What Do Teens Like: Television or Facebook?
The “media” is an undeniably powerful entity in our daily lives. It’s even more invasive for teens and college students, a generation growing up with more forms of media choices than any other generation before them.
StageofLife.com, a blogging resource for high school students, Baby Boomers, and every life stage in between, wanted to know how teens felt about the media, so they asked its teen and college visitors, “What form of media impacts your life the most, and why?” as part of its national monthly writing contest series for students.
[ Also Visit: RMN Kids – Edutainment Site for Children ]Over 5,190 students from all 50 U.S. states and 69 countries visited the teen writing contest page. From the scores of submitted blogs to StageofLife.com, four trends/ themes emerged about teens’ attitudes towards the media:
1. Internet: Nearly a quarter of the student writers said that Internet was the media that affected them the most, citing that it’s the perfect place to research, and to keep in touch with friends and family.
2. Television: While some students get their information from television, many wrote about the “mind numbing” effects of this medium. It received the most negative responses; students feel television is “distracting.”
3. Facebook: It’s no surprise that a large percentage of teenagers cited Facebook as their most influential form of media in their lives, since it connects the students to friends, family, and gossip. Several students raised privacy concerns about using Facebook in their essays, as well as larger issues like cyber-bullying.
4. Overall, Media is Positive: Although there were some dissenters, the majority of student writers felt that media—in all forms and varieties—is an important, powerful, and positive influence on a person’s life.
StageofLife.com CEO, Eric Thiegs, stated, “If you get a chance to read these essays, you’ll find they are truly amazing when you look at how the students break down and analyze the media.”
The survey results were released Friday, May 13.
Photo courtesy: StageofLife.com
