Lara Bax

March 11
Bibliography Paper
How does social media encourage bullying?
How does social media affect the self-perception of adolescents today?
How has social media effected the life skills of the future generation?
Inquiry: How does social media effect the lives of young children today?
Proposed Thesis: Social media has an astoundingly tight grasp on adolescents today and is
affecting them in a negative way.
Ahn, June. "The Effect of Social Network Sites on Adolescents' Social and Academic
Development: Current Theories and Controversies." Journal of the American Society for
Information

Science and Technology (2011): 1435-445. Web. 8 Mar. 2015.

<http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.21540/epdf>.
This scholarly journal explains multiple different aspects of the effects of social
networking sites on adolescents today. Two of June Ahns main points discussed throughout her
journal are youth activities in social networking sites influence their personal development in
terms of self-esteem and psychological well-being and social networking site use affects
student learning and academic achievement. Both of these topics, I think, will help me with two
of my inquiry questions. Ahn describes in one section of this journal how the majority of
adolescents use social networking sites in effort to create an online identity that portrays them as
popular and more appealing to others. This relates to my inquiry question on the way social
media effects the self-esteem of young adults, this will help me prove how most adolescents try
to build up their confidence through social media. Ahn also mentions in this journal how social
networking cites are the ideal way of communication among the majority of adolescents today.
This topic will help me prove my other inquiry question involving the life skills of the future
generations by showing how young adults have become accustomed to online communication
rather than face-to-face interactions.

Bessenoff, Gayle R. "Can The Media Affect Us? Social Comparison, Self-Discrepancy, And The
Thin Ideal." Psychology of Women Quarterly 30.3 (2006): 239-51. Wiley Online Library.
Web. 8 Mar. 2015. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.14716402.2006.00292.x/full>.
Although this particular scholarly journal focuses mainly on women, it strongly supports
two of my inquiry questions. This journal by Bessenhoff describes how social media tears down
the self-confidence of women through bullying, thus supporting my two topics of inquiry
involving bullying and the self-esteem of young adults. This scholarly journal does have some
irrelevant points relating to women and their body image, but it also makes some very valid
points concerning the effects of advertisements displayed throughout social media that are
playing a large role in lowering the self-esteem and raising depression levels of many women.
O'Keeffe, G S, K. Clarke-Pearson, and Council on Communications and Media. "The Impact of
Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families." Pediatrics: Official Journal of the
American Academy of Pediatrics 127.4 (2011): 800-04. Web. 8 Mar. 2015.
This journal from the American Academy of Pediatrics, describes all the risks of children
and teens using social media sites. Some of those risks including cyberbullying and influence on
young adults to change their physical appearance and the way they think. OKeeffe and Clarke
explain how advertisements change the minds of adolescents as to what is most important,
material goods that can be used to make them more popular. Also described throughout this
journal is how young adults deliberately use digital media to communicate false, embarrassing,
or hostile information about another person and how it is the most common online risk for all
teens and is a peer-to-peer risk. They also go into the severity of online bullying be explaining
that it can occur to any young person online, and can cause profound psychosocial outcomes

including depression, anxiety, severe isolation, and, tragically, suicide. I think that this source
will also help me immensely with the same two topics of inquiry: How does social media
encourage bullying, and how does social media effect the self-perception of adolescents today?
Webster, Richard. "Cyber Bullying Statistics." - Bullying Statistics. 1 Jan. 2010. Web. 8 Mar.
2015. <http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html>.
This website is full of factual information on cyber bullying and teen violence which
correlates well with my bullying inquiry question. As stated in the online article Cyber bullying
can be very damaging to adolescents and teens. It can lead to anxiety, depression, and even
suicide. Also, once things are circulated on the Internet, they may never disappear, resurfacing at
later times to renew the pain of cyberbullying. I think that this article with be very beneficial
towards my research on how social media can, in a way, encourage online bullying of
adolescents.
Valkenburg, Patti M., and Jochen Peter. "Social Consequences Of The Internet For Adolescents:
A Decade Of Research." Current Directions in Psychological Science 18.1 (2009): 1-5.
Print.
This scholarly journal talks about the negative effects of social media on adolescents but
then it changes topics and begins to argue that social media actually has a positive effect on
adolescents. Valkenburg and Jochen talk about how since social media has evolved and changed
so immensely over time that young adults have grown with it and all the problems that people
once had because of it had gone away. They talk about all the different variables that people once
thought were negative aspects of social media such as: online relationships. Many people think
that online relationships are not a fully functional where as in this article they argue that it is in
fact just as genuine as a face-to-face, personal friendship. I think that because this journal argues

against my topic it will help me develop my argument by comparison and disproval. As for the
small details in the paper that agree with my argument, they would be used to help support my
topic.