Watson

Darrian Watson
September 19, 2016
Composition II
Section
Tammy Scaife
Exploring Essay
Teens and social media addiction: Can parents truly control their teens use of electronic
technology?
In todays society teens spend a great majority of their day communicating with their friends,
peers and even with their parents using at least one of the latest technological devices such as the
smartphone, computer and video game systems. Mobile phone use is skyrocketing among teens
with 8 out of 10 teens owning a cellphone (Mobile and Computer
Monitoring, 2012). Its rare to
find a teen who doesnt have a smartphone in their possession at some point during their day,
even in their classroom. Some argue that teens are becoming addicted to such devices, paying
more attention to the many texts and social media messages they receive and send each day than
paying attention to their school work. As soon as they hear a ping from their phone, they are
pulling it out of their pockets or purse to read their new messages, even while they should be
paying attention in class. My stance is that parents could do more in regards to policing the use
of electronic technology amongst their adolescents and teens so that it doesnt lead to addictive
behavior. In the following paragraphs I will support my stance by exploring the following
questions: Is the use of technological devices to access social media becoming addictive to

Watson

teens? Can parents truly gain better control over their teens use of social media? Is the use of
social media causing teens to be more stressed out?
The first thing I will explore is whether or not teens have become addictive to social
media and texting. If you were to ask that of a teenage boy or girl, they would say that is not the
case. You would probably hear them say that this is the norm now; how they communicate with
the outside world and they could easily limit their use if they wanted to. According to one
source, kids are sending an average of 2,108 texts every month, with an average of 556,512

words a year (Mobile and Computer Monitoring, 2012). This source also says that 65 percent
of those kids have sent a text in the middle of the night (Mobile and Computer Monitoring,
2012). These statistics proves they are spending lots of time using their cell phones to
communicate with others. When the teen is behind their bedroom doors at night, supposedly
sleep in bed, they are really on social media such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
Research has shown that no matter how hard a parent tries they cant completely police
their teens use during these hours unless they take the phone from them prior to bedtime.
According to one source, parents have struggled for years with how to ensure their teenagers
properly

use these electronic devices (National Consumers League, 2011). Most say they buy
them for peace of mind and safety when they are away from their child, leading parents these
days to buy cell phones, for kids as young as 6 years old (Mobile and Computer Monitoring,
2012) . With them starting out so young using such devices along with the advances in social
media today its hard to keep track of all that your children do, especially teenagers. Should
parents take devices from teens when they do something wrong, will this help curtail the bad
behavior of their teen? My answer is that simply taking away these electronic devices, will not

Watson

stop them from accessing it, especially when most parents spend a good amount of their day
away from their kids in general.
Teens have access to their friends cellphones when they go to school or at after school
activities and computers at the school library. Although on school computers they limit students
access to certain type of sites. I feel it would be a waste of time away to say that you are
punishing them completely off use of social media, like Facebook, Twitter, and SnapChat. Even
though a parent has good intentions when they take away their teens smartphones or video
games as punishment, they can still access social media by other means, like through video
games and smart TVS, unless they are all completely taken away. For a teen that is addicted to
accessing social media, believe me they will find a way to check their messages or send out
tweets to their friends when their use has been restricted by a parent for overuse and/or misuse.
According to research, sometimes when a parent tries to curtail their teens activity on the use of
their cellphone or other devices, this causes a teen to rebel and sometimes close themselves off
from the family and become even more secretive in their behavior (Fox News, 2014).
With teen addictiveness to social media and using electronic devices as part of their daily
rituals, parents are losing way more control over their teenagers social media activity even with
parental controls in place on their personal devices. As we know teens can be sneaky, finding
way to access social media when their use at home has been limited, by use of their friends
phones or creating new accounts that their parents know nothing about as well as hiding posts
from timelines or sending private messages. One sources tells us that many communication
carriers have created technology that gives parents control over their kids use of their devices
and services (National Consumer League, 2011). I argue that teens are so creative and smart

Watson

these days that they find a way around some of these limitations put on them by finding other
ways of accessing social media, hiding texts and photos on their phones so that others can view if
the pick up their phone. Its hard to know who your child is talking to behind all those electronic
devices according to one source, leading to anxiety of who or what may be influencing your teen
(National Consumer League, 2011). In the news today, we hear stories about teachers having
inappropriate relationships with their students, sexting messages and inappropriate photos, they
go on for long periods of time before coming to another adults attention.
When a parent sends their child to school, they are entrusting them to their care, not to start
sexual relationships with their underage kid. Research says a best practice for parents is to talk to
their children so that they know what is acceptable, what sites they should stay away from, who
to text and who not to text (National Consumer League, 2011). Is it enough just to talk to your
teens about the Dos and Donts when they access social networking sites and use other
technology media? This leads to my next point, is the addictiveness to electronic devices and
access to social media causing stress in the lives of teens that is causing distractions and leading
to depression and sometimes suicide? Because teens are way more secretive today, parents dont
always know who their kids friends are or if they are having issues such as being bullied by one
of their peers at school or in the neighborhood until its gone too far. Teens are using social
media to bully other teens, posting insulting and hurtful things about them for the whole world to
see. This leads to the teen becoming stressed, which leads to their grades dropping, becoming
depressed and closed off from family and friends.
One source, says Tell your children that if someone they are talking to online harasses,
bullies, or makes them uncomfortable in any way, they should talk to a parent, teacher, or an

Watson

adult they trust (NoBullying Bullying CyberBullying Resources, 2014). However, as we know
this doesnt always happen, because the teens feel like they can handle the pressure of what is
happening to them, so it would be important for parents to keep trying to communicate with their
teens so that they know they are there for them at all times. While exploring this topic I learned
that a lot of teens dont feel comfortable speaking with their parents or feel that their parents are
too busy and dont want to bother them. This leads to teens holding in their feelings and trying
to deal with issues on their own. Social media is used for both good and bad purposes according
to Nobullying.com. This source goes on to say that Understanding which types of behavior
constitute social media bullying can help a parent and their child identify if he or she has become
a victim so they behavior can be handled appropriately (NoBullying Bullying CyberBullying
Resources, 2014).
With me being a teenager and having access to social media, I have firsthand witnessed some
of my peers being picked on, joked about on some of these sites. Its starts with comments on
pictures or memes about a person and unless someone puts a stop to it, the next thing you know
its all around the school. These types of occurrence on social media can cause teens to become
stressed, react in a violent manner against those who started bullying them on social media. As
many of have seen in recent years when the teen feels they have no way out this often leads to
teen suicide and others being caught in the crossfire when retaliation occurs as we have seen in
the news with recent school shootings over. In the following paragraph I will provide a
conclusion on teen use of electronic technology and social media, how parents can better monitor
their teen use of social media, and how to help teens when social media has stressed them out.

Watson

In conclusion, parents should stay on top of their teens use of electronic devices such as the
cell-phone and tablets that I mentioned earlier. It is important that they know sooner rather than
later when something negative is going on in the lives of their teens before things get out of
hand. The teenage years should be a time of joy and happiness and learning about themselves
and looking forward to their future more so than being stressed about being bullied online by
their peers on social media. Parents, educators and other adults need to continue to find ways to
help teenagers through these trying use, giving instruction and guidance on whats right and
wrong. We know teens will be teens, however, it should be understood they are not the ones in
charge. With that being said, set the restrictions and let your teens know that is being done out of
love and for their protection and not to cause stress for them or hurt them in anyway.

Watson

Works Cited
"Approximately 75 Percent of Teens Own a Cell Phone, Parents Try to Stay on Top April
9, 2012Parental Control0 Comments." Mobile and Computer Monitoring Software
RSS. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.
<http://www.mobistealth.com/blog/approximately-75-percent-teens-cell-phone-pare
nts-stay-top/>.
Kardaras, Dr. Nicholas. "Plugged-in and Tuned-out: The Dangers of Teenage Virtual
Addiction | Fox News." Fox News. FOX News Network, 26 Sept. 2014. Web. 19 Sept.
2016.<http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/09/26/plugged-in-and-tuned-out-how-t
o-handle-teenage-virtual-addiction.html>.
"Parents: Take Control over Your Children's Use of Technology." National Consumers
League. Web. 19 Sept.2016.
<http://www.nclnet.org/parental_controls_managing_children_s_wireless_usage>.
"Social Media Bullying Has Become a Serious Problem." NoBullying Bullying
CyberBullying Resources. 2016. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.
<http://nobullying.com/social-media-bullying-has-become-a-serious-problem/>.

Watson

Annotated Bibliography
"Approximately 75 Percent of Teens Own a Cell Phone, Parents Try to Stay on Top April
9, 2012Parental Control0 Comments." Mobile and Computer Monitoring Software
RSS. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.
<http://www.mobistealth.com/blog/approximately-75-percent-teens-cell-phone-pare
nts-stay-top/>.
This article begins by saying when it comes to smartphones, may think about the iPhone
first, as these have become quite popular, especially with teens. According to statistics 65
percent have sent a text in the middle of the night, 70 percent have received a text from
someone who was not in their contacts list and 69 percent have received a call from
someone who was not in their contacts list. The article states many parents struggle with
when to purchase these devices for their children and how to ensure they are behaving
properly with their phones
Kardaras, Dr. Nicholas. "Plugged-in and Tuned-out: The Dangers of Teenage Virtual
Addiction | Fox News." Fox News. FOX News Network, 26 Sept. 2014. Web. 19 Sept.
2016.<http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/09/26/plugged-in-and-tuned-out-how-t
o-handle-teenage-virtual-addiction.html>.
This article begins with a question, Whats the biggest addition problem facing our kids
today and what should we watch out for? It goes on to state that the most significant issue
negatively impacting younger kids and teenagers today is the addictive, pervasive and
damaging effects of video-gaming, social media and excessive Internet usage. The article

Watson

describes how their use is leading to anxiety, depression and addiction and the affects it
has on the brain. It states that 23% of American youth, ages 8-18 feel addicted to video
games. According to a Yale University Study, teens engaged in problematic Internet
use were more likely to be depressed, aggressive and to use drugs.
"Parents: Take Control over Your Children's Use of Technology." National Consumers
League. Web. 19 Sept.2016.
<http://www.nclnet.org/parental_controls_managing_children_s_wireless_usage>.
The National Consumer League begins the article telling saying that from smart phones
to tablets computers, to hundreds of channels and thousands of on-demand video
offerings on TV, consumers have more options than ever to spend their time. The articles
talks about parental control options available to parents to limit their kids use of their
electronic devices and restrict the content that they can access through many of the major
communication characters. The article goes on to explore how the content that is
available for children today on TV, behind the scenes on electronic devices and the
World Wide Web is causing parents anxiety and provides best practices to help parents to
better protect their children through methods such as purchase blocker, content filters and
usage restrictions.
"Social Media Bullying Has Become a Serious Problem." NoBullying Bullying
CyberBullying Resources. 2016. Web. 19 Sept. 2016.
<http://nobullying.com/social-media-bullying-has-become-a-serious-problem/>.

Watson

10

The article begins by giving some background on bullying stating While bullying isnt
something new, but it has certainly changed over the years, the reason you hear about it
so much today is because it is happening in more places than ever before. In the past,
children were often bullied at school or in the neighborhood at home. Today, with the
increased use of the Internet and social media, children are now being bullied in all
locations, at all times. According to NoBullying, this article talks about a variety of topics
surrounding social media bullying. It states because bullying on social media has become
such a serious problem, it is important to teach your children what they can do to protect
themselves. One of the most important things is to ensure your child has the appropriate
privacy settings so random people dont have access to their profile.
Runcan, Remus. "Facebookmania - The Psychical Addiction To Facebook And Its
Incidence On The Z Generation." Social Work Review / Revista De Asistenta Sociala
14.3 (2015): 127-136. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 20 Sept. 2016
This article begins by talking about the Z generation aka the generation born after 1995.
That they all have some sort of electronic device in their hands that they cant let go.
That this generation is made up of individuals that are independent, individualistic,
narcissistic, and hurried, and pursuing very carefully their personal goals. That the
younger generation belongs to a type of social networks based on communication.
Agarwal, Vivek, and Sujit Kumar Kar. "Technology addiction in adolescents." Journal of
Indian Association for Child & Adolescent Mental Health July 2015: 170+. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 21 Sept. 2016

Watson

11

This editorial explores how the use of technology affects adolescents. It states that those
with poor coping skills, often find it difficult to deal with day to day minor issues and
engage with mobile or internet to distract themselves from the stressful situations.
Frequent use of this maladaptive avoidance behavior is a potential risk factor of
technology addiction. One study said that adolescents addicted to technology, often get
socially isolated. It also says that children and adolescents are not mature enough to
understand adverse effects associated with excessive use of these things and they are
easily likely to be hooked to modern technologies and that parents are also promoting use
of technologies without thinking about the ill-effects it has on their children.