and information sharing platforms. Madden, et al. (2013, pp. 2-86) further identify age, gender, habit, expertise and tenure as the five major control variables that determines an individual’s frequency of using a social media platform. With regard to the applications identified previously, the major control variable used was age that pins down to teenagers.

Positive Arguments for Teenage Use of Social Media

Socialization

            In accordance to the assumptions of Wiederhold and Riva (2012, p. 212) it is believed that modern teens use social media as a way of nurturing personal development. For instance, teenagers may use sites like Twitter in order to look up to what their role models are communicating. Nonetheless, through social media, teenagers are granted the freedom they need without supervision from their paren...