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In the article “Should Parents Limit the Use of Social Media for Teenagers” the author

discussed issue on how social networks can cause a certain amount of harm to teenagers though it
does an equal amount of good. The author tone on this article is biased because the author has
negative attitude toward social media impact on teenagers. The author begins his writing by
introduced familiar social network platform such as Facebook, twitter, and Instagram for teens. Early
the author states the pros of social network which is social media may help them find new information
related to their life style. Also, they can easily use social media whenever and wherever they want
because internet is available in public places like school, mall, café and even in teens’ house. But later
the author stands on the cons instead of the pros. The author used inductive manner in the article
because his arguments start with specific point to general point. This article was intended for parents
because the author agree that parents’ role is very important in limiting the use of social media.

The author presents his first reason by mentioning that many teenagers would get addicted if
they use social media without realizing that social media will reduce social relation among others. He
elaborates more by stating that teenagers prefer to connect via social networks rather than meet their
friends face to face. And they often use social network to express their feelings, emotions and any
other activities such as playing online games. The author makes extensive reference based on
Elizabeth b. Hurlock, author of books on developmental psychology, one of her books said that “teens
want a friend who has an interest and the values are the same, which is understandable and makes
them feel safe, and to whom they could entrust the issues and discuss matters that cannot be
discussed with parents or teachers”.

In second reason, the author states that social media are often utilized by irresponsible person
to mislead teenagers. He presents more claims that there are many sexual predators every day that
utilize chat room to get acquainted and convince teens to do things those are not supposed to do like
posting inappropriate photos, and some kind of things that has porn elements. This is strengthened
by one of the cases revealed that a 16-year-old girl in Cijantung, East Jakarta, was raped by some
people because they had known each other before through social media. The author mentions an
expert Dr Sholeh Ni’am, MA Asrorun, Commissioner of the child protection Commission of Indonesia
(KPAI), which says that there are many cases of sexual violence which actually come through social
media. Although the author does not state his own opinion, but he tried to convince the reader about
his purpose by stating the fact from the expert to confirm his fact.

In his last point, the author reveals that many teenagers who addicted to the usage of social
media tend to get depression and anxiety that relates to escapism and dissociation. Besides, teenagers
who are depressed may use social as a type of ‘self-medication’ allowing themselves to escape and
run away from the problems they are currently facing. However, he does not state any citation on the
regarding fact making his point merely his personal views rather than proved facts. But to validate his
points of views, he highlights the article written by Dr. Aric Sigman, recounted that social networking
influence biological bad on someone. The author managed to state that the development of social
media is also supported by the offer of smart phones such as the Blackberry and Iphone. We can see
that the support statement is very weak, as he did not offer increase evidence on this. Instead, he
presents more claims that highlight the negative consequences of social media such as social
networking tends to be the main place to vent or the place of the event quipped and teenagers who
are not popular in the real world can be popular among social networks by having a lot of abstracts
friends. The author also state that a research has been conduct in University of Michigan to determine
social media usage over a fortnight and found that the more people that used it, the more negativity
they experienced concerning their day-to-day activities; as well as over time, incurring higher levels of
dissatisfaction with their life overall.

In summary, the author objective is consistent as he keeps discussing about the bad sides of
social media from the start until the end of the article. Although he managed to show some validity
and credibility in the earlier claims, his last argument against social media is weak and unsound due
to lack of strong support. Since the author would like to share the knowledge regarding on the impact
of social media to teenagers, he should provide with more opposing point which is the positive side of
social media so it is easy for readers to make comparison on it.

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