Teenager’s Obsessed with Social Media?

Danah Boyd author of Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites, is a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research and is an Assistant Professor in Media, Culture and Communication at New York University. Boyd’s research focuses on how young teenagers are using social media in their everyday lives and how they profile themselves while using them.

In today’s society if you are not connected to at least one of these social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkin, Instagram and Google+, you simply do not exist, and must be living in a cave. In my Public Relations class, Professor Byers is making all of his students sign up for a Twitter account, because he believes it’s a great and vital way to be informed and know what is going on around the world. Social networking sites have become a necessity in teenagers and young adults lives today. Even older adults and parents are becoming hooked to this new trend. Why is it that these SSN sites are sucking all of us in, and becoming addicted and loyal members of their sites? If I had to guess on the average time that Americans spent on social networking a day would be around an hour to two hours. THAT IS RIDICULOUS! Sadly, I am addicted as well. Every morning I wake up check Instagram then through out the day I will check it, then when I am about to go to bed I will go on Pinterest and Pin different things and lastly check my Instagram again. Actually thinking about how much I am on these sites is somewhat frightening and time consuming.

In the essay Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life, Boyd examines how teenagers are “addicted” to SSN sites. Many teenagers are signing up for all of these different sites because it is the new cool thing to do. Celebrities promote all these different sites and if they are doing it, they are. Boyd found that most teenagers sign up for sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many others just to stay in the loop, connect with their CLOSET friends, promote about what they are doing in their daily lives. For example, post pictures and write posts.  Boyd points out that adults use SSN sites to socialize with strangers. What is frightening is that teenagers are using this form as vital role in keeping in touch with their closet friends, which is limiting the face-to-face interaction with one another. People, including myself at times feel so much more comfortable behind the computer screen then actually talking to that person in real life. Is their sometimes that the majority of people are hiding or creating false personas?  Why do people do this and how do you feel about this new phenomenon?

By early 2006, many considered participation on the key social network site, MySpace, essential to being seen as cool at school.  While not all teens are members of social network sites, these sites developed significant cultural resonance amongst American teens in a short period of time. Although the luster has since faded and teens are not nearly as infatuated with these sites as they once were, they continue to be an important part of teen social life. P.1

I personally found this article to be very interesting but a little outdated. Boyd tended to talk a lot about MySpace and the usage of teenagers using it. I completely disagree with this quote above. I feel more or less teenagers are becoming more and more addicted too social media then ever before. You walk around and see every kid with an IPhone and they’re either on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. I can’t even think of one of my friends who don’t at least have one of these applications. I mean my 9-year-old cousin has a Facebook! Which is bad I know, but my point is, SSN sites are not ever going to disappearing. It is a way for people to communicate and keep in touch with friends and people around the world.

Today the newest SSN site would have to be Instagram or Facebook. My finally thoughts are that teenagers, adults and myself need to stop finding the Internet and social medias as an escape. We need to go out and reconnect and stay in touch the old way. Our environment is changing and we cannot let technology take over.

XOXO

Jordi!