an investigation into the impact of social networking sites on teenagers

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Lay Majmudar Page 1

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE

Extended Essay:

Information Technology in Global Society

An investigation into the impact ofSocial Networking Sites on

teenagers

Session: May 2009

Candidate Name: Lay Majmudar

Candidate Number: 002272-027

School Name: Indus International School, Bangalore, India

Word Count: 3999


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Lay Majmudar Page 2

Abstract:Social networking is one of the biggest form of businesses and a form of entertainment in

the world which has grown drastically during the last 8 years. Today many teen agers use

these social networking sites to chat and interact with their friends or even random people.The question arising from this is What impact does social networking have on teen agers?

One of the causes which led to the continuous growth was the availability of widespread

use of the internet. As internet was easily available either through ones own home or the

internet cafes, the amount of social networking users increased. Another cause that

attracts many users is the availability of many features and application. The most famous

social networking sites for teen agers are Facebook, Myspace, Hi5, Tagged, Flickr and Orkut.

These sites offer a variety of features which include photo sharing, staying in touch withfriends. With these very exiting features, the problem of security, privacy, the problem of

cyber bullying and authenticity also arises. This is the main reason for me to choose this

topic. Another reason for me choose this topic was to investigate the issues with social

networking and also to find out the impact it creates of teen agers.

Through my research I found that the major concerns about social networking were privacy

and security. The solutions I found were that students should not post very sensitive data

on these sites and also not add people who they dont know personally.Other solutionswere that the parents should keep a eye on their childrens online profile and even talk to

them about the concerns regarding social networking issues.

Word Count: 275


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Lay Majmudar Page 3

Table of contents:

Topic Number Topic Page Number

1.0 Introduction 52.0 IT Background 62.1 What is social networking 62.2 How can it be used 72.3 Features offered by social networking sites 73.0 Impact of the Issue 133.1 Privacy and Security 133.2 Cyber Bullying 143.3 Authenticity of information 163.4 Analysis Based on Primary research 164.0 Solution 255.0 Conclusion 286.0 Bibliography 29

7.0 Appendix 32


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Lay Majmudar Page 4


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Lay Majmudar Page 5

1.0 Introduction

My research question is:

An investigation into the impact of Social Networking Sites on teenagers

My extended essay is in the subject of Information technology in global society (ITGS). The

reason I have chosen this topic is because I myself use many of the social networking sites

and have noticed the impact it leaves on an individuals life. Through a survey a conducted,

many teens in my school use social networking sites and many are very addicted to it. This

is the main reason I have decided to conduct my primary research in my school (Indus

International School) itself.

My essay is going to cover the impacts of social networking on teens and also the social and

ethical issues which are raised due to its use. The main social and ethical issues which I am

going to cover are Privacy and Security.

Social networking which has become extremely popular among the present generation.

Children within the age group of 13-21 have been affected in many ways. One of the

reasons is that it is a huge source of distraction and can affect a childs education. The other

reason and the even bigger problem is that is raises the issues of privacy and security for

the individual.

The growth of social networking has been phenomenal over the last 8 years. Some of thesurveys conducted showed the following results:

1Asia pacific had 35% while the US had 25%.

2By the end of 2007, the revenues from these sites reached $965 million and it is

expected to grow to $2.4 billion by 2012

1"Social Networkings Explosive Growth to Plateau in Five Years." 10 Dec 2008

.2

"Social Networkings Explosive Growth to Plateau in Five Years." 10 Dec 2008

.


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Lay Majmudar Page 6

2.0 IT background

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Social-network.svg

Figure 1 A Social network

2.1 What is Social Networking?

3A Social network is a web based social structure which groups individuals and organisations

into specific groups like age or even like a neighbourhood division. A social network is

mainly used by students either to develop new friendship or is also used by businesses to

develop business relations. Some of these sites are developed to attract users who sharecommon interests. It also gives a chance to diversify and meet up with people all across the

world with different cultures and religions.

3http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Social-network.svghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Social-network.svghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Social-network.svg


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Lay Majmudar Page 7

Figure 2 Screenshot showing the log in and the sign up page for facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/

2.2 How can it be used?

A Social networking site can be accessed through any computer with an internet

connection. A user has to log on to the social networking site by providing their user Id and

password to their account. If you are not a registered member, then you will need to signup. Signing up for any of these sites is very easy. For Facebook, which is one of the most

commonly user social networking site, the user needs to log on to its home page which is

http://www.facebook.com/. For a new user who wants to register, the user needs to visit

the registration page and as shown in figure 2, provide full name, email address, a wanted

password and full birthday. Then the user just needs to click on the sign up button to log in

to their personal profile.

2.3 Features offered by Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites offer many features like chatting online with friends while using

your profile and also send messages to friends while they are offline. Many people use

these sites to stay in touch with friends and also find long lost friends. Facebook also offers

the feature to save all conversations occurred between the user and his/her friends. The

inbox page shows the users all the recent conversations. The figure below shows the inbox

page of my own Facebook account. The most recent conversations are displayed first.
http://www.facebook.com/http://www.facebook.com/http://www.facebook.com/


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Lay Majmudar Page 8

Figure 3 Screenshot Facebook inbox page

http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb

Another feature which most of the social networking sites offer is sharing of photos and

videos. Users can upload pictures either from their computers or even their mobile phone.

Facebook also offers these features and it also allows users to comment on the pictures in

case they want to express their feeling about it. Figure 4, shows a picture album which one

of my friends uploaded for his friends to see. Users can click on one of the photos to

enlarge it even comment on that picture. This enhances interaction between the users and

it is another reasons why teens are attracted to facebook.


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Lay Majmudar Page 9

Figure 4 Screenshot This shows the picture sharing page.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1410240367&v=photos

4Another feature of Facebook is that it allows users to interact through features like the

Wall, which allows users to post messages on the other persons profile page and this is

visible for everyone. This can be done either by text, photo or even a video. To do this,

users need to open the persons profile of who they want to send a wall post to. After

opening their profile, the user needs to then go to the wall post box which is clearly visible

as shown on the figure below. Then the user can type the desired message and click on the

post button. This message will be visible to the persons profile and is open for everyone to

see.

4http://antiques-collectibles-auction-news.com/2007/12/23/special-features-of-facebook/


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Lay Majmudar Page 10

Figure 5 Screenshot Profile page

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1074060892&ref=ts

Many of the social networking sites have the search feature where users can search for

people on the sites database. Users are required to type the persons name in the search

box. After the name is entered, database is searched for any matching member names.

Many users especially teens search for random people and try to make new friends. Thisattracts many teens, majority of boys as they get the opportunity to flirt with different

people.


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Figure 6 Screenshot Search page

http://www.facebook.com/s.php?ref=search&init=q&q=rohit+vinayak&sid=a00065df873c4e6fb7915c0ea3819604

Figure 7 Screenshot Gifts Application

http://www.facebook.com/giftshop.php?ref=sb


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people even outside India have joined my group and have actually taken up measures to

fight terrorists.

3.0 Impact of the Issue

3.1Privacy and Security

With the increasing popularity more and more teens are joining social networking sites.

Surveys conducted in 2007 showed the following results:

5

91% of the social networking teens say they use these sites to stay in touch withfriends they see frequently while 82% use them to interact with friends they rarely

meet.

672% of the teens use these sites to make plans with their friends, while 49% use

them to make new friends

7The ratio of boys to girls aged between 15-17 who say they use social networking

sites to make new friends is higher in boys 60%:46%

817% use these sites to flirt with random people. Within which boys are more with

the ratio of boys to girls is 29%:13%

9Another survey conducted in Canada showed that the usage of these sites was about 5.4

hours in a week. All of these surveys show that many of the teens, out of which majority of

boys use these sites to either flirt or make new friends who they dont even know or have

ever met in their lives. With many teens interacting with unknown people on these sites the

issues of security and privacy is raised. 10Till date there have been many high security

5Lenhart, Amanda , and Amanda Lenhart. "PEW INTERNET PROJECT DATA MEMO." 10.




9"Nearly Four-In-Ten Canadian Adults (37%) Have Visited Online Social Networks And Three-In-Ten (29%) Have A

Personal Profile On One." 22 Jan 2009 .


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breaches on huge sites like MySpace and Facebook.11The sites most likely to suffer from

issues are the most popular ones," Graham Cluley, Chief Technology Officer at UK tech

security firm Sophos says. He also says that security and privacy issues are two different

things. A security breach is when someone hacks in an unauthorised way to gain control

over the sites protected coding or language. A Privacy issue is when someone accesses

your private information with the users permission. Privacy issues are more likely to occurin a social network as many teens today add unknown people over the site. As strangers,

the user might not know who the person actually is and if the user adds a stranger as a

friend, then he can access a users private information and this can lead to further

problems. A person who uses Facebook very frequently and has over 900 friends and is a

member of more than 50-60 groups is more likely to suffer from a breach then a person

who hardly uses Facebook. In Facebook by adding a person as a friend, the user opens the

gate for that person to see any personal information the user has mentioned in his/her

profile.

Security breaches on a social network dont always mean the leak of private information of

a user.12

The Samy virus on MySpace shut down the site in October 2005. The virus was

harmless but it affectively added Samy is my hero on the top of every affected MySpace

user profile. This virus did affect MySpace but did not steak anyones private information.

3. 2 Cyber bullying

Cyber bullying is when a person repeatedly picks on another person or makes fun of that

person through any means which require the internet. This often happens with teen agers

as they cover the majority of internet users using blogs and social networking sites.13

A

survey which was conducted interviewing 2800 high school students. It resulted to show

that students as young as 12 years old were held victims of cyber bullying by different

means of communication. The growing rate of cyber bullying has been affecting many teens

around the world. Megan Taylor Meire, a 13 years old teen ager committed suicide due to

cyber bullying through a social networking site, MySpace. Cyber bullies, to their victims

generally portray themselves as big and strong people but its often not true.

The following are some examples of cyber bullying.

11Collins, Brendan. "Privacy and Security Issues in Social Networking." oct 2008 17 Dec 2008

.12

http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2008/10/social-networking-security.html13"Cyber-bullying an International Problem, says Adaptive." 21 Jan 2009

.


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14An incident of a 16 year old girl, whose boyfriend after breaking up with her posted

her personal details like phone number, street address, and email ID on sex oriented

sites. She was continuously harassed even after her ex- boyfriend was taken in

custody.

15 A 13 year old boy, Ryan was harassed and made fun of saying that he was gay. One

of the mails sent by the cyber bully asked him to end his life. This was eventuallyfound when after a few days of the mail, he actually committed suicide.

Cyber bullying has been increasing at a very steep rate over the years as technology is

advancing. A survey conducted in 2000 showed that only 6% of the teenagers had been

cyber bullied. Later, a survey in 2006 showed that, that 6% rose to nearly 1/3 of the

countries students.

Many of the students today know what cyber bullying. 16 Myyearbook, Americas 3rd largest

social networking site, tried to reach out to hundreds of students to stop cyber bullying.

More than 200,000 teens had been already added in July 2008. These teens are taught how

to respond if they are ever targeted by a cyber bully.

A survey conducted showed:

1780% of 54 students said that they are aware of cyber bullying. This included 100% of

the girls and 65% of the

boys

18It also showed that

students felt extremely

comfortable

while talking to their

friends.

14www.edtechpolicy.org/C32008/Presentations/Cyberbullying.doc

15www.edtechpolicy.org/C32008/Presentations/Cyberbullying.doc

16http://ypwr.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/29/catherine-cook/17

www.edtechpolicy.org/C32008/Presentations/Cyberbullying.doc18

www.edtechpolicy.org/C32008/Presentations/Cyberbullying.doc

Male Female Total

Cyberbully Victim 20.8 34.3 28.8

Engaged in Cyberbulling 29.2 20.0 23.7


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Do you use social networking sites? If yes, please specify which ones and why?

Yes 18

Facebook, Orkut

How often do you visit SNS? Does it conflict with your study timings?

Once or twice a day Average

Yes 6No 11

Sometimes - 1

Do you often find yourself distracted by using these sites? Does it affect your

grades?

Yes -10/3

No 8/14

Sometimes 1

Do u prefer to use social networking sites instead of instant messaging

programs? Why?

Yes 10 Features 8

No 7 Faster/Direct communication 3

Both 1 No Answer 5

Different purposes of both -2

What are the main features of these sites which attract you the most?

Keep in touch with friends 8

Applications - 10

Do you give out any personal information? Have you been a victim of

information misuse?

Yes -4/1

No 14/17

Do you post pictures on these sites?

Yes- 14

No 2

Sometimes - 2

Do you use social networking to keep in touch with friends and family? If not,

then for what reason?

Yes -18


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How much time do you spend on these sites?

1-2 hours 13

3-4 hours 0

Less than 1 hour 5

Dont know - 1

Do these sites help you in your day to day life? If yes, How?Help keep in touch with people 7

No-11

Have these sites ever caused conflict in your personal life?

Yes3

No14

Sometimes -1

Do these sites help benefit your academic knowledge?

Yes 2

No 12

Sometimes - 4

Do you think these sites are addictive and do they distract you in any other

ways apart from your studies?

Yes 8

No 8Sometimes - 2

Are you aware of cyber bullying? Have you ever been a victim of it?

Yes - 15/0

No - 3/18

What security measures do you take to overcome these threats?

Adding people who I know personally 6

Giving out limited personal information 7None 5

Above are the surveys I conducted in my school to know more about the usage of social

networking and the issues which it can lead to. Majority of the students I surveyed were

among the age groups 16-18. All of these students used social networking sites mostly

Facebook. Out of all the 18 students I interviewed, only one metioned Orkut among the

social networking sites used.


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the reason for this, I asked them what security measures they take to be on the safe side.

The results to this question were as follows:

Chart 6 Precautions taken to prevent cyber bullying

Many students only added users who they personally know, but the most responses were

that they they out limited personal information on their profiles. Around 25% of the

students didnt use any security measures against cyber bullying.

Illustration: Summary of findings from primary research Teachers

Do you think that students often use social networking sites?

Yes - 9

Do you think that the use of SNS affects their study timings?

Yes 7

No 0

Sometimes - 2

How often do you think students use these sites?

1-2 hours 3

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

45.00%

Adding people who I

know

Giving out limited

personal information

None

Adding people who I know

Giving out limited personalinformation

None


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2-3 hours 5

5-6 hours 1

Do you think they get distracted by these? Does it affect their grades?

Definitely 4

For some 5

Do you think many students give out their personal information on these sites?

Yes 4

No 1

To some extent - 4

To what extend do you think that the usage of these sites affects their privacy

and security?

1 0

2 1

3 2

4 6

5 - 0

Do you think the usage of these sites can benefit their academic knowledge?

1 22 3

3 2

4 1

5 - 1

What are the main issues concerning social networking sites?

Distraction 1

Security and Privacy 5

Access of information 2

Cyber bullying 1

The questions above are the questions which were asked to the teachers of Indus

International School. All the teachers thought students used social networking sites many

hours a day. The results to this were:


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Chart 7 Hours of daily usage if social networking sites according to teachers.

These results compared to that of students were different. Teachers assumption on the

usage of social networking sites per day for a student is much more than the actual timing

given by the students. Most of the students spend maximum 2 hours on these sites, 55.56%

of the teachers thought they used it more than that.

About the students getting distracted, 4 of 9 teachers think that students definitely get

distracted by these sites and also it affects their grades. The remaining think that it only

distracts students who are not completely focused on their academics and get distracted

easily.

Their answer to the question about to what extend does the usage of these sites affect

their privacy and security, in a scale of 1-5 with 5 the higher value, 6 of the teachers marked

4 as their answer. The reason to this is mainly because of the increased amount of cases of

identity theft and cases of loss of private information.

Teachers were also asked some of the same questions that were asked to the students. Theresults to these were:

33.33%

55.56%

11.11%

Hours of daily usage

1-2 Hours

2-3 Hours

5-6 Hours


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Chart 8Does it distract and does it affect students grades.

Majority of the teachers answered to this saying that some students do get distracted by

them but the majority of them said that only some students get distracted. The teacherssaid that the students who get distracted are the ones who dont focus on their academics

and get low grades.

Another important question asked to the teachers was about what they think is the major

issue with social networking. The results were as follows:

Chart 8 The major issues arising from social networking sites according to teachers.

44.44%

55.56%

Definitely

For some

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

Distraction Security and

Privacy

Access of

Information

Cyber bullying

Distraction

Security and Privacy

Access of Information

Cyber bullying


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Most of the teachers choose security and privacy as the major concern regarding social

networking. The reasons for this were that teachers thought that if a persons private

information is leaked then it can lead to many problems. For e.g. if a persons street

address and phone numbers are provided on the social network, then that person can be

continuously harassed and also his/her physical security can also be at a risk.

5.0 Solution

The main issues arising with social networking are security and privacy of an individual.

Most of the networking sites have many security and privacy settings like as follows:

Facebook of an e.g. has a security feature which prevents users to search for a

particular user. If I would want to search for a person but if that person has blocked

me then I wouldnt be able to find that person.

Figure 9 Screenshot Shows the privacy settings page for facebook

http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?ref=mb

The above snapshot shows the privacy settings page for facebook. Through this page users

can edit their search settings, change the way a user can see the profile page, and also how

applications alert the user for a new notification.
http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?ref=mbhttp://www.facebook.com/privacy/?ref=mbhttp://www.facebook.com/privacy/?ref=mb


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Figure 10 Screenshot Showing the search privacy feature.

http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?view=search

The figure above shows how a user can block another user by blocking the user by changing

the privacy settings. It also allows a user to change the search result content. This is

basically the page a user sees after searching for a particular user. This feature allows a user

to change the content another user sees after searching for that person. For e.g. normally if

I search for a user I would b able to add the user as a friend, or sometimes even view that

persons details. After changing the content the user can stop another user from viewing

these details.

The figure 11 shows how a user can see another users profile. A user can also block some

users from viewing some features like photos. A user can edit the way certain friends can

view their profile and also restrict some friends to view wall posts, personal information.


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http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?view=profile

Figure 11 Screenshot Profile viewing settings

These were the many features which prevents security and privacy of a user.

Teenagers should take measures like

20

Editing photos for e.g. a user can blur the photos a bit to prevent being accused by

cyber bullies.

21

Never add people you dont know as you might not know the exact personality

behind that person.

Parents should take measurements like:

22Asking their children to show them their online profile regularly to make sure they

dont post any sensitive data.

23Talk to their children regularly about the security and privacy issues related to social

networking

20Aftab, Parry. "Parry Aftab's Guide to Keeping Your Kids Safe Online." 1. 28 Jan 2009

.21

Aftab, Parry. "Parry Aftab's Guide to Keeping Your Kids Safe Online." 1. 28 Jan 2009

.22Aftab, Parry. "Parry Aftab's Guide to Keeping Your Kids Safe Online." 1. 28 Jan 2009

.
http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?view=profilehttp://www.facebook.com/privacy/?view=profilehttp://www.facebook.com/privacy/?view=profile


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6.0 Conclusion

Social networking among teen agers raised many issues like privacy and security,

authenticity, cyber bullying and also to an extent distraction. But according to the primary

research I conducted in my school, I found that most of the teachers find security and

privacy the major concern. The reason was this was because teen agers post very sensitive

data like phone numbers, street address and also their email IDs on these sites and this can

lead to many problems for them. Many of these problems I mentioned earlier were

harassment, physical security etc.

According to my primary research, I found the solution to this was that students should not

post sensitive data on these sites and also not add people who they dont know on their

friend list. My secondary research also showed these solutions, but apart from this it also

said that parents should also take measures to ensure their child stays safe.

Core issue that still remains unresolved, Is the responsibility of the teenagers regarding

what and how much of information is shared on social networking sites and in what

context.

23Aftab, Parry. "Parry Aftab's Guide to Keeping Your Kids Safe Online." 1. 28 Jan 2009

.


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.

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.

"Cyber-bullying an International Problem, says Adaptive." 21 Jan 2009

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Appendix

Interviews

Number of students interviewed: 18

Number of teachers interviewed: 8; including the Principal, Head of School, IGCSE Co-

ordinator, IB Co-ordinator, MYP Co-ordinator, ICT- Director, Head of TOK.

Questions asked to students:

Do you use social networking sites? If yes, please specify which ones and why?

How often do you visit SNS? Does it conflict with your study timings?

Do you often find yourself distracted by using these sites? Does it affect your grades?

Do u prefer to use social networking sites instead of instant messaging programs?

Why?

What are the main features of these sites which attract you the most?

Do you give out any personal information? Have you been a victim of information

misuse?

Do you post pictures on these sites?

Do you use social networking to keep in touch with friends and family? If not, then

for what reason?

How much time do you spend on these sites?

Do these sites help you in your day to day life? If yes, How?

Have these sites ever caused conflict in your personal life?

Do these sites help benefit your academic knowledge?

Do you think these sites are addictive and do they distract you in any other ways

apart from your studies?

Are you aware of cyber bullying? Have you ever been a victim of it?

What security measures do you take to overcome these threats?


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Questions asked to teachers:

Do you think that students often use social networking sites?

Do you think that the use of SNS affects their study timings?

How often do you think students use these sites?

Do you think they get distracted by these? Does it affect their grades?

Do you think many students give out their personal information on these sites?

To what extend do you think that the usage of these sites affects their privacy and

security?

Do you think the usage of these sites can benefit their academic knowledge?

an investigation into the impact of social networking sites on teenagers

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