The Positive and Negative Benefits of SNS usage on Behavior Amongst Adolescents
Introduction
It is often said that social media is a huge part of our society today. We use it in many ways and use many different platforms that are popular now. Although, social media does have its limits on communication on these sites. Teenagers prefer to use social media as a means of texting, posting or even exchanging content that can also be considered relatable by other teenagers, which then questions the connection between social media and adolescent behavior changes. Results from random effects models indicated that there were positive, small-to-medium correlations between social media use and engagement in risky behaviors (generally 95%, substance use 95%, and risky sexual behaviors 95%) (Anna V. Emily S. Sonja G. Christine O. 2020). Another article states that the majority of adolescents (72% access the Internet with a phone. Nearly half 49% of participants accept friend requests from strangers, 42% send friend requests to strangers, and 55% of participants report meeting people from social media sites in person(Knowless, Megan, Jan 2014) However, there is a relationship between adolescents and negative media overall. Over the years, a growing body of research has examined the role of parental mediation strategies in shaping adolescent media behavior and managing potential media effects (Fisher et al., 2009; Nathanson, 2002; Valkenburg, Piotrowski, Hermanns, & de Leeuw, 2013). My view towards SNS and behavioral changes is that social networking sites can impact risk-taking behavior in which we already know that most teens start to act out but before social media emerged. There are positive and negative motives towards teens who use social media daily. Teens know the bad effects of using social media but still choose to do so because they know how to handle negative media. How come? This paper will explore the SNS use that can show behavioral effects that adolescents may experience throughout their teenage life. Even though social media can be addicting, there are some good effects like making your accounts on social media private or bad effects of using social media, like drinking and smoking just because kids on there do it too, for a frequent amount of time. SNS use can show effects that can affect their health that adolescents may experience throughout their teenage life. This leads to questions like What kinds of media is used the most amongst teens? What are the negative effects? What are the positive effects? How do we know that teens can handle negative media? We have a history of using the internet for purposes that includes emailing, gathering information, schoolwork or even communication at most. Over time, the internet has changed into having a big impact on adolescents for social context.
Defining Risk-Taking Behavior and Social Media
Risky behavior or risk-taking behavior is identified as any consciously or unconsciously managed behavior with a feeling of uncertainty about its consequence and/or its potential benefits or costs for oneself or others physical, economic or psycho-social well-being according to Trimpop (1994). Adolescents partake at an extraordinary expense in a broad range of risky activities that their older peers avoid. They face twice the risk of mortality and morbidity faced by their younger peers (Spear LP 2010). Individuals who are mainly teens and young adults, take more chances than any other age group. With social media as a potential factor, it comes with benefits and its harms on adolescents develop during their teenage years. SNS makes it possible for teenagers to form online profiles, connect with others and develop social connections. Using social media, although, may lead them to behaviors such as seriously impacting teenagers, distract them, interrupt their sleep, and lead them to bullying, spreading rumors, unrealistic expectations of the lives of other people, and peer pressure. These risks may be tied to how often teens use social media. Articles from research about social media and risky behaviors have shown that in recent studies in the U.S., over 6,500 12- to 15-year-olds found that those who spend more than three hours a day using social media could be at higher risk of mental health issues. Another study, in the year of 2019 in England, has also shown that only about 12,000 13 to 16-year-olds found that the use of social media more than three times a day predicted poor mental health and well-being in adolescents (Kross E, 2013). Adolescents who often use social networking sites more than usual tend to experience such behaviors that are usually noticeable based on the kind of content they are viewing on social media. Since adolescents are mainly the ones that entertain the media, it’s easy to acknowledge the behaviors that they encounter and learn what types of text or post that teens might see that can cause such behavior.
The Social Reactive Pathways of Risky Behavior and Social Media
Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube give users the ability not only to connect and exchange information with their friends and relatives, but also with individuals with common interests. Dawn and Judith (2018) explain in the article called “Risky behavior via social media: The role of reasoned and social reactive pathways”, explained that there are factors which can influence some users to participate in risky social media practices of these kinds. An experiment was led to test the trend of intentions to participate in risky online activity among social media users, including adults (20 years and over and teenagers (19 years and under). A single web time-point survey provided data from a sample consisting of 1102 foreign social media users (69.7% were female and 30.3% were male) from 77 countries as a method to test it. The results were the reactive pathway variables increased the clarified variation in the ability to participate in online risk activities by a mean change of 6.2 percent in both adolescent and adult age groups (compared to reasoned pathway variables alone). Reactive pathways dramatically predict the likelihood for all age groups to participate in risky activity online. Compared to adults, the reactive pathway variables clarified further additional variation in willingness for adolescents, implying that reactive mechanisms can play a greater role in the online risk taking of adolescents; with decision-making potentially moving to a more rational, analytical pathway in adulthood. This all brings it back to the negative media in which these pathways show that adolescents are more impacted by social media usage. In adults, rational pathways may play a greater role in the willingness to participate in risk; supporting Gerrard et al (2008) the hypothesis that the greater willingness of adolescents to participate in risk activity is due to a change in decision-making to a more reasoned, research method with age.
Adolescent Media Use and Risky and Social Behaviors
Studies have hypothesized that there were insignificant effects on risky behavioral habits on social media and hours spent watching TV. Adolescents involved in risky activities have reported worse mental health overall was also hypothesized. Also, Facebook, another social networking site, has been the best way to socialize and stay up to date and filled with a social circle of many people. Trends in social behavior have begun to shift with its growing success. One study wanted to define the influence of social networking sites on experiences with social activity and risky behavior, as well as to see the effects of preserving privacy settings and privacy settings. Another research was to identify how the use of media by adolescents is correlated with issues of internalization and externalization, as well as recognizing the correlation of adolescent media use with depressive symptoms and suicidality, as well as behaviors of risk. It was found that “adolescents choose media based upon an emerging sexual being (Brown, 2000), unlikely affecting risk behaviors. Adolescents who engaged in risky sexual behaviors also reported overall poorer mental health, supporting results from previous studies (e.g., Averett & Wang, 2012; Hallfors, Waller, Bauer, Ford, & Halpern, 2005; Heger et al., 2014; Lowry et al., 2017)”. Although risky behavior was not an impact on adolescents, it also shows that consumption impacts the emotional well-being of adolescents based on an evolving depressive self. In another research, it was noted that most people do not care about privacy when using Facebook. 51.9% of total participants disagreed in the sample, while 44.8% did not express any opinion and the remaining 3.4% of total participants set their privacy settings. This shows that social behavior is a negative effect on adolescents’ behavior. The less privacy, the more likely to affect teens socially and more assumedly influence them to behave more than usual. 85.4% of total participants from public institutes were of the opinion that Facebook never affected their time spent with their family. This research suggested that Facebook is a useful and informative communicative tool as long as its usage is controlled. The concurrent research should be used as a platform to carry out further researches on the various effects of Face book especially in Pakistan
Adolescents’ use of social networking sites from an extended theory of planned behavior perspective
Rosland Baker and Katherine White (2010) predicted the use of social networking sites from adolescents, based on a theory called the Theory of Planned Behaviour. This study is testing whether the Theory Planned Behaviour, a theory initializing that individuals goals are the proximal factors of their conduct, with expectation conceptualized to catch people’s inspiration to play out given conduct. Researchers are using group norm and self-esteem as forms of behavior to predict the engagement of the recurring use of social networking sites (SNS) by adolescents and to explore the influence of self-esteem from the use of social networking sites. They hypothesize that group norm and self-esteem would add to the success of the Theory Planned Behavior in determining the intentions of adolescents in frequent Social Networking Site use. The TPB argues that the motives of people are the distal factors of their behavior, with a constructed intention to capture the motivation of individuals to perform a particular behavior. Adolescents who have more favourable attitudes towards engaging in frequent SNS use, more confidence in their ability to access and utilize SNSs, and believe that frequent SNS use is normative among their friendship group will have stronger intentions to engage in frequent SNS use.”. In other words, the results indicate that adolescents with positive behaviors that engage in frequent use of SNS, have greater pride in their ability to access and use SNSs, and believing that frequent use of SNS is normal among certain friendship groups must have stronger intentions to engage in frequent use of SNS. The study results offered partial support for the standard TPB model in that attitude, and PBC significantly predicted the intentions of adolescents to participate in regular use of SNS, while intention significantly predicted recorded use of SNS. The findings also supported the inclusion of the group standard as a major predictor of the intentions of adolescents to participate in regular use of SNS. However, self-esteem did not emerge as a major predictor of behavioral intentions.
Adolescent online social networking behaviors from 2006 to 2009
Justin Patchin (2010) conducted a study aimed to evaluate the degree to which the disclosure of adolescent information on MySpace.com changed between 2006 and 2009. There have recently been concerns about adolescents engaging in MySpace in ways that could endanger their safety or lead to problematic, deviant or criminal results. In particular, researchers assume that adolescents have decreased the frequency of uploading revealing photos in recent years; swearing on publicly viewable pages; displaying the use of cigarettes , alcohol, or marijuana; and sharing personal details that could be used to identify them. Profiles have been closely checked by professional research assistants who have searched for relevant information that is at risk, questionable, or known. latest research shows that their accounts have been abandoned by a large number of MySpace users. In 2009, 44.1% of sampled profiles were null or were deleted (compared with 6.4% in 2006). It remains plausible that online social networking is simply losing its luster for some communities outside of these innovations. To better understand where these young people are going and why, further research is needed. Teenagers more often limit access to their accounts and less often share private information about public profiles. While it is difficult to know exactly why teenagers are becoming more concerned about their privacy from the current research, it may simply be that messages warning of the implications of too much online exposure are being heard and implemented.
Conclusion
To conclude, social networking sites may have an effect on risk-taking actions in which we already know that most adolescents are starting to behave, albeit before the advent of social media. For teenagers who use social media on a regular basis, positive and negative motivations exist. While social media can be addictive, for a frequent period of time, there are some positive results such as keeping your social media accounts private or bad effects of using social media, such as drinking and smoking only because kids there do it too. Researchers found that many young people have abandoned their MySpace accounts, with some making a suggestion that visitors have switched to other social networking environments on their profiles. There was research that offered partial support for the standard TPB model in that attitude, and PBC significantly predicted the intentions of adolescents to participate in regular use of SNS, while intention significantly predicted recorded use of SNS. The findings also supported the inclusion of the group standard as a major predictor of the intentions of adolescents to participate in regular use of SNS. Also, some results showed that facebook is useful and informative there should be more research on the recommended behaviors amongst more teens and not adults, more studies on the relationship of social media usage and the effects on whether it’s positive or negative to rule out the pros and cons of sns and more research on other places to see the variety social media use has affected teens in different parts of the world.
