Francisco Andreu
CMM 100
25 October, 2017
Introduction
1. Attention Getter: Reference Visual Aid 1
2. Introduce Topic: The fact is, adolescents are too care-free in their use of social media which can get them into a lot of trouble.
3. Thesis/Argument: In order to help adolescents combat cyberbullying in regard to sexting, parents need to step up, get informed, and take action to prevent social media from negatively impacting their teen’s well-being.
4. Establish Credibility: As a teenager myself who witnesses the harmful effect of social media on peers, I researched this issue to discover that I am not alone in thinking that something needs to change regarding adolescent use with social media.
5. Preview: Today, I want to provide to you my reasons for believing that parents need to become more involved with their teens and social media.
a. To make my case, I will start off by explaining what cyberbullying really is and its different forms.
b. Next, I will show how teens sexting each other has a negative affect on their well-being.
c. Finally, I will explain why involving parents to become informed and aware is the best solution to this problem.
[Transition: As we will now see, the problem with cyberbullying is teens do not know the dangers of social media.]
Body
1. Main Point #1: Cyberbullying is bullying through electronic communication that comes in different forms.
a. Subpoint: One reason cyberbullying has increased is because the cyberbullies like the anonymity.
i. Sub-Subpoint: The bullies don’t see their victims reactions which makes them feel more powerful.
ii. Sub-Subpoint: This anonymity causes the bullies to think the comments are not as hurtful as they really are.
iii. Sub-Subpoint: According to Ramasubbu with the Huffington Post, “32% of online teens admit to having experienced a range of menacing online advances from others” (Ramasubbu, 2015, May 26, para. 3).
b. Subpoint: Cyberbullying is seen through trolling, straightforward bulling, and through sexting.
i. Sub-Subpoint: Ramasubbu defines trolling as “The act of deliberately inflicting hatred, bigotry, racism, misogyny, or just simple bickering between people, often anonymously” done by kids who are on the edge of society that want to fit in (Ramasubbu, 2015, May 26, para. 3).
ii. Sub-Subpoint: Straightforward bullying is usually more harmful because it is more to the point and is done by popular kids who want to bloat their sense of superiority (Ramasubbu, 2015, May 26).
iii. Sub-Subpoint: Sexting is the exchange of sexually explicit photos or messages and has the most severe consequences although according to Ybarra with Psychology Today, only around 3 to 7 percent of teens are sexting on a consistent basis (Ybarra, 2015, January 19).
iv. Sub-Subpoint: The different forms of cyberbullying increase the difficulty in recognizing someone may be getting bullied which makes it harder to help combat the bully.
[Transition: Different consequences can result from the different forms of cyberbullying.]
2. Main Point #2: There are severe consequences that accompany sexting and social media.
a. Subpoint: There are different motives in the reason for sexting between boys and girls.
i. Sub-Subpoint: NOBullying.com claims that 77% of boys who sexted did so to get in the mood for sex whereas of the girls who sexted, 40% said it was done as a joke and 34% said they did it to feel sexy (“Teen Sexting Statistics, Facts and Consequences,” 2014, December 17).
ii. Sub-Subpoint: Reference Visual Aid 2
b. Subpoint: Many times, if sexted photos are leaked, it can negatively change one’s mental health.
i. Sub-Subpoint: Reference Visual Aid 3
ii. Sub-Subpoint: Many times, a relationship will end poorly and the ex-s will try to get revenge on each other so the end up posting or sharing theirs ex’s sexts.
iii. Sub-Subpoint: As a result, teens can get in trouble with the law for possessing child pornography which may further result in, depression, social problems, loss of friends, poor grades, and more (“Teen Sexting Statistics, Facts and Consequences,” 2014, December 17).
iv. Sub-Subpoint: Reference Visual Aid 4
c. Subpoint: One girl’s sexting experience turned out with three Class C felonies and a torn-apart girl.
i. Sub-Subpoint: In 2011, the New York Times posted a story of a girl named Margarite who decided to send a naked photo to her then 8th grade boyfriend, Isaiah.
ii. Sub-Subpoint: After they broke up, Isaiah forwarded the photo which downward spiraled to a point where hundreds of kids received Margarite’s nude photo.
iii. In the end, three students were charged with dissemination of child pornography, a Class C felony, and were arrested then taken to the county juvenile detention center where they spent the night in a cell (Hoffman, 2011, March 26).
[Transition: Seeing how drastic the consequences can be, something needs to be done.]
3. Main Point #3: Parents need to become more informed about social media and cyberbullying in regard to how it may affect their children.
a. Subpoint: Although many parents feel comfortable understanding and controlling their kid’s social media use, there are also many parents who, according to the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, “do not have the technical abilities or time needed to keep pace with their children in the ever-changing Internet landscape” (O'keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011, p. 800).
i. Sub-Subpoint: This results in a knowledge gap between the youth and their parents.
b. Subpoint: Some parents believe that searching though their kid’s phones will prevent them from partaking in harmful social media acts.
i. Sub-Subpoint: This does not always work, as it often leads to the teen feeling angry, untrusted, and more likely to delete messages which can cause problems in the parent-child relationship.
ii. Sub-Subpoint: Instead, according to NOBullying.com, parents should resort to communicating with their kids about the harms and consequences of social media as well as staying up-to-date on cyberbullying and sexting (“Teen Sexting Statistics, Facts and Consequences,” 2014, December 17).
c. Subpoint: Parents need to be informed on social media and on the topic of cyberbullying in order to effectively help their teenage users.
i. Sub-Subpoint: StopBullying.gov urges parents to become informed on what cyberbullying really is, the different forms of cyberbullying, and how cyberbullying can affect society’s teens today (“What You Can Do,” 2017, September 29).
ii. Sub-Subpoint: Parents are one of the most influential people in their teens lives so they are the best at being able to help their teens use social media in a respectful manner.
[Transition: Put succinctly, parents need to become informed and create good communication connections with their kids.]
Conclusion
1. Signpost: To summarize, an adolescent’s well-being can be seriously affected by negative social media and parents need to take further action to prevent cyberbullying and all of its forms.
2. Summary: The lack of knowledge teens possess in regard to cyberbullying and social media inflames the cyberbullying problem.
a. By teens using different ways to cyberbully, it becomes harder to recognize and combat it.
b. Sexting can cause many after-effects such as depression, social problems, and poor grades, which alters the lives of everyone who partakes.
c. To solve the problem of teens getting cyberbullied, parents need to step up and take a role in communicating with their teens and fight cyberbullying.
3. Restate Thesis/Argument: Parents need to seek an active role in helping their teens understand and combat cyberbullying.
4. Clincher: No child one should be cyberbullied, and parents are the best solution to stop this.
Bibliography
Hoffman, J. (2011, March 26). A Girl’s Nude Photo, and Altered Lives. Retrieved October 24,
2017, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/us/27sexting.html?pagewanted=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23&adxnnlx=1301230819-BKGV%2FXakszFCxULA9RWy3g
O'keeffe, G. S., and K. Clarke-Pearson. “The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents,
and Families.” Pediatrics, vol. 127, no. 4, 2011, pp. 800–804., doi:10.1542/peds.2011
0054.
Ramasubbu, S. (2015, May 26). Influence of Social Media on Teenagers. Retrieved October 24,
2017, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/suren-ramasubbu/influence-of-social-media
on-teenagers_b_7427740.html
Teen Sexting Statistics, Facts and Consequences. (2014, December 17). Retrieved October 24,
2017, from https://nobullying.com/sexting-statistics/
What You Can Do. (2017, September 29). Retrieved October 24, 2017, from
https://www.stopbullying.gov/what-you-can-do/index.html#parents
Ybarra, M. (2015, January 19). How Many Teens Are Actually Sexting? Retrieved October 24,
2017, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/connected/201501/how-many-teens
are-actually-sexting