The Effect of Social Network Sites on Adolescents’ Social and Academic Development - Current Theories and Controversies

Name:Lenstance Lee KuanYan

Student ID:201520020

The effect of social network sites on                                                                                  adolescents’ social and academic development:                                                                        current theories and controversies.

Date of submission:28 May 2015

Based on the research on social networkl sites(SNS),most of the youth nowadays had been used to it to use social media as a part of their life and this fact has frightened their parents and educators.Social network sites tend to bring connections from different career fields to study the relationship between social network sites and social capital,lack of interruptions,psychological well-being,educational achievements and youth welfare.

Media effects scholars did a research to examine the aftermath that will arise explicitly when people use new technologies.Numerous studies show that the media tool neither improves nor negatively affects learning when compared to the similar teaching strategy in the classroom.In the end,a person without taking into account the communications behaviours within the system will not be able to find effects of the latest technology.

Furthermore, Youtube,considered as a SNS shows that users deal with issues concerning public and private sharing of video and some Youtube users post videos for wide audiences.Apart from this,SNS develops identity and credence with others as well.SNS also influence the social practices of youth within those online communities.Adolescents use technologies like SNS to mediate their relationships with lassie,friends,and wider groups of peers.

 However,there are several issues surrounding SNS effects and youth.For example,the anxiety of parents and educators about how youth spend their time on SNS,costly requirements of these technologies,presence of having internet access through friends or family and mobile devices and Internet access away from adult supervision.

    The technologically mediated activities that youth participate in are similar to past generations and SNS had represented a new environment through which to examine  adolescent development and learning. In addition, gender appears as a significant predictor, with females being 1.6 times more likely to use SNS than males and both gender youth might use SNS in different ways. Nevertheless, research proved that African-American youth were more likely to use SNS compared to their white peers and traditional divide indicators such as having Internet access at home were counterintuitive which suggest that youth will find different ways to connect to SNS despite socioeconomic status.Some research on SNS proved that these online communities help individuals build social capital but most of the teenagers were less likely to experience unwanted sexual solicitations or harassment in SNS, while some teenagers were more likely to experience dangers in instant messaging and chat room environments.Furthermore, SNS enables youth to participate in communities that help them to learn, and practice skills within particular knowledge areas.SNS also help  students in and outside life of the school.