Analysis of Data

In Figure 1, it is observed that the most popular social networking sites among the

teenagers in San Juan are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It is seen that the main social

media is Facebook with the largest percentage of teenagers using it on a daily basis which

was 85% of a sample size of 30 teenagers. The second most used social networking site is

Twitter with 9% and the least popular is Instagram with only 6% of users everyday.

Furthermore, in Figure 2 the majority of respondents, 43%, agreed that the main

reason for using social networking sites was to chat with friends and family. The least

popular reason for using social media was to let their friends know what they are doing.

From this it can be asserted that social media is used mostly as an online chatting room

since majority of teenagers use them to converse with friends and family. This trend

therefore emphasizes the importance of social networking sites in todays society to

communicate with other people.

Additionally, in Figure 3 the comparison between time spent by teenagers

studying and using social networking sites per day is investigated. It is observed that the

majority of teenagers spend time studying for one to two hours per day (54%) and using

social networks for one to two hours per day (60%). However, more teenagers spend

more time on social networks. This trend is also seen for three to four hours where 18%

spend more time on social networks compared to 10% who study for this time period.

This trend therefore shows that majority of the teenagers spend more time on social

networks when compared to the minority (36%) who spend more time studying. It can be

concluded that social networks are a distraction to a high proportion of students.

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 Drawing reference to Figure 4 the percentage of teenagers who experienced peer

pressure or cyber bullying (74%) predominated compared to the percentage of teenagers

who did not (26). These findings emphasize one of the negative impacts of social

networks on teenagers and show how unacceptable behaviour by others is influencing the

lives of teenagers.

Evidently from Figure 6 the percentages of teenagers who have viewed

inappropriate content on social networking sites were investigated. It can be seen that all

of the teenagers have viewed content of friends consuming alcohol (100%) while 78% of

them have viewed content of their friends smoking. This shows how social networking

sites can negatively influence teenagers by exposing them to illegal and unacceptable

behaviour online and can persuade them to experiment with these substances therefore

harming their behaviour.

From Figure 7, it is detected that majority of the teenagers in the sample size

agreed to drinking (70%) while a small percentage (6%) agreed to smoking. These

findings show how there is underage drinking among teenagers and it can be asserted that

this may be partly influenced by social networking sites where teenagers are encouraged

to do this because it is an online trend. This can be closely examined and used to reduce

the negative impacts of social media.

Finally in Figure 8, there is an area chart demonstrating the percentage of

teenagers who believe the government can assist in preventing the negative impacts of

social media on them. With the majority of teenagers (74%) agreeing that the government

can assist, their ideas and suggestions can be taken into consideration by the government

and be used to hinder the negative impacts.

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