Max is a long time volunteer turned employee for mindyourmind as a Youth Outreach Assistant. He enjoys blogging, cats, and the state of Utah. Check him out on Twitter: @maxamilli

I find this article very interesting and I agree with some of the points outlined here:

http://www.nextmedia-source.com/frame.php?id=8660961

-Narcissism is a very intriguing factor of social media and I agree whole-heartedly with it. I believe we’ve discussed before that some people – whether youth or adult – will use their Facebook account just to boast about their lives, and I’ve seen it multiple times on my account how intoxicated youth are with the ability to gloat online.

-To say that social media gives birth to “antisocial behavior” seems as though it contradicts itself? And I don’t know that I agree with all of the “findings” that suggest social media isn’t good for one’s mental health. I think youth enjoy having a space online that is their own, like their footprint or a signature on history we love it. While I surrender that some people could find ways to obsess over social media, those are the few and far between, I think most people use social media as a sort of calming mechanism because it is a community that YOU are a part of with other people that relate to YOU.

-The notion of “virtual empathy” is a very real one online, and is very interesting to consider when you think about the emotional power that social media now has over our lives. When you see Facebook pages dedicated to people or events that are funerals, empathy is very much alive in a time of robotics and technology.

-And finally, he’s one hundred percent correct about how a parent can never really monitor their child’s online activity. It’s foolish to think you can, because for every one thing you try to stop there are a million alternatives to access the same information. It’s important to foster conscious and honest internet activity, censorship has never panned out in history has it?

I attached the photo of Dr. Rosen because I thought it was cute.