The Literature Review

The study of Rick Nauert (2009) explains the effects of social

networking sites on teenage behaviour in his international online article “Teen Behaviors

on Social Networking Sites.” The research methodology used was observations made on

500 randomly chosen social networking profiles of 18 year old males and females in the

United States by a research team. In his lucid research, he found that high-risk activities

like sexual behaviour and violence are discussed by 54% of adolescents using MySpace

and males discuss violence more than females. Also, teens who did not have their sexual

orientation displayed as “straight” showed the increased use of sexual behaviours online.

Also profiles associated with religious involvement influenced decreased involvement

with risky behaviours.

However, Megan A. Moreno who led the research stated that, “even a brief email

intervention may be feasible and showed promise for influencing online behaviour.” This

shows that something can be done to control the pernicious impact of social media on

teenage behaviour through interaction with a professional and a teenager. When emails

were sent to teenagers by a profile with professional credentials there was a decrease and

elimination in the use of sexual references. Furthermore, Rick Nauert like Alison

Trinidad agrees that exposure to these sites encourages peer pressure as well as cyber-

bullying and online predators. Therefore, this study is useful due to its relevance to the

researcher’s study because it deals with different teenage behaviours on social networks,

the influence of social networks on teenage behaviour and what can be done to control its

negative impact. However, my research will concentrate on a smaller sample size and a

smaller area rather than across an entire country.

4
 Johnny Ringo (2012) in a regional newspaper article from the Caribbean Current,

“Caribbean Youths and Social Media” examined how social media negatively affects the

youth in the Caribbean. Ringo proposed that the most popular sites are Facebook and

Twitter in the Caribbean and they are where children and adolescents spend most of their

free time. He concluded this through the methodology of observation and comparison. He

emphasized the way in which teenagers exploit social media through cyber bullying and

messaging each other sexually explicit content. Similarly, Ringo like Rick Nauert

highlighted the fact that parents, teachers and professionals can mitigate these behaviours

by intervening to balance the real world and the cyber world to evaluate what teens are

exposed to. Therefore this article is relevant to use in the researcher’s study since it deals

with different negative behaviours on social media by teens and how it can be prevented.

Furthermore, Julien Neaves (2012) in a local newspaper article from the Trinidad

Express “1000 Pupils in Police Bad Books” investigated the dangers of addiction to

social networking sites and its effect on the educational system. This article was mainly

based on findings collected by a psychological research. In the research it was found that

behaviours such as aggressiveness, anxiety and narcissism were common among pupils

addicted to social networking sites. Also in this article, Laila Valere who is an educator

and diplomat, raised issues on how cyber-bullying should be handled and how social

networks impact ethical values. It was seen that suggestions to controlling the effect of

social networking sites on teenagers included the involvement of the educational system

through the assistance of teachers. It was proposed that teachers add a stronger moral and

ethical sense in their responsibilities to curb the negative impact of social media.

5
 It can be posited that cyber-bullying is one of the main negative impacts of social

networking sites since Julian Neaves, Rick Nauert and Johnny Ringo highlighted it in

their articles. Ultimately, this article is very essential to my research since it deals with

the negative impacts of social networking sites on pupils and the ways in which the

educational system can assist in eradicating this problem. However, my research will not

be conducted through psychological research but rather methods of sampling which

includes the use of questionnaires.