Youth on Social Media

Building on the previous Youth Rendering that talked about Adolescent and Cell phone use, this rendering examines social media use among Adolescents. As previously discussed, a large majority of adolescents today have access to a smartphone, a device that can be a distraction or a useful tool in the classroom. However, it is important to note that because of the capabilities of a smart phone and the ever growing presence of the internet in the world today, adolescents will have access to social media programs such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. In fact, a study done in 2015 finds that an average teenager spends about 27 hours online a week, and one and a half hours on social media on one day (McGillivray). Like cell phones, social media does have its pros and cons, even in educational purposes. The most obvious con would be it provides another distraction for students in the classroom, where students become disengaged from learning if they are on their phones and consuming social media, which in the long run can negatively affect the grades of the student. Furthermore, social media use can help lead to risk taking behaviour, since it gives the adolescent access to the internet and social media of other people, including those that give off negative influences and encourage risk taking such as smoking, drinking, etc. However, the same study notes that social media can also be used positively in classrooms, not only to help students study and prepare for tests, through engaging games and challenges, but also can help create a digital classroom, where the teacher can share material online for students to use (McGillivray),  with a good example of this being the York University Moodle. At the end of the day, it would come down to the educator to determine the policies of social media, and in my opinion, just like how cell phones can be put to good use in engaging the learners, so can social media, especially if it helps the adolescent discover positive influences that help minimize risks and broaden their perspectives on inclusivity, being caring and respectful of others.

Works Cited List

McGillivray, Nick. “What Are the Effects of Social Media on Youth?” TurboFuture, TurboFuture, 12 Oct. 2015, turbofuture.com/internet/effects-of-social-media-on-our-youth.

About Me

My name is Alexandre Stakhanov, and I am a Teacher Candidate at York University. I have graduated from York for History and English, and I aspire to become a secondary school teacher. I plan to effectively engage learners using new methods of pedagogy that I learned from the Teacher's college program at York University, and using my historical backgrounds, will make my classes a safe, inclusionary and fun environment for all my students. I also have extensive knowledge of technology and computers, and plan to incorporate cell phone and computer use in my classroom lessons, which will turn them from being a detrimental distraction into a useful learning tool.
This blog here is designed for adolescent development and includes useful articles and links that can help deal with adolescent problems, such as Peer Pressure, and in more extreme cases Youth Homelessness, and how to combat it. In addition, it includes lesson plans, my teaching philosophy and standards of practice.
I hope you enjoy your stay
Alex S

Youth and Risk Taking Article Analysis

In the Article "Towards a More Sociological Understanding of Youth and their Risk-Taking," there is an interesting section that tries to explain why some Youth are more prone to taking risks than others. The paragraph goes on to explain that risk taking and problematic behavior is based on biographical and social-psychological factors, including personality, beliefs and influence from peers, friends and other people (France 320).  This part explains that youths can engage in risky activities due to peer pressure, which is one of the most common causes of risk taking, and social factors such as wealth status, and class, and finally also factors based on personality, such as having an addictive personality, or being under constant stress, and needing a way to relieve that. The paragraph also goes on to state that risk taking influences primarily come from the person's peer group such as friends, colleagues, classmates, and their parents. In this case, in order to target and minimize risks and minimize the influence of the peer group in regards to risk taking, there are preventative measures that can be taken. For example, the Kids Health website suggest being firm and giving a firm "no" when faced with a situation where a group is peer pressuring the target in order to get them to partake in risk taking activities, such as smoking (Lyness). The beginning part of the paragraph builds on the theories proposed in the previous. It states that there are five behaviors or influences that pre-dispose adolescents into taking risks, with these being school failures, indifferent family environments, peer pressure, needing to prove oneself, and families that encourage negative behaviors (such as drinking, smoking, etc) (France 321). Some of these influences can be faced in schools, with the assistance of teachers, such as peer pressure and school failure, however there are influences that relate to the adolescent's family, and as a teacher are much harder to combat, since they require substantial parental input and support. Therefore, in order to combat negative influences that lead to risk taking behaviors, solutions must be double ended, and have to extend from the home to the school, as minimize the chances of the adolescent engaging in risk taking behaviours. For if such adolescents end up engaging in risk taking, such as smoking, drinking, drugs, etc. it can lead to a larger array of problems that range from substance addiction, to failing grades, to dropping out, and in worse cases, homelessness.

Works Cited List

“Dealing With Peer Pressure.” Edited by D'Arcy Lyness, KidsHealth, The Nemours Foundation, July 2015, kidshealth.org/en/kids/peer-pressure.html#.

France, A. (2000) “Towards a Sociological Understanding of Youth and their Risk-taking”, Journal of Youth Studies, 3:3, 317-331

Cellular phone use by Adolescents

Adolescents on their phones during class time

This rendering of Youth culture is one that is familiar to teachers and students alike. At first glance this picture shows several of the students are on their cell phones during class time, distracting themselves from class work and learning. In our modern world today, a recent study from 2015 showed that 88% of adolescents have access to a cellphone of some type, and 73% of them have a smartphone (Lenhart).  This means that most adolescent students in class will have some kind of cell phone, and I can personally observe this in my practicum classes as well, where almost every student has a smartphone of some kind with them. While it is true that cell phones can cause distractions in class, especially if it is uncontrolled or unsupervised phone use, cell phones and new technologies have their use in the classroom, and can actually be beneficial to learning. For example, a phone (or a computer) can be a useful learning tool for in class test review, where the students can use it to participate in a game of Kahoot!, which is a program that actually requires a computer or a cellular device in order to answer questions and get points (where the questions can be made by the teacher and is related to class material). In short, while unregulated use of cell phones in the classroom can be destructive to learning, completely banning their use is also the wrong way to go. Instead, teachers and educators need to find ways to incorporate this technology into their classroom, so that instead of being a detriment, it can be a useful tool to advance meaningful learning.

Works Cited list

Lenhart, Amanda. “A Majority of American Teens Report Access to a Computer, Game Console, Smartphone and a Tablet.” Pew Research Center for Internet and Technology, Pew Research Center, 9 Apr. 2015, www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/a-majority-of-american-teens-report-access-to-a-computer-game-console-smartphone-and-a-tablet/.