Facebook Assignment: Research on Impact of FB on Youth

Question

Task: Develop a research paper on facebook assignment identifying the impacts of Facebook on Youth.

Answer

Abstract
The topic of the research ‘Impacts of Facebook on Youth’ examined herein Facebook assignment clearly states that the social media has its own effects which could be positive or negative on the young population. Youth is a key resource of every society and it is necessary to develop them as a responsible and productive adult which are beneficial for the society and for them too. Nowadays, young teenagers spend a lot of time on Facebook which is one of the best communication modes and a platform where people can socially connect to each other. Social Media has become popular with time and a best way to connect to the social world. However, young population might overuse it or have negative impacts if Facebook is not used the way it should be. This research on Facebook assignment aims at identifying the impacts of Facebook on the Youth. The main objective of the research is to discuss the present usage of Facebook by the Youth and to find out how does it impacts the young generation of the society. The research on Facebook assignment follows the mixed research approach in order to find out the primary and secondary data for conducting the research. Both the qualitative and quantitative data has been collective to have complete view on the topic. It has been found that Facebook has become an important part of the lives of people and plays a quite significant role in their lives. However, the overuse of Facebook by Youth has led to many unforeseen issues like Cyber Bullying, Distraction from studies and ruined future for the young population.

Introduction
The present Facebook assignment examines the words of Hu, et. al. (2017) that social networks are the group of social beings where they can interact each other with the help of technology. Social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube are becoming famous due to their increase in usage and their advanced features given by the best companies of the world. It is clearly seen that Facebook has dominated the world of social media and it has changed the lifestyle of people. The change could be bad or good depending on how people use it. This research is focused on the impacts of using Facebook on Youth. The social media can have mixed effects on the young population of the society which can be affirmative or negative. This research on Facebook assignment aims at identifying the impacts of Facebook on the Youth. The main objective of the research is to discuss the present usage of Facebook by the Youth and to find out how does it impacts the young generation of the society.

Background of the research on Facebook assignment
Over the years, Social media has emerged as the technology which has become part of the routine lives. Nowadays, young teenagers spend a lot of time on Facebook which is one of the best communication modes. It is also used as a platform where people can socially connect to each other. Social media is been converted into a mass activity from a niche activity. Facebook was launched in 2004 and is owned by Facebook Inc. It has around 2.5 billion monthly active users worldwide. Facebook has influenced everyone a lot but more specifically the young generation of the society is highly affected. The young population who are required to focus more on studies and their future are highly involved with this social media site which creates distraction and also affect their grades. The young generation faces severe disorders, psychological effects and some other negative effects from the overuse of Facebook which will be studied in the research.

Rationale of the research
The research conducted on the Facebook assignment is important to be conducted because it is revealed in many studies that the kids or youth are spending too much time on Facebook which hampering their psychological status and it has to be taken care of. As Youth is the future of any country, it is very important to consider this as a serious issue and to know the effects of social media on teenagers so that the issue can be resolved.

Research Aims and Objectives
The main aim of the study developed within the Facebook assignment is to identify and explore the impact of Facebook on Youth. The main objectives are:

• To discuss the present usage of Facebook by the Youth
• To find out how does Facebook impacts the young generation of the society.
• To suggest how it can be resolved

Research Questions
There are few research questions which are required to be resolved with the research:

1. What is the current use of Facebook by Youth?
2. How Facebook usage impacts the youth in the society?
3. How the issue can be resolved?

Research outline
The research on Facebook assignment is divided into the following sections which include:

Introduction: In his section, the research topic is introduced, and the research aims, and objectives are set.

Literature Review: this section holds a great importance as it contains the main review of the literature of the topic. Several articles, books and research papers are considered so that the topic can be explored clearly, and the conclusions can be made.

Methodology of the research: The research methodology will be discussed in this section which includes the research philosophy, methods and approaches used in the research. It will also detail the data collection methods for the research.

Findings and Conclusion: this will be the concluding section of the study.

Suggestions: this section of Facebook assignment will include the recommendations which will be given for reducing the negative effects of Facebook on Youth.

Literature Review
Facebook is creating a sense of unhappiness in Young generation with time which may be due to the rejections on the social media platform or by watching the status or posts of others which might not be even true. Facebook, as per the study conducted by Gallup panel Social Network survey in 2013, has created the overall decline in the wellbeing of others and also has created a decline in self-health, mental health and decrease in the life satisfaction of the individuals. The Facebook assignment analyzes the readings of Chen (2017) which states that Facebook has its effects on the wellbeing of the young generation. The study conducted has proved that though Facebook has made people connected but decreased their life satisfaction levels. In 2015, a study conducted on 1095 people and they were asked to stop using Facebook for a week and people accepted that it brought an increase in their concentration, happiness and satisfaction in social lives. Another study in the University of Pittsburg surveyed 1787 youth population and found that social media is strongly corelated with depression. Those who checks social media more frequently are facing depression compared to those who does not check their Facebook accounts very frequently. Opposed to this, in 2007, a research was conducted from Michigan State University and it was found that Facebook has increased the social capital which means that the gains from using social media have increased. People tend to follow more people, build more social connections and are having more satisfaction in life. However, in later years it was found that socializing on Facebook affects the real-life relationships.

In support for this Rameez (2015) shares that Facebook takes a lot of time for younger generation because they get addicted to it and his results in the loss of time which they could have given on the studies. The students and younger generation get so engrossed in the network that they forget about their aims, directions and future. Usage of Facebook impacts their academic performance. The words of Raisa (2017) used to support the discussion developed in the Facebook assignment states that not only academic performance but the metal health of the students also deteriorates with the excess use of Facebook. The youth struggle with the face to face communication when they are very much involved into social network communication. Also, they develop poor body language which does not help them while communicating to anyone in real life. In the view of Pera (2018), the young generation who start spending most of the time on Facebook face disturbance when they meet people in actual. They tend to remain secluded from family and the friends. They are just glued to their mobile phones which hampers their actual growth. Not only depression and anxiety could hamper the future of the young generation but the access to inappropriate content at a small age could also lead them to nowhere. According to Liu and Ma (2018), social media is a store of good information and that’s why parents provide access to Facebook to their children so that they could learn, grab knowledge and become more social. However, young generation does not have that maturity to understand the difference between good and bad, sometimes they are directed towards the inappropriate content which can turn into stalking or bullying later on. The problem of cyberbullying is huge these days because of this and resolving this situation is the need of the hour.

According to Masin (2011), the youth generation who uses too much of Facebook becomes narcissistic which means they have fascination with themselves and they tend to develop anti-social behaviour and aggressive tendencies. The young generation may also show up the psychological disorders and this is quite dangerous for this age. This generation also tend to develop higher absenteeism from school and get more anxious and depressed when use too much of social media. This hampers their studies and distracts them from their career goals. The author further discusses that there are some positive impacts too which includes developing a virtual empathy and connection with the friends who lost contacts long ago. It can improve mood and behaviour of an individual. It might also develop socialisation behaviour of the youth which is a positive impact of using Facebook (Oleksandrivna & Volodymyrivna, 2018).

In the view of Kamal, et. al (2015), Youth is a key resource of every society and for this reason the youth should develop as an individual which could be productive to the society. Same is supported by Pathan, Pathan and Memon (2017), with the increased use of social media, it has been a concern that how young generation is using it because they do not have much sincerity to use it wisely for their benefits and to differentiate between the correct and incorrect in it. A survey has been conducted on 172 students on Louisiana State University to examine the reason so using Facebook by the students and the study gave a very different angle that the reasons of using Facebook by males and females are very much different. Male usually use Facebook to connect with people and to make new contacts while females use it just for entertainment and to maintain relationships with the existing contacts. This shows that the addition is on both males and females but the purpose of using the platform is different.

To understand the impact on young generation of the use of Facebook, Flow Theory can be used which helps in assessing human computer interactions and also addresses the use of internet by people. The flow herein the context of Facebook assignment describes the involvement of people. Facebook has been considered as an artefact here which attracts people and people get deeply involved in the same. This extensive involvement encourages the reputation of activities and the loss of time. It became the addiction and then it is unable to control such activities (Bedassa, 2014).

The author further concludes that Facebook has negative as well as positive effects on the young generation. The negative impacts include poor academic performance, loss of concentration, distraction from career goals, poor behaviour and cyber bullying while the positive impacts include communication, entertainment and an individual becoming more social.

What should be done?
To control young generation from overusing Facebook which can cause a lot of harm, it is stated herein Facebook assignment that the parents could monitor their actions and also develop good relations with children so that they sit and discuss their whereabouts with their parents and not be glued to the mobile phone screens. As per Chowdhary and Saha (2015), the relations made by young generation on Facebook are even not very good or intimate. These are just for passing time and because of the common preferences and expressions. The author suggests that there should be some regulations or blockers for the users till certain age so that they cannot access the content which is not for kids. Facebook should upgrade their measures to detect fake profiles and should block them or delete them with strict actions. Personal identification should be used while creating profiles because it may lead to the reduction of crimes which are happening because of the overuse of social media and the increased number of fake profiles.

Concept Map
Impact of Facebook on youth

Which research methodology is used in the Facebook assignment?
Research methodology is that part of the research which let the reader know about the techniques and methods which are been employed for taking on the research.

Research philosophy
The research philosophy used in the Facebook assignment is the belief which is adopted to carry out the research. In this research the Pragmatism philosophy is selected for collecting the data and for carrying out the research. Pragmatism philosophy is adopted when both the qualitative and quantitative data is been used for having mixed approach of research in the study.

Research Approach
Research approach is the plan adopted for conducting the study. Here, mixed approach is undertaken in order to collect qualitative and quantitative data for exploring the effects of using Facebook on youth. This is also known as Triangulation method which helps in taking the benefits of both the approaches.

Research method
The research on Facebook assignment has been conducted with Secondary research method where the secondary sources of data have been considered. Also, the design of the research can be understood as Diagnostic research where the problem is identified, diagnosis is done, and the solution of the issue is given.

Data collection
The data for the research has been collected with the help of secondary sources of data which includes articles, books, websites, research papers and other sources which are been already used before. This data accessed is not new and has bene already used for some or the other purpose.

Ethical consideration
Ethics are very important to maintain while conducting the research. The relevant permissions are taken for conducting the research on Facebook assignment. Also, the library has been accessed for collecting information after taking permission from the relevant authorities. It is assured that the information used in the assignment is true and genuine with proper references given in the paper.

Limitations of the research
Although the research on Facebook assignment has been conducted with proper considerations, there are some limitations to the research. The first one is that only secondary sources are used for the assignment and no primary information is included. The data is collected from secondary sources which might or might not meet the objectives of the research.

Findings and Conclusion
Findings
It is found in the context of Facebook assignment that Facebook has become popular due to its huge networking and innovative features. However, the use of Facebook has given many negative impacts on the youth which includes cyber bullying, distraction from studies, poor grades and academic performance, poor social behavior, aggressiveness and access to adult content. The positive impacts are also found which includes better social relationships and satisfaction among the youth which helps in their overall development.

Conclsuion
It can be concluded from the entire discussion on Facebook assignment that Facebook impacts can be considered as a Paradox where on one side it is connecting people socially and on the other side, its overuse is negatively impacting the behaviour of the individuals. The research is focussed on the impact of the use of Facebook on young generation. It is evident herein Facebook assignment from the research that the overuse of anything causes harm and so is with Facebook. The social network is said to develop social relationships, physiological wellness and satisfaction but it does the opposite when it is overused by the young generation. They lose their interest from academics and also develop anti-social behaviour. Also, the crimes like cyber bullying take place which hampers the life of an individual at times, the increased cases of cyber bullying can be observed to realise the ill effects of the overuse of Facebook.

Recommendations
The biggest question raised on the case scenario of Facebook assignment is that how Facebook usage should be done in order to engage the students and young generation with good content and also to prevent them from the ill effects of it. First of all, the parents and teachers should be very much comfortable and known about using the social media networks so that they can keep an eye or explain it to kids about the safe use of social media. The parents should also develop a good bond with their kids so that they reduce the time given to social media. Parents should develop an understanding among their kids to make a difference between the offline and online identities. Education is the key to develop an understanding about good or bad and like this the young generation could make a difference between the two. This would let the young generation understand the difference between the use and overuse of Facebook.

References
Bedassa, F. (2014). Impact of Facebook Usage on Students Academic Performance. Grin.com. Retrieved from https://www.grin.com/document/277559.

Chen, J. (2017). Everything We Know So Far About How Facebook Affects Your Happiness. The Cut. Facebook assignment Retrieved from https://www.thecut.com/article/how-facebook-affects-your-happiness.html

Choudhary, I. R., & Saha, B. (2015). Impact of Facebook as a social networking site (SNS) on youth generations: A case study of Kolkata City. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention, 4(6), 28-42.

Hu, X., Kim, A., Siwek, N., & Wilder, D. (2017). The Facebook paradox: Effects of Facebooking on individuals’ social relationships and psychological well-being. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 87.

Kamal, T., Tariq, M., Ishtiaq, M., Nawab, K., & Idrees, M. (2015). An Investigation into the Negative Impacts of Social Media on Academic Performance of Youth. New Media and Mass Communication, 34, 50-56.

Liu, C., & Ma, J. (2018). Social media addiction and burnout: The mediating roles of envy and social media use anxiety. Current Psychology, 1-9.

Masin, R. (2011). Effects of Facebook Use on College Students Interpersonal Development Facebook assignment (Doctoral dissertation, Oklahoma State University).

Oleksandrivna, B. I., & Volodymyrivna, M. O. (2018). THE QUESTION OF INTERNET ADDICTION AMONG THE MODERN COLLEGE-AGE POPULATION. European journal of education and applied psychology, (2).

Pathan, S. K., Pathan, K. T., & Memon, M. A. (2018). Facebook Usage And Its Impact On Youth: A Case Study Of Students Of Sindh University. The Government-Annual Research Journal of Political Science., 6(6).

Pera, A. (2018). Psychopathological processes involved in social comparison, depression, and envy on Facebook. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 22.

Raisa, T. S. 2017. Impact of Facebook Obsession Among University Students in Bangladesh. International Journal of New Technology and Research, 4(2).

Rameez, A. (2015). The impact of social media on younger generation: the use of Facebook among the undergraduates of south eastern university of Sri Lanka. Facebook assignment Department of Social Sciences.