PopularitE Contest

Just as in High School, the new age social networking seems to possess a certain form of a popularity contest. A recent article from CBS talks about how Facebook has been linked with forms of depression in teens. The article talks about the different ways that kids see things online on other people’s social network pages that brings this idea of popularity into play. “With in-your-face friends' tallies, status updates and photos of happy-looking people having great times, Facebook pages can make some kids feel even worse if they think they don't measure up.It can be more painful than sitting alone in a crowded school cafeteria or other real-life encounters that can make kids feel down, O'Keeffe said, because Facebook provides a skewed view of what's really going on. Online, there's no way to see facial expressions or read body language that provide context.” The article goes on to talk about how kids experience depression just as they would if they were the outcasts in High School. While there are many benefits from the social networking and kids, this is a problem. You can read the rest of the article here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/28/earlyshow/living/parenting/main20047775.shtml