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When it comes to teens and their social media habits, there's some great news and some not-so-great news. It can make your child a fast learner, but it is also associated with a host of psychological disorders.
The findings, part of a presentation on the effects of social media at the American Psychological Association's annual convention, were all culled from recent research by Larry D. Rosen, Ph.D., psychology professor at California State University.
For teens, social networking is much like "training wheels for life," Rosen told The Huffington Post. They post information and see how others react to it, learning as they go. One major benefit of this is that social networking can help shy teens become more comfortable and outgoing.
"Everybody knows that what you write is public, but because there's a screen in front of you, you feel somewhat anonymous," Rosen said.
Facebook can also have a positive impact on young adults' lives by helping them be more empathetic, Rosen says. His research shows people who engage in more Facebook activities -- more status updates, more photo uploads, more "likes" -- also display more virtual empathy. If someone posts he had a difficult day, and you post a comment saying, "Call me if you need anything," you've just displayed virtual empathy. Even better, Rosen's preliminary research suggests this could also translate into empathy in the real world.
14 hours ago (3:05 PM)
children are narcissists. they are also naturally empathic. the thing about technology is it’s bad when it causes you to become isolated and to experience emotions the way the media does (which is sort of bipolar in its reactions). as long as kids can get away from the freaking electronic devices for awhile they should be OK, but when they walk around with it in the palm of their hand all day staring at it then its like sucking a pacifier at age 23 – sick.
14 hours ago (3:07 PM)
Teenagers are, by definition, narcissistic.
And there is nothing new under the sun that can be said about teenagers. It’s been said. The graffiti in the Roman Empire is full of complaints about "today’s out of control youth."
14 hours ago (3:07 PM)
Teens weren’t already narcissistic?
14 hours ago (3:08 PM)
The graffiti in the Roman Empire WAS full of complaints…"
14 hours ago (3:09 PM)
What I see, and I see it much more in young women than in young men, is the need to tell the world everything about their life. Not only is it a bore to read for the rest of us, it smacks of extreme narcissism. I work with alot of people in their 20′s and they are on Facebook all the time. Telling us things like "I’m going to work" etc. I think it’s a real problem. Some things you should just keep personal about yourself, and you are really full of yourself if you think people care about your every waking moment. Reality shows also to me only make this worse. It seems like it’s a whole generation of me, me, me and behavior that would really have been frowned on when I grew up. If these are the future mothers of America – ugh.
13 hours ago (3:20 PM)
This assumes teens weren’t already Narcissists?
13 hours ago (3:22 PM)
This program, PBS "Digital Nation," adds a great deal to this discussion.
13 hours ago (3:26 PM)
Do teens need Facebook to make them narcissistic?
13 hours ago (3:26 PM)
Hahahaha– yeah, it’s technology to blame for the levels of teenage narcissism…
Try God/Human nature for the cause.
13 hours ago (3:29 PM)
This has been planet me me me me for a long time, social media has given all the me’s a sense of we’s
12 hours ago (4:44 PM)
lol u funny,, but right Hec..
12 hours ago (4:43 PM)
that is not good… You have be real careful with kids online. especially girls.
12 hours ago (4:30 PM)
my little sister wont let me use the PC most of the time.. I had to buy a laptop.. Be telling my mom she need to keep her off that fb and stuff..
13 hours ago (4:13 PM)
auto correct saves the day.. lmao
11 hours ago (5:28 PM)
lol
13 hours ago (4:02 PM)
love auto correct Hec…
hey that rhymed.. lmao…
13 hours ago (3:37 PM)
Why would teens even need school when their Facebook or Twitter wall has auto correct? Too many people (Especially young kids) are taking social media sites as the #1 priority in life. This is dangerous and sad….
By the way, if you are looking for a great STATUS for the wall then check these out.. some real cute ones here… Facebook status that will get you likes…
http://statusisbaddest.com/?p=15
13 hours ago (3:59 PM)
Is Facebook making teens [even more] narcissistic? Does the Pope wear a funny hat?
12 hours ago (5:00 PM)
Let me get this straight; First came Facebook; THEN came narcissism.
10 hours ago (6:41 PM)
First it was MySpace and all the mess on that, then it was youtube, now it is Facebook. I remember when we did not have computers, they use to blame the parents when we ran away and called us drug addicts when we did not even use drugs. We just could not stand our parents arguing all the time.
4 hours ago (12:56 AM)
Facebook makes shy persons more outgoing and sociable.
Really? Does that mean that when an otherwise shy person sees a computer screen on the streets he/she will walk right up to it and introduce herself/himself..
16 hours ago (12:47 PM)
It’s certainly time for social media to enter into a new category. Here is my 2cents on this whole internet -> search Engine -> Social media evolution:
- Early 90s: WWW was born…
- By mid 90′s: millions of sites popped up on the Web…
- Mid – late 90s: Yahoo & Google were born to help us to find the right information of the right pages on the Web…
- Early 2000: Social media was born…
- Late 2000: Millions of pages created by people, companies, and organizations on all these social media channels.
- 2011: Deja vu all over again… we are back to early 90’s…
- 2012 and beyond… the days of just setting up a website or blog to promote yourself, your talent, your business, and your solution offerings AND creating a page for them on Facebook, LinkedIn, are Twitter are O-V-E-R!. Your social media pages and sites should be on a place where the vast number of users and communities can easily find you, learn about you – AND – express their opinion/rate you and your goodies and that’s http://awesomize.me baby! If you are confident you are selling something awesome, you need the power of the crowd to promote you (and your company) anyway.
14 hours ago (2:47 PM)
As kids explore the outer world, its important that they also explore their inner world and learn tools for developing their full mental potential. Teaching meditation to kids has shown me how centering and stabilizing a little quiet time is for them. When children meditate for a few minutes every day, they have a healthy way to balance the the tendency to get caught up in the stimulation and buzz of media use.