1. Summarize at least 4 class resources, whether video or article, in a short paragraph. Cite references for each paragraph at the end of the paragraph in parentheses, using URLs where possible. (4 paragraphs)
A.Depression and the Secret to Happiness | Johann Hari:
Johann Hari says the increase of Depression comes from the disconnection we create have created in our society. This disconnection is created through technology and also the consumer market. He describes our depression being due to our work and how people are being forced into work for survival and aren’t finding the experience meaningful. On top of this our addiction to technology and social media is disconnecting people and limiting their physical affection and interaction with others. Hari finishes his explanation of these issues with examples of solutions of people combatting this disconnection within communities. Communities and families are the best place to form strong connections with others. If everyone in a family and community is connected it can empower individuals and help keep everyone in the community motivated.
B.Does Social Media Cause Depression? | Caroline Miller:
Caroline Miller introduces the article with some shocking facts about smartphones affecting the 90’s and later generations. A couple important facts she stated were:
“A 2017 study of over half a million eighth through 12th graders found that the number exhibiting high levels of depressive symptoms increased by 33 percent between 2010 and 2015. In the same period, the suicide rate for girls in that age group increased by 65 percent.”
“Smartphones were introduced in 2007, and by 2015 fully 92 percent of teens and young adults owned a smartphone.”
It’s crazy because those statistics basically say our entire generation is taken over by this relatively new form of technology. Miller goes on to talk about some of the negative effects social media can have on us. She cites studies saying social media has caused an increase in PSI or Perceived Social Isolation. This can go hand in hand with depression as it causes one to feel separated or isolated from those who may even live around or right near them. Miller also talks about a large loss in self esteem amongst teenagers, especially teenage girls. She says this is caused by the over saturation of unrealistic models and actresses who girls compare themselves with. This can be a large factor in low self esteem and social media contributing to someone’s overall depression.
C.How Social Media Helps and Hurts Us
This article talks about some of the benefits of social media, like providing a sense of belonging, increased trust, making us happy, and it also spreads happiness to others. Social media can also help people’s physical and emotional health by helping people understand healthier living habits, and also helps people meet similar people. But social media can have a long list of effects on your physical and mental health. Social media can create a high chance of addiction, which can cause someone to be sucked into a screen for the majority of the day. It can hurt people’s abilities to communicate face to face because they lose experience doing it. It can make it more difficult for people to sleep because of their addiction, and can also lower your dopamine tolerance because we are constantly pumping our brain with positive hits. It can be harsh on emotional health in certain cases because it distracts people in relationships, and can also cause jealousy.
D. A Social Network Designed to Combat Depression | Kyle Vanhemert
This article talks about Robert Morris who has created a web app Panoply which is focused on using crowdsourcing to help people deal with depression. He plans for the app to be a more connective version of social media, and he wants it to be more focused on enrichment of the individual and how they can actually gain something from use of it. He focused the app around a user stating issues occurring in their everyday life, then the user getting support from other users, then feedback as to what is truly happening or what the real issue is for the person.
2. Then define and write a specific question you have or issue you want to research about the link between social media and mental health of young adults. Explain why this question or issue interests you. (a few sentences, to a paragraph)
“What is the best way to go about solving depression caused by social media addiction?”
I find it particularly frustrating how hard it can be to escape the addiction to my phone and social media and have definitely experienced times of depression or anxiety due to my device. I want to know if there’s some way we can use this addiction for good or a way to effectively get rid of the addiction.
https://qz.com/1693268/a-new-kind-of-rehab-uses-human-connection-to-treat-addiction/
https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/texas-politicians-addicted-twitter/
https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/finally-a-cure-for-social-media-addiction-1.64620824/
4. Skim these articles and based on your skimming, pick the two most informative–those that expand your knowledge the most, not necessary those that you already agree with. Summarize each of these articles as you did above, each in a short paragraph. (2 paragraphs)
Senator Pushes Bill To Curb ‘Exploitative And Addictive’ Social Media Practices | Tim Mak:
In this article a republican senator in Missouri is making pushes to limit parts of social media he views as addictive. The bill he’s searching to get passed would require large social media companies like facebook and instagram to inform users how long they’ve been on the application each day with a notification every 30 minutes. The legislation is also trying to push a ban of the infinite scroll, which is what social media uses to draw you in for the maximum amount of time and keep you sucked in to a never ending stream of info. It seems like this may be a difficult bill to pass because of the idea of government limiting the functions of applications run by these companies. In the end this bill is a long shot bill and probably not the solution we are going to get right now. It is a step in the right direction to make these companies operate on a more humane level as it starts to affect more and more people’s health.
A radical approach to confronting addiction puts human connection first | Jenny Anderson:
This article talks about addiction and doesn’t specifically focus on addiction to social media or technology but talks about all addiction including drugs and alcohol. She talks about a new form of rehab which people were going through for drug addiction but could be useful for social media addiction as well. The rehab was human connection focus, rather than focus on keeping someone away from their addiction, it focused on using human connection to help them part from that addiction. She talks about how during the 12 step process of recover in this new form of rehabilitation, people recovering are paired and told to meet and communicate with the partner they are paired with. The goal is for both to listen without judgement, and just to spend the moment with each other, in hopes of the basic level human interaction helping the healing process. So far people experiencing this program feel significantly less depressed so this seems like a potential route to help people with social media induced depression.
5. Now conclude by explaining how your knowledge of this topic has developed over this research experience. If you did your research correctly, there should be some change in your thinking–that’s what “re-search” means. So explain how your thinking changed–either by deepening, changing or making more complex your understanding of the issue. (1-2 paragraphs)
I’ve come to learn a lot about society’s relationship with social media and specifically how it is affecting our generations health. I never really considered how the formation of the capital market created a system which was not centered around human design. Everything we are involved in today was created for greed and personal gain rather than for the well being and health of the society. What I really learned is how widespread the symptoms of this system are really becoming. Depression is becoming so prevalent in our society strictly because of the addictions that are being forced into our lifestyles for the gain of the companies distributing these goods. A large scale redesign of how we run our country is necessary to help to help the majority of the citizens aspire for a healthier lifestyle
6. Given your new understanding, suggest how you might adapt or redesign a social media platform you currently use, or create a new one, so that other youth are likely to have a healthier experience. You may need to go beyond your own experience of “it’s just fine for me” to “if other teens are depressed, maybe this could help them”. Remember that having gown up within social media, it may be hard to even assess its influence on you, or to imagine there might be an even better experience than the one you are used to. (1-2 paragraphs)
Facebook: I feel like there are many ways you could alter the current functions of facebook to become increasingly beneficial to the well being and overall health of its users. I think facebook needs to redesign their platform so it’s not causing people to fight and divide rather than unite and support each other. I think the first way to go about doing this is to remove commenting and liking. Both of these can cause stress due to shifting levels of dopamine, eventually leading to depression. As an alternative to commenting maybe only allow a certain set of positive, encouraging presets, and offer a direct message for anything which needs to be typed. I think getting rid of the endless scroll would be massive for helping people’s addictions. At least having something that pops up every 15 minutes telling the user what their weekly usage is at, maybe even warning them of the danger of addiction. Perhaps Facebook could use its power to unite people with similar interests and plan meetups or events in real time where people can go to meet people with mutual interests. It could also create a section where you are allowed to post your feelings to a special community of people being paid to help you out and discuss your problems with them.
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