Teens and Social Media

From my year learning my skills a teacher. Always amused me that an article written for teachers in 2009 had Bebo as one of the social networks - potentially slightly out of touch?!

I read technology articles quite often and see plenty of authors attempt to dissect or describe the teenage audience, especially in regards to social media. However, I have yet to see a teenager contribute their voice to this discussion. This is where I would like to provide my own humble opinion.

This article was doing the rounds on Medium last week - the viewpoint of social media from a teenager's perspective.

However, if you're going to read it, make sure to read the excellent response (also on Medium) here.

Andrew is a very lucid writer and I completely trust his depiction of his peer group’s use of social media. He wrote a brilliant post about his life, his experiences, and his interpretations. His voice should be heard. And his candor is delightful to read. But his analysis cannot and should not be used to make claims about all teenagers. I don’t blame Andrew for this; I blame the readers — and especially tech elites and journalists — for their interpretation of Andrew’s post because they should know better by now. What he’s sharing is not indicative of all teens. More significantly, what he’s sharing reinforces existing biases in the tech industry and journalism that worry me tremendously.