On-line essay

Social media can have both a positive and negative impact on the health of young people. This essay will discuss both impacts social media has on the health of young people, but mostly focusing on their mental health as this seems to be the biggest area to be affected. However, long periods spent in front of a computer or iPad (these days) can cut into a young person’s active time outside. “Couch potatoes” in front of the television in the 90s and early 2000s have been replaced with youth in front of computers, tablets and smart phones today.

Today, one of the greatest threatsto youth appears to be from the Internet, with sexual predators lurking in chatrooms meant for youth and pornography merely a click away. Of course, “media”itself is neither bad nor good. Rather, it is the content of media that affects those who consume it. In addition to producing negative effects, media also hasthe potential to positively influence youth (Kirsh, 2010).

This is an essay about young people, but to put it into perspective here are some results of a survey undertaken in 2012 of 5,000 Australians aged 16 years and over. One of the main reasons Australians use the internet is to access their social networking sites. Nearly half of us use social media weekly, 22 hours is spent on it every week and 69 per cent access it several times a day (Yabsley, 2013).

Dr David Rock’s article on Psychology Today (2010) introduced a term called “empty neural calories.” He likened the experience of eating something sugary and the short term high that you feel to the “perceived social connectivity” we get when we log onto a social networking sites. He said it “increase(s) the overall stimulation of the brain, but may not do much to make our brain more integrated, adaptive or functional.”

In fact, just like sugar, some types of neural stimulation have you wanting more and more, without ever feeling satisfied. The result can be a reduction in healthy neural functioning, in the form of a reduced ability to focus (Rock, 2010).

However, Rock (2010) does also discuss a study carried out by University of Chicago social neuroscientist John Cacioppo, who found that loneliness could increase the risk of death from stroke or heart disease. People use social media to connect with friends and they do feel some sort of satisfaction when they do use certain sites. But those sorts of health problems shouldn’t be affecting youth, just yet.

There is a darker side to the health effects from using social media, especially for a young person’s mental state. Bullying is now a big problem online, it’s not just at school anymore, taking on a whole new publicised level. Parenting Ideas by Michael Grose (2013) states “Cyber-bullying now means that kids can’t escape the bully like they once could.” Over recent years there has been an increase in youth suicides due to online bullying. The Australian reported just recently about a 14-year-old girl who committed suicide in Italy over online bullying in July, the most recent and prominent case.

On the other hand some young people find it easier to stand up to their bullies with a screen in front of them. Pressley Baird’s article (2013) reported the opinions of two high-school aged students. Keely Lee said “to students, it's sometimes less intimidating to deal with a mean person online.” "You have more courage to stop it (online) than in person," she said.

Recently, US social media experts have coined the term “Facebook depression,” (Yabsley, 2013). For teenagers who are vulnerable, naïve or troubled this can be a real problem for them especially if they use social media a lot. The American Psychological Association (2013) said teens “often show more narcissistic tendencies while young adults who have a strong Facebook presence show more signs of other psychological disorders, including antisocial behaviors, mania and aggressive tendencies.”

Also “Facebook can be distracting and can negatively impact learning. Studies found that middle school, high school and college students who checked Facebook at least once during a 15-minute study period achieved lower grades.” (APA, 2013)

On the other side of that argument you have people like Cameron Norman (2013) who believes that social media is beneficial in spreading healthy living and health promotion. Because social media can reach up to a billion users around the globe through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, youth can see these promotions and it can create positive conversations within society. However, now there’s a problem of the “skinny” obsession and unhealthy role models putting out their unhealthy body expectations onto the eyes of youth. The Huffington Post in the UK reported late last year the alarming increase of eating disorders and it’s believed to be caused by social media.

Chris Tanti, CEO of headspace (Australia's National Youth Mental Health Foundation) though believes that through all this because social media creates a sort of community, young people are able to develop a resilience and are developing skills to cope with all the negative (Yabsley, 2013.)

As mentioned earlier in the essay the APA also states that if “the time you spend posting and tweeting is largely on the computer, your physical health can be impacted too.”

Experts suggest taking time out if you: feel a need to spend more and more time on social media; constantly think about or plan to use it; feel anxious, moody or restless if you can't use it; try and fail to cut down on social media; or neglect other areas of your life in favour of using it (Yabsley, 2013)

Through research I have found more negative impacts than positive on the health of young people. In all ways I feel from my research that social media has more of a negative impact on youth in all aspects of their life including learning, health and social development. From my experience, schools place too much emphasis on “learning” about and utilising” social media as well. We are moving into a dangerous era because we rely so heavily on social media and technology.

 References

2011, Social Networking’s Good and Bad Impacts on Kids, media release, 6 August, viewed 20 September 2013, <http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/08/social-kids.aspx>

Baird, Pressley 2013, Parents, students learning to navigate good, bad of social media, McClatchy - Tribune Business News, viewed 20 September 2013 http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/1433079675?accountid=14543

Griffith, Chris 2013, Tony Abbott urged to tackle the cyber bullies, viewed 20 September 2013, <http://www.theaustralian.com.au/technology/tony-abbott-urged-to-tackle-the-cyber-bullies/story-e6frgakx-1226720437201?>

Kirsh, Steven J. (2010) Media in the Lives of Youth, in Media and Youth: A Developmental Perspective, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK. doi:10.1002/9781444317435.ch1

Norman, Cameron 2012, Social media and health promotion, Global Health Promotion, 19(4), 3-6, viewed 20 September 2013, <http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/1312682810?accountid=14543>

Parenting Ideas Michael Grose, Advice against Cyber-bullying, viewed 20 September 2013, http://www.parentingideas.com.au/Parents/Bullying/Cyber-bullying

Rock, David 2010, Should we be concerned about the global impact of always-on, empty neural calories?, viewed 20 September 2013, <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-work/201003/should-we-be-concerned-about-the-global-impact-always-empty-neural-calor>

Yabsley, Charmaine, Social media and its impact on health and wellbeing, viewed 20 September 2013, <http://www.bupa.com.au/health-and-wellness/shine/spirit/social-media-and-its-impact-on-health-and-wellbeing>

York, Christopher 2013, Eating Disorders: How social media helps spread anorexia and bulimia in young people, viewed 20 September 2013, <http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/12/social-media-anorexia-bulimia-young-people_n_1962730.html>

Week 8

Ok, I've never used one of these online research organisers before. IT'S FANTASTIC!!!

https://www.diigo.com/user/rls881

I'm still not sure if the general public will be able to see my research compilation, but here is the link to my Diigo account.

Week 7

For my essay I am going to discuss the following topic:

Does the extensive use of social media have a positive or negative impact on the health of young people. What are the most recent academic papers on this topic? Clarify what all sides of the argument claim and only then offer your reasoned opinion based on facts.

 I am quite passionate about the use or over use of social media by society and how its affecting us so I believe this is a excellent topic for myself.