Distractions Among Teens As A Shortcoming Of Social Media

The use of the internet among the greater population of the world has become an unrivaled part of today’s society. The use of apps, websites, and databases is an integral foundation of how the world works. Whether your grandparents can email, or your little brother can send you a tweet, there are thousands of ways we can communicate with each other. Looking at academia, however, there may be some consequences of this vast ability to communicate over many platforms. Social media has many ill effects on a young student, such as more distractions, more availability to cheat, and potential bad impressions with higher learning institutions.

One concern is the ability of social media to create distractions among teens. As young adults, we search to relate and feel a sense of belonging with our peers. This is a fundamental part of being human, to be a social animal, to exist amongst a tribe or a clan. Add to that the ease of use most students have, the ability to pull a tiny screen out of their pocket - instantly connected to the world, their friends and people closest to them. “69% of the public uses some type of social media”(Sanchez and Scott). “Researchers tracked female first-year college students’ use of 11 forms of social media including television, movies, music, the Internet and video games over the course of an academic year, and found that they spend nearly 12 hours a day using social media on average”(Davis). This is the proof that social media takes a big part in teens’ life.

In my high school, we had a hefty list of rules, most of them introduced to me, insignificant small print that seemed stupid to learn. Yet throughout my highschool years, I’ve always known one thing: don’t cheat. Don’t bring in the answers to tests, don’t copy others homework, and generally do your work so that it is honest and yours. Yet, when I was in highschool, when all my peers were texting and tweeting on their smartphones, I noticed a dramatic sense of casualness towards cheating because it was easy. It was also easy to send someone your homework, easy to text someone during class, and easy to quickly Google something when you have a brainfart during an exam. It seems all these things would be hard during class, with teachers watching and rules against phone use, yet in my experience, it was almost the easiest thing one could do when it comes to the size and scale.

Although social media has many ills, there are some benefits that should be addressed. In terms of social support, the use of social media is a great thing for students. Being able to ask around for questions, or just get confirmation that a homework assignment is “super hard!”, can really help struggling students. Social media is great at creating a system of support when it comes to kids that need it. Rather than taking away this support, we should rather create a better system, The use of social media has reached an all time high. Therefore, we must evaluate the possibility that these things will cause negative effects. When looking at teenagers, they are in an extremely crucial part of their lives. They often look to their peers for support, and this is easily accessible through the use of internet platforms. Without the proper customs, teens should be careful when using social media as to protect themselves from the above problems. All in all, the use of social media should be carefully scrutinized, and teens should protect themselves from a bad image, or even worse a punishment from cheating.