Developmental Interview and Critical Essay Social media offers us the ability to communicate with anyone around the world whenever we want. The increasing use of social media among adolescents shows increasing effects on social development. Adapting to online communication can alter how our brains adapt to communication which can affect youths’ ability to communicate face to face. Understanding these developmental effects is important because it can help us navigate and handle the increased use of media. The current state of this topic is focused on how the use of media is affecting youth regarding their brain development and social development. Psychologists and researchers have begun to study brain adaptivity in regard to social media. …show more content…
I believed she was the perfect candidate because she is a user of social media, especially Instagram. I wanted to see when she started using social media and how she responds to certain situations in day-to-day life. Kiki started using Instagram, Snapchat, and musically at the age of 12. This is a ripe age for social development and identity. She first got social media to communicate with her friends because they had it before her and she felt as if she was missing out. She remembers having multiple internet friends and chat groups who she never knew in person. Her use of these platforms is still just as prevalent today with an average screen time of five hours and forty-five minutes. Almost all of her time on her phone is used on Snapchat or Instagram to communicate with friends. I asked her a few questions about day-to-day encounters such as “when you are in an awkward situation, how often do you use your phone?”. She told me that she almost always uses her phone to navigate away from awkward encounters and situations. I also asked her “if she were at the EMU eating alone, would she use her phone or just sit there and eat?”. Her answer was to use her phone to avoid encounters with people and to “hopefully not look weird”. Her responses to these questions show how phone usage and media usage affect people’s ability to communicate face-to-face. If I were to ask other people these questions, I am almost certain that …show more content…
They took 169 children from public schools in rural North Carolina and followed them over the course of three years. At the beginning of the study, they were asked to report how often they checked three specific platforms, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. The answers varied from less than once a day to more than 20. Over the course of these three years, the participants got their brain scanned while completing a social incentive delay task. These tasks measured brain activity when anticipating social feedback from peers. They found an increase in sensitivity may project a future of adaptive behavior that will encourage teens to navigate the digital world. The conclusions from these studies reveal that “adolescents’ brains may become more sensitive when anticipating social rewards and punishments over time with increased social media usage”(Bwbieltz,