Category: Teenagers

Introduction

Art is an articulation or implementation of human innovative skills and imagination, generally in a visual configuration such as painting or model producing works to be treasured particularly for their enchantress or emotional power. Arts can have an efficient impact on child development from birth till puberty. For instance, the children participate in numerous art activities such as dancing, making crafts, singing, and performing plays. These activities link a child to beneficial emotional and social behaviors such as sharing, mood control, and empathy. Similarly, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) sponsored a series of data analyses. The assessments explored the impact of arts engagements, such as a student taking art classes and how this did correspond to their school work (Bodenstein, 2020). The study discovered that those with high levels of arts engagement had better outcomes on indicators such as test scores and school grades.

Moreover, art can provide an outlet for justice and at-risk kids to address emotions or issues by enhancing them to develop new abilities. The children can also gain new skills and express their ideas and thoughts in therapeutic and creative means. Similarly, arts can enable youth struggling with victimization or trauma to subsist with distressing situations by enhancing flexibility. Autonomy, social competency, problem determining skills, and a sense of determination can all be alleviated by composing art. Furthermore, the above skills stimulates strength and virtuous feelings in young individuals, which allows them to view themselves as remnants rather than casualties. This review is a proposal on the use of arts on two groups’ teenagers at risk and youths currently in juvenile. It focuses on arts-based programs, art therapies, and theoretical support and signifies why such a program should be endorsed.

Arts Therapies and Arts-Based Programs

Art-based programs, educational art programs, and art therapy focusing on healing processes are two types of programs for at-risk and justice-involved kids. The two programs are based on arts as art engagement can be therapeutic in and out itself, which is vital to enhance arts-based initiates for at-risk populations. Young people can benefit from the arts-based program that is either therapeutic or preventative. Behavioral health disorders such as rage, anxiety, depression, delinquency, and suicidal ideas are frequently the focus of the programs (Fernández-Aguayo & Pino-Juste, 2018). Some of the goals that these programs aim to improve are self-regulation, family functioning, and resilience.

Arts-based programs can be used at different stages of the juvenile justice system. For instance, the program could be analyzed from a perspective of prevention where it focuses on children who have not yet come into contact with juveniles but have exhibited behaviors that could lead to them being in the referral or arrested. On the other hand, the program may aim at children who have committed first-time or minor offences. Juveniles who are engaged in a series of crimes; the program may be situated in residential or detention facilities. Theatrical and visual, dance, drama, crafts, and music are art interventions that could be used. Drawing, painting, singing, and performing are possible program activities. Moreover, writing could also be effective as the kids can write about their stressful experiences to control their responses and process their emotions.

Art therapy is a medium that uses art to develop a therapeutic relationship been a client and therapist. Arts aim to empower the clients to take a therapeutic approach to their psychological, emotional concerns. Art treatment enables individuals to be aware of themselves and others coping with stress and improve their cognitive capacities. Moreover, they provide a platform for the youth to express their fears, vulnerabilities, and unpleasant feelings, allowing them to cope with negative experiences rather than acting out in negative ways. For instance, theatre therapy, visual art therapy, and music therapy are arts treatments offered by skilled professionals. Visual arts include producing and exploring images, resulting in young people expressing their feelings that they cannot verbalize. Youths can also create metaphors to express their feelings through art materials; this methodology help therapists to understand their client more. Several forms of art treatments can deal with adolescents and children.

Theoretical Support

Various psychological theories expound on how arts-based programs can influence individual behavior. Positive youth development and cognitive are two of these philosophies. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is a problem-solving mechanism that aims to help individuals modify and recognize the ideas, behavior patterns, and dysfunctional beliefs contributing to their problems. The core principle of CBT is that to change behavior; one must first change their mindset (Kinder et al., 2019). Some arts-based programs combine CBT ideas by incorporating activities or exercises that focus on expression, problem-solving and other aspects of thinking. For instance, role-playing allows youth to practice behaviors and prosaically skills that they could have acquired through a program.

The positive youth development (PYD) framework is a theoretical concept that deals with various arts-based initiatives.PYD focuses on youth’s assets and healthy developments rather than deficits models that view young adults as broken people who need to be fixed. Programs based on PYD take a strength-based approach by providing youth with opportunities for skills enhancement, facilitating the development of positive relationships and prosaically involvement.PYD principles can be incorporated into arts-based programs by educating youth about arts, nurturing their creativity and skills, and providing a safe environment for youth to participate in art activities. The arts can assist children in acquiring various skills that can encourage the development of their social, cognitive, and personal abilities at each stage of development. Through the use of creative medium, children can express themselves in ways that they could not do before.

Evidence of the Final Result

More study is required to understand the consequences of arts interventions for at-risk and justice-involved kids, despite the academic literature that outlines good associations between skills and social-emotional abilities among teenagers and kids. Methodological flaws in the research available contain reliance on self-reporting, lack of comparison groups, and short follow-up periods. Moreover, there is a lack of data on the impact of arts-specific components in programs or therapies that incorporate the skills with other elements. As a result, the effect of the art program is unclear compared to other factors. Thus, more is required to determine the relative impacts of interventions that use diverse art forms, even in independent arts therapies or programs. Although the amount and quality of research are limited, the model programs guide includes arts-based programs and treatments that positively affect youths.

Reading for Life (RFL) is a literature-based art program. RFL is an Indian diversion program that deals with non-violent offences committed by juveniles between eleven and eighteen. In this initiative, young individuals participate in small groups guided by volunteers’ mentors to study works of literature. The aim is to prevent recidivism among minors who have committed crimes and promote moral growth. The technique is founded on the premise that literature can help moral development by allowing young individuals to live vicariously via tales and situations depicted in books and apply the lessons learned to their lives (Taylor & Shaw, 2017). The RFL participants outlined much lower recidivism rates as compared to other groups. Moreover, RFL participants had a reduced chance for prosecution for any offences and fewer arrests at two years follow-ups.

Program venture is an outdoor experimental program for young American Indians at risk. American Indian traditional curriculum focuses on spiritual awareness, respect, family, and learning from the natural world to encourage prosaically and healthy growth (Wang, 2018). The project venture aims to assist young individuals in developing practical social and communication skills, good self-image, decision-making, problem-solving abilities, self-efficacy, and community service ethic. The initiative is aimed at communities of American Indians who are looking for ways to reduce alcohol. The project venture does not offer a traditional alcohol education program. Instead, the program promotes outcomes by incorporating cultural values into thinking exercises and art-based activities such as singing, storytelling, and speaking. When follow-up activities were carried out on individuals who participated in the program, they demonstrated reduced drugs consumptions. Hence the program can have a considerable impact on the individuals.

Conclusion

Arts-based therapies and programs offer a unique approach to assist young individuals during periods of development and transition. It can be challenging for at-risk and justice-involved kids to express their experiences and feelings verbally; this barrier is minimized by using arts, a valuable tool in therapies and rehabilitates programs. Young adults can use crafts to cope with emotional and behavioral issues, express their feelings, increase assets and strength in non-threatening measures and develop skills and creative abilities. Two mechanisms to incorporate the arts into treatment for at-risk and justice-involved youths are arts-based programs, including arts education and arts therapies. However, the two mechanisms are comparable in terms of implemented programming elements; each strategy for dealing with juveniles and treating the issue is distinct.

The arts-based program emphasizes creating arts to address the teenagers’ problems, while arts treatment accentuates therapeutic contact between the young adult and therapists. According to several theoretical frameworks, arts programs and treatment serve as significant interventions for at-risk and justice-involved youths. Arts-based programs and therapies can offer a stronger feeling of stability to a society whose members feel out of control. Teenagers can develop trustworthy relationships with teachers who can encourage them to participate in group or solo activities while thinking of their problems. Youths have the opportunity to innovate a final product through arts programs and therapy, gaining a sense of victory and, in the process, creating a piece of art that visualizes the problematic struggles they had to put up with during their rehabilitation and healing processes.

Despite evidence of such significance, additional research is needed to disaggregate and link the arts components of specific treatments to favorable outcomes. Future research should focus on how and under what circumstances the arts can directly impact the behavior of at-risk and justice-involved youth.

References

Bodenstein, F. (2020). Across the past and present of engaging with colonial contexts in the Arts and Cultural Institutions. Critique D’Art, (55), 159-169. Web.

Fernández-Aguayo, S., & Pino-Juste, M. (2018). Drama therapy and theatre as an intervention tool: Bibliometric analysis of programs based on drama therapy and theatre.The Arts in Psychotherapy, 59, 83-93. Web.

Kinder, C., Gaudreault, K., Jenkins, J., Wade, C., & Woods, A. (2019). At-risk youth in an after-school program: Structured vs. unstructured physical activity. The Physical Educator, 76(5), 1157-1180. Web.

Taylor, L., & Shaw, J. (2017). Interspecies encounter: Documenting the benefits of incorporating fine arts into the Equine studies curriculum.Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 52, 120. Web.

Wang, M. (2018). Village transformed: Jin Le and community development through contemporary art.Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, 5(2), 193-213. Web.

Human beings tend to incline to conditions that make them feel comfortable and appreciated by other people. This is the reason why many people tend to live lives that they think will be acceptable and attractive to the other members of society. Few of them will do things that will make them look inferior or face a lot of opposition. They always want to do things that will make them more acknowledged and loved. The teenagers are the segment that is hardly hit by this inclination. They respond positively to this behaviour in all fields because they are always out to be perfect according to the opinion of others. They never want to be considered as being losers in any way. Due to this behaviour of inclining to things that are considered right within their peers, teenagers are incapable of living freely. The current society that they are living in influences them to do things that they may not be willing to do in that these things are not morally upright. Sherman Alexie in his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight In Heaven clearly shows this by using a protagonist who is a teenager. In addition, the society that we are living in today takes advantage of this behaviour that is evident among teenagers. The film Merchant of Cool is a perfect example of how the corporate world takes advantage of this behaviour and uses it to make money. Teenagers cannot live freely anymore because they have become slaves of the corporate world.

Barak Goodman and Rachel Dretzin the directors of the film Merchant of Cool do a perfect job in displaying how the corporate world has been able to make teenagers incapable of living their lives freely. The corporate world has turned them to is slaves. This film reveals how the behaviour of wanting to be “cool” among teenagers has been turned by the corporate world into becoming a source of making “… a 150 billion dream” for the corporate world a year as the announcer suggests. According to the film, the business market is taking advantage of this urge of being “cool” to attract teenagers to purchase different products in the market. As Robert McChesney points out, the corporate world is using teenagers to “buy and sell cool.” The corporate world can achieve this by closely studying the “cool” behaviour among teenagers. The film terms this study as “cool hunting.” According to Viacom Disney, a business associate, “every time a company identifies a product as being cool, the product seizes to be cool and the company have to look for new alternatives.” He explains that ‘cool hunting ‘is a “puzzle that you cannot be able to solve permanently.” One has to keep on looking for new ideas. The corporate world can achieve this by using advertising messages across the media and online networks that specifically target teenagers. According to the film, the company knows what to advertise in the media through carrying out a lot of research among the teenagers and knowing what they like in terms of fashion, music and other tastes. One of the most remarkable scenes where the corporate world is shown to be conducting its research is where a couple of youngsters are paid 125 dollars to be able to answer a couple of questions that a certain company had. The announcer explains that Sirulnick companies have been able to learn that to make teenagers buy their products, they have to know what they like. The taste among many teenagers is what the announcer refers to as their language. He continues to affirm that failure to do so would cause many companies to lose terribly because teens do not respond to brands of products but just to “cool.” From this study company advertisers in the media have devised two kinds of teenagers: the “mook” and the “midriff”. The “mook” is used to represent the teenagers who are not ready to catch up with time by purchasing products that are currently in the market. They are viewed as being stupid and “uncivilized.” In the film, the commentator explains that the mook is “the Tom Green in Tom Green’s show, he is the diver that divers in water full of poo, he is the cartoon cutout in Howard stern”.On the other hand, the “midriff” is used to represent the teenagers that are ready to always make sure that they purchase the products that are currently in the market. According to the film, the midriff is the teenagers who would like to become stars like Britney Spears” who teaches young female teenagers that their body is an asset” The documentary displays this kind of teenager as being very attractive especially to the opposite sex. By doing this, the advertisements are not only able to reach the “minds and hearts of teenagers but also their wallets. A perfect example is a thirteen-year-old girl who is already applying a lot of make-up and participating in beauty and model contests. The ideas of Britney spears have manifested in her mind. She sings her son” I have done it again” as she combs her hair. The young girl is not even very sure of what she wants. When some marketing officials are interviewing her she just says that “she just wants to be successful” a clear indication that she is there just because of influence. However, the commentator explains that no matter her age, she has been able to know how” to act and speak like a midriff as she does during the contest. This influence has caused teenagers to always want to use money. One market official explains that teenagers have money. They just want to spend it. Teens use “more than 100 billion a year to run the current economy. Parents have just been forced to give teens money to keep them at home. Some other parents give them what the commentator refers to as “guilt money” so that to signify that “ I can’t spend time with you but I can spend money with you.”

In addition, the film also shows how the media especially TV stations have influenced young adults to believe that sex and looking violent be characters of “being cool” Merchants of Cool shows how television stations like MTV can take advantage of the violent behaviour that is exhibited by many teenagers. It translates this violent behaviour into a source of profit for the corporate world. Television stations use sexual pop stars like Britney Spears who is popular among teenagers. This technique makes young adults attracted to the products in that they are in line with what they want to hear and see. It is what a corporate marketer named Dave Sirulnick terms as the “language of the teen’s territory.” The corporate world is not concerned with the morality of teenagers in that it does not view them as a fundamental segment of the society that needs to be protected but rather sees them as customers. There is a scene in the film that focuses on an advert on MTV. This advert, shows a man “midriff” holding a microphone and a lady caressing his butt. The advertisement is out to market the pant that he is wearing and also create a notion among youngsters of what it means to be sexy.

The film also reveals the power of peer influence and how has a widespread effect among teenagers. Some hire teenagers and use them to influence their friends. Companies make sure that the teenagers are trendsetters to their friends. These teenagers are assigned contracts that are worth a lot of money. All teenagers need to do is to always make sure that they put on clothes that advertise products by a given company; they also have to make sure that their friends listen to commercials that advertise specific products by specific companies. If this influence on their friends is not enough they can just talk about the products from specific companies to their friends. This will cause their friends to have a lot of anxiety about wanting to try the products to be just like their friends in that they want to be like the trendsetters within the group of friends. Jessica Biel is a perfect example within the film. She gains a lot of privileges from the companies that hire her. Though marketers explain that it is hard to be able to get a teen that is a trendsetter within a particular group of teenagers, it is clear that when they get one they generate a lot of income from that particular group.

The film closes with a scene of professional wrestling. The commentator explains that many teenagers like to identify themselves with incidences that there is violence. He terms this violence as “the pop.” A couple of teenagers try to define it and they say that it is the “feeling of feeling wow!” They believe that pop is a quality of being “cool” and that is why they want to identify with it. According to the commentator, many companies know that “where there is a pop there is money.” This is the reason they there the best that they attract to such scenes. As I sum up on the film, one of the companies that are benefiting from teenagers is Sprite. Sprite has made great use of trendsetters. It is used to give trendsetters money to throw parties and make sure that the teenagers present use Sprite. It also uses radio DJ s to “ smuggle there message to kids.” according to the commentator Sprite and Hip hop have become the same thing. So far, Sprite is the fastest-selling soft drink in the world due to its ability to utilize trendsetters. Closely connected to the message that is in the film, Sherman Alexie tries to focus on peer influence among teenagers in the Native American society and how it has made them incapable of living their lives freely.

Sherman Alexie in his book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, uses Victor, a teenager, as the protagonist. Victor is brought up in a society where many teens were beginning to take up the culture of alcoholism from their elders. At the beginning of the book, there is a party that is held in Victor’s house. All the people in the party take alcohol until some of them including his parents pass out. Others become violent and “throw each other across stairwells” (Alexie 9). Victor being a young boy at this time sees all that is happening and he is not pleased by the effects of alcohol that he sees. He develops a love-hate relationship with alcoholism. Victor can see that the effects of alcohol are not pleasing at all. His father is always drunk and keep quarrelling with his mother because of his drinking behaviour. Alcoholism has led his parents to divorce when he is still very young and his father goes to live in Phoenix alone afterwards. Irrespective of Victor having an inner conscience that was receptive to alcoholism, he is not able to avoid it. Victor begins to walk with friends like Adrian who influence him to take alcohol. Initially, Victor is hesitant; he does not want to take alcohol which he knows is not right. He has seen its effects since young but he cannot keep up with the peer pressure from his friend. Thomas Builds-the-fire, one of Victor’s friends, has a great talent for telling stories and every time he takes alcohol he becomes more creative and he would be in a position to make incredible stories even from a very simple occurrence. Victor admires him. Like the teenagers in Merchant of Cool Victor wants to be as “cool” as his friends. Within no time, Victor develops a beer belly which he is very ashamed of. It makes him feel very unattractive. He even wears long shirts during the excess summer heat to” hide his beer belly” (Alexie 34). Furthermore, he can no longer play basketball since he has now become very physically unfit due to his indulgence in alcoholism. Victor cannot be in a position to live freely. He has to rely on the advice of his friends who motivate him to continue taking alcohol yet he can see the negative effects of alcohol that are happening to him. Just like the teenagers in Merchant of Cool he spends a lot of money on alcohol.

Victor continues to struggle between his conscience that urges him to stop taking alcohol and the pressure of his friends. Unlike the Merchant of Cool where teenagers do not have a solution to the problem of consumerism, Victor finally comes back to his conscience and decides to quit drinking. His friends do not understand it. They ridicule him and often tempt him to have a drink. When he quits drinking alcohol, he becomes his real self. He feels at peace with his conscience. He can live freely without relying on the advice of his friends who had made a “small cave” for him by making him act according to their school of thought and not follow his conscience.

In conclusion, It is clear from the two texts, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight In Heaven and the film Merchant of the Cool, that human beings will always do things that will make them more appreciated by others. They will always strive to do things that appease others. This is the reason they keep on suffering as they continue to achieve this. The idea is clearly shown in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight In Heaven where the protagonist has to fight with his conscience and also in the film, Merchant of the Cool, where teenagers have to fight with consumerism which is a major threat to the American population which has “…generally been affected at all levels” of society(Schor 6). However, when they finally decide to live their lives freely without the influence of others, they become at peace with their conscience. The only remedy to all these problems is people making up their minds to live their lives and not the lives of their trendsetters.

Works Cited

Alexie, Sherman. The Lone Ranger And Tonto Fistfight In Heaven. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. Print.

Goodman, Barak, and Rachel Dretzin, dirs. The Merchants of Cool. PBS, 2001. Film.

Schor, Juliet, B. The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. Print.

Sexual education has become an essential part of the lives of a teenager. Despite the conflict between culture, civilization, and morality, it is becoming increasingly important to educate teenagers on sexual life and its implications for their lives (Clayton et al., 2018). In a one-hour session, I will address several issues from reproductive health, sexual developments during adolescence, sexually transmitted diseases, abuse, pregnancy, and childbirth. A detailed objective on the respective issues is discussed below. Each topic will be addressed in ten minutes, with a three-minutes allocation for questions and answers

First, an elaborate discussion on the male and female changes during puberty will help teenagers understand themselves. During adolescence, both boys and girls undergo physical and emotional changes (Haruna et al., 2018). The changes are evident in different spheres, such as the widening of the chest and the deepening of the voice in boys. In girls, there is softening of voice, widening of hips, expansion of breasts, and the onset of menstrual cycles.

The groups should be able to differentiate the parts of the reproductive system in males and females. Although this topic is taught in elementary schools, an emphasis is essential for them to understand themselves. The reproductive system is comprised of different parts, with each playing a distinctively essential role. Comprehending the parts and functions of the system will help them understand other issues like sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, and childbirth.

Although God created sexual intercourse for good purposes, including reproduction, it is responsible for disease transmission. The impact of such diseases is devastating, including extreme pain, loss of immunity, infertility, and eventual death. STIs are passed from one person to another through the exchange of body fluids during sexual intercourse. While some diseases can be transmitted through other means (like the case of HIV/AIDS), sexual conduct is the most common mode of transmission. The disease includes HIV/AIDS, syphilis, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis among others (Rabbitte & Enriquez, 2019). Teenagers should be able to identify sexually transmitted diseases, signs, symptoms, and prevention measures. They should also understand the elaborate precaution and treatment measures that ought to be taken.

Children are highly vulnerable to sexual abuse, and most of them do not know what to do. The children should be able to identify instances or attempts of sexual abuse. The teenagers should also understand the legal provisions protecting them as minors and their role in combating sexual abuse. First, they should acknowledge that sexual acts between a male and female should be out of consent, and not coercion or otherwise (Haruna et al., 2018). They should also know that having a sexual affair before the legally accepted age (18 years in most countries) is a crime punishable by a court of law.

Pregnancy and childbirth are essential points in teaching sexual health to teenagers. Children aged between 14 and 17 years should be taught about their sexual maturity and the consequences of engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse. Girls within this age bracket are capable of conceiving and giving birth to a baby as their ovaries mature and release an ovum every month (menstruation). However, the pregnancy could have devastating consequences on their lives including stigma, discontinuation of education, death during childbirth, and emotional distress. As a result, they should use protective means when having sexual intercourse.

In conclusion, the one-hour session will discuss several points and topics stated earlier. They include physical and emotional development during puberty, general reproductive health, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual abuse, pregnancy, and childbirth. The topics should help teenagers advance their understanding of sexual health, their rights, and the consequences of engaging in sexual intercourse at an early age. The session should also make teenagers great ambassadors of sexual and reproductive health.

References

Clayton, H. B., Brener, N. D., Barrios, L. C., Jayne, P. E., & Everett Jones, S. (2018). Professional development in sexual health education is associated with coverage of sexual health topics. Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 4(2), 115-124. Web.

Haruna, H., Hu, X., Chu, S. K. W., Mellecker, R. R., Gabriel, G., & Ndekao, P. S. (2018). Improving sexual health education programs for adolescent students through game-based learning and gamification.International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(9), 2027. Web.

Rabbitte, M., & Enriquez, M. (2019). The role of policy on sexual health education in schools.The Journal of School Nursing, 35(1), 27-38. Web.

Background

The mobile phone has been a technological advance which has helped to greatly improve communication across the world. The introduction of hexagonal cells for “mobile phone base stations” was invented in 1947 by Bell Labs engineers at the “American Telephone & Telegraph Company” (AT&T). However, these were not the first mobile phone but the owner of this achievement is Martin Cooper, an American, who works at Motorola Communications, where he made his first mobile phone call on the third of April 1973.The mobile phone has become common in the last two decades. Moreover, in the current days, the use of mobile phone among young people, especially teenagers, is possibly higher than in old people. The purpose of the use of mobile phone is no longer limited to speaking alone but the current mobile phones can also support many additional services such as SMS for text messaging, email, access to the Internet, listening to music, MMS, and taking photos. The mobile phone is also being used in making video, recording information and transmitting it to a phone or a computer among other uses. It is therefore quite important to learn more about the widespread use of mobile phones, especially among the teenagers, in order to establish potential problems and areas that need to be improved.

Aims and objectives

The aims and objectives of this study were;

1. To find out the purpose for which the mobile phones are used in the everyday lives and how long the mobile phones are used during the day.
2. To investigate whether using mobile phone affects the families’ harmony and which place people, especially teenagers, prefer to use their mobile phones
3. To find out whether there is awareness about the health problems associated with using the mobile phone for long hours.
4. To look at the impact on the family budget of using mobile phone by teenagers for long hours and who pays for the monthly bills for using the mobile phones.

Method

The sample

The sample included twenty people. The respondents were selected basing on the age. The teenage respondents were 15 in number, and the old people were 5. Respondents involved in the survey were of different gender and nationality backgrounds. A sample with such characteristics was chosen in order to ensure the results obtained were an accurate representation of the general population. They were all residents of urban areas near the city of Sydney.

Data collection

The study involved use of primary data. Primary data collection was carried out by using the survey method. 20 people were interviewed, looking at the use of mobile phone mostly by teenagers. The survey needed some important details to ensure all the objectives are met. A questionnaire was used. This comprised 14 questions about the use of mobile phone. It attempted to elicit important information about the use that teenagers have with the mobile phone.

Findings

Length of time spent on the mobile phone use and how the family is affected

74% of the teenagers said they preferred to use the mobile phone during free time other than doing other activities during this time, while 100 percent of the older people interviewed said they preferred doing other activities other than using the mobile phone such as watching or playing sporting, reading and sleeping among other activities. This indicates that more teenagers than old people spend their free time using the mobile phone. It was also established that, in one way or the other, both teenagers and old people think that the use of the mobile phone can affect the harmony in the family.. This was indicated by the fact that 23% of the respondents agreed that using a mobile phone always affects the family harmony, 23% said it sometimes affects and 31%said it rarely affects. However, it was only 23 percent that said it never affects family harmony. Old people use their mobile phones anywhere, unlike the teenagers who mostly prefer to use their mobile phones away from home. This was indicated from the survey where 100 percent of the old people indicated that they could use their mobile phones anywhere while 70 percent of teenagers indicated that they could prefer using their mobile phones away from home.

Awareness of health problems in using mobile phone

In regard to what people actually know about how the mobile phone can affect health, we found that young people don’t know or they don’t have awareness of the damage that this can do on their health. This is indicated by the fact that 100% of the teenagers confessed that they did not think the mobile phone use affects one’s health while 95 % of the old people gave positive answers about this question by indicating that they were aware of the fact that mobile phone use affects a person’s health. This was further indicated by the fact that 80% of teenage respondents spend at least 2 or 3 hours per day using a mobile phone, not realizing the grave negative health effects of doing this.

The purpose of having and using a Mobile phone

When respondents were asked what they do mainly use for their mobile phone; there were big variations in answers given by teenagers. The teenagers use the mobile phones for various purposes. 32 % of them could say speaking is the main reason for using Mobile phone. Also, 32 % of the respondents said text messaging, 21 % of them chose listening to music and 15 % of them chose games. On the other hand, a large number of the old people prefer using the mobile phone for speaking. This fact was indicated by having 90% of respondents (old people) giving out this idea. Moreover, we expected that teenagers are having Mobile phones because everyone around them has one. However, it was found that teenagers felt exactly the opposite. It was established that 77% of teenagers have the mobile phone because they feel it is a necessity, with only13% of the respondents saying that the reason for having a mobile phone is because somebody asked them to get one such as friends or parents. However, a very surprising result was that 85% of teenagers say that they can sleep and stay at least one day without their mobile phone, when we thought that maybe they could not live without it. This is an indication that the teenagers do not have a complete dependence on the use of the mobile phone and they can sometimes do without it. This was not the case among the old people. 100 percent of them said they could not sleep or stay for at least one without their mobile phones. This may be attributed to their need to use the phone for talking to other people all the time.

Financial effects of using the mobile phone

When teenagers were asked about who pays for their mobile phone use, it was established that only 40% of them pay by themselves but 60% of them depend on their parents. This implies that a larger number of teenagers are dependent on their parents in meeting the costs associated with their mobile phone use. 100 percent of the old people interviewed pay for the plan for their mobile phone themselves. This indicates that this group of people is not dependent on anybody and takes full financial responsibility for their mobile use. A larger number of the old people agreed that their mobile use strained the family budget but a few teenagers agreed to this. This was indicated by 60 percent of the old people stated that mobile use strained their family budget. Contrary to this, 60 percent of the teenagers stated that they did not actually feel their mobile use strained their family budget. A larger number of the teenagers spend less than fifty dollars on the mobile use per month while a larger number of the old people spend more than 50 dollars per month on mobile use. This was indicated in the survey where it was established that 70 percent of the teenage respondents spent less than 50 dollars as the monthly bill on mobile use. 25% of the teenage respondents spend between $50 and $100 and only 5% spend more than $100. On the other hand, 60 % of the old people that were interviewed spend more than 50 dollars per month.

Introduction

Mobile phones, which were invented a few decades ago, have become important communication devices utilized by society members of all ages. One age group that has made persistent use of mobile phones is teenagers. Teenagers’ overuse of phones has had a marked effect on their school lives. This paper will address the negative impacts that mobile phones are having on teenagers’ school life.

Mobile Phones for Teenagers: Negative Impacts

Mobile phones impose financial pressures on teenagers since these devices act as status symbol objects. Campbell (2005) confirms that most teenagers have the desire to upgrade their phones in order to fit in with their peers.

Since most teenagers do not have a source of income, they have to rely on their families to buy them phones and pay the phone bills. This raises issues of financial disputes and some teenagers end up stealing money from their parents to spend on their phones.

Teenagers use mobile phones to aid in cheating during exams. Students use their cell phones to communicate with each other during exams and therefore obtain answers to the test questions. Students can also cheat by getting answers from their phone memory or the internet.

Campbell (2005) documents that while teenagers have always engaged in cheating; mobile phones have increased the level of sophistication in cheating and decreased the chances of the misconduct being detected by the teacher.

Mobile phones are also problematic in school since they increase the level of disruption. Research indicates that teenagers are reluctant to switch off their phones while in class and this leads to learning activity being disrupted when the student receives a call or a text (Campbell, 2005).

Even when the student does not access his/her mobile phone, the excitement of finding out what the message is about results in the student losing interest in the class leading to poor academic outcomes.

Conclusion

Mobile phones have significant negative impacts on teenagers’ school life. This paper has demonstrated that mobile phones cause financial difficulties, enhance cheating, and disrupt lessons. Parents and teachers should therefore forbid teenagers from having mobile phones in school.

Reference

Campbell, M A 2005, The impact of the mobile phone on young people’s social life, Proceedings Social Change in the 21st Century Conference, QUT Carseldine, Brisbane.

It should be admitted that modern society is developing rapidly. A person anywhere in the world, having access to the Internet, also has the opportunity to master the experience of various cultures, social groups, professions, and so on. Social networks provide opportunities for communication of a huge number of people of different nationalities, ages, social statuses. Nowadays, social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and many others are international and allow people from different cultures to interact. It seems reasonable to state that under such conditions, the online community puts pressure on those who do not “stay in line” with beauty trends. This results in global issues such as body shaming, which makes this topic relevant to explore and suggest possible solutions. Below, the essence of body shaming among teenagers, as well as appropriate resolution of this issue – body positiveness promotion – will be provided.

Body shaming is negative comments about another person’s appearance. They can lead to depressive symptoms and irreversible consequences. People who are overweight are often subjected to body shaming, but those who look too thin or insufficiently athletic from the point of view of others are also criticized. Body shaming is ubiquitous. With the development of the online space and social networks, people have the opportunity to expand their circle of contacts and hurt unfamiliar teenagers without consequences for themselves (Martínez-González et al. 6629). There are posts and articles, the authors of which openly urge to evaluate whose body shape is better.

The dangers of body shaming go beyond nasty comments and attacks. Many people, even without other people’s words, are critical of their appearance – then third-party comments only reinforce negative experiences. Body shaming can be directed not only outside but also at oneself and can be expressed in dissatisfaction with one’s appearance in comparison with other people and standards (Gam et al. 1327). A person struggling with an eating disorder is influenced by many different factors, including genetic characteristics and the environment. Body shaming is considered part of the equation. The fact is that he increases the feeling of shame for his “wrong” appearance. The latter can already directly affect the choice of diet, right up to the transition to a rigid diet.

Body positive promotion can be a significant variant to address the described issue. This phenomenon may be defined as a movement based on a respectful attitude and acceptance of both your own and someone else’s appearance (Davies et al. 102). The goals of this movement were initially declared as very good: to teach society to communicate on an equal footing with people with all kinds of differences, without looking away and without showing excessive curiosity. All people, regardless of how they look, have an equal footing in basic comfort. The body cannot be the cause of a disrespectful attitude towards a person. Members of the movement help each other to overcome complexes, live in harmony with themselves without looking back at public opinion, fashion, and beauty standards. Body positivity arose as a response to popular culture with commercial beauty, promoting the acceptance of the normality of everyone.

For people with a body mass significantly exceeding the norm, body positivity has become a movement for accepting obesity, regardless of its cause. Today, obese people can wear fashionable clothes, including tight-fitting ones, without hesitation and complexes (Pickett and Cunningham 330). They may require comfortable conditions for themselves in public places: in cinemas and cafes, there should be not only chairs but also sofas for people of a higher weight category and dimensions.

There are a plethora of studies that confirm the significance and appropriacy of body positivity. Moreover, some specific practices allow implementing its core ideas and aspirations to a great degree. For instance, Pickett and Cunningham justify the adequateness of inclusive physical activities spaces (330), and Coyne et al. give a notable example of body positivity music’s effectiveness (11). Such a variety of approaches implies a great range of opportunities to promote body positivity via social media to make teenagers realize its advantages and perceive its principles properly.

However, there is an opinion that is declaring the freedom of the body to be as it is from nature, overweight people completely cease to monitor their diet. They do not make any effort to increase physical activity; they have such fat deposits that threaten physical health and shorten life expectancy. The medical point of view on overweight has not changed; obesity is recognized as a disease and a concomitant aggravating factor in many conditions. The ideology of body positivity manifested itself in obese people in a reluctance to take care of their bodies; any reminders of good nutrition and gyms are perceived as insults (Stamp). Such a point of view contains an exact degree of rationality, but the fact that body shaming also has a negative impact on health is relevant as well. It seems apparent that body shaming has no positive effects, and body positivity – if its message is conveyed properly – is a great foundation for mental and physical healthiness.

To conclude, the above discussion explored the phenomenon of body shaming and its adverse impact. The concept of body positivity was presented as well, and it was pre-assumed that it is an appropriate variant to address body shaming among teenagers. It is proposed to elaborate on the ways body positivity can be promoted properly and expediently.

Works Cited

Coyne, Sarah, et al. “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: The Effect of Lstening to Body Positive Music on Implicit and Explicit Body Esteem.” Psychology of Popular Media, vol. 10, no. 1, 2021, pp. 2–13.

Davies, Bryony, et al. “Add a Comment … How Fitspiration and Body Positive Captions Attached to Social Media Images Influence the Mood and Body Esteem of Young Female Instagram Users.” Body Image, vol. 33, 2020, pp. 101–105.

Gam, Rahul Taye et al. “Body Shaming among School-Going Adolescents: Prevalence and Predictors.” International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, vol. 7., no. 4, 2020, pp. 1324–1328.

Martínez-González, Marina, et al. “Women Facing Psychological Abuse: How Do They Respond to Maternal Identity Humiliation and Body Shaming?” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021, vol. 18, no, 12, pp. 6627–6644.

Pickett, Andrew, and George Cunningham. “Creating Inclusive Physical Activity Spaces: The Case of Body-Positive Yoga.” Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, vol. 88, no. 3., 2016, pp. 329–338.

Stamp, Nikki. “Does the Body Positivity Movement Actually Promote Better Health?”The Sydney Morning Herald, 2019.

Introduction

Children who become adolescents have to undergo numerous psychological and physiological changes and learn how to fulfill new social roles successfully. With that in mind, the period of adolescence is the stage of life that involves multiple risks related to different dimensions of well-being. This paper delves into the problem of suicidal thoughts in teenagers and discusses related stressors, approaches to health assessment, and effective support options.

The Issue and Related External Stressors

The emergence of suicidal thoughts belongs to the number of issues that impact today’s teenagers all over the world. This problem involves considering suicide as the potential way of solving some problems that impact the affected person at the moment (Whitmore & Smith, 2018). As is clear from the issue’s nature, suicidal thoughts are very unlikely to appear in the absence of mental or physical suffering. The development of suicidal ideas affects teenagers’ behavior severely, making them likely to engage in acts of self-harming or even design detailed plans to kill themselves (Holt et al., 2015). The issue’s severity may vary depending on the presence of support, teenagers’ personal situation, and their psychological characteristics.

The problem in question is associated with a large number of external stressors that contribute to the emergence of suicidal ideations. For instance, thoughts about taking one’s life can be related to a variety of mental health problems, including depression, bipolar disorder, and exposure to stress (Owen, Gooding, Dempsey, & Jones, 2015). In people from the discussed age group, such ideas often appear due to their inability to cope with traumatic events, such as rape, physical violence from peers/parents, bullying at school, the death of relatives or friends, and so on (Holt et al., 2015). Moreover, suicidal ideation can be a result of teenagers’ dissatisfaction with their social and personal life manifested in one-sided love or poor relationships with peers.

Assessment Strategies

To screen for suicidal thoughts in the given age group, it is necessary to focus on the manifestations of this problem and related external stressors when asking questions. Appropriate strategies to assess young patients’ risks include the use of clinically validated tools, such as the Beck Hopelessness Scale and rating scales for depression (Granö, Oksanen, Kallionpää, & Roine, 2017). Additional strategies can be chosen based on the potential external stressors; for instance, physical assessments can reveal the signs of physical violence or self-harm (Falkner, n.d.). To exclude the presence of difficult relationships with romantic partners or peers, teenagers’ friends can be encouraged to discuss recent behavioral changes. As for additional questions to ask, it may be beneficial to learn whether adolescents experience mood changes or have hard times for some reason. As for privacy, adolescents who need help should have the right to conceal some information, for example, problems in sexual life, from parents or caregivers. Information that is less intimate and has a direct bearing on teenagers’ mental condition should be available to adults responsible for them.

Support Options

Support options for adolescents facing the listed external stressors should be chosen based on the situation. In some cases, if physical or sexual violence takes place, the concerted efforts of the police and psychologists may be required. As for the problem in question, suicidal thoughts, the potential support options may also vary depending on the severity of a patient’s condition. The options to consider include school-based education, support groups for adolescents, individual sessions with mental health professionals, or even psychiatric hospitalization (Falkner, n.d.). Thus, the best support options and interventions should be chosen for different cases individually.

Conclusion

To sum up, suicidal ideations present an important contemporary problem in teenagers. The issue is related to several external stressors, including exposure to violence, personal problems, and different traumatic events. Health evaluations may include a range of components, such as physical examinations, the use of approved mental health assessment tools, and psychological interviews. Based on the results and the problem’s severity, appropriate support options are to be selected.

References

Falkner, A. (n.d.).Adolescent assessment.Web.

Granö, N., Oksanen, J., Kallionpää, S., & Roine, M. (2017). Specificity and sensitivity of the Beck Hopelessness Scale for suicidal ideation among adolescents entering early intervention service. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 71(1), 72-76.

Holt, M. K., Vivolo-Kantor, A. M., Polanin, J. R., Holland, K. M., DeGue, S., Matjasko, J. L.,… Reid, G. (2015). Bullying and suicidal ideation and behaviors: A meta-analysis. Pediatrics, 135(2), e496-e509.

Owen, R., Gooding, P., Dempsey, R., & Jones, S. (2015). A qualitative investigation into the relationships between social factors and suicidal thoughts and acts experienced by people with a bipolar disorder diagnosis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 176, 133-140.

Whitmore, L. M., & Smith, T. C. (2018). Isolating the association of sleep, depressive state, and other independent indicators for suicide ideation in United States teenagers. Archives of Suicide Research, 1-27. Web.

The choice of the proposed research fell on the issue of cyberbullying and the impact it may tend to have on teenagers. The power of technology and digital communication, in particular, is extremely strong nowadays. Alongside the opportunities and benefits digital technologies and the ubiquitous Internet connection carry, there exists a set of disadvantages and negative effects that are just as influential. The contemporary teenagers and adolescents of the developed countries are born and raised in the century of digital technologies and the Internet; as a result, they are particularly susceptible to the destructive impacts such as cyberbullying due to their age, emotional development, and sensitive psyche. The proposed research will be a qualitative review of the recent literature covering the issue of cyberbullying in teenagers for the purpose of identifying the prevalence and trends of this phenomenon.

In general, bullying is one of the behaviors typical for children and teenagers (Hinduja and Patchin 2). The contemporary youth are extremely engaged with the technologies and tend to use them a lot in their everyday lives for various activities, one of which is communication (National Crime Prevention Council 1-2). Accordingly, the harmful and aggressive behaviors have been transferred to the cyberspace and are just as dangerous as they can be in real life. Cyberbullying is defined as the use of the Internet and various modes of technology for the purpose of harming someone in an emotional or physical manner (NCPC 1). Cyberbullying can be practiced using a wide range of means and tools such as pictures, words, gossip, video clips, voice records, blogs, and postings online (Notar, Padgett, and Roden 2).

Anti-Defamation League reported distressing statistics concerning cyberbullying rates among young people; in particular, as many as 28% of teenagers aged 10 and older experience cyberbullying, and 87% witness someone else being bullied online (1-3). The danger of cyberbullying as a phenomenon lies in its diversity as it can translate into sexual harassment, life threats, it can target young people’s identities and appearances and can lead to physical assault.

Cyberbullying is recognized worldwide, with the prevalence rates ranging from 6 to 35% (Bottino, Bottino, Regina, Correira, and Ribeiro 464). Unfortunately, a high percentage of all cases of cyberbullying remain unreported, and parents and teachers are powerless in their attempts to minimize it (PACER Center 1-3).

The proposed research will seek to answer the following questions:

• What are the effects of cyberbullying on teenagers?
• What forms of cyberbullying are the most commonly reported?
• What prevention measures can be taken to minimize the effects or prevalence of cyberbullying?

The resources for this research will be found using an online search on the keywords “cyberbullying impact in teenagers.” The sources included in the research will be books, journal articles, governmental publications, and other reliable articles, preferably published within the last 5-10 years. The information found in these studies will be organized in accordance with the research questions. The proposed research will be of qualitative nature and based on the method of a literature review. The reliability and validity of the findings will be ensured due to the quality and quantity of the sources included. The proposed research will shed light on the issue of cyberbullying and facilitate a deeper understanding of its prevalence and magnitude in teenagers and the measures that can help address this problem.

Works Cited

Anti-Defamation League. “Statistics on bullying.” ADL, 2016. Web.

Bottino, Sara Mota, Cassio Bottino, Caroline Regina, Aline Correira, and Wagner Ribeiro. “Cyberbullying and adolescent mental health: Systematic review.” Cadernos de Saúde Pública, vol. 31, no. 3, 2015, pp. 463-475.

Hinduja, Sameer, and Justin W. Patchin. “Cyberbullying: Identification, prevention, & response.” Cyberbullying, 2014. Web.

National Crime Prevention Council. “Teens and cyberbullying.” NCPC. 2007. Web.

NCPC. “Stop cyberbullying before it starts.” n.d. Web.

Notar, Charles E., Sharon Padgett, and Jessica Roden. “Cyberbullying: A review of the literature.” Universal Journal of Educational Research, vol. 1, no. 1, 2013, pp. 1-9.

PACER Center. “Cyberbullying: What parents can do to protect their children.” 2013. Web.

Introduction

In his book “I Hate the Internet,” Kobek uncovered the ugly sides of the Web loved and admired by everyone today, especially by the younger generation. As pointed out by the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC), the teenagers and children growing up in the contemporary world represent an online population (2). This statement particularly means that the youth tends to spend a lot of time online and using their digital devices for various purposes such as education, information, entertainment, and communication. It goes without saying that the rapid development of technologies and the emergence of the World Wide Web has become very beneficial for modern society; however, alongside the advantages offered by this technological breakthrough, there exists a broad range of disadvantages, risks, and harmful impacts facilitated by it. Unfortunately, spending a lot of time on the Internet, modern teenagers become extremely vulnerable to these negative effects. One such effect is cyberbullying. Being a variation of regular bullying and a rather common phenomenon online, cyberbullying tends to have a number of very strong adverse effects on teenagers, facilitating depressions, social isolation, fear, and stress; however, there exist different ways in which cyberbullying can be addressed by parents, law enforcement, and victims.

Cyberbullying as a Phenomenon

Bullying, in its regular forms, is known to be one of the common behaviors among adolescents and teenagers (Hinduja and Patchin 2). Bullying includes the behaviors that are initiated for the purpose of humiliating, hurting, or scaring the individuals at whom they are directed. Bullying can be of both emotional and physical nature. According to the report of the Anti-Defamation League, at least 22% of schools children aged 12 to 18 admit being bullied by their peers (1). The teenagers usually report such forms of regular bullying as mocking and name-calling (13.6% prevalence), gossip and rumors (13.2%), exclusion (4.5%), physical assaults (pushing, tripping, spitting) (6%), threats (3.9%), and the destruction of personal property (1.6%) (Anti-Defamation League 1).

When it comes to the phenomenon of cyberbullying, it is important to note that this term is relatively new and did not exist ten years ago (Notar et al. 1). Cyberbullying is defined as “the intentional and repeated mistreatment of others through the use of technology, such as computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices” (Anti-Defamation League 1). As the contemporary teenagers are a population group that is characterized by very frequent use of digital technologies and the internet on a daily basis, they are just as likely to become victims of cyberbullying as adults using the Internet (National Crime Prevention Council 1-2). In particular, the prevalence of cyberbullying in teenagers is rather high. According to the data of the National Crime Prevention Council, about 43% of teenagers in the United States state that they have become victims of cyberbullying over the past year; this percentage indicates that at least four out of ten teenagers experience bullying annually (2).

Also, the data of the NCPC shows that the prevalence of cyberbullying is not equally high among male and female youths; research found that female teenagers suffer from bullying on the internet more often than their male counterparts (2). The teenagers aged 15 and 16 faces bullying more commonly than the youths of other ages. This tendency may occur due to the development patterns typical for this age such as the advancement intellectual capacity (abstract and critical thinking, judgment); at this age teens develop their own opinions that often clash with or criticize those of other people; also, conflicts and harmful behaviors such fighting, bullying, shaming, substance abuse, and self-harm are powered by the children’s desire to separate themselves from the society, and define themselves as individuals (“Ages 15-18: Developmental Overview”).

The fact that cyberbullying is a phenomenon that occurs in the cyberspace should not serve as a reason to believe that this behavior is not a serious threat to the well-being of teenagers. In fact, cyberbullying is just as harmful as regular bullying. Bullies that operate on the Internet do not need to have physical strength or be fast runners; in addition, they can engage many people in their aggressive activities, or exploit the ubiquity of the internet to access personal information of their victims or target them in many different locations (Notar et al. 1). In cyberspace, teenagers can be attacked with the help of such instruments as photographs, video clips, voice records, rumors, blogging, and postings online (Notar et al. 2). The prevalence of witnessed cyberbullying is reported to be as high as 87% annually (Anti-Defamation League 1-2). The diversity of modes and means used for its accomplishment makes cyberbullying particularly dangerous for its teenage victims; namely, it can surface in such forms as sexual harassment and exploitation of minors, translate to physical assault in real life, or be aimed at the identities and appearances of the victims, thus representing hate crime.

Moreover, this phenomenon is not specific only to the United States but is recognized globally with the incidence rates ranging from 6 to 35% (Bottino et al. 464). Logically, a phenomenon with such serious prevalence and wide reach tends to produce very significant negative impacts on the teenagers, who become its victims. One of the examples of this kind of impact occurred in 2003 – it is the case of Ryan Halligan, a teenager whose cyberbullies led him to believe that they were actually his friends and encouraged the boy to share intimate information with them. As soon as the information was received, the bullies made it public and started a rumor that Ryan was gay; after facing a major and heavy embarrassment in the community of his peers, Ryan ended his own life by hanging himself (“The Top Six Unforgettable CyberBullying Cases Ever”). Ryan’s father made a heartbreaking comment of his son’s death by saying: “technology was being utilized as weapons far more effective and reaching [than] the simple ones we had as kids”(“The Top Six Unforgettable CyberBullying Cases Ever”).

The Effects of Cyberbullying on Teenagers

Bullying can be based on a variety of features and aspects of an individuals’ personality, identity, of appearance. To be more precise, according to the report of Anti-Defamation League, appearance and body size is one of the most common causes for bullying both online and in real life, its prevalence is over 50%; the other reasons include race and ethnicity (over 30%), gender expression (about 22%), sexual orientation (19.4%), gender (18%), religion (18%), disabilities (12%) (2). Sexual harassment is one of the most common forms of bullying, its frequency is about 48%; LGBTQ teenagers are some of the most vulnerable targets for bullies. The latter tendency is dictated by the intolerance and prejudice of the adults who surround the youth (Riese). Differently put, the teenagers tend to act based on beliefs and ideas that were implicitly or explicitly promoted and put through to them since childhood. Starting to develop their own judgments, teenagers begin to practice the approaches of their parents and teachers as the basis for their own perspectives in life. As a result, the individuals and groups who are perceived as “other” or “different” become singled out as easy targets. In particular, in the tragic case of Ryan Halligan, the boys bullies used a rumor of him being gay as a means of shaming and embarrassing their victim, and artificially associating him with what was perceived as a disgraceful label. Thinking critically of the case, it is possible to notice that not only the bullies but Ryan himself were the carriers of a stereotype according to which belonging to LGBTQ is something one should be desperately ashamed of.

As a result of being cyberbullied, many teenagers report having the desire to skip classes, drop out of school, and engage in violent and aggressive activities in response to bullying (Anti-Defamation League 2).

Some of the effects of cyber- and regular bullying in teenagers are the abuse of alcohol to which teenagers draw attempting to cope with stress (15.6% prevalence), panic disorder (13%), depression and anxiety (10% each); the same effects tend to occur in the offenders; in fact, alcohol abuse incidence is much higher among bullies than their victims (almost 23%) (Anti-Defamation League 2). Some of the bullied teenagers demonstrated signs of diminished academic performance, substance use, stress, suicidal thoughts, social anxiety, suicide attempts, and externalized hostility (Bottino et al. 471). The latter phenomenon indicates the cyclic nature of bullying (both offline and in reality). In particular, victims of bullying tend to become aggressive and violent thus initiating bullying behaviors of their own and victimizing others. The aggression and hostility in bullying victims may be dictated by the attempts to create a scary and intimidating reputation or exterior so that they do not become targeted and hurt again. In that way, it is possible to theorize that every bully has an experience of being a victim at some point on their life.

Also, teens exposed to online bullying often reacts by blocking the bully, asking them to stop, or (if the attacks continue) deleting their accounts whatsoever. Moreover, the emotional responses of teens may differ significantly; namely, while some remain calm and indifferent, others become depressed, stressed, upset, and lose their confidence. The most common reaction to cyberbullying is anger as it occurs in over 56% of cases, 33% of victims feel hurt, 32% experience embarrassment, and one in eight teens (13%) report being scared of their bullies (National Crime Prevention Council 3). At the same time, informing an adult is one of the least common reactions to cyberbullying; about one in ten children respond in such way (National Crime Prevention Council 3).

How Cyberbullying Can Be Addressed or Prevented

As an outcome of rare incidence of the cases of cyberbullying reported to parents and caregivers, a high percentage of online attacks remain unreported leaving the adults powerless as the authorities helping to prevent the behavior (PACER Center 1-3). Unfortunately, teens are more likely to speak about being cyberbullied to their friends rather than adults.

However, there are a number of ways that parents could use to help their children cope with negative experiences online. For instance, NCPC recommends that the parents teach their children to ignore bullies, avoid taking revenge for being attacked, report bullying to special services online such as website moderators and the Internet service providers, protect their private information and passwords, realize the importance of contacting adults about cyberbullying, keep track of the attacks and seek help of the law enforcement if they become especially aggressive (2-3). In addition, parents of teens are advised to maintain close communication with their children and stay aware of their activities online, document the discovered threats by saving the conversations and printing out screenshots (PACER Center 3-4). It is critical that the parents of teens observe their children’s emotional states often and monitor the potential periods of distress and depression; since children are highly emotional at this age, parents could definitely notice the emotional change when their children suffer from cyberbullying and start acting on this situation right away.

Also, remembering the case of Ryan Halligan, it is important that the parents constantly warn their children about the dangers of sharing their private information in the internet. Finally, it is highly important for the adults to recognize the risks related to cyberbullying and treat it as a serious issue (Hinduja and Patchin 4). The same recommendation applies to the law enforcement authorities and the society in general as there is a pattern powering the normalization of cyberbullying and hate crime online (Citron 73). In particular, many victims of bullying leave their experiences unreported because there is a belief that bullying online is “not real” and that it cannot be harmful. Moreover, there is a popular idea that cyberbullying is one of the essential aspects of the Internet and one cannot enjoy its benefits without putting up with its disadvantages. Also, the children need to be educated about the mechanisms involved in such behaviors, the trolls whose goals are to provoke people and initiate fights for the sake of the content, virality, and popularity (Kobek 45).

Fieldwork: Interviews with Six Teenagers

In order to connect the review of literature planned for this research to real life scenarios and practices, it was decided to add interviews with teenagers and their experiences with cyberbullying. Five participants were selected for the interviews. Their consent, as well as the consent of their parents, was obtained prior to the interviews. The names of the interviewees will be changed for the purposes of anonymity but their genders will not. The participants’ demographics are presented in Appendix 1.

Interviews

The interviews were conducted with each participant individually and face-to-face. The answers were written down for further analysis. The questions were focused on the teens’ experiences of being cyberbullied or witnessing someone being attacked online, the prevalence of this behavior, the personal initiation of cyberbullying, reactions, and the forms of cyberbullying they had encountered.

Findings

Incidence of Cyberbullying Reported by the Participants

Five out of six interviewees stated that they have experienced cyberbullying over the past week; three teenagers reported having been bullied within one week; one teenager stated that he was rarely attacked online. Five out of six respondents also said that they were often aware of the identities of their offenders, and in the vast majority of cases they were other children from this schools; only one respondent stated that he was attacked primarily by strangers. However, all of the teens reported receiving rude comments online, engaging in arguments and verbal fights, and having diminishing remarks in comments to their pictures on social networks.

One of the interviewees (Anne) said: “it happens so much that we don’t really pay attention to it anymore”. Another respondent (Jaden) noted: “Some people just say means things without reasons, I think everyone is used to it, it’s the Internet”. These responses indicated that teens are emotionally prepared to face criticism or bullying in cyberspace and perceive it as a part of the Web.

Three out of five respondents reported that they tended to become victims of cyberbullying at least once a month; one states that she was targeted weekly; and one said he had only been a victim several times in his life (See Appendices 2 and 3).

Offenders and Offending

When asked about personal attacks, five out of six respondents admitted having been targeted by their peers; also, the reported online bullying attacks came in several different forms. The most common form of bullying online was rumors (reported by 3 teens), criticism and trolling came second (reported by 2 teens), one person reported receiving threats (See Appendix 4).

Moreover, all of the respondents recalled witnessing multiple cases of cyberbullying.

Henry: “Two of my friends had a fight because someone wrote lies about someone. They are no longer friends”.

Sara: “I see it every day – people fighting online, people threatening one another, using very rude words. Strangers, classmates, friends, boyfriends and girlfriends – the status doesn’t matter”.

Maria: “Some guys from my school do it as a hobby. They just go on people’s Facebook pages and leave those comments. I don’t know why, I think it’s how they have fun”.

Also, two out of five teens stated that they had experiences of bullying other people online. The following answers were given as explanations of their reasons for this behavior:

Jaden: “This girl is just so annoying and stupid, everyone is laughing at her. My friends sent me a link to her Facebook pictures where she looked awful, so we mocked her. And then we found out that she was crying about it.”

Anne: “It was my response to some girl’s mean comments about me, she was spreading gossip, she said things…. So my friends and I did the same to her. We wrote embarrassing stuff about her and called her names.”

None of the respondents reported speaking to adults about being cyberbullied, even if the magnitude of the attacks was very powerful.

Conclusion

In “I Hate the Internet”, Kobek explored the shock faced by the users of the Web due to the unlimited opportunities for harassment and assault it brought. While for the adults living in the era of the establishment of the Internet, it was an overwhelming experience, the children growing up as the users of the Web can and should be emotionally prepared for the negative sides of it such as cyberbullying. In particular, the modern teenagers report a very high incidence of cyberbullying that makes almost every child a victim on a regular basis. Some of the users are accustomed to violence online and can cope with it; however, most tend to become triggered and engaged by it, getting sucked in the destructive behaviors leading to even more harm.

Appendices

Appendix 1. Participants’ Demographics

Appendix 2

Appendix 3. Frequency of the Experienced Attacks

Appendix 4

Works Cited

Anti-Defamation League. “Statistics on bullying.” ADL, 2016. Web.

“Ages 15-18: Developmental Overview.”ParentFurther, 2017. Web.

Bottino, Sara Mota et al. “Cyberbullying and adolescent mental health: Systematic review.” Cadernos de Saúde Pública, vol. 31, no. 3, 2015, pp. 463-475.

Citron, Danielle Keats. Hate Crimes in Cyberspace. Harvard University Press, 2014.

Hinduja, Sameer, and Justin W. Patchin. “Cyberbullying: Identification, prevention, & response.”Cyberbullying, 2014. Web.

Kobek, Jarett. I Hate the Internet. Serpent’s Tail, 2016.

National Crime Prevention Council. “Teens and cyberbullying.” NCPC.org, 2007, Web.

NCPC. “Stop cyberbullying before it starts.” NCPC.org, n.d., Web.

Notar, Charles E. et al. “Cyberbullying: A review of the literature.” Universal Journal of Educational Research, vol. 1, no. 1, 2013, pp. 1-9.

PACER Center. “Cyberbullying: What parents can do to protect their children.” PACER, 2013. Web.

Riese, Jane. “Youth Who Are Bullied Based upon Perceptions about Their Sexual Orientation.” Violence Prevention Works, 2016. Web.

“The Top Six Unforgettable CyberBullying Cases Ever.” NoBullying.com, 2017. Web.

It is possible to analyze behavior of a particular teenager. Let it be Jimmy who is 13. In the first place, it is necessary to note that such things as cleaning the room or completing, at least, some tasks can be effectively taught at an earlier age. The target behavior is cleaning his room every weekend (Saturday).

This will teach Jimmy to be responsible and it may also make him understand that a tidy room is a norm and it is a great convenience. This may develop into a habit. It is necessary to break the behavior down to manageable parts, as this will enhance the chances of effective learning (Pear, 2014). Jimmy is expected to tidy his room, which includes making his bed, putting his things to the corresponding places, dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning the window.

To shape Jimmy’s behavior, it is necessary to use operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is beneficial when it comes to shaping people’s behavior. It involves learning through reinforcement (Coon & Mitterer, 2014). When the target behavior is broken down to manageable parts, the task becomes clear and it is possible to start the learning process. First, it is necessary to provide Jimmy with the list of the tasks he has to complete every Saturday.

It is essential to make sure that Jimmy understands the tasks clearly. It can be a good idea to make him clean the room with the instructor. The instructor will show how to do everything efficiently. It can be a good idea to encourage Jimmy to find more efficient ways to complete the tasks.

Next time, Jimmy will have to do everything on his own and the instructor will simply check the result of his work. Such inspections will be held during two months. Jimmy will get advice and will be praised or even rewarded for properly completed tasks. If Jimmy fails to shape his behavior, punishment can also be imposed.

It is necessary to remember that there are numerous types of reinforcement that can be used. The type of reinforcement to be employed depends on the character of the teenager as well as his/her willingness or readiness to shape his/her behavior. For instance, it is possible to utilize positive reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement is a stimulus that is provided when the task is completed correctly (Pear, 2014). In Jimmy’s case, positive reinforcement can be going to the cinema with friends, attending a party or going to an amusement park. It is necessary to note that this is also seen as a primary reinforcement. Thus, the teenager obtain particular benefits for proper behavior.

Clearly, it is essential to use secondary reinforcement as well. Secondary reinforcement involves praising. Jimmy should see that his behavior is praised and appreciated and parents see that he is trying hard. This can be a potent stimulus for the teenager as many teenagers seek for parents’ appreciation and approval.

At the same time, the target behavior is a continuous habit of cleaning Jimmy’s room. Hence, it is possible to employ such type of secondary reinforcement as tokens. A token reinforcer is “a tangible secondary reinforce, such as money, gold stars, poker chips” and so on (Coon & Mitterer, 2014, p. 252).

Clearly, in the case with 13-year-old Jimmy gold stars will not be effective as this type of reinforcement will be useless, as these objects have no value for a boy of his age. Money can be an effective token reinforcer. However, it is better to use this strategy very carefully, as the teenager may start demanding money for all chores or all tasks assigned (including homework, visiting grandparents and so on).

A token reinforcer can be a set of stickers that can equal certain kind of benefit. For instance, when Jimmy collects certain number of stickers, he can spend some time with friends, play a video game, and so on. It is also possible to use negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement implies removal of a stimulus that followed the target behavior.

Thus, if Jimmy does not clean his room or does in an improper way, he will lose some of the benefits. For example, he will not be allowed to go to a game or spend some times with his friends. It is also possible not to give pocket money during the next week or during a few days/weeks.

It is very important to balance between reinforcement with extinction. Extinction is the case when the target behavior does not occur as a result of the absence of the conditional stimulus (Chance, 2013). As has been mentioned above, the quality of the tasks carried out by Jimmy will be checked during two months. However, there are chances that when the room is not checked, Jimmy may ‘forget’ to clean it.

When the instructor, will forget about positive as well as negative reinforcement, Jimmy may forget about cleaning his room. Therefore, it is possible to make Jimmy remember that the room can be checked any time (even during the week) and if it is a mess, some negative consequences may occur.

This will keep Jimmy cautious and he is likely to clean his room especially when he has something in his mind (visiting somebody, going to a particular summer camp and so on). Therefore, too much extinction can have a negative impact on the target behavior.

Likewise, too much reinforcement may ‘corrupt’ the teenager. He may ask for more reinforcers or he might do everything in an inappropriate way. As has been mentioned above, he may ask more money for completing a task and many parents make the same mistake and start giving the teenager more money without checking the quality of the work done, without praising the teenager.

Soon, relationship between parents and the child may become purely economic, which is inappropriate, as the child should understand that there are certain responsibility he/she has to have. It is possible to add that operant conditioning is relevant to my personal career goals.

First of all, I understand that this strategy is often used in working places and supervisors often use operant conditioning to shape novice employees’ behavior. Clearly, I will understand the supervisor’s efforts and will try to develop the behavioral patterns that are expected.

At the same time, I will also be able to use operant conditioning for my self-development. I will be able to understand what the target behavior is and will be able to divide it into manageable parts. I will also manage to employ positive as well as negative reinforcement. I may need to have a particular written plan and diary to follow my progress and list all reinforcers used. However, I believe I will be able to use operant conditioning in my professional self-development.

Reference List

Chance, P. (2013). Learning and behavior. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

Coon, D., & Mitterer, J. (2014). Psychology: Modules for active learning. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Pear, J.J. (2014). The science of learning. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.