It can be difficult for high school students to avoid seeing public displays of affection in the hallway or hearing news from a friend about their significant other. Social media and television makes it even harder to miss information about the latest couples. No doubt about it, teenage dating appears everywhere, including AFHS. Not only does teen dating seem common, but it may be encouraged by social media platforms and television.
According to PEW Research Center, 35% of teens have had romantic relationships and 14% of them consider their current relationship serious. However, some students think that the media makes that number seem higher than that. An AFHS student, who chooses to remain anonymous, shares their perspective on this by saying, “social media has definitely influenced teenage dating, like in high school. Like in TV shows, for example, you see high schoolers always dating like it's a societal norm.” Another student, Veda Kolloru (11), reflects on the peer pressure this creates for students. “I do think peer pressure has a role in dating, and if you’re not dating someone by a certain age it’s kind of stigmatized.”
For some students, the media may not only contribute to peer pressure, but to actual relationships as well. John Rothenberg, better known to his students as JRo, shares his perspective on the role social media has on teen relationships. He says, “people will follow you and they get this idea of what they think you’re like via social media…having nothing to do with you as a person and everything to do with you as a social media image. And I think that distorts people.” He comments on how the dating game has changed over the years, and how much of the situation today can be altered by comparison between students.
On the flip side, a study reported on by NPR concluded that social media actually helps teenagers in maintaining their relationships.“65% of boys said social media makes them feel closer to a romantic partner compared to just over half of teenage girls.” The hosts of the report elaborate on the notion by saying that the use of emojis and chat sites contribute to communication between teenage couples.
Dating has come to symbolize a key high school experience as a result of widespread media portrayal. Many students even claim to feel pressured to be in relationships and later how to act in one. Rothenburg sums it up perfectly: “Our love lives shouldn’t be ruled by what we see on Instagram.”
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