Social Media has exploded in popularity since it first hit the scene in 1971 when the first email was delivered via the World Wide Web ("The brief history," 2013). The lives of people young and old have changed now that they are able to interact through social media. Emails, blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc., there is a social media site for every interest and age group. No age group has been affected more by this revolution than children. "Using social media Web sites is among the most common activity of today’s children and adolescents" ("Clinical report—the impact," 2011). How adolescents utilize this powerful tool determines whether it will have a positive or negative impact on their lives.

First, there are the positives resulting from adolescent’s use of social media. Since most adolescents who use websites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, etc. use them on a daily basis, a lot of skills are developed when interacting through these tools. Adolescents gain social interaction skills by communicating with friends and acquaintances online by using pictures, videos, words, and multi-player games. This type of interaction can be positive because they have plenty of opportunities to create bonds with friends using these types of media. Social acceptance is an important right of passage for young people. Imagine being a child in school and all your friends have cell phones and use them to go on social media websites, applications, and text. It would be very difficult to fit in and be accepted for the child who doesn't have cell phone access to social media, but very easy for the children that do have access to make friends and find common interests using social media communication. Personally I did not have a cell phone capable of texting until I was in high school, while most of my other peers had this technology in middle school. I did feel that other kids bonded more easily and became friends faster because they were texting during the school day and on the weekends, whereas I was not. When I finally did get a texting phone in high school, I was able to text my friends at anytime which opened social doors. I was able to text my friends to meet up after school and also tell them about important high school gossip in real time rather than having to wait until I was physically in the same room with them.

Another important aspect of social media on youth is the freedom that it creates for young people. I can remember before I had the technology to text or send a Facebook message I would always have to tell my parents where I was going, who I would be with, and what time I was coming home. Children today that are involved in after school sports or like to go over their friends houses don't need to worry about giving their parents every minute detail the day’s activities. If a parent needs to know what time to pick up their kid from football practice they can find out that information very quickly by sending a Facebook message, text, email, or Tweet. This allows the children to gain independence from the parents at a young age. Being independent at a young age can improve a child’s self esteem and work ethic in the future because they feel a sense of responsibility for themselves.

For every positive aspect that comes with the youths use of social media there is also a negative one. Surely, one of the most important issues is safety. Since the social media revolution started growing there have been countless instances of children giving out their personal information to strangers through websites, chat rooms, texts, emails, and blog posts. Some adolescents fail to realize that giving someone seemingly harmless information such as the name of their school, their age, birthday, and hometown can make it easy for someone to locate them. Social media made it very easy for strangers to prey on children, and some may have a motive to hurt or kidnap a child. Through social media children can also be the target of cyber bullying. “Cyber bullying is quite common, can occur to any young person online, and can cause profound psychosocial outcomes including depression, anxiety, severe isolation, and tragically suicide” ("Clinical report—the impact," 2011). Cyber bullying doesn't just effect the victim, the bully may also feel the effects of his poor decisions years later because once something is put on social media it is very hard to eliminate it later. This can cause issues for adolescent bullies’ years later when they are applying to jobs or colleges. They may have not had a clue at the time, but that rude comment they made on Facebook in high school could be the deciding factor when they are on a job interview.

In conclusion, the youth has accepted the use of social media with open arms since the revolution first began back in 1971. It has made life as a kid better because kids have instant access to their friends at all times through Facebook, email, texting, YouTube, etc. At the same time having instant access could be a curse because kids that are getting bullied in school are not safe from bullying after school is dismissed. They are always reachable through social media which can be very detrimental to a child who is a victim of cyber bullying. The youth's overwhelming acceptance of social media has proven to be the largest of any age group and still growing.

Works Cited

The brief history of social media. (2013). Retrieved from http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SocialMedia/SocialMediaHistory.html

(2011). Clinical report—the impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families. American Academy of Pediatrics, Retrieved from http://machadok.faculty.mjc.edu/SocialMediaImpact.pdf