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Brandon Paul
ENGL 1102
Adam Padgett
April/10
th
/2014
Research Paper
People always seem to look at the positives more than the negatives of a situation. I
believe that People should focus on the negatives instead. When it comes to social media many
positives are associated with it. Social media can provide jobs, help people stay connected, and
even meet new people. When we look at the negative side it can make people lose jobs, lose
social skill, disease, and even death. Based on how serious these negatives are, we look at the
source. I believe that the children are the reason these negatives are being so brutal when
associated with social media. They are being exposed to social media to early and this is
affecting them in a negative way. I believe that social media has a great negative affect on
children through many different ways, some being life threatening, and some that are not.
One negative effect associated with social media and children would have to be
cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a major issue because if not dealt with, this issue could lead to
death. Young children all over the country are being affected by social media as we speak. In an
interesting article Sharron Wittke wrote about a twelve-year old girl named Rebecca Ann
Sedwick. Rebecca committed suicide when she was just twelve due to cyberbullying. (Wittke) I
believe that the parents should be a part of preventing the bullying. One option might be to keep
a closer eye on what their child does on the internet, and also should be more protective with
them. I couldnt imagine losing a brother or sister because some kid is virtually harassing them
online. One simple solution is to block the cite. A child that is twelve and on the internet is a
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very risky factor and many take advantage of this. Cyberbullies are usually unaware of the
severity of the damage they are causing for the one being bullied. (Wittke) Cyberbullying is
directly associated with social media because that is where the bullying takes place. I personally
have had an experience with cyberbullying. My friend at the time took my phone and posted an
inappropriate picture on my Instagram. Unaware I didnt find out until finally someone came up
to me in school. It was a gay picture and people instantly had their views of me. I had to dig
myself out of a pretty deep hole but I can say that cyberbullying is no joke.
Another negative effect of social media would be advertising. People may think that this
isnt a negative affect because it makes money. What they didnt think about was there little kid
getting on Facebook and seeing alcohol all over the website. Personally using these social media
cites, Ive notice all of the beer advertisements and in the corner theres a local singles link. Im
sure that a curious child trying to find himself might click on the local singles page, and end up
somewhere thats hes not supposed to be. Winpenny wrote about a study that was conducted
that aimed at young exposure to alcohol marketing and social media. This study proves to show
the issue at hand which is children being exposed to harmful information found on the internet.
The study showed that this was an area that needed more monitoring in order to keep our
children safe. (Winpenny) Young children on the internet shouldnt be exposed to this harmful
content. I again think, that parents should step in and better monitor their children while they are
on the internet.
Along with advertising, social media has a negative effect on children because of sexting.
Sexting is a major issue associated with social media and children. The fear about social
network cites carriers over into the panic about sexting, since some prosecutors and media
commentators argue that the most sexting images will eventually be widely distributed and will
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attract online predators.(Hasinoff) This branches off into another issue of predators. Children
posting provocative photos on the web for people to see can attract a wide variety of predators.
Children need to be better educated about these online dangers and predators. Sexting is a major
issue where children are on the web chatting to whoever the name and picture says. Kids could
have no clue who they are really talking to because the picture and name make them appear as if
they were a real person. What kids need to know is that could be a creepy old man that was
trying to meet up with you. I believe that parents should monitor who their children are talking to
on the internet.
The web poses many dangerous threats for children and it is important for these dangers
to be averted. I remember in middle school when picture messages started to become a big thing.
My friend received a sexual photo from a girl he was talking too. Within a week the photo then
spread throughout the school and they both got into a lot of trouble. This just goes to show how
fast a photo can get around, and who can see them. Children need to be careful when using social
media and chatting because they might not know who or what is out there.
Disease is another major effect that children face when they are dealing with social
media. Children today tend to spend their leisure time on television, computers or video games
rather than playing or indulging in other physical activities.(Vivek, Dhanasekaran) People
spend too much time on the internet as it is but when children are exposed to the internet for long
periods of time, it can pose a problem. Vivek said in her article that the video games and social
media are linked with obesity. I believe that children that spend too much time on the television
dont exercise enough and are close to a screen for way too long. Ive been a victim of this. I
would come home from school and play video games for hours for about a year. I noticed that
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my vision had gotten worse and I had been getting a little fatter. I believe that it is important to
educate the children on the effects of overuse of the internet.
Excessive television viewing courses poor peer relationships and thereby increases the
risk of social isolation, anxiety disorder, and agoraphobia. (Vivek) I believe that this quote from
Vivek shows the true risk that is involved with children when dealing with social media. Disease
such as obesity are found to be very common in children who abuse the internet and television.
Childrens T.V. and internet use should be carefully monitored by parents in order to prevent the
problem of obesity. Obesity could be stopped if children were more intrigued to play outside
rather than just sit inside and mess around on the internet for hours. People need to realize that
the world is changing to be a digital age. I believe it is important for people to educate their
children on the beauty of the outdoors. I also think that parents could wait to let their children
use the internet so that they are not exposed to the dangers at such a young age.
Another negative effect of social media in children is the lack of social skills. Its
evident that social media is transforming the way people socialize and through it has its
advantages there are many pitfalls.(Chhitii, Bhardwaj) Children are losing social skill because
all they do is talk and post on the internet. Adolescents is supposed to be a time where a young
person is shaped by individual experiences, and personal interactions.(Chhitti) Its important
that kids go out and play and learn to communicate with each other face to face. It seems like
everything happens online today and its hard to stay away from this. As a child though I believe
that was easy growing up without social media. I liked the fact that I would have to talk to
someone and person and everyone wasnt on their phones. Now a days it kids that are walking
around glued to their phones and it is important that we resolve the issue. Parents should have
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better control and wait to give their child a phone even if all of their friends have one. An eleven
year with a phone is a sticky situation.
Children are on their phones way too much and they couldnt even have a phone to begin
with. They arent just any phones either, they are the smartphones that have all of the social
networking capabilities with it. I remember just recently going home for a high school football
game. I walked to get some food at the concession stand and couldnt believe what I saw. All of
the middle school kids were in little huddles staring down directly at their phones. I remember in
middle school that, how many likes I got on Instagram was something that was meaningless to
me. These kids were bragging about how many likes they got and were all on their phones. I
couldnt believe the amount of kids on their phone. I guarantee if you took all of those kids
phones away, they would have no idea what to do with themselves. A face to face conversation
is a lot more meaningful than a chat on the web. I believe that these children are lacking these
social skills because they are always on their phones.
So many negative effects are associated with children and social media. Effects such as
obesity, cyberbullying and even social skills. Parents are one of the main reasons these effects
get worse. I believe that parents should keep a closer eye on their children while they are on the
internet. This would be an easy solution that would eliminate many negative effects that are
associated with social media... It is important for the youth of today to be better educated
because eventually they will be you age.




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Works Cited

Agarwal, Vivek, and Saranya Dhanasekaran. "Media and Children." Journal of Indian
Association for Child & Adolescent Mental Health Apr. 2012: 20+. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Hasinoff, Amy Adele. "Sexting As Media Production: Rethinking Social Media And
Sexuality." New Media & Society 15.4 (2013): 449-465. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.


Srivastava, Chhitij, and Anupam Bhardwaj. "Adverse Effects Of Online Social
Networking On Children And Adolescents." Journal Of Indian Association For
Child & Adolescent Mental Health 10.2 (2014): 80-92. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Winpenny, Eleanor M., Theresa M. Marteau, and Ellen Nolte. "Exposure Of Children
And Adolescents To Alcohol Marketing On Social Media Websites." Alcohol &
Alcoholism 49.2 (2014): 154-159. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

Wittke, Sharon. "Limiting Social Media May Curtail Cyber bullying." Gateway
Journalism Review 44.333 (2013): 18. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.