ENGL 102 West Virginia Impact of Social Media on Mental Health Reflection Paper – Revise 3 project (all numbered in the Projects That Needs to Be Revised doc) using the comments for each below.
– Revise the reflection (in the Midterm Portfolio doc) using the comment in the Midterm Portfolio Comments doc. Especialy the ones in red and focus in this comment: it’s one thing to tell me what you learned, but it’s another to show me, and that involves pointing out 1) what your revisions are, 2) why you made them, and 3) how they affected your writing.
– I will add my midterm portfolio just in case you want to have a look at it.
– Project #3 Research Proposal: My biggest suggestion is to split up the literature review into a couple paragraphs. A full page paragraph is often difficult for readers to get through (not impossible, of course, but it’s easier to remember information when you have small bits focused on one idea), and you’ll want to encourage your audience to keep reading.
I also had a suggestion about your survey questions. In them, you’ve got a question about whether they have Facebook, but your proposal is focused on social media in general. Maybe you could rephrase the question to first ask if they have social media? And if they do, provide a write-in option where they specify what platform they use?
– Project #4 Research Paper: I have a couple of suggestions. I liked the way you broke down individual effects of social media, but I couldn’t tell if they were intended to show how social media leads to depression. Making the link clearer is a good place to start.
One way to do this would be to introduce depression and mental illness like you did social media–there, you could describe things that lead to declining mental health and then show how social media instills these things in people.
– Project #5 Editorial: I like the way you structured your editorial–adding the title + author/date line was a good idea. I like your call to action–suggesting online support is an interesting approach, and you certainly have the research background to suggest it.
However, there are a few points where I think a content change is necessary. My biggest suggestion is reorganization. Your argument is that excessive social media use leads to increased risk of mental illness, but your call to action suggests using safe platforms to cope with mental illness. Though I see your point, the call to action doesn’t follow the argument structure you’ve used so far–it seems to run counter to the point of your article. Maybe instead of outlining how social media can cause mental illness, you reference the trend but spend your focus on describing what you mean by safe platforms and expand on this idea of coping through online support. Alsabbagh
Name
Professor Name
Class
Date
Topic:
The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health
Content:
Reflection
Annotated Bibliography
Evaluation
Research Proposal
1
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Reflection
As social media have become a huge part of almost everyone’s live I was interested in
doing some about it. Social media is a very broad subject and I needed to find the real question in
order to reach out to an answer. The use of social media has increased over the past decades.
Social media use has increased among all ages with young adults taking a lead as most
researches have shown. Peoples experiencing mental illness have also been witnessed to
manipulate social media platforms as they seek to share their stories and express their opinions
on various topics based on their life experience. Mental health, therefore, seems to be attached to
social media. This leads to the following questions: what is the correlation of social media with
mental disorders? What is the role of social media have on mental health?
Social media has a substantial effect on various aspects of our life ranging from basic
human interaction, online communication to our health as it has become part of our life in this
digital age. The young generation is using a lot of its time in social media making new friends
and socializing. This has a probability of exposing them to the negative impacts of social media.
When used in a bad way social media could be a nightmare as it might lead to mental health and
affect the wellbeing of the user. Youths who spend more time on social media have higher
chances of suffering from mental illnesses than those who spend less time but it can also result in
some benefits too.
The correlation between mental health and social media is a major concern in the current
world. Social media is engaging in increasing mental illness users self-esteem. There are
platforms where people can subscribe to groups to seek peer-to-peer support from online
communities. Additionally, the online community is made up of different people with different
life experiences and thus enriching online communities with a lot of information. People who
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suffer mental illness are highly likely to learn from others with similar experiences. Notably,
social media has a chance of increasing mental disorders due to misguided advice.
With all of that I choose to search all about the impact of social media on our mental
health as it seems to be a very important topic for many people. We started the semester with the
annotated bibliography project which have helped me a lot to find my sources. AS the topic of
social media is very broad it was a little difficult to find my sources. There were a lot of very
good sources all over the internet but finding the right sources that can help me later on was a pit
of a challenge and it started to be stressful searching for a long time and finding so many articles.
I found some sources that addresses some information about the background of my topic such as
the article U.S Social Media Use and Health Communication as well as some sources to support
or reject my research such as the article The Future of Mental Health Care: Peer-to-Peer Support
and Social Media that discussed both the benefits and risks that can be associated with social
media on the mental health. Revising this project wasn’t that hard as it was all about
summarizing the articles and giving a brief discretion of them but I made sure to include the
authors’ main idea on the first line.
In preparation for the second project which was evaluating a source I choose a different
source to evaluate on my writing activity which was a TEDx Talk video to help me understand
the project and how it should be. The talk was great and had a lot of information that can help me
when writing my research paper. Bailey Parnell addressed the topic very well and had a verity of
great sources that I could use some of them to support both sides of my paper. When I started
writing my project it didn’t make sense to me to write a 4 pages’ paper in the same way which
made me switch things and ended up not doing what the assignment is exactly asking us. This
made me a little confused when revising it but I ended up cutting some of the information out
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making sure that it is still smooth and make sense and adding a paragraph of an evaluation in the
same way as I did the writing activity. It was a pit difficult to do but the source was easy to work
with and it was an article that I’ve already read before and was on my annotated bibliography
which is The Future of Mental Health Care: Peer-to-Peer Support and Social Media.
On the other hand, while revising the research proposal project, it was hard identifying
what specific part needed to be reviewed. The main reason being that there weren’t any feedback
displayed on the corrections of the research proposal. At this point, I found it hard to determine
and create an effective argument based on the topic. Therefore, it was hard to identify the parts
that needed to be corrected on the research proposal, as it effectively discussed the impact of social
media on mental health among young people. However, from the topic, I realized that the project
needs to be revised on the literature review since it generalized individuals instead of focusing on
young people. In the end, I revised the part where it focused on a general group. I also added one
question at the appendixes that could be good to ask. To sum it up, based on the topic of social
media use and effects on mental health, the three projects proved to be quite challenging and easy
while revising.
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Project #1: Annotated Bibliography
Social Media and Health
Health Information National Trends Survey. U.S. Social Media Use and Health Communication.
Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National
Cancer Institute, Health Information National Trends Survey, 2011. INSERT-MISSINGDATABASE-NAME, INSERT-MISSING-URL. Accessed 27 Aug. 2019.
The article seeks to highlight how the gaps in social media are believed to limit health
communication and information out there. Other than that, individuals are considered to
be influenced by social media that has resulted in a major impact on their mental health.
The Health Information National Trends Survey states that internet use varies from age to
age as well as the platforms used. In this case, younger people tend to use social media
more often compared to older people and more likely to be bloggers. Additionally, the
article has claimed that the information presented is not affected by race, social group or
ethnicity. According to the article, people’s health status effects their use of social media.
People with diseases are less likely to be suing social media than people who doesn’t
have any history with diseases. To spread the health information, you want to send they
were suggesting that you need to consider the age and level of education of your
audience, the platform you are using, and the message you are sending to be able to
communicate in social media.
Lofton, Tarena. “Coming Out About Mental Health On Social Media.” Kaiser Health News, 26
Aug. 2019, khn.org/news/coming-out-about-mental-health-on-social-media/. Accessed 28
Aug 2019.
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The author is talking about how talking about mental health in social media is something
that many people started to do and actually helps them. They started with talking about
Susanna Harris who is a Ph.D. student and how she started to share her struggle with
mental health on Twitter and created a hashtag to use when tweeting about it. They talked
about how hashtags have helped people to share this stories with mental health and get
support from others. Hashtags have also helped them to communicate and engage more
with people who are going through what they are going through. They are also saying
that some organizations started using social media platforms to provide information about
different mental health illnesses and make it a place for people to discuss and share their
concerns. At the end, if social media was use the wrong way it could have a negative
effect, but if it was use right it could have a positive effect and so it can be good for
mental health.
Miller, Caroline. “Does Social Media Cause Depression?” Child Mind Institute,
childmind.org/article/is-social-media-use-causing-depression/. Accessed 29 Aug 2019.
The author’s main question was whether or not social medial use is the reason behind
being depressed especially among children. In few studies, they found that depression
and suicide are more commune among people who uses social media for longer time.
They also found that the percentage of people who have depression or suicide have
increased since the use of smartphones increased. Some experts found that the increase in
depression is because the electronic connections social media users form aren’t
emotionally satisfying, which makes them feel socially isolated. Researchers also think
that the loss of self-esteem that users may have is the reason behind the increase in
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depression as many people will compare themselves negatively to others. Finally, they
ended up with giving parents some advices on how to decrease the negative effects of
social media such as checking regularly and encouraging them to not use them by setting
a phone-free times etc.
Mir, Elina, and Caroline Novas. “Social Media and Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Mental
Health.” National Center for Health Research, 17 Oct. 2018,
www.center4research.org/social-media-affects-mental-health/. Accessed 28 Aug 2019.
Mir, Elina and Caroline highlighted a description of the most popular social media
platforms and how they are used. In the article, the benefits of social media have been
discussed as it allows adolescents to build social communication and friendships and
boost their feelings about themselves positively. But now there is what is called Facebook
depression. Which means that some of teens started to feel depressed because of social
media platform. People tend to share positive thing that happens to them and the good
part of their lives which can be overwhelming to some teens. But Facebook depression is
still not listed in the American Psychiatric Association diagnostic manual. They found
that some researches have seen that adolescents who spend more time on social media or
have more social media platforms are more at risk for suicide of depression. They also
found a study that have seen that teens who visits at least 58 time a week any platform are
more at risk to feel socially isolated. Then they talked about what could parents do to
prevents their children from any risks and one of their suggestions was to check regularly
with their children to make sure that they are in a good online behavior. Finally, they
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ended up with giving some tips on how to make sure that social media is not affecting us
negatively.
Naslund, J A, et al. “The Future of Mental Health Care: Peer-to-Peer Support and Social
Media.” Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr.
2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4830464/.
The article discusses the benefits and risks of social media for people with mental health
illnesses. They are willing to make a connection with others and share their views and
make friend through social media. Studies have found that they feel less alone and have
more hope by others support who are facing the same thing. People tend to share their
stories and strategies for coping the life challenges so people mental illnesses can benefit
from. They shared the importance of social media in peoples with mental illnesses lives.
They talked about how it can help them to have a better recovery and help them to
overcome some of effects of their illnesses such as information processing, the increase
in social anxiety as well as interacting with others. Then they warped it up with talking
about some of the risks that can be associated with it. One of the risks is that people can
get wrong advices from unknown users. It can also lead to unrealistic expectation which
can cause anxiety to some. People with mental illnesses can feel dependent for
relationships online but face difficulties with communicating offline. There are also
accounts that support self-harm, unhealthy behaviors, or are active in online harassment.
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Project #2: Evaluation
Social Media and Mental Health
Mental health is currently a major concern due to behaviors and activities that individuals
exhibit in their communities. People who experience mental illness manipulate various social
media platforms to express their stories, share, and give their ideas and opinions on various
topics according to their discussions and life’s experiences. Notably, social media has created
platforms where individuals can seek peer-to-peer support from others who might be undergoing
similar events in life. Majorly, social media has helped in addressing various mental conditions
due to advice, experience, and lessons that individuals learn from their online communities.
However, social media also contributes to mental illness due to peer influence and misguided
advice and inspirations that individual’s access from the online communities.
Social media is a major concern in mental health today because it provides opportunities
where people share their experiences through peer-to-peer group support. According to Naslund,
Aschbrenner, Marsch, and Bartels (236), individuals who uses social media to share their
experiences indicate a critical point in their mental health where they need help based on their
appeals. Majorly, mental illness is characterized by social isolation when their victims spend
most of the time thinking about their tribulations. However, people who use social media to seek
solutions concerning their challenges present a significant role that the platform has in
remedying various mental conditions. For instance, Naslund et al., (376) elaborate that
individuals who share their experiences in their platforms benefit from the advice provided by
those who had overcome the situation before. Besides the advice, social media has helped in
managing mental illnesses by enabling the victims to reach psychiatrists and other support
groups to manage their conditions appropriately.
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Consequently, social media is a major intervention in mental health due to its ability to
challenge stigma as far as an individual’s perception of self is concerned. Notably, many victims
of mental illness are associated with feelings of shame concerning their specific life events. The
shame contributes to mental challenges because it suppresses the victim’s ego hence affecting
their interactions and life’s perceptions as explained by Naslund et al., (656). The individuals
often feel rejected by others and discriminated in various instances even when they are treated
like the rest. Despite the challenges, engagement in social media helps in challenging stigma by
increasing the victim’s self-esteem as far as their behaviors are concerned. For instance, the peerto-peer support groups enlighten people to embrace self-efficacy that involves feeling good about
one-self to avoid dangerous activities. The online communities further challenge stigma to
address mental health by enlightening individuals to focus on their strengths and ambitions in life
rather than other people’s perceptions about them.
Furthermore, the social media act as crucial platforms for addressing mental health
following rich information it presents about life. Specifically, online communities are comprised
of information from a variety of sources due to various experiences that individuals have in life.
According to Naslund et al., (264), individuals who encounter various mental illnesses have a
better chance of learning from others who share similar experiences. Following the vulnerability
of people who suffer mental illness, continued online engagements would help them to learn how
to cope with their situations as they work on the applicable remedies. Additionally, social media
platforms such as facebook help in addressing mental health because they enlighten individuals
on what to expect in various life’s engagements. For example, people who venture into
relationships are advised not to expect much from their partners but instead commit to each other
according to professional commentaries. The social platforms such as youtube further contribute
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to addressing mental illness by enlightening individuals about various actions they can take to
address challenges in their lives to avoid situations that lead to mental illness.
Subsequently, social media also act as significant avenues for addressing mental illness
because they provide professional interventions due to exposure. In particular, platforms such as
Facebook and twitter are characterized by various psychological professionals who help
individuals to manage various mental conditions they are experiencing. For instance, individuals
who encounter mental challenges due to relationship issues benefit from accessing relationship
experts to help them address various issues in their lives. Additionally, people who encounter
mental illness due to health challenges can access doctors and other physicians to help them
address their conditions effectively to avoid self-harm or danger to others.
In summation, Mental health is currently a major concern due to behaviors and activities
that individuals exhibit in their communities. People who experience mental illnesses manipulate
various social media platforms to express their stories, share, and give their ideas and opinions
on various topics according to their discussions and life’s experiences. Social media has created
platforms where individuals come to to seek peer-to-peer support. Among the topics that are
attributed to various mental illness, conditions include relationship, health, unemployment,
family, stigma and various psychological concerns. Majorly, social media has helped in
addressing various mental conditions due to advice, experience, and lessons that individuals
learn from their online communities. However, social media also contributes to mental illness
due to peer influence and misguided advice and inspirations that individual’s access from the
online communities.
The article The Future of Mental Health Care: Peer-to-Peer Support and Social Media
was pupliched by Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences which is a quarterly peer-reviewed
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scientific journal covering psychiatry and epidemiology. The article was written by a lot of
mental health educated writers. One of them is John Naslund who has expertise in many different
fields such as social disparities research and digital mental health. His work seems to address
early mortality that have impacted individuals with different serious mental illnesses all over the
world, and to decrease the global treatment gap for mental disorders. Dr. Naslund was a leader in
many projects that leverage social media networks, mobile technologies, and big online data to
develop, evaluate and implement digital interventions focusing at not only treating but also
preventing mental disorders. Dr. Naslund worked with individuals with mental illness and mental
health providers and has built partnerships with them. Because of that Dr. Naslund have a lot of
experience in the topic and properly always have an accurate information to support his work as
well as all other writers. Considering all the authors’ interests and the work that they have done
before, their information is all up to date. In the article, the authors had a lot of resources to back
up their ideas. The article was very smooth and formed correctly. It was easy to follow…
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