Letter from the Editor

Why is this important for teens? Why does this involve me?

As we can see from my previous blog posts, we are invested in social media–all of us but especially those of us who are digital natives. We have grown up with technology growing and expanding at a break neck pace. We have grown up evolving with these technologies. They are second nature to us and we need to know how to use them to the best of our abilities and learn to utilize them as tools. This is the difference. Social media was always supposed to have been a fun way to connect and communicate with friends, but now–as we grow closer to adulthood we need to know the negatives and the positives and how to use them to our own advantages. Who better to do that than the kids who grew up learning how to use these technologies right from the start?

Social media is meant to be enjoyed. I love to flip through my feeds and see what my friends are up to, especially now that I am in college because I don't necessarily live anywhere near some of them. One of my best and closest friends lives in North Carolina and a family friend who I always turn to for advice lives in California now. Social media and technology are my day to day contact with them.

Not only does social media allow me to stay in contact with people far away, it allows me to express myself and my creativity in ways that I never would have been able to without it. While I don't post stories on Wattpad anymore–I am a full time college student with way too much on my plate as most of us are–Yet, I am forever grateful to the community that the app opened me up to. On that platform I was able to do what I love to do and have other people support me and encourage me along with giving me feedback on my writing which has helped me make it better. I was able to put myself out there for others to see and it was a version of myself that most people in my real life didn't get to see. Because of this experience, I was able to learn to be comfortable with myself and my writing. I also learned how to take criticism on my work and learn from it, valuable skills that I use everyday.

A lot of the time, social media is seen for its downsides, and there are many of them. I think that social media utilized in the wrong way, like cyberbullying, can be very detrimental to young people especially. It can put teens at risk of depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation, along with a whole host of other issues. These can cause great harm to a young person's psyche, but social media is here to stay and we need to learn how to minimize these harmful effects and learn to exploit its positives.

We can keep teens safe online by creating an environment at home that allows them to feel like they can say something if there is a problem for them online. It is also important to have strong boundaries and rules that are created by both teen and parent equally so everyone feels as though they were being heard and had input in the decisions. If we can do these things, I think we will definitely have a great start on minimizing the harmful effects of social media. The positives come when we learn to utilize social media in a way that allows us to excel in our lives both online and offline, like getting our dream job because of our skill learned online.

I have learned that social media can be good and can be bad. It is how we use it that makes the difference. Thanks for reading! I hope that maybe this blog inspired you to go research some of your own interests–related to social media and identity or whatever else may interest you!