Understanding Culture, Society & Politics

GRADE 12

Name: Tyrese Liamari P. Tablazon Section: STEM12 C

Teacher: Sir Michael Salcedo Date Submitted: September 14, 2022

Activity 25 Descriptive Essay

DIRECTIONS: Based on the article, write a short descriptive essay on the context, content processes and consequences
of socialization.

SOCIAL MEDIA-ALTERED SOCIALIZATION

Children and Teen Socialization in the Age of social media

With new social media platforms being invented daily, today’s younger generations are growing up under the influence
of a new kind of socialization. The ever-increasing presence of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and countless others
adds a level of instantaneous socialization that earlier generations never experienced. This phenomenon has many experts
in the world of psychotherapy analyzing social media’s effects on adolescent social skills. There are positives and negatives
to every altered social skill. And the first step in counter-acting or proactively preventing the negatives is to be aware of
them.

Juliet Thomas is a local professional counselor at Roots Counseling who specializes in adolescents. Here, she helps us
understand the changes in adolescent social skills that constant exposure to social media could be causing. She also lends
some expert advice on how to prevent negative developmental effects.

Instant Gratification

With the immediacy that social media provides, patience and persistence are becoming less-developed qualities in
adolescents. As Thomas puts it, “social media is creating a need for instant gratification or reaction from peers. Receiving
this instant response can create a need for immediacy in other things as well.”

Intentionally building patience could prove to be a very useful practice for today’s younger generations and help to
decrease internal sensations of urgency and any resulting anxieties. Spending time on “real-life” activities that yield
results, such as cooking, sports, or school clubs, are all great ways to practice patience in a social setting.

Effective Communication

“There is something unique and insightful when people meet face to face and read one another’s body language that
social media communication is eliminating from adolescents’ socialization,” Thomas says. When we speak in person, there
are verbal and non-verbal cues that help convey the point. Body language, eye contact, tone of voice, and behavior all
increase understanding. When those elements are stripped away, the other party is left to decipher more of the meaning
for themselves. This can easily, and often do, lead to misunderstandings.

On the other hand, “social media can be positively used to help adolescents feel connected or a part of a community,”
Thomas explains. This instant and easy form of communication and sharing has increased the number of people that
adolescents are able to interact with daily.

Social Anxiety

“Adolescents are learning ways to communicate without accountability and, when in a social environment, it seems there
is a heightened anxiety to talk with others,” Thomas says.

These anxieties in social settings are influencing the way adolescents are building and maintaining relationships. Being
more intentional about the time spent in-person with friends and family can help strengthen in-person communication,
and consequently, relationships. It is important to have adolescents spend more time in face-to-face conversations by
encouraging them to invite friends over, or to go out with people.
 Understanding Culture, Society & Politics
GRADE 12

Conflict Resolution

This is a challenging social skill to develop for anyone, but with the disconnected communication that social media
provides, it is especially challenging for adolescents. Thomas says, “There is a level of comfort when adolescents
communicate through social media. He or she may feel protected from another person’s reaction.”

This ‘protective’ distance helps people feel more comfortable when communicating through a tense situation. But when
faced with the same conflict in person, adolescents are more uncomfortable than other generations, simply because they
have less experience with it. The ability to communicate clearly when under pressure (and without the chance to
backspace on a comment before posting it) is becoming rarer.

Accountability

“It is much easier for most of us to state something in writing versus stating it out loud to someone’s face,” Thomas notes,
“And social media allows adolescents to feel protected from a peer’s reaction. There seems to be a pattern of adolescents
“saying” statements to others that he or she may not have said face to face. The problem with this type of communication
is a ‘normalizing’ of aggressive verbal statements and impulsive statements.”

Thomas goes on to explain that impulsive behavior is typical of the developmental stage of adolescents. Unfortunately,
this disconnects in action and subsequent results has led to an increase in cyber bullying – a very real crime with very real
consequences.

“I really encourage parents to keep adolescents’ phones at night. Many times, adolescents have access to social media 24
hours a day. Once adolescents are taught appropriate ways to deal with peers and impulse control, I have seen
improvements in social media etiquette,” Thomas advises.

While social media is a powerful tool for connecting with others, it is important, especially for developing younger
generations, to still practice in-person interactions – it can strengthen their communication skills, social skills,
relationships, sense of responsibility, and self-esteem.

https://healthscopemag.com/health-scope/social-media-altered-socialization/

Write your answers in this format:

Content of Socialization Context of Socialization Process and Consequences of

Socialization helps individuals to
get used to the norms, values, and
rules or even regulations in the
society to that they belong. As
teens trek the road to adolescence,
famous motivational lines such as
patience is a virtue reverberate in
their heads as foreboding
reminders from their
parents. Learning baby steps on
things and real-life activities are
useful tools for patience and
persistence to thrive in their minds.
Communication as a by-product of
socialization if coupled with verbal
and non-verbal cues encourages
understanding among adolescents.
Thus, forming a healthy and lasting
relationship with their peers is not
something difficult but rather
effortless for them. In this digital
age, teens look up to the media as
their invisible buddy who protects
Social media pose an enormous
challenge to the interpersonal
interaction of teens which can now
happen online and face-to-face.
The emergence of instant
gratification which teens tend to
seek can be viewed as social
acceptance from the web
community. But if the outcome is
not favorable to them, teens lurk in
the dark and avoid being
accountable. From the protective
cudgels of their parents, teens
succumb to media as their
protective armor against human
judgment.
Socialization
Acceptance for teens is a great
deal making it a confidence booster
for them. Now that social media is
within their grasp, it has become a
window to their souls. The real-time
reactions to their social media
posts give them the feeling of
euphoria where their happy pills are
overflowing. But if the outcome is
not favorable, social attacks can
ensue and start up an online fight
which some teens find okay to deal
with. Aggressive and impulsive
comments proliferate on the net
because teens did not have to be
confronted with the other person’s
reactions face-to-face. Thus, they
do not feel accountable for their
actions. Making those not-well-
thought-of comments acceptable in
their vocabulary. Therefore, social
media has changed the way teens
communicate with the world. If the
misguided behavior remains
 Understanding Culture, Society & Politics
GRADE 12
them from the social anxiety of uncorrected, the embedded social
dealing with things head-on. norms and values in their young
minds can be perceived by them as
an acceptable form of socialization.

Rubric:

1
2 0
COMPONENT PARTIALLY SCORE
ACCEPTABLE NOT ACCEPTABLE
ACCEPTABLE

CLAIM (10%)
Gives an incorrect answer
A statement that answers Gives a correct but
Gives a correct and or does not give any
the question or the incomplete answer.
complete answer. answer at all.
problem posed.

EVIDENCE (30%) Provides appropriate but

Provides appropriate and
sufficient text from article
Text from article or or problem that supports
problem cited to support the claim.
the claim.
insufficient text from article
Does not provide any text
or problem that supports the
from article or problem
claim. May also include
that supports the claim.
some inappropriate
evidence/s.

REASONING (60%) Does not provide any

Provides explanation that
shows the connection or
Explanation of how or relationship of evidence/s
why the cited texts to the claim.
support the claim.
explanation about how or
Provides partial or
why evidence/s is/are
incomplete explanation or
related to the claim. Or
relationship of evidence/s to
provides explanation not
the claim.
related to the claim or
evidence/s.

TOTAL SCORE