Living A Social Wall By Arko

Imagine you are on your laptop, you have some free time, so you go on facebook, to check what is going on with your friends life. However, your parents scream at you the moment they see what you are doing on your laptop. Have you ever wondered why they are screaming at you? There are so many teenagers that spend half their time on social media. So many teenagers that have fights with their parents, just because their parents want to know what their children are doing at all times. These fights can be fought with words, unfortunately, they are often fought with strength. They are fought as hard as Katniss fights in the Hunger Games arena, they fight as if they are fighting for their lives. So, why do teenagers spend so much time on social media? What is their to fight about?

A study suggests that 52% of 8 to 16 year olds have a social media account. However, only 32% of their parents feel very confident about helping their kids stay safe online. Also, 63% of parents check their kids internet usage and their history once a week, to make sure that they are not doing anything wrong or going on the wrong sites. 21% are not confident they could install parental controls on their child’s computer. This shows that parents are not monitoring their children as much as they can. Fortunately, they still try to see what their children are doing on social media, by checking their screens, when they are on their laptops and following them on social media, to see what their children are posting. Unfortunately, some teenagers still find a way to do the wrong things on a social media site.

At the age of 11 teenagers create a fake account to get access to sites like facebook, where the restriction age is 13. A recent study by facebook showed that there are 83.09 million fake accounts that are being used either to log into other sites or to maintain a profile for your personal pet. Facebook has made three categories for fake accounts. Duplicate accounts, misclassified accounts and undesirable accounts. A recent survey suggests that 13/40 teenagers created an account when they were under the age of 13. Also that same survey suggests that 22 of 40 teenagers have more than one account on facebook and other social media platforms and 19 of 40 teenagers have accounts they just made, to get access to specific sites.

Duplicate accounts are 4.8% of Facebook’s active members. These are accounts that are made on behalf of other people or they are just another personal account. This goes against facebook’s terms of service, as it is noted in there that you are not allowed to have more than one personal account or make accounts on behalf of friends.

Misclassified accounts are accounts made for companies, groups or pets. These accounts are allowed on facebook. However, they need to be created on pages. There are 22.9 million accounts that are misclassified accounts, facebook estimates that 2.4% of facebook’s live membership body are misclassified accounts. A recent survey suggests that 13/40 teenagers created an account when they were under the age of 13.

The third party of accounts is the smallest amount of people. However, it is the most troublesome group. 1.5% of all active accounts are undesirable account, this is 14 million of the facebook membership body. These accounts are created to violate the facebook laws, they are used for things like spamming.

As it shows there are many people in the world that create fake accounts, and use facebook for the wrong thing. Fortunately, the amount of people that have fake accounts are still hugely outnumbered by people who do the right thing. Recently an interview was conducted on why kids use social media and why kids like it? The subject of the interview is an 8th grader named John Krupa.

John Krupa has multiple social media accounts. We asked him “ Why do you use social media?” He answered “ I like using it to connect with my friends easily and it’s fun, seeing what my friends do outside of school. Also, I like posting what I do, and letting my friends know what I do.” He also stated that “ Its good that people are creating these ways to connect with friends, because it’s easier to connect with them, rather than just calling them or emailing them. It also costs less to connect with far relatives, on skype rather than conducting an overseas call.” This shows that kids are not doing anything illegal or wrong on facebook, they are just enjoying the resources they have been handed. They connect with their friends and they are being social.

As you may have seen there are many cons about social media. Fortunately, there as many pros. Social media can help students with their academic work. 59% of students state that social media sites are used to discuss educational topics and 50% use sites to talk about school assignments. George Middle School introduced a social media program to engage students in their learning. After this was set, the grades has went up 50% and chronic absenteeism went down 33%. Also 20% of students voluntarily completed extra assignments. So, when adults say that social media is distracting students from their work, they need to realise that it can help the students as well, if used carefully and correctly.

Social media can help build relationships and create new ones. 70% of adult social networking users visit sites that connect you with friends and relatives. Also, increased online communication strengthens relationships. 52% of teens using social media state that has helped their relationships in some manner. Also 88% report that social media help them to stay in touch with old friends and friends they do not get to see regularly. 69% state that they get to know students they hardly meet, and 57% make new friends. A recent survey suggests that the only reason why teenagers use and like social media is because it is the easiest way to connect with their friends. As stated in the interview earlier on.

As parents you want to make sure that your kids are safe. You want to make sure that they are not doing the wrong thing, every single time they sign on to a social media website, you are protective of them, which you have every right to be, as the people that have brought the children into this world, you want to make sure that they are happy all their lifes and safe. However, the teenagers are only ever happy, if they are on their phones, or on social media. So, there is a way to get it both ways. You can make sure he or she is safe on social media, and they can spend all their free time on their phones chatting to their friends.

One thing that parents can do to make sure that the teenagers are doing the right thing, is that they can be their friends on facebook or twitter. By doing this you can monitor what they are doing on facebook, and see if they are posting anything wrong, or if they are commenting on something they shouldn’t be. Parents have to always make sure that they are using their computers in a public place, so you can see their screens, and also discreetly check their history. However, make sure that you respect their privacy and make sure that you don’t break the trust that you have with them.

So, parents don’t be scared that your teenagers are always on social media, just make sure that you know what they are doing and just make sure that you can see what they are doing at all times they are on their laptops. Also, you have to trust them. There might be many stereotypes about how teens always do the wrong thing. But, they don’t. You have to trust them. If you break that trust, it will be like glass falling off a table, it will last an eternity before you fix it, if you fix it. So, don’t break their trusts. Otherwise they will not trust you. If they don’t then you will face mass crisis, on whether they are doing the right thing.