In today's age social media is becoming more and more instant and keeping up with it all is our youth. The days of seeing your fifth grade best friend until the end of summer are long gone. Teenagers communicate with their peers on a daily basis. If there was a fight during the fifth period, it's now on Twitter with hundreds of people retweeting and voicing their opinions. Another plague that is impacting the growth of our young people is the presence of online gangs, better known as cyber banging. Children now inform themselves online about what is happening on playgrounds and in the streets. So why is this? Can non-violent organizations change the interests in children's lives? Prevent some nonsense before it emerges? In the article Sticks, Stones, and Facebook Accounts: What Outreach Workers Know About Social Media Violence and Urban Gang Violence in Chicago, the authors of Computers in Human Behavior, Patton, Eschmann, and Butler studied adolescent behavior on social media and how it impacts violence prevention efforts in Chicago, Illinois. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Because Chicago is a breeding ground for community conflict, efforts have been made to reduce the crime associated with cyber-banging. In a recent study, researchers used a snowball sampling method to study 34 Latino and black boys and men. Additionally, 17 men and women contact providers to determine whether or not there is a correlation between community violence and social media interactions. This qualitative study used data from interviews conducted over the course of seven months. Each participant participated in a 45-minute to 90-minute interview by the authors. During interviews, outreach workers talked about their experiences with community outreach programs, what they think is causing all this madness, and how they use social media. Collecting data is one thing, but interpreting it is a maze in itself. The researchers used grounded theory. Meetings were held, models and decodings were found. They were able to develop codes to further assist in the analytical process of this study. Through these codes they were able to understand the role of an awareness worker and the amount of trust and respect that needs to be there for change to take place. The role of an awareness worker is vital to stop this online phenomenon. They are all trying to stop this evil plaguing Chicago neighborhoods. Many workers have worked in these communities for years or even grew up there. The problem is not that there is no effort in the works, it is precisely that with the advancement of technology the problem still exists. These teenagers actively disrespect rival gangs, signs and territories and the problems continue to escalate. Outreach workers said in the study that the reason Chicago youth are so out of control on social media is a lack of attention. By bragging and disrespecting each other on social media, immediately all eyes are on them, making them winners or losers in the eyes of their peers. They constantly create new identities on the web due to the lack of them. Workers also think this problem stems from low self-esteem, being from low-poverty areas, and using social media to feel like they have something. Most young people underestimate the power of social media and its.
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