Proposal

The New Millennial Street Drug: Is Social Media Pimping Our Teens?

In the midst of the digital revolution and all its many positive wonders in technological
advancement, it is important that there is also an examination in how new media negatively
impacts teens.
As such this research project will explore new media as a new millennial street drug that is
pimping our teens. There are four main topics of discussion access & exposure, exploitation,
surveillance, and addiction. Each topic examining research delving into how social media is
currently impacting society.
Research will discuss teens use of social media as a potential social narcotic being peddled to
teenagers, and will also explore social medias exposure, exploitation, surveillance and
addiction.
A website will host this individual research project and a PowerPoint video slide presentation,
and a real-time social media feed so that those choosing to review the research may respond,
participate and/or engage in dialogue pertaining to the question: Is Social Media Pimping Our
Teens?
The expectation for this project is to create a basis for further in depth research on the
potentially negative effects of teen use of new media.

Literature Review:

Gutnick, A.L., Robb, M., Takeuchi, L., & Kotler, J. (2010) Always connected: The new digital
media habits of young children. Retrieved November 12, 2014 from
http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/jgcc_alwaysconnected.pdf.
The authors discuss the media habits of children and balance between media consumption and
the potential negative impact that inappropriate digital content can have on vulnerable children.

It presents children has avid consumers with exposure to increasing types of media. Gutnick,
Robb, Takeuchi & Kotler present data on the types of media available to kids and how often it is
used. Their findings reflect that the digital divide still exist in both access to and usage of media.
According to the data, children ages 8 to 10 spend about 5.5 hours each day using media, but
are exposed to 8 hours of media because they use multiple media simultaneously. The article
highlights various aspects of new media, including: ownership, computers and internet, cell
phones, video games television and its usage. The article discusses the influences of television,
and examines the digital divide in lower-income and African American children.

Salman, Ali, Ibrahim, Faridah, Hj.Adullah, Mohd Yusof, Mustaffa, Normah, Mahbob, Maizatual
Haizan. (2011) The Impact of New Media on Traditional Mainstream Mass Media. The
Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal. Vol. 16(3), 2011, article 7. Retrieved
11/12/14 http://www.innovation.cc/scholarly-style/ali_samman_new+media_impac116v3i7a.pdf.
The article addresses the impact of new media on traditional mainstream mass media particular
as it relates to the Internet and newspaper. It examines how younger generations prefer new
media as they are more interactive compared to the online version of mainstream. In so doing,
new medias presence and the Internet poses a challenge to conventional media. Additionally,
the article discusses the parameters of freedom as prescribed by the government. Further, it
compares mainstream mass media and new media influences by governments. Traditional
mass media is identified as being easier to control as compared to new or alternative media that
is often seen as radical and much more difficulty to control. The authors present the Internet as
a global new medium with demands for interactive content produced by audiences
themselves.

Porter, Amanda J., Hellsten, Lina, (2014) Investing Participatory Dynamics Through Social
Media Using a Multideterminant Frame Approach: The Case of Climategate on Youtube*
Journal of Computer - Mediated Communication. Retrieved November 6, 2014
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcc4.12065/pdf. Journal of Computer - Mediated
Communication 19 (2014) 1024 - 1041. Porter and Hellsten examine the relationship between

social, instrumental, and technological determinants of participation through social media. The
authors state the role of social media in shaping polarizing events is being increasingly
investigated. There is also research that shows social media may be used to help marginalized
people challenge political elite. There is also discussion about the transformation potential of
social media. The authors presents their framework uses three approaches 1) socially
embedded master frames, 2) instrumental positioning through collective action framing, and 3)
constitutive media forms; and apply a multideterminant framework to investigate participatory
dynamics on YouTube. Also discussed is whether these social media dynamics actually make
a difference in peoples ability to participate and organize. Despite various indications that social
media can help those that are marginalized, the social determination also indicates that social
media platforms are ideological, wherein Web 2.0 can result in the illusionary impression that
citizens today can make a difference, whereas in reality they cannot influence policies and live
in a world that is dominated by corporate interests and corporate control. According to Porter
and Hellsten, YouTube has an architecture of participation, or technical capability, which is like
a social networking site and an interactive format for participation through commenting on
videos and direct reply to comments.

Chan, Michael. (2014). Multimodal Connectedness and Quality of Life: Examining the
Influences of Technology Adoption and Interpersonal Communication on Well-Being Across the
Life Span J o u r n al o f C o m p u t e r - M e dia t e d C o m m u nic a tio n Retrieved
November 6, 2014 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcc4.12089/pdf. Chan examines
the relationship between the number of communication technologies used for social
interactions (i.e. multimodal connectedness) and well-being across the lifespan. He explores
questions of whether mediated communication contributes to or detracts from peoples quality of
life. Chan states, we are now living in an age of networked individualism. It is argued that
increased connectivity can lead to even more loneliness because of the mental and emotional
effort required to manage ones social networks. Chan expresses that past research examined
technology in isolation, but explains that his study adopts a more holistic view of well-being
(psychological well-being)

that focuses on various aspects of human functioning and need fulfillment, such as living a
purposeful life, being optimistic, and gaining the respect of others (Diener et al., 2009). Further
Chan explores and discusses multimodal connectedness and well-being, multiplexity, tie
strength and well-being, and interpersonal communication and well-being across lifespan.

Ito, Mizuko, Horst, Heather, Bittani, Matteo, Boyd, Danah, Herr-Stephenson, Becky, Lange,
Patricia G., Pascoe, C. J., and Robinson, Laura. (2009) Living and Learning with New Media
Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning. Retrieved November 11, 2014
http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/files/report/digitalyouth-TwoPageSummary.pdf. Mizuko
researched and interviewed 800 youth and young adults and conducted over 5000 hours of
online observation to study youth media use. Research found that video-sharing sites, social
network, online games, technology gadgets, i.e., iPods and mobiles phones are fixtures of youth
culture. Todays youth may be struggling for autonomy and identity amid new worlds for
communications, friendship, play, and self-expression. While adults worry that children are
wasting time online, it is explained why youth find new media technologies compelling &
important. The research purports that todays young people are growing up in a media ecology
where digital and networked media play an increasing central role. Further examining how new
media provide avenues for extending social worlds, self-directed learning, and independence.

Wells, Tom, Link, Michael (2014) Facebook User Research Using a Probability-Based Sample
and Behavioral Data The Journal of Computer - Mediated Communication . Retrieved
November, 6, 2014. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcc4.12058/pdf. Wells and Link
states that Facebook has become the largest and arguably most influential social network site.
Their research explore who uses the SNS, how often it is used and for what reasons. Wells
based Internet usage data on behavioral data, collected from meters, rather than from survey
selfreports. The analysis is based on 18,875 teens and adults form a large, ongoing audience
measurement panel.

Madden, Mary, Lenhart, Amanda, Duggan, Maeve, Cortesi, Sandra, Gasser, Urs. (2013).
Technology and Teens 2013. Retrieved September 2014
http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/03/13/teens-and-technology-2013/. The report reveals that
Smartphone adoption among American teens has increased substantially and mobile access to
the internet is pervasive. Their findings report that 95% of teens are online, a percentage that
has been consistent since 2006. While there is increased use of smartphones, the research
cites that low-income or African American households are slightly less likely to have a desktop
computer but are in some ways more likely to utilize their smartphone as an access point to the
Internet. About three in four (74%) teens ages 12-17 are mobile internet users who say they
access the internet on cell phones, tablets, and other mobile devices at least occasionally.
Further, Some 78% of teens now have a cell phone, and almost half (47%) of those say they
have smartphones.

Weinstein, Emily, Selman, Robert, (2013) Digital Stress: Adolescents Personal Accounts New
Media & Society. Retrieved September 2014 http://nms.sagepub.com/ . The article explores
adolescents personal accounts of digital stress. The article explains there are 6 kinds of digital
stressors that engender two distinctive types of digital stress. According to the article, research
indicates teens use digital technologies in the service of social support and intimacy with their
offline friends and romantic partners (Boyd, 2007, 2014; Davis, 2012; Gross, 2004; Ito et al.,
2009). Adolescents use of digital technologies may be driven by authentic desires for
connection and intimacy. However, research also underscores that isolating experiences of
social conflict similarly transpire online. Findings of self-reports identified six digital stressors
impersonation, receiving mean and harassing personal attacks, public shaming and
humiliation, breaking and entering into accounts and devices, pressure to comply with
requests for access, and feeling smothered.

Web: Samsung, Wieden & Kennedy Rule Ad Ages 2013 Viral Video Awards AdAge Digital ,
April 16, 2013 Retrieved September 2014 http://adage.com/article/special-reportdigitalconference/samsung-wieden-kennedy-rule-ad-age-s-2013-viral-video-awards/240900/.

The article explores the winners of the 2013 Viral Video Awards. The awards honors the
branded content that people choose to watch. The 2013 winners included the following
categories: Viral Brand of the Year, Creative Agency of the Year, Best Brand Transparency,
Best Video for a Product You Cant Buy, Best Olympic Brand, and more. The category winners
garnered total campaign views from $11 million for Best Use of Global Celebrity: H&M David
Beckham Bodywear to over $28 million views for Best Olympics Ad: P&G: Proud Sponsor of
Moms. The article also revealed total number of social media shares for the 2013 viral videos.

Video: Caught on Camera: Viral Videos Millions Served Millions Served. (June 14, 2014)
MSNBC. Retrieved November 22, 2014 http://www.msnbc.com/documentaries/watch/caughtoncamera-viral-videos-millions-served-285233219910. The television program explores viral
videos that have received millions of hits from viewers. The viral videos examined consist
mainly of footage of children recorded by their parents and uploaded to the Internet. In one
story, a child is recorded after having outpatient oral surgery where the he received stitches in
his mouth. The child, still a bit woozy from the anesthesia, is filmed having dialogue with his
father that is senseless. The child visually not himself is filmed in slight delirious. The family was
later interviewed on the Today Show and asked directly if they believed they had exploited their
child. Another story features two brothers, both toddlers, sitting in a chair together. The older
places his finger into the younger brothers mouth, who then proceeds to bite the older brothers
finger. Although quite painful the older child is relaxed and calm. The infant after hearing the
wincing pain of the other, removes his brothers finger then slyly grins then laughs. The final
story involves a teenager that creates an alter ego and or various characters.

Video : 19 Social Media Facts That Every Marketer Should Know by Erik Qualman, presented
by Samantha Murphy Kelly, Mashable , April 23, 2014 Retrieved September 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zxpa4dNVd3c. The YouTube
video presents data that is both impressive, yet not without various perplexities. For instance, it
video presents that over 50% of the worlds population is under 30 years old. Shockingly, 53%
of millennials would rather lose their sense of smell than their technology. The YouTube video

also briefly suggests that new media language is becoming culturally and historically
mainstream and a part of world culture when it reveals that the term selfie is now a word in
Webster (dictionary). Even still the video suggests that social media or new media is casting
wider nets to reach and even larger & often younger audience. The video purports that even
LinkedIn has lowered its age limit down to age 13. Further, the YouTube video states the
obvious that mobile & social media are no longer emerging, but are merging. On a more solemn
note, the video boasts the average person has a 0.7 attention span, the average attention span
of a goldfish is .08.

TEDxSummit: Will Our Kids Be a Different Species? by Juan Enriquez, April 2012 Retrieved
on September 2014.
https://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_will_our_kids_be_a_different_species Enriquez
comments that Earth and life as we know it has been wiped out about five times, have had at 29
upgrades of humanoids so far and each time there is more and more complexity. Juan
addresses that as human beings we really like to change how we look, how we act, what our
bodies do. Enriquez questions whether new media technology is this too much information?
Further stating that were trying to process so much stuff that some people get synesthetic and
just have huge pipes that remember everything. On the other hand, other people get hypersensitive to the amount of information. Even further, other people react with various
psychological conditions or reactions to this information. However, Enriquez believes this
process requires critical observation stating, But when you see an increase of that order of
magnitude in a condition, either youre not measuring it right or theres something going on very
quickly, and it may be evolution in real time. Juan states, What I think we are doing is were
transforming as a species. Further stating, not just a hominid thats conscious of his or her
environment, its a hominid thats beginning to directly and deliberately control the evolution of
its own species, of bacteria, of plants, of animals. And I think thats such an order of magnitude
change that your grandkids or your great-grandkids may be a species very different from you.

Video Frontline: Generation Like , PBS, February 18, 2014 Retrieved September 2014
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/generation-like/ The PBS video addresses multiple
concepts & concerns pertaining to new media technology and todays generation like. It
discusses how there are teens ultimate desire to be liked and receive likes on social media
was observed & analyzed. Some teens drive on the number of likes they receive in order to get
noticed by corporate sponsors. Teens emerging, or merging, in this new digital revolution relate
most closely to icons, such as, friends, tweets, shares. According to teens, the more likes you
have the better you feel. Corporate sponsors follow teen interaction of likes and uses this big
data to see who teens interact with the mostproducts & people. Corporate sponsors then take
the big data and turn into commerce and cash by selling what teens like and who teens like into
marketing strategies to further market their products. In theory, likes are sold. Corporate
sponsors wittingly use teens to promote, sell & popularize their products for free. Those teens
that prefer to into the matrix do so by making the decision to sell themselves to social media,
and in turn, sell others to social media as well. Teens that reach this decision are often
rewarded with clothes, money, sponsorship and the opportunity to reach social media fame
status and to be likedteens want to belong.

Boyd, Danah. Its Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. 2014. Retrieved
December 4, 2014. The author discusses how social media and other technologies had
changed teens lives. Further presenting social media as collectively providing teens with a
space to hang out and connect with friends. Subsequently, social media has become central to
the lives of so many American teens and how they navigate the networked publics. Additionally,
it is discussed that teens seek attention by exploiting searchability, spreadability Boyd
compares todays teen computer use to that of television use by teens in past generations. s