Social media has become an enormous influence on the thriving culture that fills everyday interaction. This interaction is a majority of online conversation, but still present is the face-to-face exchange. As the article explains, there is a certain age group that especially favors the use of technology, more specifically, social media. This age group is known as Generation Y. Generation Y includes those born during the mid-1970s and the early 2000s. This generation has grown up in the age of technology, extremely familiar with its uses, processes, and purposes. Generation Y has seen Apple transform the original Macintosh into the most current MacBook Air and MySpace be kicked to the curb with the introduction of Facebook. Social media is an ever-changing realm. This realm is pulling more and more people to join the social media force. Jaclyn Cabral is the author of Is Generation Y Addicted to Social Media, an article that debates whether Generation Y is addicted to social media.
Cabral claims that Generation Y is addicted to social media because of the endless social pressure to stay connected to peers constantly on social media. If they are not addicted, then they are at least influenced and further affect the development of the human mind. She continues to explain that this pressure is less stressful than the other burdens of real social scenarios because it allows users to connect without any boundaries.
To determine if Generation Y is in fact addicted to social media, Cabral used quantitative research. She also described social media as Facebook, Twitter, and E-mail. A survey was composed through SurveyMonkey.com that asked twelve questions about a users time spent on social media and only answered with provided answers. The questions included six topics: salience, mood modification, tolerance, conflict, withdrawal and relapse. The survey was posted on a Facebook status, Twitter updates, and e-mailed to different groups and classes. The researcher used the snowball method to reach the greatest amount of people in the shortest amount of time.
The results showed that Generation Y suffered from three out of six of the parts of addiction. “Salience” which is when an activity takes top priority in the brain, “tolerance” which measured the amount of judged time on social media, and “intrapsychic element of conflict and response” which measured the productivity level and reoccurring patterns. The results inferred that social media is a top priority for Generation Y because it makes an individual feel satisfied.
Addiction is an extreme. It takes a strong will to let oneself reach the lowest point and hit addiction. Personally, I think addiction is a serious issue that needs to not be taken lightly. To claim that a generation is addicted to social media is a big statement. However, in this case it was not superstitious. I think it is very possible that individuals are addicted to social media. I agree with Cabral as she makes her arguments, especially when she mentions that a person must inquire a mental issue or instability to be a social media addict. I found it interesting when Cabral presented the information on males more subtitle to addiction. At first I disagreed because most men I know do not even interact with social media. However, after observing a few males, I realized that they do in face use it obsessively or maybe not at all because they realize the easy addiction. This article is important because it brings up valid information that is useful to Generation Y. In a sense, it is a wake up call to those who hide behind their computer and use it as their main way of communication. Generation Y needs to step back and remove itself from the social media scene. It is necessary to make this addiction message known to as many as possible so they can begin to trace their own social media habits and identify problems. It is beneficial for the common good to take precautions on what Generation Y is doing to the world, along with other countries influence. It is not Generation Y’s fault for falling into the obsession of social media, but it is their duty and responsibility for the common good to manage the effects it will have on the generation to follow and the world that is spinning.
Media Exposed 
Below, according to Matt Rosenberg (a geographer who posts on About.com) are the different names commonly recognized for generations who are still alive today:
2000/2001-Present – New Silent Generation or Generation Z
1980-2000 – Millennials or Generation Y
1965-1979 – Generation X
1946-1964 – Baby Boom
1925-1945 – Silent Generation
1900-1924 – G.I. Generation
It is interesting to remember that, of course, it was the Boomers who created the culture and technology upon which new communication technologies were built… and that Generation X was responsible for the development and dissemination of new new media! We tend to think of current younger generations as being saturated in each new innovation without making explicit that they did not imagine, create or develop those innovations; they inherited them from their parents’ and grandparents’ generations. In my view, we should expand our understanding: all who are over 55 and still living today are the generation of creators, first adopters and longest-term users of our new media technologies (with today’s adolescents and young adults perhaps having lived with those technologies since birth– but not for nearly as long as older adults have lived with it, explored it and used it!) This perspective turns on its head, a bit, the notion that Generation Y are, alone, the most-impacted. As a late-era Baby Boomer myself, I adopted new media as soon as it became available. I had a Mac and used e-mail shortly after Macs and e-mail were around. Everything that came afterwards (except texting) I also adopted quickly and became comfortable with. This means I’ve been communicating daily– often hourly–using a screen since 1991. I suspect that I’m addicted, as are many people my age and older.
Reblogged this on COM424 New Communication Technologies.
It is very interesting how we have inherited so much from the past generations, including their technological developments. However, with the deep indulgence of Generation Y into media, I think that Generation Y will be the ones to expand these developments even further because they have been exposed to a vast timeline of technological advancements. I look forward to seeing what is in store for the next technological development.