Community, Culture, Media
Culture is a socio-sphere that acts as a relatively stable system of shared norms, attitudes, beliefs that is passed on from generation to generation. Some people see culture as the country that you come from, but that isn't the only culture that exists. High schools (and junior highs) have their own cultures that are passed on generationally as well. Sometimes, the label is changed a little but typically it remains the same. Ex: Goth, Jock, Geek. The students within these labels participate in their own culture.
Why do teens have such a fascination with media, especially social media?
Well Media plays in to a teenager's sense of egocentricism. Teenagers get their sociability needs calmed by social media and they also get to become their idealized selves. An imaginary audience becomes real when Facebook exists and so a teenager creates a following of fans whom they have to appease. Their sense of safety, or their personal fable, is on an all time high because nothing to bad can happen over the computer. IE: They can't get raped through a computer. All in all, they just a place to flaunt it all and have people care about them, something which is a recently new phenomenon.
How can you leverage online social networks/communities to help teens get involved in the real world?
There is a documentary that I watched where teenage girls are slipping away from their interests in math and science because of too much of other things going on. There was an app that was developed that acts as a mystery game where you have to solve and learn what you apply to solve a mystery, such as using scientific principles to solve a mystery. There was a social media aspect of it, where you shared your results with your friends. In that way, social media and the "real world" can be combined together where social media in synch with the real world to create a better-rounded individual. Teens get to be on their phone while solving and dealing with "real world" issues, and learning such things as math, science etc. It is impossible to plug teenagers off their phones because social media has taken on a life of its own and teens feel if they don't participate in it, they miss out! It is important to stress the importance of face-to-face interactions, of course, and teach teenagers tech. manners. Such as don't be on the phone if you are out for dinner with your friends: that's just bad manners! Also, if you are on a friend date, don’t answer a phone call without first excusing yourself! Pay attention to the world around you more, there's nothing like it! I think if we teach teens certain manners of being on the phone like the ones listed above, then they will be more trained and handle themselves more appropriately with social media.