Annotated Bibliography

Is social media affecting Generation Z in a positive or negative way?

Taylor Tillison Professor Malcolm Campbell English 1103 February 21, 2012

Annotated Bibliography Murashev, Natasha. Why Social Media Is Actually Good For Teens. PsychBlog. Social Times. 20 May 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. In this article Murashev offers readers a positive outlook on the effects of social media on teens and informs them of why it is actually good for them. Many believe that social media negatively affects the way that teenagers communicate with each other in person, but Murashev explains how teens that actively use social media are actually more balanced in their social lives and healthier, psychologically, than fellow teens that are less active online. She talks about how social technology is a way for teens to develop emotional bonds, personal identities, and stay connected with friends outside of the classroom and not just to meet strangers. She then goes into detail explaining how the way teens interact online is actually no different than the way they interact with their peers in-person. She says teens online relationships are often structured the same way they are offline, they place their close friends at the top of a social hierarchy and categorize the people they know in descending order based on closeness.

She concludes that parents shouldnt worry about their teens if they are well-adjusted and psychologically healthy thanks to the use of social media. This article is geared towards teens, parents, and anyone else who is interested in the effects social media has on teens. It is a reliable source from a trustworthy website. This source is useful to me because it list the positive effects social media has on teens and can support one side of the argument that will be presented in my project, I will be using this source.

Rosen, Larry. Poke Me: How Social Networks Can Both Help and Harm Our Kids. APA. American Psychological Association. 6 Aug. 2011. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. Dr. Rosen tells readers the good and bad effects social media has on teens. He says that social media has definitely changed the way young people interact with each other, but only now are we able to see sound psychological research on the good and bad effects it has. He starts by listing adverse effects social media has, going into detail explaining how teens that use social media sites such as Facebook are more prone to display narcissistic tendencies. He also says that the overuse of social media on a regular basis negatively effects teens health by making them more prone to anxiety, depression, and numerous other psychological disorders. Lastly, he talks about how social media can distract teens from learning, saying studies show that teens who check social sites while studying earn lower grades. He displays notable examples of negative effects, but Dr. Rosen also explains some of the positive effects too.

He talks about young adults who spend more time on social sites show better virtual empathy to their friends online. Meaning that they are more likely to comfort or encourage a friend that is facing problems. He also says that social media can help shy teens learn how to socialize safely without the stress of having to do it face-to-face, making it easier for them to learn. His last statement declares that social media offers new tools for teaching students in a compelling way that engages them. At the end, Dr. Rosen says that parents should not only talk to their teens, but listen to them more often instead of trying to monitor their online activities. This source is for teens, their parents, and anyone with an interest in the good and bad effects of using social media. It is a reliable

source found on the American Psychological Associations website. This source is very helpful to me since it offers not only good, but bad effects of social media on teens. I will be using this source for my project.

Tucker, Jill. Social networking has hidden dangers for teens. SFGate. San Francisco Chronicle. 10 Aug. 2009. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. In this article Tucker talks about the darker side of social media and what happens when teens haphazardly post risqu content online and how a digital tattoo can come back to harm them in the future; she says things such as pictures of underage drinking showing up online can come back to haunt teens when theyre applying for a job or college. She starts off by talking about a survey she conducted in which a quarter of teens admitted to posting nude pictures of themselves online as well as other post they later regretted, teasing others, and making fake identities. The survey also reveals that 22% of teens check social sites more than ten times a day. Tucker also talks about another survey that showed 54% of teens display inappropriate behavior online.

The article also talks about how parents should pay more attention to what their children are doing, not just online, but offline too to prevent them from possibly being harmed by posting inappropriate content online. She also says that James Steyer, the chief economic officer of Common Sense Media, is starting up a pilot program in schools to educate kids on how they should and shouldnt behave online, as well as explaining the dangers what could happen with certain information posted online. This source targets teens, parents, and others who want to know about the potential dangers of misusing social media. It is a

reliable article from a trustworthy website. I will be using this source for my project because it talks about the negative effects of using social media and can support the opposite side of the argument that will be presented in my project.

Livingstone, Sonia. Taking risky opportunities in youthful content creation: teenagers' use of social networking sites for intimacy, privacy and self-expression. New media & society. SAGE Publications. February. 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. In this article Livingstone talks about her exploration of the practices teens do with social networking to find out the opportunities and risk social networking offers. She list some of the opportunities as a teens chance to find their true identity through creating profiles online as well as being able to create private groups and chats for a more intimate setting when it comes to communicating with friends online, and lastly, being able to connect with peers. She list the risk as privacy issues that arise when posting so much personal information online, common misunderstandings when communicating online, and potential abuse when it comes to cyber bullying.

She conducted a survey in which kids from different age groups talked about different reasons for why they use certain social sites. Youngers teens talked about using Myspace because of the ability to decorate your profile and personalizing it with music and other widgets while older teens talked about using Facebook for its simplistic appearance. Younger teens were more interested in using color schemes to portray their personalities while older teens wanted a simple site where they could maintain friendships. The intended audience of this journal is anyone who wants to know about what teens do with

social sites and the potential opportunities and risk are. This journal is an excellent source of information and I will be using it for my project, because in order to understand what social media has to offer teens and the things that could harm them, one should know what it is that teens use social media for in the first place. This journal gives a detailed explanation of what the teens surveyed use social media for and why.