Annotation #6

Source reference

Hurley, K. (2018, November 25). Is Social Media Affecting Your Teens’ Mental Health? Retrieved from https://www.psycom.net/depression-teens-social-media

Article type

Online article

Summary

            This article focuses on depression in social media and ways to overcome or handle the negative effects.

In-depth summary

            Although there are positives to teens constantly being on social media there are also many negatives. Some of these include a lack of social skills, unrealistic comparisons, cyberbullying, and feelings of being left out. There has been a large increase in the percentage of people depressed mainly in the age range of 12-20. Social media can lead to comparing oneself to another, judgement, and misunderstandings. A study in the UK demonstrated the effects that particular social media had on mental health. YouTube had the most positive effect, while Facebook, Twitter, and others had a negative impact. Although these apps tend to have bad effects, teens use them to connect with others, seek support, and ask for help.

            There are many symptoms of depression. Some include (but are not limited to):

• Feelings of hopelessness
• Irritable mood
• Feelings of worthlessness
• Difficulty making decisions
• Social isolation
• (Hurley, 2018, para.6).

Depression symptoms are clearly negative, yet it may be hard to determine if they are due to depression or typical teenage feelings and actions.

            There are some ways that parents can help their child deal with depression and support them through a hard time. The first is to ask questions. Ask which apps they use most and why. If there are problems with social media, ask how they would deal with it. The second helpful tip is to be a good role model. They can “learn important lessons in self-care and setting limits” (Hurley, 2018, para.11) if parents stick to their own rules and boundaries. Lastly, it is important to talk often. When parents share their own personal experiences about social media it is more likely that their children will begin to open up as well. Also, guiding teens to certain profiles or accounts may result in less comparison and more positive effects on social media.

Evaluation (strengths and weaknesses)

            This article had good information on what depression is and its relation to social media; however, it is quite broad and rarely focuses on the specific types of social media. It is a helpful article for parents because it shows how to help their teens cope with the depression social media causes, but it is a relatively short article with minimal statistics and examples of how social media truly cause these negative feelings.

Relation to my research question

            This relates to my research question because it discusses how social media causes depression in teens. It explains how depression has increased along with social media and phone usage. Although this relates to my topic, it is more aimed towards parents and how to help their children rather than towards those who are doing research about the effect of social media.

Significant quotes

“Their findings show that YouTube had the most positive impact, while Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and SnapChat all had negative effects on mental health” (Hurley, 2018, para.4)

“The symptoms of depression exhibited by teens are likely to negatively affect school performance (and even attendance), friendships, and family relationships” (Hurley, 2018, para.7).

Vocabulary words

Major depressive episode: a period of at least two weeks during which there is either depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure in nearly all activities