Young Adults Self-Perception |1

Outside Influences Affecting Young Adults Self-Perception: A Review of Literature

Matrix/Outline
Aubrie N. Arnold
University of Texas at El Paso

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Outside Influences Affecting Young Adults Self-Perception: A Review of
Literature (The Matrix/ Outline)

Do social media sites promote an unhealthy lifestyle in young adults and

teens?
The question sparks an interest as to how social media sites could result in an
unhealthy lifestyle in young adults and teens. I have asked this question because of the
idea that teenagers tend to strangely be addicted to social media sites such as Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter and many more social networks. Young adults and teens are
distracted by what these influences are telling them each and every day, but the one
particular idea is whether or not these sites are creating an unhealthy lifestyle for the
younger generation. With the research I have pulled, it will help develop my end of the
argument while staying biased towards the topic. Outside influences like social media,
T.V. and other sources of information create an unhealthy environment for young
adults, teens, and those in their youth. With more research, I plan to unearth exactly
how social media creates an unhealthy life style. In an interview conducted through the
telephone, I was able to contact Maya Wixted, a ten year old in her youth that was able
to briefly answer questions about how she views different sources of outside influences.
Concluding the interview, I found that she did participate in using social sites,
magazines, T.Vs and many more sources that she gained information from. I was able to
ask to how they made her feel after using them each time, before and after, in which will
be described in the final paper of my review of literature.

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How does technology influence certain trends in the younger generation?
Each day technology is becoming more advanced and also being used for every
little thing. So advanced that you can simply talk to your cell phone and tell it what to
do. Without technology, the question I asked before regarding social media and outside
influences would not be an interest as to how it creates an unhealthy life style. I have
brought this question to the literature review because of the concern as to how
technology helps create trends. I asked this question after observing people around
myself that are always using tablets, laptops, cell phones, and any other technological
device. Every year, new devices come out and people about bring themselves into debt
just to hang with the trend. I found that technology is another outside influence that
helps create portable means to social sites, apps, T.V., and games. A phone or piece of
technology simply makes your life easier to the point that you forget how to run your life
without it. These ideas drive people to view themselves differently, based off of what
they see or do. I have found that people continue to fake it till they make it, and saw that
technology plays a huge roll in this aspect. Through a scholarly journal written by
Monica Flippin Wynn, I was able to relate to the ideas throughout her writing about
student perception of technology. While in the article written by Julie ODonnell, I was
able to see how technology in the social world could be used for good rather than it
creating an unhealthy environment. I plan to unearth the prime reason why people
choose to use technology, and why they use it. I also plan to discover how something like
a cell phone could be so influential in the social world from outside influences.

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Do young adults and teens that have self-perception issues, suffer from
depression and suicidal thoughts?
Understanding that suicide and depression are very serious concepts, I have
chosen to discuss an issue that relates to self-perception issues. The question stated
above was chosen due to the incidents occurring in the U.S. that cannot go unturned.

As seen above, is a graph of males and females that commit suicide at a young age
between 1992 and 2004 in either their youth or as a young adult. This graph will be
included in the literature review to demonstrate that outside influences could affect
someones self-perception to the point that they resort to suicide or fall into depression.
An article written by Murat Coskun, provides information with statistics regarding
younger people and the suicide rates. I have concluded that this question is of great
importance based off of a personal event. When I was younger a student that was close
to me committed suicide. It was horrific and I began to notice that other people saw the

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attention the person received after their death. Each time a student around us
committed suicide, there was some sort of influence rather it be social media, or
following behind the footsteps of those who succeeded in suicide. I have discovered that
suicide is what some people turn to when they feel like that just cant seem to fit in with
the new trend, or they become so engulfed into whatever influences these behaviors,
that they take this route thinking its whats best when they have no other way out.
Younger people get addicted to technology and the social sites that they believe
whatever they are told. In my research I plan on unearthing information about why the
suicide rates fall higher in the younger generation, and what pushes people to feel low
enough about themselves that they think its a last resort.

Why are young adults, teenagers and those in their youth more prone to
self-perception issues from outside influences?
Those in the younger generation are far more gullible and become wiser as they
grow older in age. The question is asked because of the concept that the younger group
of individuals seem to be persuaded far more because of their inexperience in the world,
compared to someone who has been alive for fifty plus years. After interviewing Caleb
Merrell, a nineteen year old male, I have concluded that his view helps support my end
of the argument. He feels that the young adults, teens, and those in their youth are
primarily affected by influences that create an unhealthy lifestyle. He also answers brief
questions about his knowledge towards people that are his age and less. In another
source of information, in a scholarly journal written by Julie ODonnell, I plan to

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unearth information regarding how young adults, teens, and those in their youth are
keener to persuasive information through technology, social sites, and show their
opinions towards these kinds of sources. Julie ODonnells article will help support my
end of the argument as to how the outside influences are primarily affecting the younger
generation. With personal experience from once being a teen to now an adult, I can help
support my claim from a primary source; myself.

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References
Tosun, L. P. (2012). Motives for Facebook use and expressing true self on the
Internet. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(4), 1510-1517.
doi:10.1016/j.chb.2012.03.018 http://0web.b.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=5323e893-f3f0-41e1-88260731b6733984%40sessionmgr110&vid=20&hid=124&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl
2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=74662187

Hartley-Brewez, E. (2008). What I see. Scholastic Parent & Child, 15(6), 78-79.
http://0-web.b.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=25&sid=5323e893f3f0-41e1-88260731b6733984%40sessionmgr110&hid=124&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY2
9wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=31818179

Trmoen, A., Rossow, I., Larsson, B., & Mehlum, L. (2013). Nonsuicidal self-harm and
suicide attempts in adolescents: differences in kind or in degree?. Social Psychiatry &
Psychiatric Epidemiology, 48(9), 1447-1455. doi:10.1007/s00127-012-0646-y http://0web.b.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=79&sid=e5ebdd4a-51334122-bdafead149caf7b5%40sessionmgr198&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29
wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=89769901

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Au, A. Y., Lau, S., & Lee, M. Y. (2009). SUICIDE IDEATION AND DEPRESSION: THE
MODERATION EFFECTS OF FAMILY COHESION AND SOCIAL SELF-CONCEPT.
Adolescence, 44(176), 851-868.
http://0-web.b.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=99&sid=e5ebdd4a5133-4122-bdafead149caf7b5%40sessionmgr198&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29
wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=47715868

O'donnell, J., Tan, P., & Kirkner, S. (2012). Youth Perceptions of a Technology-Focused
Social Enterprise. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, 29(5), 427-446.
doi:10.1007/s10560-012-0268-y
http://0-web.b.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=113&sid=e5ebdd4a5133-4122-bdafead149caf7b5%40sessionmgr198&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29
wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=80030944

Wynn, M. F. (2013). STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE

CLASSROOM: A FACULTY AND STUDENT COLLABORATION. Researcher: An
Interdisciplinary Journal, 26(3), 21-33.http://0web.b.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=123&sid=e5ebdd4a-51334122-bdaf-

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ead149caf7b5%40sessionmgr198&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29
wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=94391331

Best, P., Manktelow, R., & Taylor, B. (2014). Online communication, social media and
adolescent wellbeing: A systematic narrative review. Children & Youth Services Review,
4127-36. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.03.001
http://0-web.b.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
vid=144&sid=e5ebdd4a-5133-4122-bdafead149caf7b5%40sessionmgr198&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29
wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=95825442

Coskun, M., Zoroglu, S., & Ghaziuddin, N. (2012). Suicide Rates among Turkish and
American Youth: A Cross-Cultural Comparison. Archives Of Suicide Research, 16(1), 5972. doi:10.1080/13811118.2012.640612
http://0-web.b.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=74986eb7a336-4b3d-8191c897c647c3f5%40sessionmgr198&hid=102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29
wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=70858773&anchor=GoToAllQVI

Merrell, C. (2015, March 5). Personal Interview.

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Wixted, M. (2015, March 1). Telephone Interview.