Hayley Stout Professor Adam Padgett ENGL 1102 April 1.

2014 Premature Internet Exposure The role social media maintains in my life isnt huge. I use the internet and media apps for entertainment purposes. I like looking at pictures and seeing what is going on in others life at my own convenience. I am an introvert; I dont like being around people constantly. Social media is a way for me to keep up with the people I care about without having to be somewhere I would rather not. That being said, not everyone is like me. The role you allow social media or the internet to play in your life is based off of different things. My choice to avoid such interactions has to do with my personality. The majority of problems people attribute to social media stem from personalities. The constant reliance on the internet by todays youth is becoming more and more prevalent. Premature exposure to social media has a negative effect towards a childs social skills, as well as their self-esteem and self-respect. The lack of self-esteem as well as self-respect developed by children contributes to the amount of bullying among kids exposed to social media too early. Before there were so many different ways of communication majority of conversations were to be said in person. Having to say rude or even hurtful comments face to face created somewhat of a filter. The impulsive, derogatory comments younger children think no longer have to be filtered out by the awkwardness of a face to face encounter. One can simply comment something rude on an Instagram picture, or subtweet. A subtweet is when a person tweets something negative that is obviously about a specific person, without mentioning said persons name. Its easier for

children to take out aggression through a computer screen than it would be to do so in person. The internet is where the majority of kids have their first experience with bullying. In D.L. MrBrides journal Risks and Benefits of Social Media for Children and Adolescents she states, This (bullying) can lead to anxiety, depression, and suicide. The consequences can be life altering, both for the victim and the bully. These children may require treatment for mental health issues (MrBride). Not only are the targets of bullying subjected to the long-term effects of the ridicule, but the victimizer is also conflicting psychological damage onto themselves without even knowing it. When a child is bullied face-to-face it gives other children the chance to step in, or even the teacher the opportunity to interrupt the altercation. Even these small basic interactions broaden the mind of a young adolescent still developing. Constantly using technology limits the amount of personal interactions one has on a day to day basis. For a child still developing their basic social skills these daily exchanges play a large role in their growth. The conversations you have on the computer are lacking any kind of emotion. By just reading a sentence it is hard to figure out the tone, speed and/or dictation of the statement. Its hard to tell if the person writing or typing is sad or mad, maybe they are even being sarcastic. These are the type of emotions that one would learn or pick up on from a face to face interaction. Through daily interactions with others we build our social skills as well as our manners. If a child never has to interact with others they miss out on a lot of key developmental points. In an article by Barbara Wilson she states that preschoolers are able to recognize simple emotions . Emotions like happiness, sadness, and sometimes anger. The child recognizes these emotions due to experienced human interactions. During a childs development emotions learned through human interactions are more recognizable and memorable than those experienced through technology. Although the child may be able to eventually grasp the

jealousy or greed portrayed through television, the face to face interactions are what the innerself identifies with. Understanding your mother is happy, or feeling her warmth, those are things that a childs mind is made to understand (Wilson). Cognitive development is said to be the emergence of the ability to think and understand. The many different daily interactions that people experience help mold children into individuals. Not having said experiences takes away from your individuality; it takes away from potential of who someone can become. One cant become well-rounded if they arent put in situations that promote versatility. David Buckingham quoted Erik Erikson in saying, It also occurs through interaction with peers and care givers. Identity is developed by the individual, but it has to be recognized and confirmed by others (Buckingham). The it both of the men are referring to is cognitive development. Identities cannot be bought or made up, they must be developed. This is why social media is becoming such an issue. It goes further than someones interpretation of who you are, or the way your social media site looks. Children grow up without basic social skills because during development they were never put into situations where these skills were applied. The social skills children develop should benefit them for years to come. These skills should help one ease through a job interview, or even keep a conversation going while waiting for the bus. The little experiences someone remembers and shares mold them as a person. They set you apart from the rest of the mankind. When you stop having unique experiences, when you stop maintaining manners and social skills, you lose your individuality and what you could have had to offer. Social media gives children such a skewed perception of the real world. Celebrities have millions and millions of young followers on Twitter and Instagram. Although famous people dont live life like the average person that doesnt always register is a childs mind. The children

cheat themselves out of key developmental points due to striving for the wrong traits. VC Strasburger goes to say, Research on media violence and its relationship to real-life aggression is substantial and convincing (Strasburger). The language celebrities use on the internet is usually crude and not appropriate for many of their followers. Rather than recognizing that as wrong or inappropriate these actions are usually repeated or mocked. Due to the popularity of the internet and these famous characters this is the behavior that children are idolizing and developing. It goes farther than just the language though. Young girls and boys are also obsessed with looking and acting like their idols. The age difference doesnt register in a childs mind. Most young girls dont understand why their bodies dont look like their favorite model. And the same goes for younger boys that dont understand why their voice isnt deeper, or why their muscles arent bigger. It isnt good for a childs development or self-esteem to be exposed to something they arent ready for, something that isnt age appropriate. In an article written by Donald Roberts, he makes a point about how much less privacy one had on the internet when a house had one family computer (Roberts). When everyone can see what youre looking at its less tempting to look at things you shouldnt. In this day and age almost everyone has a smart phone. It is much harder to monitor a handheld object than say a large computer screen. Having complete privacy is a responsibility not every child is ready for. When youre forced to accept and adapt to something at a younger age it affects the way you grow and develop as an adult. Overall I dont have a negative outlook towards social media as a whole. There is a time and a place for everything. Part of growing up is learning said time and place. There shouldnt be a rush or a pressure put onto children to grow up. Younger minds need to spend their time adapting to the huge and ever-changing world around us before they start concerning themselves

with all different types of social media. Premature exposure to social media has a negative affect towards a childs social skills, as well as their self-esteem and self-respect.

Works Cited Buckingham, David. Youth, Identity, and Digital Media. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2008. Print. McBride, D.L. "Risks and Benefits of Social Media for Children and Adolescents." Journal of Pediatric Nursing. 26.5 (2011): 498-499. Print. Roberts, Donald F, and Ulla G. Foehr. Kids and Media in America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Print. Strasburger, VC. "Media and Children: What Needs to Happen Now?" Jama : the Journal of the American Medical Association. 301.21 (2009): 2265-6. Print. Wilson, Barbara J. "Media and Children's Aggression, Fear, and Altruism." The Future of Children. 18.1 (2008): 87-118. Print.