RAB Source Entry #2-Miah Segura

Part 1: MLA Citation  

“Opinion | Social Media Is Devastating Teens’ Mental Health. Here’s What Parents Can Do.” Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/21/teens-social-media-mental-health/. 

Part 2: Summary 

In this opinion piece “Social Media Is Devastating Teens’ Mental Health. Here’s What Parents Can Do,” Leanna S. Wen tells us the importance of reducing social media use for teens mental health. According to the writer, there’s abundant research that has linked depression and self-harm to the active use of social media which has been worsening teens’ mental health. The writer includes steps for parents to take to help their teens with their excessive social media use. Wen mentions setting a minimum time without screens instead of enforcing a screen time limit. This offers teens more extensive experiences that can include screen time without it becoming dominating or crude behavior. The writer mentions the awareness kids have of social media’s negative toll on them. She includes the solution of communicating boundaries, monitoring usage, and explaining consequences of missteps to prevent kids feeling bad about themselves and getting no sleep. Wen concludes by stating that parents shouldn’t be the ones left to fight this issue and regulation of technologies should be enforced. 

Part 3: Reflection 

I agree with Wen when she states that solving the problem of social media negatively impacting teens mental health can be difficult for parents to address. This issue about mental health can be a sensitive topic and many would try to avoid it, especially teens. The feeling teens go through of having a sense of responsibility plays a role in making it hard for parents to place limits on social media. She also states social media creates a “perfect storm” for girls as it increases tendencies to be perfectionists and hard on themselves, which I strongly agree with. I remember when I first started actively using social media, I had an unhealthy amount of screen time. The sad thing was that I knew how bad it was impacting me and those around me because of the way I viewed myself. I was highly influenced with wanting to be someone I wasn’t just to fit in the online culture. A solution to avoid social media affecting teens mental health is to have them unfollow people and pages that are affecting their self-esteem and replace it with a positive activity.  

Part 4: Rhetorical Analysis 

Leana S. Wen has written an opinion piece. The purpose is to address an issue. The tone was very persuasive and sympathetic. The audience is the general reading public, parents, and adolescent teens. The author appeals to pathos as she draws attention to the readers emotions. She recounts the struggles parents go through addressing the issue with social media and teens mental health. Wen also appeals to logos as it persuades their audience to make a change for teens. The Washington Post is a reliable source because it has been considered one of the leading American newspapers along with The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal. The Washington Post has won 73 Pulitzer Prizes and 48% of their respondents believe their source to be very credible. Leana S. Wen is a Washington Post contributing columnist, an American physician, and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University. Wen writes and shows great emphasis on topics on public health and health policy.  

Part 5: Notable Quotables 

“The connection is well established. Abundant Research has linked depression and self-harm to frequency of social media use. And a new study from the American Psychological Association shows that cutting back helps teens feel better” (Wen). 

“The crisis is particularly pronounced in girls: nearly 3 in 5 girls teen girls reported persistent feelings of sadness, an increase of over 60 percent since 2011” (Wen). 

“Instead, Rich advises setting a minimum time without screens. ‘That becomes a more practical way to offer kids a rich and diverse menu of experiences, which can include screens but shouldn’t be dominated by them or become the default behavior,’ he said” (Wen).  

“Kecmanovic’s patients tell her they know Instagram makes them feel bad about their bodies and TikTok keeps them from getting sleep. Starting from where they are is key to finding a solution together” (Wen). 

“At the end of the day, it’s not right that parents are left to fight this battle on their own against companies whose business model is to keep people online for as long as possible…We need similar regulation of technologies that dominate children’s time and have negative consequences on their health” (Wen).