How does social media affect our mental/physical health?

HOW MENTAL HEALTH AFFECTS US 

ADDICTIVE 

Studies show that 63% of Americans log on to Facebook daily, and 40% log on multiple times each day. People use the site for many reasons but it usually serves the same basic purposes: distraction and boredom relief. “Likes” and comments are positive reinforcement for posting information, making it difficult for a person to stop. Researchers have found this so common that they created a scale to measure this addiction.   

COMPARING OUR LIVES 

Posts on social media many times present an idealized version of what’s happening, what something looks like, or how things are going. This can lead users to constantly compare themselves to others and think less of their own lives. If things are going particularly well for people in your newsfeed and you’re having a rough day, of course this will likely negatively affect your mood. In fact, in 2012 a team of researchers in the UK surveyed users, 53% of people said social media had changed their behavior and 51% said it was negative behavior because of decline in confidence they felt due to unfair comparisons to others. 

UNHAPPINESS/DEPRESSION. 

A study from the University of Michigan collected data about Facebook users and how it affected their moods. Simply put, they found that the more active users were overall more unhappy than those who used the site less. Over more time, active users also reported lower satisfaction in their lives because they see what other people are doing and feel their life isn't as great. 

STRESS AND PRESSURE 

There are many different ways teenage girls can feel pressured. Pressure to be perfect. To look perfect, act perfect, have the perfect body, have the perfect group of friends, the perfect amount of likes on Instagram. And if you don’t meet these ridiculously high standards, then you lose self esteem or feel that no one likes you. Social media also can also cause stress. Sometimes when you post things you feel stressed about what people are going to think about the way you look or anything like that. 

5 WAYS SOCIAL MEDIA CAN AFFECT PHYSICALLY  

POSTURE 

Numerous medical and scientific studies have shown that people who own more devices and spend more time on social media have developed rounder shoulders, vertebrae disorders, spinal curves and neck pain. This shows that if you spent larger amounts of time on social media your muscles and bones could reflect that.  

EYESIGHT 

Over time the population of people with nearsightedness has gone from the average age of 50 and older to as young as teenagers, this is because younger people are using devices and social media. This affects eyesight because the blue light in screens damages retinas and lead to worsening of a persons eyesight. A study from 2010 showed that people who spent significantly less time on social media others and more time outside, have less eye problems if any. 

DISRUPTED SLEEP  

Satisfactory sleep occurs from the body producing melatonin – a bodily function that regulates sleep and wake. It can do this by adjusting correctly to the darkness and surroundings, if people are in contact with the blue light of screens directly before attempting sleep the melatonin won't be as beneficial as possible resulting in an unrestful sleep. This results in tiredness, bad moods, less energy to do exercise or physical movement. 

DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE 

When on social media we are exposed to many different things, it is popular to follow or keep up with role models or celebrities that a person likes meaning one would see a large section of their life and what they do. A lot of fans of famous people copy things their role model is doing or saying or wearing, if said role model has a vice or frowned upon habitat such as smoking, excessive drinking or drug use, it can seem 'cool' or 'trendy' to do so too. 

A study that explored the relationship between teenagers, social media, and drug use found that 70% of teenagers ages 12 to 17 use social media, and that those who interact with it on a daily basis are five times more likely to use tobacco, three times more likely to use alcohol, and twice as likely to use marijuana. In addition, 40% said they had been exposed to pictures of people under the influence via social media, suggesting correlation between the two factors. This shows that celebrities or famous people on social media can romanticize drug use, alcohol consumption and smoking. 

LACK OF EXERCISE 

Research shows that people who spend time on social media tend to spend long periods of time multiple times a day, this takes over time to do other things such as exercise. This shows that the more people use social media, the less people will get sufficient exercise. This increases lack of health and can cause brain problems, heart problems, body weight problems and lack of energy and motivation.  

 OUR OWN STATISTICS 

As we can tell by the varying responses we were given by the group surveyed (a small portion of year 10 girls), most girls think that social media isn’t good nor bad. They think it’s a thing that is good in small doses, and needs to be limited in order for them to enjoy the real world. 

We had two open questions that were: 

How has social media affected you physically?
How has social media affected you mentally?  

Many of the girls had similar answers to these questions, all along the lines of ‘don’t get to experience the real world as much’ and ‘social media is fun, but I need to have limits.’  

Along with some of the statistics from the other questions, these answers made sense. 46% of the girls we surveyed said they tend to use social media for at least 3-4 hours daily. Along with school, extra-curricular activities, homework and family things, this is a large portion of a teenagers time.   

64% of girls who completed the survey said they had experienced some kind of bullying on social media (including being bullied and being the bully.) They said this affected self esteem, how they see themselves and confidence. Since the girls are on social media so much, this isn’t overly common. 

According to the survey, social media hasn’t affected any of the girls physically. 

Mentally however, the surveyed said their personal views on themselves have changed, their outlooks on others have changed and they are less confident in real life.  

Girls have said they experienced ‘at least one case of a disturbing or inappropriate  theme’ in social media, some of which have affected them.

Internet Safety

INTERNET SAFETY:

YELLOW, OMEGLE AND OTHER DANGEROUS SITES  

                   

WHAT ARE SITES LIKE THESE CREATED OR INTENDED TO DO?

Both Yellow and Omegle are intended to help people find new friends, but tend to be misused. Omegle was started on March 25th 2009. Omegle was created to allow people to talk anonymously online, either video chat or just text chatting, without having to register or sign up. After being up for less than a month, Omegle was generating around 150,000 page views a day. This is a hugely successful site, but we think it's for the wrong reason. 

Yellow, deemed as 'Tinder For Teens' was the biggest 2 month phase of 2016. Yellow was another site that was intended to be for 'making friends' and chatting with random strangers in your desired field of interest. Parents knew about the nude photos their children were sending other people, and tried to get the app discontinued, but failed.

• WHAT MAKES THESE SITES SO DANGEROUS?

Social media platforms like Omegle and Yellow are often looked at as being dangerous because there are so many strangers who could find and use personal information very easily. It is very common for cat fishers to use sites/apps like these. It is easy to fake your identity and many people fall for it. Users of these sites could also very often be put in situations where they are either in danger or they feel uncomfortable. There have been many occasions in which users have been asked to either send pictures of themselves or remove items of clothing whilst they are talking through a webcam (Omegle) 

In one case a former police officer set up a fake Yellow account after receiving complaints from worried parents. According to the officer (Lisa McCrindle) the first conversation she had with someone they immediately asked her to send nude photos. “It was straight into the sexual stuff – send us a nude picture, here’s a dick pic”. 

We went on Omegle and saw for ourselves what Omegle’s environment was like. The main user was teenage boys and grown men. We saw numerous amounts of body parts and were very disgusted to realise that children our age have access to these types of sites. We also went on to experience Yellow, and experienced an astonishing amount of requests for inappropriate pictures. It is obvious to see that these sites are not being correctly used and should have more security and privacy settings to keep people our age safe.

• SURVEYS AND RESULTS

We decided to create a survey to see how many people our age have used Yellow or Omegle and what their experiences online were like. In the survey, we questioned if people had heard of the apps, what they used them for, what their opinions were etc.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO STAY SAFE ONLINE?

There are things we can and should do to stay safe on these. On Omegle, we can keep ourselves safe by not adding the people we meet on other social media sites. Also, we can stop talking to them if things start getting inappropriate. If you really want to stay safe, but still use it, the text chat is probably a better option. Although, there are a lot of bots on the text chat so keep that in mind. 

On Yellow, something we can do is to not release private information such as your city or phone number. If you plan on talking to someone, make sure they at least look real. If somebody asks you something personal, you can choose not to answer or remove them as a friend.

Cyber-bullying

What can WE do to prevent cyber-bullying?

Social Media causes cyber-bullying. Verbal harassment is the most common form of bullying amongst young people and cyber-bullying is included as part of the criteria of verbal harassment.

Cyber bullying can happen to anyone. Cyber bullying is deliberately using digital media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about or to another person. There are 8 main types of cyber bullying:

Gossip: Posting or sending cruel gossip to damage a person’s reputation and relationships with friends and family.

Exclusion: Deliberately excluding someone from an online group.

Impersonation: Breaking into someone’s online account and sending messages that will cause embarrassment or damage to the person’s reputation and affect his or her relationship with others.

Harassment: Repeatedly posting or sending offensive, rude, and insulting messages.

Cyber stalking: Posting or sending unwanted or intimidating messages, which may include threats.

Flaming: Online fights where scornful and offensive messages are posted on websites, forums, or blogs.

Outing and Trickery: Tricking someone into revealing secrets or embarrassing information, which is then shared online.

Cyber threats: Remarks on the Internet threatening or implying violent behavior, displaying suicidal tendencies.

https://internetsafety101.org/tactics

What can we do to prevent it?

Honestly, it is almost impossible to stop bullying but there is a lot we can do to try and prevent it from happening and decrease the number of victims.

Don't respond. If someone bullies you, remember that your reaction is usually exactly what the bully wants. It makes them feel power over you and in control. Who wants to empower a bully?

Don't retaliate. Trying to get back at the bully makes YOU a bully and reinforces the bully’s behavior. Don’t create a cycle of aggression.

Save the evidence. By saving the harassing messages, you now have evidence that you were being bullied and it is easier to get help and make it stop. Even if it is just minor nasty messages now and then, still capture it because things can escalate.

Talk to a trusted adult. You deserve backup. Its always a good idea to involve an adult who is close to you, and a school councilor usually knows how to help. If your nervous about speaking up, you can always report the incident anonymously at school.

Block the bully. If the harassment is coming from texts, profile comments or messages, use the privacy setting on the social networking site and block the bully. 

Be civil. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Even if you dislike someone, don’t sink to their level. Also, research shows that people who gossip about others are more likely to be a target for bullying.

Don't be a bully. How would you feel if someone harassed you? Put yourself in the other persons shoes and think before you act. Even just thinking about how the other person would feel puts a big stop to bullying. No one deserves to be harassed. 

Be a friend, not a bystander. Watching or forwarding mean messages empowers bullies and hurts victims even more. If you can, tell bullies to stop or let them know harassment makes people look stupid and mean. It’s time to let bullies know their behavior is unacceptable – cruel abuse of fellow human beings. If you can’t stop the bully, at least try to help the victim and report the behavior.

Cyber-bullying is not okay. We need to work together and do whatever we can to stop this from happening to innocent people. It's not a nice things and because it is so easy to do we need to make a change. If you see any harsh things being said online, or anything nasty is said to you or about you, report it because it is not okay and needs to be stopped. 

http://www.safeteens.com/tips-to-stop-cyberbullying/