Response on the Article “Teenagers And Technology” By Samantha Taylor

Dear Samantha Taylor, Would you like to be called a person who is very unprofessional? I am sorry to say this, but I strongly disagree with some of the points you wrote in your article. I will be talking to you about why I firmly disagree with your article. I will also prove to you that teenagers are not as addicted to social media as you portray them to be. Firstly, you said that you asked a teenage girl ‘how often do you text. ’

However, have only asked a single person and there are many teenagers who wouldn’t agree with this statement. So, what gives you the right to say that teenagers in our society are addicted to social media? I think that as an adult, you should have known how to research for information properly and professionally. I know many teenagers who don’t even have social media to begin with, and you are trying to say that most teenagers are addicted to it!? You have also not shown any proof of how many teenagers use social media excessively. So, you have no right to say that teenagers are addicted to it. This shows manipulation of information within your article. So, this creates false information that you are portraying about people. This therefore creates a negative portrayal of social media. Secondly, you also mention “only 9% of teens were ‘very’ concerned about third parties”, the way I look at it is that the other 91% of teenagers are not educated on the dangers. How can you say that only 9% of teenagers care? The rest of them may not have been exposed to the dangers of the government. If the 91% of teens were taught about the dangers, I will guarantee you that the 9% will rise. So, it is not the teenagers are not at fault for not caring, as they are born in a world where new dangers are developing.

So, the older generations who have not yet been fully exposed to this technologically advanced world, have not yet discovered the dangers of third parties. This means they could not possibly teach the younger generation to avoid using social media. Recently, I read an article on ‘The International Society of Exposure’ about exposure on the internet and it clearly said that “The new generation needs to be exposed to all the dangers that our world has. If they are not exposed to this, they will not understand the dangers that they are vulnerable to. ” I believe that teenagers are not exposed to the dangers of social media, that’s why they don’t know what is safe and what is not. This could potentially lead to identity theft, hacking and as serious as grooming. Parents should take the responsibility to educate their child about the dangers to keep them safe. Lastly, you have exaggerated various points in your article against the use of social media. You said, “digital communication is not just prevalent in teenagers’ lives, but it is the teenager’s lives”. What gives you the right to describe what a teenager’s life is just because you see them using social media excessively? Don’t you think that is not the most important deciding factor? Have you thought about their family’s background? Have you thought about their friendship status at school? I believe, you haven’t. So, I am frustrated that you have not taken these facts into consideration about what influences these teenagers to use social media. So, teenagers are portrayed as if social media was their life, thus creating an environment as if they are addicted. One could argue that teenagers have no control over the time when using social media thus leading to excessive use of it. However, I think that it is not their fault that they spend long hours texting.

In fact, it is their parent's fault as they are the ones who influence their children to use social media. If their parents cared for the children, they would not allow their children to spend long hours on their phones. I don’t think that teenagers are addicted to social media, I say that it is due to bad parenting. Plus, teenagers are at a stage where their minds are still developing so they don’t know how to control themselves. In conclusion, you should research a greater variety of people to produce stronger arguments. This will give you a more accurate representation of the number of hours teenagers use social media. You should also consider that not every teenager is aware of the dangers of social media so not every teenage are aware about it. In your article, you concluded that teenagers use social media excessively, I think that this is wrong because you have not gained a full understanding of a teenager’s life, so you don’t have enough information to say that all teenagers use it too frequently. I would like to leave you with a quotation, “don’t judge a book by its cover”, as if you continue to do this, you will spread a negative image of many innocent young people.