Social sites influence teen stereotypes

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Esther Pittinger

A popular social media website, Instagram. The many tabs open show other sites popular among teens. This is what the stereotypical computer of a tech- obsessed teen would look like.

These days, teenagers and technology seem to go hand in hand. The stereotypical teen always carries a cell phone and spends half of his or her time staring at a screen. Of course, most stereotypes are somewhat rooted in truth, and this is no exception.

“I have two Instagram accounts, a YouTube account, a Tumblr, and a Pinterest,” sophomore Sadye Goodman said.

Plenty of teens are like this, and take full advantage of social media. Whether it is by posting things online themselves, or seeing what others have posted for the world to see, they use social media to connect to others. However, not everyone does.

“I only have a Facebook. I just got it to keep in touch with my camp friends,” freshman Maia Davidson said.

Like all other stereotypes, this one has exceptions.  There are teenagers who would much rather do something in the ‘real’ world than online. This side of reality is, however, often ignored by people trying to generalize the younger generation.

Essentially, using social media is not a necessary part of being a teenager, even if it is a common one. Though many adults pin the current teen generation as obsessed with technology, this is not always true.

With that said, for better or worse ( it can be both), many teens are obsessed with technology.

“I spend a lot of time on social media. I think it’s very important,” Goodman said.

For more facts about teens that use social media and how they use it, visit the following infographic.