Chemical Effect

In this article we will answer a few questions about the effects that Facebook has on us. The questions will include the physical mental and chemical negative aspects.

Is it possible to get addicted to Facebook?

Yes. In fact you can almost get addicted to anything. The reason behind getting addicted to face book is that when you post a photo or a status and people like it there is a chemical reaction in your brain. The chemical is called dopamine. It is an organic chemical in the brain and functions as a neurotransmitter. Most types of reward increase the level of dopamine in the brain. So when people are frequently liking your statuses and photos there is a lot of dopamine going around in your brain. The brain then gets addicted to the chemical causing us to continue to post more and more.

How does face book affect our mental health?

There are numerous studies that conclude many frequent users of Facebook suffer from depression, envy, anxiety and show more infidelity than less frequent users. By constantly seeing what everyone else is doing we are make ourselves compare ourselves to others. This includes body image, e.g. we are constantly hearing and seeing the Kardashians. This affects the way we see ourselves because we force ourselves to believe that we have to have an hour glass figure, we have to have flawless skin and perfect makeup. Another way we compare ourselves is our social lives. We are always seeing what everyone else is doing. They could be out on a date with their significant other or hanging out with their friends. So if you’re sitting at home single and alone it can make you feel horrible and that their life is better than yours.

How does Facebook affect us physically?

The most popular way of using Facebook among our generation is to use our phones. The average person spends around two to four hours a day looking at their phones. Looking down at their devices is the equivalent to having an eight year old sitting on your head while you check your messages.  

Over time the frequent exposure to the blue light coming out of our phones can damage the retina. It can also have an impact on your sleeping habits. Looking at your phone before you go to sleep can disrupt the hormone melatonin and disrupts the circadian rhythm which decreases the amount of time spent in a deep sleep, which is linked to the development of diabetes, obesity and cancer.

In conclusion there are a lot of negative effects from using Facebook frequently, they include addiction, effects on your mental and physical health. We have covered the affects that Facebook has on our brain, our mental health and our physical health.

By Hannah Lawrence-McNeill and Riley Gunn

Ask.fm

By Connie Carter

What was the original purpose?

The original purpose of ask.fm was to be able to ask people questions you normally may not have the courage to ask someone face to face. So people in Latvia created a site to let people do this with confidence in June 2010. But although the creators had good intentions, this site has been used to cyberbully teens for many years and people have still not learnt.

Why do people use this site?

This site has caused many teens to become depressed and in some cases, commit suicide. That shows the drastic and negative outcomes that may happen if this site is misused.

People willingly use this site to see what their friends think about each other or their honest opinions on situations. Most of the time this site is just used by people who have no bad intentions but some still continue to abuse this and use it to bully people anonymously. This is why ASK.FM has got such a bad name, because it is so easy to send someone hate messages and it is totally anonymous.

This site reached its peak popularity in 2011, mainly attracting the ages of 12-14, targeting teenagers in their early college years and the students who care most about what people think and want to be ‘in’ with all the gossip of their town.

Is this site considered safe?

This site would not be considered safe although the creators have taken many precautions to try and stop the cyberbullying that happens, but despite their efforts, this has failed and it continues to be a very dangerous site.

Summary

I think that this site has got the potential when being used for good and positive things, but when misused, this site is one of the worst for kids. It is used for cyber bullying and other harmful activities. Therefore, I believe it should not be used by kids and parents should be aware of the dangers this site comes with.

Bibliography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASKfm

http://www.chicagonow.com/between-us-parents/2013/10/facts-about-ask-fm-parents/

http://ask.fm/

Is Facebook a Modern Age Drug?

Is Facebook a Modern Age Drug?

This film will challenge your stereotypes!

https://vimeo.com/175005039

Is facebook a modern age drug? vimeo.com Pixie-Faye Marshall Broughton

SNAPCHAT

Where do your Snapchat photos go?

You send a private photo to a friend who views it for a few seconds before it disappears forever, right?

Wrong!

Even after Snapchat admitted photos sent using the popular app don’t disappear after all, experts say users still don’t grasp how difficult it is to entirely erase something from the Internet. Most of the time, your "deleted" Instagram snaps or Facebook posts are still lurking on a server somewhere.

Even when something is deleted from a device or a computer, it doesn't completely delete. If you were to delete a text, I could still get it off the phone. It's in the trash.

What is Snapchat?

Snapchat is an app that you can download on your phone that is used to send messages. These messages are sent as photos, videos, texts, and you can now also call people on the application. It’s free to download on the App Store, Google Play and Android. It was founded in 2011 and gradually got more popular and popular throughout the years. The majority of users are young adults and adults. Unfortunately it is mostly used for sexting and its reputation holds that. But there are also many pros in the internet service.

Some features in the app include Stories, Discover and Memories. Stories are a photo or video that you share to either your friends/followers or the public. You can post as many as you like but they only last 24 hours after posting.

Discover is a platform in the app where you can view pop-culture and diverse stories made by different news services, for example Buzzfeed, Tastemade, MTV, Daily Mail and Cosmopolitan. These stories also last 24 hours and are renewed each day. There are stories including information from fashion and make-up to gaming and music. Memories are a personal platform that was added to Snapchat very recently. When you take a photo (snap) or video you can now save it to the app. To access this platform you swipe up when the camera is showing. You can then change the snaps to Memories. If you want some to be private you can change them to Eyes Only, a part of Memories where you need a password to open private snaps.

Portrayal of Women in the Media
Survey Results

  

23 females                                                                                   14 males 

10 females are 14, 2 females are 15, 7 females are 16, 4 females that are 17, 1 female is 40 

0 males are 17, 3 males are 18, 1 male is 47 

3} Do you at some point in your day watch TV, go on the internet, look at books/magazines? 

5 females said sometimes, 9 said always

1 male said never, 3 said sometimes, 10 said always

4} Do you think women are portrayed sexually in the media? (TV, internet in magazines)

10 females said they strongly agree, 10 said they agree, 4 were neutral

4 males said they strongly agree, 4 said they agreed, 5 were neutral, 1 strongly disagreed

5} Why do you think they are portrayed this way?

16 females said because it attracts viewers and because women are “attractive”, 3 said they don't know, 5 said because it sells and makes people buy products 

7 males said to make money through advertising, 4 didn't know, 3 said because of modern age sexism

6} Do you think it is okay that they are portrayed this way? Why or why not? 

19 females said it's not okay, 2 said it was fine, 2 didn't answer, 1 said if they want to 

6 males said it's not okay, 6 think it is okay, 2 didn't answer

7}  What effect do you think this issue is having on young women in our society today? 

20 females said negative, 2 said positive, 2 said no affect 

5 males said negative, 7 said no affect, 2 said positive affect  

8} Is objectifying women in advertisements a good way to sell and promote a product? Why or why not? 

15 females said no, 4 said yes, 4 said if they want to sell products, 2 didn't know 

4 males said it's not okay, 5 said it is okay, 5 didn't understand the question 

9} Why do you think the media objectifies and sexually portrays women to sell products?

10 females said to attract male buyers, 6 said it makes money, 7 did not answer 

1 male said because of our cultural beauty standards, 1 said ‘if you buy this you can look like me’, 7 said to make profit, 5 didn't understand the question. 

10} Have you ever been objectified or had a personal experience with this issue?

12 females said yes, 9 said no, 2 didn't answer 

6 males said yes, 8 said no

By Jahnaya Flynn

Objectification of teenage girls in social media  

What is objectification of girls in the media?

Objectification is the treating of another human being, not like a human but an object to use. This is a problem we see far too much in everyday media, especially Facebook and Instagram. From advertising in products to comments on personal photos, you will see the sexualisation of girls in everyday life. The media has shone a spotlight on this as it is much easier to comment grotesque things on other people's online life than to say the same things in person. 

Teenage girls everyday are getting stalked, commented on and sexualised by older men and strangers on the Internet. This can affect their self-esteem, the way they see themselves and the way they see men. The way girls’ bodies are treated in advertising, videos, comment sections etc can be horrible for their self-esteem, and ultimately lead to eating disorders or strange perceptions of how their body looks.

We interviewed a variety of teenage girls on objectification in the media, and how it affects them. After analysing the male and female surveys, messages sent from boys of my age group, and the interviews we did on the demographic, we have been able to conclude that this is a big issue. Objectification of teenage girls in social media is growing to be a great feminist issue of our generation, and will continue for generations to go. Unless we take a stand. Women and men alike need to stand together against sexism as allies, instead of as enemies. 

What we noticed in some of the boys’ surveys, was the boys did not feel like objectification was an issue for women, but related to the feeling of objectification, many saying they experienced it themselves. We found this point of view very interesting but also slightly uninformed, feeling like they did not understand the full issue of the subject at hand. 

The female surveys proved this, many saying they experience objectification on the daily basis, online and offline. If we want this issue to stop, adults must educate both sexes on the effects of objectification in the media.
  To understand something, you need enlightenment on the subject, so I say if we enlighten our generation on this issue, we can put an end to online sexism.  

By Darcy Shaw 

Filters on Instagram and Facebook                         

We did some research into filters and how people use and react to them. We targeted Facebook and Instagram because we knew they were the sites to use most filters other than Snapchat of course. We noticed that the majority of people do have filters on their profile pictures and other photos on their timeline. We had many questions about this so we decided to ask class mates because then we got straight fast answers.
We also answered the questions ourselves.

While we were researching we discussed some of our own stories about filters and our experiences with them. In our conversation we were talking about how people react to them and how they react differently to our pictures without filters. I have noticed that my previous profile picture on Facebook, which had a filter, got 116 likes on it then my current one which was a natural photo had 68 likes. This is a 48 difference between the photos. Why you ask, well it’s a simple answer really. This is because of filters. I will admit I looked really nice, but in my current one I am being silly and more me instead of looking dolled up and pretty. When I looked through my pictures on Instagram I noticed that the pictures I had put up with filters got more likes then the other ones without filters. It's funny how people like the nice looking pictures more, isn't it? I guess that sometimes you can tell who your real friends are just through the amount of likes and comments you get without putting filters on a simple picture which is nice but sometimes you have to live up to social media's expectation if you want to break your record on the amount of likes you have.

People are so judgmental about what we post and whether the pictures we post are good quality, it affects what we do post and if we use filters. We are so revolved around getting more likes and who liked it that we forget the whole purpose we actually posted the picture. To share it with our family and friends. Not with these 'friends' who we've never actually met apart from those 'really good conversations' about 'we haven't met yet but we're great friends'. But with our actual friends that we went out and made without the filtered profiles.

So many of us revolve our social media lives around having the most followers or making the most 'friends'. All for one thing. Getting the most likes. Why don’t we stop and think about what we are posting and who is seeing it. Why don’t we stop and let our followers know who we truly are under all those filters. Why don’t we go out and make actual friends and get away from our screens. Why don’t we go out and wave it in everybody's faces that we aren't actually those stereotypical people whose lives are on their phones. Why don’t we go out and do more than pose in front of a camera. Go live life to the fullest and have a great life and quit saying that you aren't good enough without filters.


By Dani Ferens and Anja Porthose-Tapiki