iGeneration

Self-Development: The greatest effect social media can alter in a negative way

The self-developmental process of children is very important. It is a fragile stage of life and parents tend to guide their children through this process. Pre teens are beginning to develop a sense of identity and morals. Social media has greatly impacted the way children develop and it is concerning because these children do not have a highly developed brain. Viewing other profiles, creating a personal bio, and friending are popular hobbies among pre teens. Pre teens are beginning to transition through the adolescence stages. Moral development, encompasses reasoning behaviors, and feelings regarding standards of right and wrong...During adolescence some young people develop a sense of moral beliefs or commitments that are central to their sense of who they are [6]." (Bronk 47) Adolescence is a very important and valuable time in a child's developmental process, and if social media alters the way children are growing, it can greatly effect their biological, cognitive, and psychosocial changes.

Adolescence is the life stage that bridges childhood and adulthood. This transitional period is characterized by significant biological, cognitive, and psychosocial changes. The biological stage  includes the beginning stages of puberty. Changes in self-image affect the way adolescents perceive themselves and the way others treat them. Cognitive development includes adolescents ability to become more efficient when processing information and think and reason in qualitatively different ways. Adolescence are beginning to think abstractly and hypothetically. Children think in a concrete and absolute manner. Psychosocial development involves changes in identity, gender, sexuality, morality, and intimacy. According to the Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development, Erik Erikson states [10-12], "the establishment of a cohort sense of self, or identity, is the major task of adolescence." (Bronk 47) Social media can have positive and negative effects on this critical stage, and this is important to understand because one bad experience can change a child’s life.

According to the article The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families from the American Academy of Pediatrics, 22% of teenagers log on to their favorite social media site more than 10 times a day, and more than half of adolescents log on to a social media site more than once a day. Seventy-five percent of teenagers now own cell phones, and 25% use them for social media, 54% use them for texting, and 24% use them for instant messaging. Thus, a large part of this generation's social and emotional development is occurring while on the Internet and on cell phones. (O'Keefe 800)