Smartphones for Teenagers

22 March 2016

Smartphones for Teenagers

Pro

A hotly debated subject is smartphones for teens, I take the position that parents should give Teenagers smartphones, not only does it help them at school but it can help their safety, they can communicate with friends/family all around the world and it is a form of entertainment.

My evidence for that it helps their safety, yes I know that you can get cyber bullied and texts from strangers, but it can also help them, for example their parents can put a GPS on their son/daughter. Almost every smartphone has a GPS and if not then are many apps that will allow you to do on the app store. Another reason it helps your safety is that you can phone/text your parents wherever you are so if you get lost you can phone someone. Another reason it can help your safety is that you can get taxis and the metro easier, for example before you didn’t know what metro line to get on but know you can search it up to find out, also it helps with taxis because before you would get any taxi, you have no idea who the person is and they could do terrible things to you, but now with a smartphone you can get an app with taxi drivers you can trust. Another reason that it helps your safety is that if there is a fire then you can phone the firemen and also if they are in accident and are the only one conscious then you can phone the ambulance, you would not be able to do that without a smartphone.

My evidence for that it helps academically is that if teenagers are struggling and can not ask anyone to explain they can search it up and then they know how to do it. Also it teaches them new stuff, using a personal experience that I learned how to help and do a rainbow, Healy and how to play many songs on the guitar watching videos. Yes you can do that on a computer or an iPad, but with a smartphone you normally have it with you wherever you go so that means you can watch it wherever you are, your friend’s house etc.. Another reason it helps you academically is that there are loads of free lessons on the internet, for example I learnt how to divide decimals doing this. As well if you are sick one day then you can ask your classmate/teacher what you did that day and what you can do so you can study what you were meant to be doing at school that day.

My evidence that it is good for socialising is that if you are a shy person then you can talk to people without making eye contact and things like that. For example imagine that you are super shy and you do not like making eye contact, well then with a smartphone you can message people without making eye contact. Another reason I think having a smartphone helps you socially is that you can message your family/friends wherever they are in the world, so your friends in your old school or your family in other countries. If you are struggling to make friends in your new school then you can message your friends in your old school. Another reason that having a smartphone helps you socially is that many teenagers have things, such as Snapchat, Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook etc., so then you can get in touch with your friends easier and meet up with them during the weekend.

Evidence for it is a form of entertainment is that you can use it long car rides for example on the bus to school and it takes some time and you have no friends on the bus then it is a form of entertainment as well as when you are on long flights. Also there are many games need creativity, quick thinking and problem solving, yes due to the phone you might get less face to face time with family but it can be solved with a time limit. Also there are many games on the app store which are educational that can teach you multiplication, division, stories etc..

You know how your parents are always going back in my childhood we played outside all day and roam around free. But things change, now there are more skyscrapers and more motorways and less places to roam around free, before you could get the metro at a younger age and go around the town by yourself at a younger age then. Also a really important thing to do is that you have to be careful, if you get emails from strangers, tell your parents. That is really important, a way to prevent this is that your parents have access to your email/texts and that you must tell them immediately. Also another important thing is to have a limit, if not teenager get easily distracted. For example you can not take the phone into your room after dark, no phone at the table and during family time. Also not all games are bad. Yes, even though they are quite expensive, there are many things you can do, so a solution to that is that you can get hand me downs, for example I could get my Dad’s old phone and then you do not have to pay so much money for the kids. To make kids not cheat during class is easy, when kids enter the class when they have tests they have to be checked, because sometimes it is more than just bringing in a phone, but a calculator, notes from friends who did the test already. Also you need to keep your password secret, because if not your friends can log on to your computer and post silly posts. So to prevent this you should keep your password secret. That is why I think smartphones are good for teenagers and that it can help their academics, safety, great fun and can communicate with their families and friends wherever they are.

Social Medias Impact On Teens

       Nowadays, teenagers have all the digital devices you can think of and they all come with social media apps. Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat, all affect teenagers in different ways. One might argue that having social media helps improve lifestyles like being more fit and healthy from seeing models and how they look, but in the long run, teens become dissatisfied with their appearance and become very insecure about their body, feel a state of depression or anxiety. Perfect Illusions PBS said that 42% of girls in grade 1 - 3 want to be thinner. No one that young should be feeling self-conscious about their body. 78% of 17 year olds, girls especially, are unsatisfied with how they look. Seems unbelievable, right? That’s not it. 46% of high schoolers have an eating disorder. If social media is affecting kids and teens this much, why do we continue to have social media? The false body image that is being carelessly thrown out to the world has got to stop. Would you want to being living life like this? If you are, why?

        Instagram is flooded with perfect body images which are almost always photoshopped to reach this ideal body that no one really has naturally. In many cases, at a young age, people are exposed to social media and perfect models that stand on the page. Body images can create false fantasies for young girls, such as making them want to look a certain way even though everyone has their own body type. Teenagers start to have this image in their head of what they need to look like in order to be beautiful and when teens look at their flaws, they become depressed, but mostly very insecure. The article Social Media: A new source of insecurities, says that at age 13 teens become to recognise the image you don’t have and by 17 years old, it only becomes more noticeable to them and worse. Even though a teenage girl could end up being as “perfect” as other models or celebrities, she will still tend to not feel satisfied with herself because each model looks different. Luckily, throughout time people start accepting who they are and what they look like, but very slowly it happens.

        Now, I know for a fact that almost all the seventh graders at my school find themselves in bed with their phone checking social media. New posts of Cara Delevingne and her unique looks or maybe looking through Kendall Jenner’s Instagram account. No matter what person you wish you could look like, we all think about it. Going to bed becomes a struggle and it’s as if the phone sits on your bed just taunting you to pick it up and continue the searching. “Increase of vulnerability for the onset of depression and anxiety, and poor sleep quality may contribute to this,” Cleland Woods said. Lack of sleep because of social media can make teens depressed and more sensitive to things, such as how they look. The study, from British Psychological Society showed that nighttime social media use relates to poorer sleep quality. It also results to higher anxiety and depression.

        Being self-conscious about yourself can lead to way more then wanting new clothes. Personality changes and mood swings are some of the many emotional things that can happen. Growing up can be hard enough, but when jealousy of girls, models, or actresses come into place, it makes it even harder when you are still figuring out who you are. Girls may become intimidated by other women, who are on television shows, or are famous. Teenagers may treat others in a rude manner because of the influence they hear through the internet or through media. The Huffington Post said “25 percent admitted to difficulties in relationships because of social media". Sadly, anxiety squirms into teens head and in some cases, it can become so difficult that they become very depressed.

        Overall, social media and the false body image it puts out, creates too many unnecessary problems for teens. It causes anxiety, depression and insecurity. Teenagers are already experiencing changes and figuring out who they really are, but when social media comes into place, it makes it very difficult for teens. Teens are so emotionally attached to social media these days that it can hurt relationships and how you feel about yourself. On the other hand, social media can provide a rich source of information and help people stay connected. Teenagers need to be responsible and learn how to manage how much screen time they have. But, how much teens are hurt, needs to stop.

Homework vs Videogames

The idea of homework has been debated as good or bad for many years, however till very recently, the concept of video games has not been a factor in such debates. In some cases, homework can help children further consolidate their knowledge and understanding about topics learnt in school. However, homework more often than not is a negative use of time and time that instead could be devoted to video games because despite cliche stereotypes, many video games provide psychological and academic advantages. This paper will explain why parents should allow children to play video games in moderation alongside homework as it can provide many psychological and academic benefits.

Homework has been adopted by many schools all over the world, it is now almost a tradition. However as it has grown more and more popular, no one has had the motivation to challenge it. But is homework really worth the time? The Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia decided to look into homework and how much it really benefits children. These researchers reported no “substantive difference” in the grades of students related to homework completion, (Fuglei, 2016). This means homework plays little if any role in a child’s academic success. Another study by Penn State’s Education Policy Studies department found that “Pages and pages of homework that is simply marked and handed back have less effect than short assignments that are marked individually and discussed later in class, (Fuglei, 2016). This shows that the quantity of homework is not related to its benefits. Akshat Jain, an extremely academically successful middle school student, says “The reason I do well does not lie in the homework provided by school, I would be better off without the stress and pressure of homework.” (Jain, 2016). This represents two things. Firstly children do not appreciate homework as it build stress and wastes time. And secondly, homework does not blossom into success, success is found in other factors of a child's life.

Many people think that video games lead to a drop in grades. There are countless studies that have formulated theories putting video games down. However recent research and studies show that video game can provide many academic benefits. Drew Guarini (an experienced and active contributor to the huffington post) says “your mother was wrong. Video games aren't bad for you. They're actually making your life better.” (Guarini, 2013). Studies conducted in england, provide strong evidence that video game, especially strategy games, massively develop skills that they believe to be key factors to learning, like brain flexibility (Guarini, 2013). This not only proves all the olden day research to be horribly wrong, but also proves there is a positive side to video games. However this study wasn’t the only of its kind, a study, based on a set of psychological test done before and after the 72 patients play video game for 40 hours over the course of 6 weeks, conducted by the Queen Mary University of London, found there to be an improvement from the first test to the second test taken after videogame play, patients were also able to complete cognitive flexibility task faster after playing video games. This is fact based proof that video games can have a positive effect on a child's academic life.

However, video games are not only good for academics, despite many stereotypes that video games damage eyes and make people violent, video games can actually help prevent problems like bad eye sight and depression. Depression, a problem faced by many of our youth, depression can lead to bullying, aggression and worst of all, suicide. It is obvious it is an itch that needs scratching. Researchers in New Zealand, tested a new way to treat depression. Instead of using traditional counseling techniques, they experimented with video games. They experimented on over 150 teenagers with depression problems, most of which had already attempted the classic counselling treatments and saw no effect. Half were given the usual one on one counselor, the second half were given video games. 44% of the second half recovered completely, while only 25% of the first group recovered, (Guarini, 2013). This means video games could be the answer to one of the biggest problems faced by today's society. However videogames aren’t only good for curing depression. Researchers at the University of Rochester, found a significant improvement on people’s eyes after playing video games. The results for first person shooters like Call of Duty and Halo, were especially encouraging. Scientist found that they improved the players contrast sensitivity function. This allows people to pick out small changes in light and color, an important skill for common task like driving at night.

So why keep children from playing video games. Would you ever prevent your child from doing their homework? Focusing too much on homework can lead to stress and ultimately waist time. Homework in large quantities does not benefit a child any more than a solid 50 minutes a night. Success comes from developing skills like adapting, learning and flexibility, not pages of repetition. Video games provide the specific skills one needs to be successful in school like the three mentioned earlier. Video games can also decrease stress and allow children to focus harder at school. Video games also provide a variety of benefits outside of school as well like better eyesight and curing depression. So as the age old debates about homework continue, it is time to throw video games into the mix and give it a chance. Society moved past the old stereotypes about social media, children having mobile phones and even LGBT, so why can’t we do the same about video games.



Fuglei, Monica. "The Homework Debate: The Case Against Homework."Concordia Portland Online. Concordia Online Education, 14 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

Pilgrim, Trevor. "Homework: Harmful or Helpful?" Eduflow. Eduflow, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

Guarini, Drew. "9 Ways Video Games Can Actually Be Good For You." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

Social Media's Body Perceptions Lead to Horrible Circumstances

  “Nobody is perfect”. “You’re beautiful the way you are”. These are things we have all heard but never acknowledge. I claim that social media has a huge impact on how kids perceive themselves, and it is important to know the effects of that and how to stop it. It starts with one picture, one video, one story. Kids get influenced by everything. Even though it may be fake. Photoshop and plastic surgery have taken over our lives and the internet is full of lies. There are so many horrible things that kids do just to achieve the ‘ideal body’. Do we really want our kids to live in such a world that discourages insecurities but also supplies them?

  To start with, the internet is a wide, diverse place. There are so many good things that happen because of the inter-webs. But there are equally as many bad things that happen because of it. Imagine that you are a 13 year old girl, and your social media life is extremely diverse. Your entire life exists on Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, to mention a few. Likes and retweets matter more to you than your own family. Suddenly, you discover a really pretty girl with the perfect body. You aim to be like her. After a bit of exercise and healthy eating, you see no results. You decide enough is enough. The next time you have a meal, you put your dishes away nervously and your hands quiver. After going straight to the sink, you vomit out all the food you have just eaten. ‘It’ll make you thin’ ‘You can look like her’  your mind tells you. Many people go through that. According to eatingdisorderhope.com, 2.7% of teens aged 13-18 will develop a serious clinical eating disorder due to insecurities from social media, and 50% of teenage girls use unhealthy weight control behaviours like skipping meals, vomiting, smoking, and using chemicals to control their body shape and make it ‘perfect’. 46% of 9-11 year olds are on diets due to the unrealistic standards set by social media these days. Would you want your child or your best friend or your sister or brother or even yourself to go through something so unhealthy for something so useless?

  Secondly, even though social media brings people together, it can tear them apart too. Some people go through depressive episodes, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts. Being thin is regarded as the cult of happiness these days. Obese or even slightly bulkier people are ridiculed and as a result of that many people get extremely mentally or physically ill. Some mental conditions that people unfortunately develop due to not being ‘perfect’ are: depression (something very common even in teens), poor self esteem, panic attacks, panic disorder, and anxiety. It is devastating to see a quirky and carefree friend turn insanely obsessed with her body. It is important to identify the symptoms of this before it gets too late. If you know someone who has suddenly become into a nutshell, here are some symptoms that it may be more serious than just a bad day.

• Loss of interest in everyday activities
• Sudden appetite/weight changes
• Snappy attitudes
• Loss of energy
• Self loathing/Self hate/Self Doubt

Obviously all of these things could mean something else entirely but checking on that person and monitoring their behaviour is important. Another good way is to monitor their page on social media. Have they been posting weird things or have they been ranting on and on about how some person is prettier than them? Watch out before it gets serious.

  Lastly, how can you stop this? Most people don’t even know how to prevent it, let alone stop it. But it’s definitely worth a try. You never know, you could save a life. Well, considering at what point you are in your life, there are many ways you can help. If you are a teen yourself, I suggest taking a minute away from everything. Reconnect yourself with reality (not reality shows) and the real world outside of that screen. Imagine if everyone looked perfect. Eventually the standards would change. Trends don’t define you. You define yourself. Remind yourself that even though it’s perfectly fine to think someone is pretty or cute, there are so many people that think you are too. If you are a parent, I suggest monitoring your child’s use of media. Don’t snoop on them or read their messages etc, but just monitor their behaviour around their screens. Also, emphasize the rights and wrong on social media. Show them what is good and what is bad. And here’s a note for everyone: humans like to set standards. It’s natural. But in an ever-evolving world, let’s step away from fake identities and stay close to our real ones.

  All in all, I think that even though the causes for these harsh effects may sound weird or unreasonable, it’s now part of our lives. Social media and the internet; it’s taking over. Simplicity and easy lives have turned into a complex track of stress and anxiety playing over and over. Do we really want to live in a world with people thinking about killing themselves just because they don’t look like a carbon copy of a person they haven’t even met?

Vedika Sanga

Social Media Causing Insecurities in Body Image

We’ve all known that feeling when you see someone on Instagram with that gorgeous new handbag or that makeup someone is wearing. You want it. You aspire to be like them, and that's fine, until you realise that you can’t be like them and that’s where the problem begins. Social media was designed so that you could see what everyone is doing every second of the day. But do we really need to know what everyone is doing every second of the day? If you think about it that way it sounds just that bit creepier.

Some people might argue that social media can be good helping to create connections, keep in contact and motivate you to be better and more like the people you see on social media. Whether or not teenagers should use social media is a complicated issue because although there are many benefits of social media such as keeping in contact with people, sharing job opportunities and resources. As well as helping find criminals, it can also raise money and awareness. But this argument is misguided because the average teenager doesn’t actually need to do any of this. What tends to happen is teenagers end up wasting time and using social media for things that aren’t so good. If social media was used responsibly these problems wouldn’t come up so much. The actual topic that should be discussed is that social media really affects the way teenagers think of themselves. Social Media can cause depression, anxiety and self esteem issues such as bullying as well as body image problems. This promotes teenagers to do unhealthy things to themselves in order to appear ‘ideal’ to society. To much social media can be bad for teenagers and people should promote less time spent using social media. Except when teens are using social media to help them stay in touch or if it is keeping them from doing other harmful things.There are many benefits to using social media however social media can be bad especially for teenagers who are vulnerable to depression and self esteem issues.

Social media can cause insecurity in teenagers. Now of days teenagers are using far too much social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. I’m not saying that they are bad but that we should be cautious of how much we use them and what we use them for. Social media leads teenagers into false impressions seeing a post and thinking that is what I should look like causing them to become insecure of themselves. Something on social media, a post of a beautiful girl (probably photoshopped and edited). Leaves you thinking that you are not ‘ideal to society’. According to an article on Teen Health and the Media, “One study reports that at age 13, 53 percent of American girls are ‘unhappy with their bodies.’ This grows to 78 percent by the time girls reach 17.” This is significant as that is a lot of girls who don’t feel good in their own body. Feeling confident in your own body is really important as so much is going on in your life that you don’t need to be worrying about what you look like. Now of days people spend way too much time worrying about things that they don’t need anything else to worry about. According to Clean Cut Media “Almost across the nation 50% of young girls are engaged in negative activities such as injuring and cutting themselves or engaging in unhealthy eating habits and disorders due to self-esteem and self-image issues.” (2009).

Don’t you wonder why they do this? The cause is low self esteem that has been caused by social media. Social media is away to brag about your life and if you are already insecure enough the pressure can just be too much. You should never feel the need to injure yourself or do unhealthy things. I have known people to be upset and insecure about themselves and it has been related to social media. Social media causes many problems and insecurity is a big one especially in teenagers where they are most vulnerable to being insecure of their bodys. Especially when all those beautiful edited photos are posted. Body image is very important to many people and I understand that. Especially now in this time and age where it has become ‘normal’ to try and be ideal and have the perfect image. Did you know that in America 57% of girls have mothers who criticizes her looks. (Girl Self-Esteem & Image Issues & Parents, 2009). How would you feel if your parents or children criticized you on how you looked? Parents aren’t supposed to make their children feel insecure. Children already have enough of that at school and that is the last thing they need. 

Social media provides another place for bullies to hurt people. On social media things can be done anonymously and for some reason people think that it is different than face to face bullying. Let me tell you this there is no difference. While many people feel that bullying on social media is a problem. How many are actually trying to stop it? According to Social Networking ProCon “49.5% of students reported being the victims of bullying online and 33.7% reported committing bullying behavior online. [110] 800,000 minors were harassed or cyber bullied on Facebook according to a June 2012 Consumer Reports survey.” (Networking ProCon, 2015) Bullying is not nice and can make people feel insecure and have anxiety. No one wants to be bullied but often the bullies are the ones who are insecure. Everyone remembers when QuizYourFriends was popular. Someone who was obviously insecure took my quiz and said some really horrible things to me. Probably trying to make themselves feel better by taking pride in making someone else feel insecure. Social media offers just the place to do this. Cyberbullying is linked with depression. "There were consistent associations between exposure to cyberbullying and increased likelihood of depression," Hamm told Livescience.(Pappas, 2015). Bullying makes people upset and depressed and insecure. It’s all a vicious circle. "Kids really are hesitant to tell anyone when cyberbullying occurs," Hamm said. "There seems to be a common fear that if they tell their parents, for example, they'll lose their Internet access." Kids shouldn’t have to be scared to report bullying, parents are supposed to help in these situations. But it also provides a way of communication. According to Top Ten Social Media “Statistics show that 70% of adults have used social media sites to connect with relatives in other states, and 57% of teens have reported making new friendships on social media sites.” Social media is a lot quicker then sending an email and if your followers are people you want to keep in contact as soon as you post they get notified. It’s way easier. I use social media and don’t see a problem as long as you use it responsibly. The problem is that some people don’t.

Overall social media can be good helping people to stay connected, but people can waste lots of time on it. Social media can be bad causing teenagers to feel insecure, depressed and have self esteem issues such as not being confident in their body image. If people spent less time on social media there would be less of this trouble. Although social media can be good in some cases. It affects teenagers and how they think of themselves but in the end everyone uses it and it is the individual's responsibility to use it wisely. I hope that you can see how much social media can affect you and the way you think about your body. Please understand that social media causes many problems that you just don’t need especially in your teenage years.

Bibliography:

Pappas, Stephanie. "Cyberbullying on Social Media Linked to Teen Depression." Live Science. Live Science, 22 June 2015. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.


O'Brien, Shaelyn, and Camryn Reid. "Social Media: A New Source of Insecurities." The Highlander Online. Highlander Online, 18 Nov. 2014. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.

"Social Networking ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. ProCon.ORG, 24 Mar. 2015. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

TopTenSM. "10 Pros and Cons of Social Media." Top Ten Social Media. Top 10 SM, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.