From the CNN special that just aired on (evil) social media’s impact on teens, I had these thematic takeaways:
- Social media = a barometer of popularity for teens
- Social media = the 50+ year old sociological concept of the ‘imaginary audience‘… come to life.
- Group dynamics: Ironically, bullying behavior gets immediate popularity rewards
- Emotion: lack of emotional repercussions of aggressive behavior online.
- Persona: online identity is different than real-life identity
- Status: an overriding concern of teens was how they are being perceived by their peers.
