Research Paper

Course Code: SOC101

Course Title: Introduction to sociology

Section: 01

Submitted To:
DrMumita Tanjeela Farhana Akter
Marin
Assistant Professor,
Chairperson ID: 2020-3-33-008

Department of
2020-3-33-
Sociology
[email protected].
East West University edu

Date of Submission:
January 5, 2021
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 Acknowledgement

The success and outcome of this assignment required a lot of guidance and assistance from many people
and we are extremely fortunate to have all this along the completion of our assignment work. Whatever I
have done is only due to such guidance and assistance and I would not forget to thank them. I respect and
thank Dr. Mumita Tanjeela for giving me the opportunity to do this assignment work and providing me all
the support and guidance, which made us, complete the assignment in such bad situation due to Corona
Virus. I am extremely grateful to her for giving us support and extra time to complete the assignment.

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 Table of Content

Topi Page
c No
1. Cover Page 1
2. Acknowledgement Page 2

3. Content Page 3
4. Abstract 4

5. Introduction 5-6

6. Literature Review 7

7. Methodology 8

8. Findings 9
9. Discussion 10
7. Conclusion 10

8. Limitations 11
9. References 12

10. Appendix 13-16

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 Abstract
Media today has a huge influence on teenagers. Television, computers, video games, social networking
sites it hugely affects all aspects of a teen’s life. This research will help to understand the various impacts
on the teenagers that caused by social media. This paper examines the perceptions of teenagers about
social networks and understand the role of social media among teenagers for self-confidence and how
social media effects their studies.

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 Chapter1
Social Media effecting Teenagers about self-perspective and the perspective for the society
Introduction
Purpose of the study:
From passing notes, to share information to call friends on phone has been replaced by cellphones apps
and social networking sites that controls the teens days and lives. Teens today do not know what a
landline telephone is. Facebook and Instagram taken place for meeting people rather than meeting them in
person. Valkenburg, Peter, & Schouten (2006), concluded that “positive feedback on profiles enhanced
adolescents’ social self-esteem and well-being, whereas negative feedback decreased their self-esteem and
well-being” (pp. 584). This research will help to understand the various impacts on the teenagers that are
caused by social media. The specific aim of the study is,
1) To understand why teenagers, use social networking sites for self confidence
2) To what extent social networking sites are affecting on teenagers’ studies
Each percipient will be measured by a survey and there will be one close call interview to understand the
in-depth emotions of teenagers.
Hypothesis:
Teens of today’s world are very much influenced by the social media for self-confidence this low esteem
occurs when they do not get expected like or comments or gets cyber bullied or body shaming in social
media and this lower self-esteem is effecting their studies. They often mix virtual world with the real one
for this reason they often get distracted from the original source of new trusts blindly the social media
presents.
Significance of the study:
Technology has become a part of the life for every teenager. They can go a day without food but not a
single day with going in to the Facebook Instagram and other social media apps. CNN states that teens
spend an average of 9 hours a day using some sort of media (Wallace, 2015). According to Seo, Houston,
Knight, & Inglish (2014), “the proportion of teens engaging in some form of social media usage has
increased from 55%in 2014 to 83% in 2019. In sociology terms a teenager in the final stage of
socialization they try to identify their values in the society and they use social media as a toll for self-
confidence and This tool some time gives them the vibe to being a celebrity on the other hand it
sometimes lowers their self-esteem which effects their studies. However, there is a way of prevention for
example: educating the teenagers about the negative effects that may have on them to prevent form
anxiety or depression that are caused by social media.

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Definitions:
Social Media- - “forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to
share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content” i.e. Facebook. Instagram, Snapchat, etc.
(Retrieved from merriam-webster.com)
“Friends”- people who follow you on social media (Facebook)
“Followers”- people who follow you on social media (Instagram, Twitter)
Likes- when someone likes your status, comment, or picture
Selfie- “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a
Smartphone or webcam and shared via social media” (Retrieved from
oxforddictionaries.com)
Cyberbullying. The definition of cyberbullying used in the survey and presented to respondents is
“bullying that takes place over devices like phones, tablets, and computers. I t can happen in social media,
texts, or gaming, where people can view, participate in, or share content. I t includes repeatedly sending,
posting, or sharing negative, harmful, or mean content about someone else, on purpose. I t can include
sharing private information about someone else to cause embarrassment or humiliation.”

Chapter 2
Literature review

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Technology has made an outstanding achievement in the past decade and it is highly utilized across the
nation. The large percentage of people has access to the internet readily available. Weather it is laptops,
desktops or smartphones. A total 81 percent of teens use social media; roughly, the same as ever used it in
2012. The proportion of teens with a proportion of teens with a smartphone has more than doubled since
2012, from 41 percent up to 89 percent. As Youth and Teens are the builder of nation, and in this era they
are grown up as part of the Net Generation. This unlimited accessibility of internet has both positive and
negative among the teenagers. This social media helps a teenager in study like ‘10-minute school’ helps
the students through Facebook live. However, these types of social media also effect the mind of a
teenager’s mental health. A main disadvantage of social media peoples is vulnerable to body image due
idolization of people with perfect bodies and glamorous looks. This insecurity causes lower self-esteem,
which leads them a path to depression. According to Police-Lynch, Myers, Kliewer, & Kilmartin (2000),
“self-esteem, which refers to a person’s general sense of worth or acceptance, is recognized for the critical
role it plays in mental health and psychopathology” (pp. 226). This knowledge explains how the social
media influence teenager’s self-confidence and this distraction decreases their academic results. Though
some students feel social, media helped them in their study. However, according to Nicole, (2007),
students and teenagers have especially recognized these social media platforms to be able to contact
their peers, share information, reinvent their personas and display their social live.
Insecurity of self-image: There has been a great deal of research contributing towards the knowledge
that media influences self-confidence. Because of social compares in social media, people constantly post
the best talent they have and do not bring out the flaws of their daily lives. This is mostly are seen in
teenagers. Schufreider (2015) states that people may compare many aspects on Facebook including
“appearance, clothing style, love life, or social calendar” and the longer amount of time users spends on
Facebook, the more time they have to compare to others, “which caused users to begin to feel poorly
about themselves, their self-worth, and their self-image” (pp. 17) social recognition also influence
insecurity about themselves. For example: If one has many friends and followers on social media, he or
she might have a greater sense of belongingness. On the other hand, people may feel a disconnection if he
or she does not have expected reacts or comments on his/her profile. The level of social social recognition
might influence negative impact one’s mind.

Effect on study: The use of social media among students has reached high levels and has affected their
study time and they are very much distracted from their academic results. It was highlighted in the finding
of karpinski (2009) that social media platforms (Facebook, what’s app etc.) usually devote lesser time to
their studies has to compared to nonusers did and subsequently has lower GPA. It was also mentioned by
karpinski &Duberstein that among the major distraction of current generation that social media platform
remains major distraction. Social media has a negative association with student’s academic performance,
which is much greater than the advantages derived with social media platforms. People around the globe
have been addicted to the internet, which has given rise to more students using social media more often
than before. Nalwa & Anand (2003) advised and recommended that those who are addicted users love to
use the internet to set back their personal and professional responsibilities in which the final outcome is
poor academic performance. Students’ academic performance is affected the more they use Facebook.
Students for socializing activities rather than academic purpose (Oye, 2012) mainly use social platforms.

Chapter 3

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 Methodology
Quantitative method is chosen for the research. Data was collected using primary data set through a
survey. According to Bakar (2001) questionnaires is the best way to acquire primary data the best suitable
research are based on experiment, observation and survey. Hence, the survey method can supply
researchers with data on attitude, feelings, beliefs and envisioned behavior that is quoted by Tull and
kawkins (1990). Additionally, the assembling of different kind of info from the respondent’s
questionnaires will be appropriate for this research, which will enable get the actual info from the targeted
population.

Findings

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Self-Esteem:
First, I have conducted an online survey and 10 respondents filled out my questions. Acceding to the
respondents their Confident level is higher because of using social media, which is 50%, the depression
level is also higher because of social media, which is 30%, and they are less lonely and anxious using
social media. However, there is a fifty chance of feeling left out while using social media. In addition,
50% of the respondent feel very bad if they have a less number of likes and all of them had an emotion
breakdown because of cyber bulling

Effect on their Study:

According to the respondents the 70%, teenagers use mobile phone while studying which is very much
effecting their academic grades. Usage of 30% of the respondent does not use social media while studying
Communication:
Because of social media, the real life interaction has become more and less. Teen’s usually text each other
through what’s app face book and other communication apps. 90% of the teenagers use texting as a mode
of communication.
Lying to their parents about social media:
The respondents were questioned if they ever lied to their parents about Facebook usage. About thirty-
three percent of the teenagers in the study indicated they have lied to their parents about their use of
Facebook while sixty-seven percent said they have not lied to their parents.
In this study, 42 percent of the respondents indicated their family does not use social media, so that the
parents were not online. Twenty-nine percent of respondents indicated that they wanted to have their own
privacy and did not ask their family to be friends on social media Close to 17 percent of the respondents
said that their family was against the use of Facebook, so that the use of the site was not shared with
parents. Over 12 percent of the teenagers said that they did not really have a reason for not having family
members as friends on their Facebook profile.

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 Discussion
The significance of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between self-esteem and social
media use. With this knowledge, people would be aware of the potential negative ramifications of social
media and adjust their social media use accordingly. The researcher specifically looked at how teenagers
were using social media and how it compared to their self-confidence. Teenagers are very impressionable
during their adolescent developmental period and their self-esteem may be very fragile. Therefore, any
aspects of their lives that might affect their self-esteem should be recognized and openly discussed. This
addiction is also results in academic demotions. They spend more time without taking into consideration
their meal. Missing of the meal could affect the health of the students, which in turn will have an impact
of the academic performance on the students.

Conclusion
Undoubtedly, the digital age is here to stay. It will only continue to grow and expand and the younger
generations will become more and more technologically sophisticated. Technology is not a good or a bad
thing. With proper usage and supervision from adults, teenagers can take advantage of many great
learning opportunities on the Internet. If parents leave children unsupervised on the internet, it can result
in Internet addiction, Facebook depression, cyber-bullying, and unwanted predators taking advantage of
unsuspecting teenagers.

Limitations

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Although the research have carried out successfully, there has been some difficulties in the process. This
was individual study. Therefore, it is a disadvantage for me as I might lack creativity and other
aspects in this assignment. One of the big difficulties was the shortage of time. The research could be
much better if I had some more days. Because of covid 19 the respondents where very uncoopereted to
fill up the survey.

Reference

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1) Keywords teens adolescents social media networking sites identity development | Course Hero
Coursehero.com
https://www.coursehero.com/file/p1gbq2ol/Keywords-teens-adolescents-social-media-
networking-sites-identity-development/

2) Project Piece_ Project Outline.docx - PROJECT OUTLINE SOCIAL MEDIA AND

ADOLESCENTS SELF-ESTEEM Project Outline Social Media and Adolescents Self-Esteem |
Course Hero
https://www.coursehero.com/file/29714009/Project-Piece-Project-Outlinedocx/

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Appendix

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