Topic
The Effects of the rise In Social Networking on Young People and Possible Future Consequences
Instructions
Examine the effects of the rise in social networking on young people, and investigate
possible future consequences
Suggested structure:
Remember that although the instruction word is examine, this is an argumentative essay.
You are arguing not describing. You need to make your stance (position) clear in the introduction. What is your opinion? Does social media do more harm than good? Will the heavy usage of social media affect the cognitive abilities of young people in the future?
1. Introduction: Opening statement and suggested thesis statement: This essay will argue that the growth of social media and its accompanying addiction and cyberbullying is possibly harming the mental health of young people and this trend looks set to continue in the future. And/or write outline statement.
2. Supporting your thesis in first main body paragraph: your claims about social networking being harmful to young people – statistics showing social media addiction levels among millennials- people neglect their real friends. Will young people become more dependent no social media in the future? Need academic
sources to support your claims. If you can, provide your own commentary on academic source.
Suggested sources:
http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2017/technology-social-
media.PDF
3. Second main body para supporting your thesis statement. Increasing number of young social media users are victims of cyber bullying. Are we likely to see more online than offline bullying in the future?
Suggested sources:
https://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/cyberbullying-social-media.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3477910/
4. Third main body paragraph or counter argument paragraph: Against this view, some people claim that social media has been a great tool in raising awareness of mental healthcare. (Or social media helps to connect people worldwide. Or social media revolutionises real time information on the internet; young people are becoming more politically aware.) Refutation (the refutation kills the counterargument) and comes after counter argument and in same paragraph: e.g.
Nevertheless, there has been a proliferation of fake news on Facebook……, Or connections with friends in the real world are more meaningful than those with ‘virtual friends’.
5. Conclusion: you summarise the three main points in your body paragraphs. Reword your thesis statement (This essay has argued that social media is possibly harming the mental health of young people as it exposes them to cyberbullying and can result in addiction and this trend looks set to worsen). End with a hope for the future –young people will restrict their use of social media and use social networking sites sensibly (for example).
(All the points above need to be supported with academic evidence .gov.uk, .edu, .ac, .org domains.
Please note that .com and .co.uk are commercial websites and are not academic sources).
Answer preview
Social networking has become part of modern means of communication. Many users believe that social networking present more positive implications than harm. However, social networking results in a wide range of undesirable implications. This paper argues that the advent and growth of social media and the resulting addiction and cyberbullying result in mental harm for young users, and, this phenomenon may continue into the future. The first part of the essay provides statistical insights showing the relationship between social media use and the millennials. The subsequent part shows the impact of cyberbullying and the possible trend in the future.
Word count: 1147