A Brief thought on Teenagers, Youth Culture, and Social Media
In an online discussion group for Kenda Creasy Dean’s Almost Christian every single seminary student, with the exception of one, marked that technology, the internet, or social media was the biggest change since their teenage years. What is even more surprising is that this is coming from students who are as young as 23. The speed up and changing of technology and social media is so pervasive and shifting in our youth culture, and for that reason it deserves to be put under the microscope. I want to explore not only social media’s pervasive aspects into American youth culture, but also its volatility. First, it is no secret that the internet and, more specifically, social media has a very high use is in this country. According to Pew Research, “ Fully 95% of those ages 12-17 use the internet. Eight in ten online teens use some kind of social media… Facebook, which attracts 77% of online teens.” [1] To basically sum that up, close to 75% of American