khear002-blog

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This Huffington Post talks about how the culture of food is changing due to the way many foods are displayed and viewed via multiple social media platforms. Although the availability of healthy dietary advice has increased, many people believe that the rate of bulimia and anorexia has as well. In this article, they explain how the “#foodporn” has transformed the way that foods and diets are viewed by young adults.

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Is social media beneficial to your health? In this article, they talk about how fitness and exercise have become so much more accessible and understandable through these platforms. Rather than spending a chunk of your paycheck on a trainer, you’re able to train yourself! The assistance that many people need when first starting up at the gym is so readily available. You can find workout and exercise “how-to’s” on Instagram, Youtube, etc. It’s never been so easy to start living a healthier lifestyle.

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The company Dove started a campaign called the Dove Self-Esteem Project with the main focus of delivering self-esteem education. They talk about how having positive body confidence is important, but can be greatly effected by social media. They discuss how teaching young adults media literacy is important and that teaching them that a majority of what you see is a false version of reality. Understanding that can really help you avoid some of those negative impacts.

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I loved this article. CNN talks about how social media has cause to an increase in self-doubt in many females, but it also goes on to talk about the possible solutions to this issue. It’s important that not only females, but males too become a little more critical of what they see on the internet. A lot of the people and images you see are unrealistic and edited.

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I fear the day technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.

Albert Einstein

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Social media is addictive precisely because it gives us something which the real world lacks; it gives us immediacy, direction, and a value as an individual

David Amerland

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The blue light that your phone screen gives off is actually messing with your natural circadian rhythm.  Your body relies on your circadian rhythm to know when you’re meant to sleep and when you’re meant to wake up.  Your circadian rhythm associates light and dark with these two main activities.  By using your phone and experiencing that bright blue light before bed, you’re actually tricking your body into thinking that it’s meant to be awake, therefore decreasing your amount of sleep. It’s been shown that sleep quality has been greatly effected by this. 

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It may seem silly, but the blue light from our digital devices (phones, laptops, tv’s, etc) have actually been found to effect our sleep. Let’s research a little more to see how!

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Throughout my research, there still hasn’t be one source to pull the trigger and say whether social media is good or bad for you mental health. It seems that although it can provide benefits and risk, most seem to lean toward the side saying social media isn’t good for your health.

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Why do we use social media?? Here are some of the most popular reasons!

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This graph is a great depiction of how social media sites are being used throughout the different age groups. This just goes to show ages 18-29 use it the most out of everyone.

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I think this article by Medical News Today does a great job of playing devil’s advocate. They listed off some of the positive AND negative effects social media has on our well-being. Positives: increased happiness and connection with others. Negatives: increased isolation and lack of sleep.

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Pew Research Center constantly provides great studies and numbers when it comes to this topic, but I believe this is a great way to address it. They go straight to the source, which is young teenagers.

Teens have mixed views on the impact of social media on their lives.

(link)

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BBC discusses the possible downfalls of social media and in the end, they decide that everyone reacts differently, so there are no HARD facts that say whether it’s good or bad. These social media platforms have been shown to affect self-esteem and loneliness in many young adults though. I have to agree with BBC on this one. With anything that we use excessively, there is a possibility that it can start to have a bad impact on our mindset. 

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Get to know me.. and my project!

My name is Kayla Harris. I’m 26 years old and I’m a senior at ODU studying International Studies. I’m active duty in the Air Force taking classes here and there in hopes of finally finishing out my degree. I have a 5-ish year old husky/shepherd mix by the name of Cooper who you can slightly see in my picture!

This account was created with the sole purpose of my curation project. I will be doing my project on social media and how it impacts the mental and physical health of young adults. I find this topic to be extremely important because social media and new media technology have become more and more prevalent throughout the years. In this day and age, a majority of people have some type of electronic in their hands whether it be an iPad, phone, or laptop. With the constant use of social media on these platforms, young adults (ages 18-24, specifically) are being shaped differently than past generations have been. I’d like to dive deeper into the topic and see just how much social media is affecting the overall well being of this age group.