https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/health/instagram-worst-social-network-app-young-people-mental-health/index.htmll

https://www.gadgetsnow.com/tech-news/these-facebook-instagram-behaviours-are-linked-to-depression-as-per-researchers/articleshow/67455232.cms

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/19/instagram-most-likely-to-cause-young-people-to-feel-depressed-and-lonely-out-of-major-social-apps-study-says.html

When I was first asked what my writing process looked like, I had no idea. I had never put much thought to the idea that I had a routine I follow when writing papers, until I was required to write about my process. For every writing assignment that I am required to do, there is a process I feel the need to follow to achieve completing the assigned assignment.  

Every time I have a writing assignment to complete, there are two places that I like to sit down at to get my work done. The first, and my favorite place to sit down and complete my assignments is the lounge at my apartment complex. There are always other students in there studying and doing homework, so seeing the other students always gets me motivated.

However, the lounge is quite a walk from my apartment, because it is located at the other end of the apartment complex. Usually I do not mind the walk but because of the rain and cold weather we’ve had lately, I have gotten used to writing on my dining room table in my apartment.

In this setting I am alone and I usually light up a candle when I know I am going to be sitting for a while. By lighting a candle, I seem to feel more relaxed while writing.

Apart from having a specific location where I like to write, there are other things I do during my process of writing. Everytime I am going to write, I always drink a cup of coffee. Coffee gives me an energy boost to get through the task of completing my writing assignment. Not only does coffee help me get moving, but it helps jumpstart my brain on thinking of ideas on what to write about. On the days when I just do not feel like writing, a cup of coffee is like magic. The caffeine triggers something in my brain, and I snap out of it and get to work.

I also prepare snacks for grazing while I am writing. I always put food someplace where I won’t knock it over, but is reaching distance to me. Because I usually sit for quite a while, I try to make healthy snacks such as fruit or goldfishes, with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Besides eating, I also like to hear music during my writing process. I like to here songs with a fast beat to get me hyped for writing. Moreover, I feel less bored while listening to music and writing. I get lost into the music and next thing I know, I have a huge part of my writing assignments done.

Once I have done the things above, I usually start browsing the internet to see what articles have been written about my topic of interest and to see what others have to say. It helps me gather ideas on how to elaborate on what to write about regarding the topic of interest and I usually learn new things about the topic that I did not know.

Once I’m done browsing the internet, I make an outline of what I am going to write about. Outlining gives me a sense of direction; it helps me work toward my ideas and makes sure I have the beginning and end of my paper in mind.  

After outlining, I usually begin writing. Once I am done writing, I ask my housemate to go over my paper for grammatical errors and for feedback. Freshman year of college I had trouble getting good grades on papers usually because of organization, and grammar errors. My friend, and now housemate always offered to go over my papers, and till this day she still goes over them.

Lastly, I submit my paper. I always try my best to submit them 2-3 days before the due date, so I will not be stressing the night before. However, when I have excessive homework I tend to turn it in the day before. But this is usually rare.

A part of my process that was difficult to represent was how I usually spend a lot of time just worrying and thinking about the writing assignment the day it is assigned. This is the part of my writing process that I am not satisfied about. I dislike worrying throughout the day for something I know I will be able to accomplish once I actually sit down, have a cup of coffee and a snack, and browse the internet. This is something I would change if I could, but it is something I just can’t avoid. This writing process is the same process I have used for as long as I can remember, and has helped me successfully complete all my assignments .

As discussed in my previous post, unfortunate and avoidable events have occured in children and young teenagers due to social networking and its lack of privacy protection. It is clearly shown in our everyday life that this generation is the generation of social media. You see it on the bus, at restaurants, during class, there are people who seem to always be connected and dependant on social networks. However, it is not just young adults who are into this, children are as well. Ofcom’s Children and Parents Media Use and Attitudes report found that 46% of 11-year-olds, 51% of 12-year-olds and 28% of 10-year-olds now have a social media profile. This clearly demonstrates that children are going online at even younger ages.

EU Kids Online’s research shows that children are now going online at a younger age, and that young children’s lack of technical, critical, and social skills may pose [a greater] risk. This is because children lack skills and confidence in areas of internet use that are especially important for safety. Because of this, I believe that there needs to be new policies which focus more on promoting awareness and support measures designed to suit the needs of much younger internet users. Not just in highschool where the traditional focus has been but also elementary and middle schools, need to develop new ways of reaching younger children as users of the internet providing age-appropriate training and advice.

A new policy should be enacted that requires teachers to be trained with the skills and knowledge needed to support younger children with social network safety. This way children will be aware of the dangers that social networking can cause. Moreover, children would be able to safely surf the internet with the knowledge they would gain from the teachers, if they indeed had the skills and training needed to teach their children about this issue. Schools are the perfect environment to engage the children and link to the parent guidance. Children should be taught to be aware of safe searching techniques and use a family-friendly search engine for searches, for the sake of their safety.

Furthermore, a new policy should be put into act requiring internet service companies, especially social networking providers, to be required to provide the maximum amount of security and highest level of privacy by default for children using their services. In a study conducted by Sonia Livingstone, and colleagues, it was found that only 15% of children have received online information regarding internet safety from online sources. This clearly demonstrates that children have a lack of awareness regarding safety. There needs to be a policy that requires internet service companies to include reliable and accessible online information and should ensure that authoritative internet safety resources are prominently displayed and accessible. These safety resources should be available to all users as well as to parents before making a social network account.

However, policymakers should not be alone in the efforts to protect children online. Parents, and caregivers, can and should all help children to be as safe as possible on the internet, and to benefit from the internet instead of hurting from it, even if it is not a policy at this moment.

In an article, Elana Pearl Ben-Joseph, MD, discusses how a “social media agreement” with your kids, meaning a real contract they can sign, is a great idea to keep your child safe. In it, they agree to protect their own privacy, consider their reputation, and not give out personal information. They also promise not to use technology to hurt anyone else through bullying or gossip. This is a great idea because not only does your child feel as if your treating them as a mature individual, but your giving them your trust. In this contract, parents can even agree to respect teens’ privacy while making an effort to be part of the social media world. This basically means you can be a “friend” and observe them, without judging what they post, unless of course you feel like they are breaking the conditions of the contract.  

Moreover, at home, parents should do their homework to be informed of who to report problems to and how to deal with inappropriate content like the victimization that has been caused because of the internet cyberbullying messages, and the adults that try to manipulate children that were discussed in my previous post. This way if their child is ever in one of these situations, you won’t be stressing on who to call to seek help because you would already have the information.

In view of the popularity of the internet, policy makers as well as parents, educators, and guardians need to see the internet as a tool and must learn comply to it with a user manual, for the safety of children and young teenagers alike.   

As I mentioned in my previous post, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act has lacked its very own purpose. Many children and young teenagers alike have been able to create social network accounts despite their age, due to the absence of robust age-verification processes. Since there is such easy access to social networks despite a policy, victimization of young people online has increased significantly.

Most of the victimization that has been caused because of the internet is the result of the prevalence of mental health disorders in today’s society. In a study conducted by Kathleen Ries Merikangas and colleagues, indicated that about one out of every three to four youths is estimated to meet lifetime criteria for a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) mental disorder. This means that children in our current generation are more likely to have mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, etc. Since surfing the internet has become an everyday habit for people, the internet is a common method to trigger these mental disorders in children.

Researchers have documented that the options of texting, instant messaging, and emailing have become preferred by young teenagers over face-to-face interactions for some types of contact. Although this preference is understandable, the behavior may actually increase risk to young individuals vulnerable to social anxiety disorder. For these individuals, opting to substitute digital media for interpersonal communication to avoid feared situations may become cyclically reinforced over time, making the child even more avoidant and worsening the symptoms and severity of social anxiety disorder throughout the years.

Moreover, depression has been suggested to be caused by substituted digital communication, such as excessive mobile phone use that takes the place of face-to-face contact and usually results in subsequent social isolation. In fact, Elizabeth Hoge and colleagues, conducted a recent longitudinal study of young teenagers, and found that greater use of mobile phones at baseline was associated with higher levels of depression 1 year later.

Not only is the excessive use of social media causing depression but also cyberbullying on social networks is linked to depression in teenagers, according to a study conducted by Hamm and her colleagues. One type of victimization that is mounting news stories lately is that pedophiles are infiltrating YouTube videos, showing up in between youtube videos that are popular with young children and giving suicide instructions. On February, 25, 2019, a reporter for CBS 6 named Faithit, covered a story on a 7-year-old child who was told to kill herself on YouTube by one of the pedophiles infiltrating the youtube videos. It is easy for adults to manipulate children, because children tend to believe everything that is told to them. The little girl killed herself because the doll that showed up whilst viewing popular children’s cartoons on youtube, the doll told her if she did not do it he would kill her whole family.

This is happening in all sorts of social network sites, not just Youtube. In 2013, for example, a litany of suicides was linked to the social network Ask.fm, where users can ask each other questions anonymously. This was because young teenagers would use this network to say harsh words to peers, knowing that it was anonymous and no one would find out who it is. It was not until the deaths of many young teenagers that Ask.fm was asked to launch new safety efforts. However, safety measures should have been taken at the very beginning when the network was created to prevent all the suicides that occurred. If the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, would have been doing its job, these young kids would not have been online using Ask.fm, and they could have still been alive today.

Despite all the news, little constructive effort is being made to ward off the dangers of social media threatening our youth. Stories like these make it more clear that the Internet is not a safe space for our kids, regardless of the current protective algorithms and filters. This is why I strongly believe that there needs to be a more updated Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, that needs to be taken very seriously. In my next blog, I will talk about precautions that a new act could take into consideration to keep the youth of today much safer.   

The minimum age to open an account on the most popular social network apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Tik Tok, and Snapchat is 13. The reason these popular social media services use an age limit of 13 or over is in part of a law that is enacted in the United States. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, states that any organizations or persons operating online services (including social media services) are not allowed to collect the personal information of anyone under the age of 13 without parental permission. However, the policy does not require that services use robust age-verification processes and therefore, almost no services do. This makes it very easy for someone to sign-up with a false date of birth.

As stated in the Social Age Study, approximately 59% of children have already used a social network by the time they are 10. Facebook has the most users under the age of 13-52% of 8 to 16-year-olds admit they ignore Facebook’s age restriction. However, you do not need to conduct a study to know that young children who are under the age restriction are obtaining accounts. I personally have two younger sisters and many young cousins who have added me as friends on my social networking accounts such as, snapchat and instagram. Just like my relatives, other young children use social media to post and share photos, and to collect likes from their friends, which tend to be their same age as well. That fact that I as well as other adults have young individuals as friends on our social networking accounts, demonstrates that the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, lacks its purpose on many networks.   

It might not seem that obtaining a social media account at such a young age is bad or harmful, but it most certainly can be. Many people may disagree and believe that creating a more strict policy for creating social media accounts is not important and should not be taken into consideration. They might want to focus on other important policies that should be creative. But if any of you have younger siblings, children, younger cousins, etc. this issue should be a concern to you as well. It is an important issue that more people should be aware of and also needs action taken upon. Moreover, the society we live in needs to be more aware of the consequences of having accounts at such a young age.

For this reason, I strongly believe that there should be a more strict policy when creating a social media account. I have read and seen so many stories on the news of young children being victims of cyberbullying and how young children have committed suicide because of it. Many of the content social media shows can result in risky behaviors and mental health disorder. Having accounts at such a young age can result in sexting and reducing privacy and attracting predators.

Social Media can especially affect a child when they are going through puberty. The physical changes that occur during puberty give rise to a variety of social and emotional changes as well. Rebecca Avern, who runs a children’s acupuncture clinic in Oxford stated, “Due to the constant over-stimulation of their brains because of the frequent social media use, children are complaining of anxiety, depression and early onset puberty, with some girls beginning their menstrual cycle as young as eight-years-old. During puberty, a myriad of feelings and emotions occur, thanks to the active hormones taking control of their body and emotions. This results in these young teenagers to be vulnerable to things they see on social media. Making it more prone to feeling depressed or anxious based on something you see or something someone comments on a picture you post or a tweet you write.

The lack of a strict policy in creating social media accounts is definitely an issue, especially in today’s society, when social networks are a part of everyday life to the majority of the population. In future blogs, I will discuss the results of the lack of monitoring of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and give a proposal on what can be done to strengthen such acts.   

From a mental health perspective, concerns have been raised about the negative impact of excessive use of social networking sites on an individual’s health. Seeing that social media is commonly accessed using smartphones, people’s usage is intimately intertwined and their mobile nature contributes to excessive checking habits. Many people consider excessive use of social networks simply as the latest form of “Internet Addiction Disorder”. A recent study, conducted by Dr. Kuss, examined the connection of internet addiction and mental health. He revealed that social media is associated with a number of psychological problems, including anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

The reflection of mental health issues because of social media addiction is portrayed in the amount of “likes” one receives. In my opinion, one of the most alluring features of social media networks is the “likes”, which come in various forms such as a thumbs up (facebook), a retweet (twitter), and even a heart (instagram). From my experience and from witnessing this within my close friends, everytime someone posts a picture or a tweet, they tend to check their phone or re-open theses apps very frequently to see the update on the number of likes they have received. Many people base their sense of self worth and happiness on the number of likes they recieve. If they do not get any likes or do not get as many as they expected, this could result in feelings of insecurity, anxiety, or sadness.  

Furthermore, according to another study, frequent social media users who are compulsive about going online and having more social interactions in virtual worlds than the real one, have resulted in them being depressed. I clearly agree with the findings of this study because the social networking users who retreat from real-life interaction and opt for chat rooms and social networking sites, can feel depressed for not living their ideal life, the one portrayed on social media. Not living up to one’s ideal life expectations can result in depression because individuals might feel like their actual life is worthless. Social networking is a refuge for certain individual  and social media addiction is a bona fide syndrome.

No one needs to remind you that social media can be destructive unless you use it wisely. However, you may not realize how damaging your unconscious bad habits really are when using it. As previously stated in preceding blogs, social media negatively impacts mental health when oneself is too dependent on it.

Studies and surveys have revealed that those who made the decision to avoid social media as much as possible, are much mentally happier than their peers. According to researchers Hugues, Sampasa-Kanyinga, and Rosamund F. Lewis, frequent use of social media results in poor psychological and cognitive functioning. In their research, they examined the relationship between the use of social sites and poor mental health. It was concluded that the students who reflected that they had poor mental health were the ones who wrote down the highest use of social media platforms.

Moreover, in a study conducted by the Happiness Research Institute, it was discovered that individuals who avoided or limited their social media use for just a week, were in a much better, happier mood than before the study.

From personal experience, I know that staying off social media is beneficial for anyone’s mental health. Every quarter during midterms week and on the last 2 weeks of classes, I delete all social media applications, so I can stay focused on writing all my final essays and focus on studying for my midterms/ finals. I have noticed that during these couple of weeks when I distance myself from all my social network accounts, I feel as if it mitigates my anxiety. I came to the conclusion that this happens because it lessens my obligations of constantly having to reply to every non important message I receive from my online friends. Personally for me, responding to snapchat messages and Facebook messages nonstop can become stressful, and getting away from that makes me feel more at peace.

You don’t have to get rid of social media forever. However, considering to take a break from social media every other week, or deleting some apps from your phone, can have beneficial impacts on your mental health.

When we think about celebrities, we imagine them as being “perfect” for their looks, their wealth, their multiple cars and their beautiful homes. We always assume that someone with so much fame is perfect and never consider the possibility of mental problems associated with social media. At the end of the day, celebrities are human beings, no different than you and I. From facing bullying, harassment, and messages from the haters on the internet, there are plenty of reasons why a star’s mental health could be affected by social media. For instance, recently actress/singer Ariana Grande, had a series of tragic events happen to her including the shooting at her concert, the death of her ex-boyfriend, and the cancelation of her engagement. Besides all this trauma from these events, Grande had to deal with people on her social media commenting on her profiles stating that her ex boyfriend’s death was all her fault, how her engagement was a huge mistake and that she deserved everything that came to her. These people wrote hateful comments on her social media without taking into account how those harsh words may affect her mental health and self confidence. On one Instagram post, Grande stated, “time to say bye bye again to the internet for just a lil bit. It’s hard not to bump news and comments that I’m not trying to see right now. It’s very sad and I am trying very hard to keep going.” Fans of her ex boyfriend Mac Miller assumed that their icon died from a broken heart, insisting that the rapper would still be alive if it weren’t for Ariana’s “evil” actions. The reaction of many people to blame Ariana Grande for her ex’s death to the point that she had to deactivate her instagram comments was hard on her. Personally, I believe that the famous news website, TMZ is partly responsible for this, due to the fact that they broke the news of Mac Miller’s death and chose to bring Grande’s name into the article for reference. Other news sources saw this trend and continued to mention Grande and her past relationship with Miller in all the articles.

Similarly, a famous youtuber Lilly Singh, was facing mental health problems because of social networking. Singh explained in one of her videos that she wasn’t happy with how her Youtube platform demanded constant content. She stated, “I want to be honest with you, I could be happier. I’m not at my optimal happiness right now, I could be mentally healthier. I don’t feel like I’m completely mentally healthy” she stated. The struggle of constantly having to come up with new videos stressed out Singh, to the point that she had to take a break from all her social media accounts to improve her mental health. We often overlook the ways that famous stars like Singh are impacted by their social network accounts. Because we are usually the audience and not the entertainer, we do not have this constant stress of trying to entertain million of fans.

In order to move past situations like these, we must better our understanding of mental health and how it affects all people despite their popularity status. Mental illness is a serious concern. Next time you feel like writing something hurtful on a celebrities post or their social media account, take their feelings into account. Celebrities are like any other individual, they are just human and have feelings to. Put yourself in their position, and be thoughtful about using harsh words. The anonymity of social media fuels negative comments that can be harmful to mental health. Even if you think your harsh comments won’t be seen by the celebrity and you just want to state your opinion, be thoughtful. I personally have been a victim of cyberbullying and from my experience, I can say that it does impact your mental health. Just some simple comments that people wrote on my Instagram account made my feel really depressed and ashamed of myself. This was just a couple of comments, I cannot imagine the thousands of negative comments celebrities get daily.  Before commenting something mean, be thoughtful about the individual on the other side of the screen and be kind.

In present day society, the use of social media has become an everyday task. On my way to class, while sitting on the bus, and even during class I see individuals glued to their phones, where most likely they are interacting with friends and the rest of the world through the famous social networks such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, as well as a variety of other social platforms. While social networking is a great way to connect with family and friends and stay updated with the news, the fact that people are always on social media can be exhausting and can take a toll on people’s mental health. A study conducted by Holley Scott, examined how social media use is related to self-esteem, anxiety and depression issues in 467 Scottish adolescents. The findings of the study concluded that adolescents who used social media more often experienced lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety and depression. I strongly agree that the deep investment in social networking causes a downfall with an individual’s mental health. How can someone not agree if there are many “perfectionist” individuals on social networks who make you want to be like them and this then results in having feelings of self-consciousness which can highly manifests itself into social anxiety. Furthermore, seeing you are not living the same life some friend or famous individuals are living can have you have feelings of emptiness, hopelessness, and sadness of not having the life portrayed by your friend. While there is not research that explicitly states that social media causes negative psychological effects, many researchers have indeed found a correlation between the two. Without a doubt, to some extent, social media can have a negative impact on people’s mental health. An individual who is highly invested on social media with their eyes glued to their phone every chance they have will likely have to face negative consequences regarding their mental.