Societal Influences On Youth

How does society influence one's behavior?

There are unlimited ways in which society influences behaviour. This can also differ in different cultures. After all we are social creatures who are very much shaped by external factors. Some ways society can influence behaviour includes:- pressures from society may restrict you to doing jobs you may not like, in order to meet societal expectations of success, status, financial stability, gender roles, etc.- society prevents you from committing morally wrong acts. We are never born perfect and each of us have banes. However, due to fear of ostracism/punishment we refrain from committing crimes deemed as wrong by society.- it limits our behaviours, as we fear of being judged. For instance, we don't scratch our buttocks in public even if they're itchy. - it can cause us to lie. In order to meet society's expectations and feel dignified/proud in society, some people lie about their achievements.- it can cause people to fear exposing their character in public. Some homosexuals are afraid to come out for fear of condemnation, etc.

How does fashion affect our lives and our society?

Fashion plays a major role in our society. Supose you Stand in any line waiting to check out and the covers of magazines exude fashion. Designers have movie stars wearing what they decide the season should call for. Every movie or television program has carefully chosen what look they want to portray. Every ad may not be about fashion, but the clothes are a subliminal way of catching what audience they are geared to. Fashion reaches every corner that you turn. The market reaches the elementary schools as most kids "want to fit in". High School is a great target for young teens who must have what everyone else is wearing and at this age kids are very self conscious; they are in grade school too. In our society fashion is a display of what your material wealth is and also people "in the know" are aware of how to dress. The only place people can let their hair down is when they are home alone or with a comfortable mate; that is the time for comfort and grubbies; they even had a role at one point and that is when grunge era took place and still does exist. Depending upon the occasion, people dress up down and don't forget accessories which include shoes; what woman (and most men) do not enjoy the look of shoes? Purses make a statement of wealth or lack of. Why is there costume jewelry? Because not everyone can afford the real thing and people want to look and feel good. Even people with an abundance of money do not always wear real gems as costume jewelry is about fun in thst it is reasonably priced. From birth to death, fashion is utmost. When a new arrival makes the scene, many people throw baby showers and the "oohs and "ahhs " of the most darling clothes can melt most hearts. Although death is part of life, it is a solemn occasion and this will be the last fashion statement a person will ever make. Weddings are huge money makers for the fashion industry and people will spend almost their lifetime savings for the special day every little girl; well almost every little girl, dreams of. Fashion moves money which helps the economy Fashion separates the classes of society also. There are endless restaurants, social events, and churches where fashion plays a large role. All in all, almost every country has their own fashions that make a statement of a person's wealth and the statement they are making using style or lack of style.

What advantages or disadvantages do social media contribute to the educational development or problems among our youth today?

Youth/ adolescence development can be influenced by family (parents), school (teachers), peers (friends), community and virtual world (social media).[1]Social media is neutral so it can have positive and negative impacts. I do believe that it will give more benefits.The frequency of teenagers going online is increasing each year since 2009. Nowadays, 93% of teens going online and use social media[2][3] .In 2013, 94% of teens used facebook. They may have more than one social media. Nowadays, the most favorite media by teens are youtube(14m), snapchat(2m) and instagram(5m).Social media and educational development.Learning theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism may not be applicable for social media use. We can understand social media and technology for learning using connectivism[4]theory (some debates on this) . In this sense, we can use knowledge that we found on technology and social media through networked and distributed process. In this sense, quora is the perfect example. We join community, participate and learn. Another example is using hastag # in twitter. Educators also can use social media for personal learning network (PLN)[5] and gain expertise. Internet is the opportunity to tune in on what both expert and novices voice. Cool! Nowadays also a lot of MOOC and TED Talks.Benefits of social media/internet:Making connections/ socializationEnhance learning opportunities /Sharing ideas, resources and expertiseAccessing health information - benefits an increase of avaliable informationRisks of Social Media Use for YouthSelf-presentation (gain attention, status and self-esteem ). Some people believe there is a link between social media and narcissism.FOMO (fear of missing out)Social media depression such as facebook depression[6] . Somehow I do understand Matthew Bates (Quora User) even though he is not youthCyber bullying (hurtful message, images or video, humiliating others online, etc)School and teachers need to respond through educational discussion with cyberbully with students and parents (including several steps such as block,private, collect evidence, etc) and parents do technoparenting [7] .Footnotes[1] http://Impacts of the Use of Soc...[2] Teen Internet Use Graphic[3] http://Part 1: Teens and Social ...[4] Connectivism - Wikipedia[5] http://Personal Learning Network...[6] http://Facebook makes teenagers ...[7] Technology that can make parenting easier