“95% of teens are now online and 77% of these teens are users of social networking sites.” (“The Good, the Bad and the (Not So) Ugly of Teen Social Networking”) How do you know you’re safe when millions if not billions of people are watching you or “cyber-stalking” you? What would you do if you witnessed cyberbullying and children posting inappropriate pictures and messages? It’s hard to focus on the important things in life when you are in a social networking war. American adolescents should immediately stop using social networking sites because the sites diminish in-person communication, increase the vulnerability of young users, and make the lack of maturity on the social networking sites prominent.

Social networking is defeating the purposes of collaborating face to face with peers. “Online interaction can become a substitute for actual meetings, which can hurt social development and isolate users.” (“The Pros and Cons of Social Media”) Children should be outside being active rather than stalking pages on Facebook. All this use of technology has been focused on the implications for kids’ intellectual development. (Stout) Limiting the amount of time spent on technology will help activate kids mentally and physically. Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia M. Greenfield, psychologists at California State University, Los Angeles, and UCLA note, “Initial qualitative evidence is that the ease of electronic communication may be making teens less interested in face to face communication with friends.” (Stout) Clearly, social networking sites bring risk to real life social interaction and intellectual development in children.

Scrolling down your friends page, you think of how great their life is---then you think of yours. These days more and more children are becoming vulnerable due to the technology. Vulnerability in kids can also be a precursor to emotional problems later in life.(“Facebook, Twitter, Social Networking: Good or Bad for Kid’s Brain”)That vulnerability can possibly lead to depression. Now that children know about their friends personal life, they realize how much they wish they could do the same things. “Pediatricians observe that some teens suffer from ‘Facebook depression’. After spending a lot of time on Facebook and other popular social networking sites, some teens become anxious and moody.” (“Facebook, Twitter, Social Networking: Good or Bad for Kid’s Brain”) Unfortunately, teens who are depressed can become suicidal. If children are taking their lives due to social networking sites, then why do we continue to allow their access?

“88% of teens say they’ve witnessed people being mean and cruel to another person on a social networking site and 15% have been the target of that meanness.” (“The Good, the Bad and the (Not So) Ugly of Teen Social Networking”) Kids allow fellow peers to manipulate them and their friends. Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University, conducted a study that concluded that the “extended use of social networks like Facebook can result in a decrease in empathy among teens and thus an increase in narcissism.” (“Facebook, Twitter, Social Networking: Good or Bad for Kid’s Brain”)

It is often argued that social networks help more than hurt. Admittedly, kids are more social with the numerous conversations going on back and forth. Nevertheless, social networks allow grammatical errors and teachers have seen a decline in students’ speech and writing proficiency. Not only that, children are not trying to make the right decisions. In addition to it being the parents fault for not taking the necessary precautions towards sites, these kids are denying the fact that children their age are in a state of rebellion that can be fairly inappropriate at some times. Adolescents’ use of social networking sites must end.
The level of appropriateness of adolescents has dramatically decreased. 44% of teens have lied about their age to gain access to a website or online account. If a 12 year old says she is 21 to gain access to Facebook her account would automatically be set to public rather than lying she was 13 and having it automatically be set to private. (Balkman) It’s unnecessary for children to feel the need to lie about their age. We are teaching them bad morals be allowing their access by fraud. Not only do these children lie, they post regretful pictures and cyber bully one another. Jodi RR Smith, president of the etiquette firm Mannersmith said technology magnifies our behavior.(“The Anti-Social Network”) Poorly disciplined children will become worse than they were towards their friends, family, classmates, and adults. Without a doubt, these children are not mature enough to be on social networking sites.

Adolescents’ access to social networks must cease as soon as possible. If we do not take action, we will be jeopardizing childrens’ socializing skills, there will be an increased frailty among them, and they might post comments and pictures that could come back to haunt them in the future. Social networking software engineers need to create programs to prevent underage access. In this stage of their lives, tweens should be focused on their academics and family, not what to put as their Twitter status.

Works Cited

Balkam, Stephen. "The Good, the Bad and the (Not So) Ugly of Teen Social Networking." Huffington Post. N.p., 09 Nov. 2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. <www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-balkam/the-good-the-bad-and-the_3_b_1082314.html>.

Cooper, Glenda. "The Anti-Social Network." Web log post. The Telegraph. N.p., 04 Dec. 2012. Web. 15 Feb. 2013. <www.telegrapth.co.uk/technology/mobile-phones/9719067/ The-anti-social-network-.html>.

"Facebook, Twitter, Social Networking:Good or Bad for Kid's Brain?" Raise Smart Kid. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. <http://www.raisesmartkid.com/10-to-16-years-old/6-articles/43-facebook-myspace-twitter-good-or-bad-for-kids-brain>.

Stout, Hilary. "Antisocial Networking?" The New York Times. N.p., 30 Apr. 2010. Web. 11 Feb. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/fashion/02BEST.html?pagewanted=all>.

Urban, Mike. "The Pros and Cons of Social Media." Reading Eagle. N.p., 04 Sept. 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=412755>.