Research question: “How does social media affect the mental health of younger girls?”
Proposal:
This topic interests me because I feel like it’s an interesting topic knowing what the impact it has on mental health and what it does to the girls because I am a girl myself who has been through it all with social media affecting my mental health. I feel like it’s an interesting topic to know about where being able to know the effects it has on younger girls as myself is something that I feel like it needs to be taken seriously and needs to be discussed more. It’s interesting to see how much social media really can do to you. I already know that social media has negative impacts on mental health in younger girls because I, myself, know how it feels and understand how it is like to compare myself to other girls online. I also know and came to realize the difference between how I was before I was introduced to the social media world and then when I was more involved with social media, I just feel like I’ve become a different person. Lastly, I know that there are many young girls out there going through the same thing as I am when on social media. Some points that I plan to explore and find out more about are what the researchers found about how social media is impacting the girls’ mental health. What are the outcomes of spending too much time on social media? How can girls change their strategies of being on social media where it can be a positive experience instead of focusing on the negative.
Source Entry #1:
Part 1 MLA Citation
Pearson, Catherine. “What Social Media Does to the Teen Brain.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Sept. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/well/family/social-media-teen-brain-mental-health.html.
Part 2: Summary
In the article, “What Social Media Does to the Teen Brain” by Catherine Pearson where she is talking about how there are professions like neuroscientists or psychologists who did research on how social media can affect the teen brain and what it does to it. There are experts, didn’t specify who in the article that has been studying where girls are affected the most with their mental health. A chief science officer that works at the American Psychological Association, Dr. Prinstein, who was also an author, said that teenagers are craving and desperate for social feedback. However Pearson also included that Dr.Prinstein and Dr.Jenson who is a neurologist mentioned about how social media is neither good nor bad. At the end of the passage, Catherine Pearson ended the article with quotations from Dr.Prinstein on what the teen brains are made for but then there are changes as times go on with the internet and how that can lead to concern for the teens.
Part 3: Reflection
I think Catherine Pearson’s point was that there was no good or bad impact from social media on teens but I would disagree with it because in the article, it said, “Yet both Dr.Jensen and Dr.Prinstein noted that social media is not inherently good or bad…” I would say I disagree because everything always has an impact, doesn’t matter if it’s positive, negative or even both but in a variety of ways. Social media can be positive where it can spread positivity and letting folks out there know whatever they are going through, they’re not alone but it can also be negative where it can be easy for people to hate on the person who is posting something. And this can show that social media can have a negative impact on the brain. Either way, social media can be good and bad. It doesn’t always have to be one sided.
Part 4: Rhetorical Analysis
The author of “What Social Media Does to the Teen Brain” Catherine Pearson expresses her topic about what social media has effect on teen brains by providing researchers and experts such as neuroscientists or psychologists where they concentrate on teenage brain activity. She uses quotes from neuroscientist, Dr. Jensen and chief science officer, Dr.Prinstein. The intended audience would probably be an average young adult to grown ups who want to learn about what social media does to the teen brain whether it’s negatively or positively and perhaps teach their kids. The purpose of this article is to spread awareness of what social media is doing to the brain of teenagers. The genre of this article would be opinion/editorial piece articles because the author provided researchers. Catherine Pearson is credible because she is a reporter for New York Times, having a master’s degree in Journalism and providing researchers.
Part 5: Notable Quotables
“While researchers know much more about adolescent brain development now than they did a decade ago, Dr. Prinstein said, proving any kind of causal connection between social media use and poor mental health outcomes is difficult. Reviews of the existing studies on social media and well-being have found them to be inconclusive or inconsistent.” (Pearson 2)
“‘The adolescent brain is kind of like a car that — when it comes to the desire for social feedback — has a hypersensitive gas pedal, with relatively low-functioning brakes,’ said Dr. Prinstein” (Pearson 2)
“But now, adolescents are experiencing those changes in an online world that is ‘creating the opportunity for reward and social feedback incessantly,’ he added. ‘And that’s the combination we’re concerned about for teens.’” (Pearson 2)
