Kate Hanzlik

11-15-14
IM 260

IM 260 Research Paper

For my research, I wanted to see if an overuse of social media is having an impact on
teenagers social interaction skills. Social media is consuming the lives of teenagers in todays
society. Everywhere you look you see a smart phone being used. Teenagers are either texting or
browsing multiple social media sites. According to the website Engadget, two-thirds of the
American population owns a smart phone. And with a smart phone comes the apps like Twitter,
Facebook, Instagram, and Vine Etc. Our society is consumed with social media. Especially the
younger generations. I chose to focus my research on teenagers, kids that are thirteen to nineteen
years old. Since social media is still so new to society it is not known if it is causing harm to
teenagers because, no longitudinal studies have been done.
According to an article titled Is Social Media Sabotaging Real Communication? The
author states as human beings, our only real method of connection is through authentic
communication. Studies show that only 7% of communication is based on the written or verbal
word. A whopping 93% is based on nonverbal body language. This quotation expresses as
humans we need to communicate face to face and we need to observe body language and nonverbals if we really want to connect. Social media is taking this face to face communication
away from teenagers. In todays society the majority of teenagers are hiding behind a screen
when communicating to another person. These teenagers do not get to have as much practice

deciphering nonverbal as the generations before them. With all this new technology comes some
cons. For example, social media has the ability to make teenagers less social.
Not only is social media affecting the individual person its affecting other people around
them. The generations above my generation, so my parents/grandparents, (1930-2014) are not
used to all this social media, it is new to them. Since they did not grow up surrounded with social
media they are more used to talking directly to people. So when the older generation
(parents/grandparents) tries to interact with the younger generation (teenagers) the
communication connection sometimes comes up short. Because the teens do not have enough
practice with face to face communication. According to the article Social Media Affects Social
Skills, Future Jobs the author states, We are more often communicating with people through a
screen and the written word than chatting face to face with others As teenagers get farther away
from face to face interaction it is predicted consequences will follow. These consequences
include less practice with face to face communication and less confidence talking to strangers
and even friends and family. Teenagers will choose to hide behind a screen instead of having a
conversation.
In the last article I focused on was a recent article published in May 2013 titled Social
Media and Interpersonal Communication. This article was published in the magazine Social
Work Today. Maura Keller the author quotes a PhD a professor of media at DePaul University
and states studies have shown that people actually are becoming more social and more
interactive with others, but the style of that communication has changed so that were not
meeting face-to-face as often as we used to. This quotation explains that communication has not
necessarily changed but it has actually increased, just in a different way. This kind of
communication is more behind the scenes.

What can we do to counteract the problem? Well, when two-thirds of the population
owns a smart phone it is difficult to get away from. However, I recommend to pay attention to
how much teenagers are using social media. Make some ground rules for the teens. At lease to
monitor how much kids can be on their phone at home. I know at my house we were not allowed
to have phones at the kitchen table. According to the research if we want to be more successful
as a society we all need to take a step back from our social media. We need to engage in more
face to face communication. In the years coming more will be discovered and researched on if
social media is harming teenagers.

Works Cited
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