Bing! Bella Pavliger’s phone buzzes, calling her attention to the fact that one of her hundreds of Facebook friends has commented on her picture. She looks down at her device, eager to read her peers’ opinions.
“I feel excited, not going to lie,” says Pavliger, a senior at Petaluma High School. “When people like something that I posted, it makes me happy; when they don’t, it makes me sad. That’s the downside.”
Teens in Petaluma, and in many parts of the world, are enamored with social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, etc. Constant notifications, likes, saves, pins, comments and posts flood their lives every moment, all clamoring for their undivided attention.
According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than 75 percent of teenagers in the U.S. own a mobile phone, and their age is continually decreasing. The majority of 12 year olds are now connected, too, according to the study.
Among teens, texting predominates, with approximately 90 percent sending and receiving messages each day. A full 80 percent also take photos with their phones, and 64 percent share them.
Most significantly, 73 percent use mobile devices to access social networking sites, which have replaced school hallways and local hangouts as the arena for teenage interaction.
Some concerned parents, teachers and researchers, say social media forms the basis of millennials’ lives, suggesting that the increasing number of hours teens spend on social networks per day is dramatically altering their lifestyles for the worse. They worry about a generation of social inadequates, unable to engage in spontaneous conversation or to interpret vocal cues and body language due to inexperience with face-to-face communication. They fear the loss of etiquette among teens who SnapChat during family dinner or tweet during Sunday mass.
Moreover, some worry excessive cell phone usage, especially before bed, causes interrupted sleep, increased stress and fatigue. There is a fear that social media distracts teens from school work and extracurricular activities and diminishes their efficiency and effectiveness.
Yet despite all the fears, Petaluma teens say they rely on their devices every day for communication and even to help with homework.
“I use it for connecting with people through messaging and calling and stuff, and then sometimes I use it when I’m out and I think of something and I’ll look stuff up on the Internet,” said Olivia Henry, a Petaluma High senior. “And then occasionally I use social media, but usually only Instagram, and that’s usually when I’m bored and don’t have anything to do.”
Students interviewed said they spent a half hour to two hours online daily.
“It depends. If I’m doing homework or stuff like that then I’m usually on it way more, but just like normal everyday stuff, not very much,” Henry said.
Leneya Mikenly, a junior at Technology High School, explained: “I don’t have a Facebook anymore, so I’d say about a total of an hour. I mostly check it between classes. I don’t really sit down and look at it.”
Although many teens still maintain their Facebook profiles, they said they are posting less frequently on the site. Newer sites, like Instagram, Pinterest, Vine and Snapchat, have come to dominate.
“I use Instagram a lot,” Mikenly said. “It’s the easiest and it has the least room for outside opinions. I have no time for drama. I also like Tumblr, and Snapchat is really quick and simple.”
Some teens said they don’t see any advantage to using social media.
“I don’t really see much of a benefit in it,” Henry said. “There is, for me, not really (a benefit), but sharing stuff with family and friends that are far away, that makes sense to me. But also I feel like just a more personal approach to it would be better than posting a couple of things.”
But Jerry Schumikowski, also a Petaluma High senior, said the diversity of voices on social media can help shape one’s world view.
“You are honestly getting new ideas on a broad forum,” he said. “Everyone who you allow to see it, can see it, which generally makes this mushpot of ideas and hopefully comes out with something new and interesting and worthwhile.”
Sutter Laird, a junior at Technology High School, said he uses social media to share his amateur photography.
The constant communication of social media makes it “hard to take a break and get away from everything,” he said.
Megan Buck, a Petaluma High senior, said a lot of social media interactions are superficial.
“So much of social media is meaningless and worthless, and it often cheapens connections between people,” she said. “Like, oh, you have hundreds of friends on Facebook? It doesn’t actually mean anything.”
Some teens report a dependence on mobile technology, and have even developed anxiety in its absence. It’s a phenomenon known as “nomophobia” or the fear of having no mobile device. But Laird said a day spent unplugged could actually be liberating. Without a phone, he said, “I feel disconnected, but also a sense of freedom.”
(Contact the writers at ar gus@arguscourier.com)
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