#9: Barclay’s Formula – Technology

As technology continues to evolve, our lives are affected in many ways. These new technological devices are enabling the mass communication that takes place on numerous social media accounts such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook. These social media sites are allowing teens to create profiles where they can fabricate their appearance into something they deem as “perfect”. In Sam Anderson’s article, “In Defense of Distraction”, he even describes teens’ social media usage as an “addiction”, which “would make it a disorder to be taken as seriously as schizophrenia” (8). Anderson’s quote depicts how serious the impact of the internet has become on society. This addiction, which is transforming the way many teens live, should not be taken lightly and should even be addressed as a true disease. Similar to Anderson’s ideas, Jean Twenge, a published pyschologist, describes in her article, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”, that teens’ social media usage can be related to poor mental health and low self-confidence. Twenge explains that girls “use social media more often, giving them additional opportunities to feel excluded and lonely when they see their friends or classmates getting together without them. Social media levy a psychic tax on the teen doing the posting as well, as she anxiously awaits the affirmation of comments and likes” (11). When aware that friends are out without them, girls often feel left out and unwanted, which weighs heavily on their self-esteem and self-image. Many girls also anxiously wait to see how many likes their picture received and pay close attention to their social media aesthetic. While Anderson describes social media usage as an addiction and Twenge claims that social media can lead to poor mental health, both express the significance of how social media is negatively affecting young teens’ lives.