IGCSE writing to respond

Dear Ms Samantha Taylor,

I am writing to you about your article where you are describing teenagers and social networking in a negative way. The way your authors are presenting teenagers is very unconsidered and I disagree with most of the statements that you are making. Your article mainly talks about social networking and how it’s ruining teenagers’ lives and enslaving them. You don’t talk about the positive things about teenagers and social networking.

I strongly disagree with the statement, “Too much socialising online amongst teenagers has created a generation who can’t relate face to face”. You are saying that all teenagers are like this, but this is not true. Most of the time, children that socialise a lot online are confident face to face, whereas people that don’t socialise online may be more likely to be shy. You also insist that all teenagers like this. This is wrong because not all teenagers are like this and many of them have great self-confidence face to face and on social networks.
Social networking has many uses; it is used for talking with friends, family and adults; it connects people that have family abroad. it can also stop teenagers from feeling isolated and alone by creating a community online that is there for everyone at any time of the day. It gives teenagers privacy and control over their lives, which is something they would never have without social networking.
Furthermore, you state that, “Facebook has turned teenagers into screen enslaved inadequates”. These days teenagers do not use Facebook as much as they used to. Apps like Whatsapp, Instagram and Snapchat are much more popular. I wonder why you have made these assumptions? Maybe you are a bit out of touch.

Recent evidence has shown that approximately 92% of teenagers, go on-line daily and 56% go on-line several times a day’. The data from different sources vary but the most important thing is that this shows how important a smartphone or computer is to a teenagers daily life. It is their everything.

Furthermore, some teenagers feel lonely because they have no friends or get bullied in school. social networking can help them to build their confidence and can also give them some friends to talk to. There was a situation where a friend of mine from primary school was getting bullied when he first started secondary school in year 7. He did not have any friends and was too scared to talk to people because he had fear of getting laughed at. He started using social media sites more often and made many friends online. this built his confidence dramatically. Once he got to year 8 he had the confidence to start talking to people even if they would still laugh at him he had learnt to ignore it.