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Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

The researchers used other related researches to acquire information on the psychosocial

effects of Facebook to students in the intermediate level. According to a poll conducted by the

American Academy of Pediatrics on 2011, the number of preadolescents and adolescents using

social media sites, such as Facebook, has increased dramatically. The results showed that 75% of

teenagers have a cell phone and 25% of these teenagers use them for social media. They reached

to the conclusion of children and adolescents being at risk of their limited capacity for self-

regulation and susceptibility to peer pressure as they use social media platforms. However, there

are also benefits gained while using social media, as stated by (O’keeffe, 2011), like being able to

socialize and communicate with their friends and families, access information about health

concerns easily and use blogs as teaching tools and resources for students.

Overall, the research shows that social media platforms may have risks in using them, but

they also have benefits to their users. But parents can’t ignore the fact of the rise of the number of

preadolescents and adolescents using these social media platforms because having a higher

population will increase the chances of these risks to occur. So to at least control this situation, this

research will also give pediatricians on how they can help families about being educated about the

effects of connecting to the digital world.

The most popular communication tool that is being used today in the world is the internet.

Through the use of internet, billions of people are being connected around the world. The common

use of internet in today’s generation is the social networking. Social networking sites like
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Facebook enables users to post information about them and to communicate with people in the

innovative ways such as sending private or public messages.

According to the English Collins Dictionary, the term Facebook refers to a popular social

networking website. Facebook allows users to communicate with their friends and family around

the world. Users can also upload photos, videos, or share anything that they want and it also helps

the users to create pages or applications.

There are a lot of reasons why people use Facebook, including the use of it for

communication and entertainment, education purpose, gathering information, staying connected

with friends and family and to become updated on what is happening to the contemporary world.

On the other hand, the problems that may be encountered when using Facebook are it is addicting,

uncontrolled growth of fake profile and ID, loss of privacy, teenagers being exposed to

pornography etc.

Overall, the research shows that Facebook has many purposes like sharing information, or

educational stuffs, uploading photos, files etc. but people can’t ignore the fact that cyberbullying

starts here, uncontrolled growth of users using fake profiles and ID and the loss of privacy of the

users.

Using social media has changed the way people, especially students, interact (Imtiaz Ali,

2017). He said “Spending countless hours on the social sites can divert the focus and attention

from a particular task. It lowers the motivational level of the people, especially of the teenagers

and students. They mainly rely on technology and the internet instead of learning the practical

knowledge and expertise of the everyday life.”

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These effects may play an important role on the psychosocial development of the children,

affecting their interpersonal skills and the way they think about others.

Childhood lifestyle and behaviors plays an important role in people’s life. The development

of social media or online social networking is one of the aspect of childhood that has changed in

the past 10 years. Social media are web-based communication tool that allow people to connect

with each other by both exchanging information one of the example of social media platform is

Facebook, the most well-known social media that gives the opportunity to chat with friends, upload

photos or videos, share anything, and create page or applications. Today’s children are heavy

adopters of using social media. A survey from the children’s BBC channel found out that three

quarters of 10-13 years old had social media account while most sites require user age of 13. This

social media access is considered as a tool for socializing, maintaining interpersonal relationships,

as well as gathering information. However, despite its beneficial use, excessive time spent of

children in social media is a concern. Uncontrolled usage is associated with low self-esteem,

common mental health problems and socio-economic difficulties. Spending more time on social

networks reduces the satisfaction of a children with all aspects of their lives. For example, using

photographic media has been linked to narcissism and social comparison.

The fact that childhood wellbeing plays an essential role in an adult life concludes social

media has a central role in children’s lives. This implies limiting the use of social media during

childhood may help to improve a children’s wellbeing.