One of the biggest things I learned in this course is that there are a lot of ways to visually show information besides just a PowerPoint. As discussed in class, that seems to be the go-to for most people’s presentations which gets boring and the audience becomes uninterested quickly. All the new video programs that I was introduced to helped me grow because now in presentations for other classes, and for my future lessons as a teacher, I can present in a different way than other people which will help make me stand out. I was surprised at how helpful this class was because as a future elementary school teacher, I expected the technology we were going to use to not be beneficial for younger kids. I was pleasantly surprised that there are a lot of things from this class that I can use in my future classroom that I think are a great teaching tool for kids. The thing that caused me the most trouble was figuring out each individual program and how it differed from the last. The way it was set up, what is did and didn’t allow you to do, and how to share it was different for each assignment, so it took a little while for me to fully understand and get comfortable with each program. Something that came easy to me was the creativity aspect of each assignment. Even though it was informational, I enjoyed making the different posters and videos fun and colorful.

My work definitely improved which makes me feel accomplished. It’s nice seeing the progress I made throughout the semester and how as time went on, it got easier to use the technology. The first example that comes into my head is embedding. I remember everyone was trying to figure out how to do it on one of the first days, and it seemed like the hardest thing. Now it’s just the last quick step to each project. I think the thing I will remember most is VideoScribe and the whiteboard explainer video. I’ve always thought these types of videos were cool, and I really enjoyed making some of my own. I would love to use this tool when I’m teaching because I feel like it’s enjoyable to watch while still being educational.

My Trip To Greensboro, NC from Katelyn Ierardi on Vimeo.

Hi this is Katie Ierardi. Welcome to my video about my trip to Greensboro North Carolina.

On April 29 2016 which was my sophomore year of high school my track relay team for the 800 sprint medley relay beat the school record and also qualified for nationals which would take place later that year in North Carolina.

We practiced for about a month and a half and on June 16 my mom and I packed up our bags and headed to the airport but when we got there our flight was delayed.

After a little while we took off and made our way from Connecticut to Virginia where we faced our first problem of the trip. We missed our connecting flight to North Carolina.

My mom and I walked up to a lady at the service desk and asked her when the next available flight to Greensboro was. She said it wasn’t until tomorrow morning which we weren’t too happy about because I was supposed to be practicing the next morning but it was all we could do. My mom asked if they would pay for the hotel since it was their fault we missed our flight. The lady said they couldn’t do that since it was due to mechanical reasons rather than weather.

My mom really didn’t like this and said how she really didn’t want to pay for another hotel and the lady responded by saying that we could sleep in the airport. This really made my mom mad so we left before it escalated even more.

We decided to go to the rental car desk and we asked if we could get a car there and cancel the one we had waiting in for us in North Carolina. Problem number three. We had to pay for a whole new car. Long story short, my mom explained everything else that had already gone wrong that day so the manager came over and he felt bad for us so he cancelled our car in North Carolina and gave us a discount on the one we were getting in Virginia.

Finally we left the airport and as soon as we got onto the highway we were completely stopped in traffic because we were in Washington D.C. at 5 o’clock.

After a couple hours we actually started moving and all of a sudden my mom noticed our car was smoking. She quickly pulled over on the highway. We got out and called a tow truck and it felt like they took forever but eventually they came and brought us back to the airport to get us a new car.

Eventually we got back onto the road and by this point there was no more traffic because it was so late. Then, it started to rain. And when I say rain, I mean absolutely down pour. I have never seen it rain harder in my entire life. All the cars on the highway put on their hazard lights and we were going probably around 10 miles per hour. My mom was absolutely terrified and she had to pull over a couple times because she couldn’t even see a foot in front of her.

I decided to call my dad and he looked at our location and looked at the radar on his phone and he was like yeah you guys are right in the red center part of the storm. I was absolutely terrified and just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, I got an alert on my phone that there was a tornado nearby and I really thought I was going to see it any moment. It was so scary.

Finally by three o’clock we arrived at the hotel and although I had to be up for practice in four hours I was just happy that we finally got there.

That’s the end of my video about my crazy trip to Greensboro North Carolina. I hope you guys enjoyed it.

https://spark.adobe.com/video/aYjrA7sxW2hVu

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

Source reference

Velozo, J. D., & Stauder, J. E. (2018). Exploring social media use as a composite construct to understand its relation to mental health: A pilot study on adolescents. Children and Youth Services Review, 91, 398-402. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.06.039

Article type

Academic journal, study

Summary

This article describes a study that was done to determine the correlation between social media and mental health and the differences in gender roles in social media.

In-depth summary

Adolescent internet usage has grown tremendously over the past decade where teens are mainly using social media. This involves a wide range of activity including messaging apps, networking websites, photo or video sharing apps, and online games. Although there have been previous studies linking mental health and social media, none have focused on the specific realms of social media as this study will.

Mental health, which has internal and external dimensions, can be affected both in a positive and negative manner by social media. It is helpful because of:

• Better friendships
• Less loneliness and more bonding
• Safe space to talk about feelings/things teens are uncomfortable saying out loud (substance abuse, health, sex, etc.)
• Gives socially anxious people a chance to interact

Social media also causes negative feelings such as emotional loneliness. This has been seen in multiple studies such as college students using Facebook and having less of a bonding feeling and Dutch students having depressive symptoms after constantly using messaging apps and chatrooms. Anxiety and OCD are also increased with high phone usage. Teens are constantly checking their phone and feeling anxious when they are not able to check their social media. Social media use can also lead to ADHD, antisocial personality disorder, or bullying. Teens with more screen activity are more likely to be involved in bad or risky behavior. Also, “Some adolescents’ online behavior mirrors symptoms characteristic of addictive behavior, such as loss of control, preoccupation, conflict, and withdrawal symptoms (Meerkerk, Van Den Eijnden, Vermulst, & Garretsen, 2009)” (Velozo, 2018, p.399).

Each gender uses social media differently where boys tend to play games while girls interact with their friends. Gamers have lower levels of both internal and external problems. Boys usually use it when they have low self-esteem and want to communicate outside their group, and girls use it when they have high self-esteem in order to solidify friendships. Girls have higher levels of negative mental health problems from social media mainly due to visuals online. Other girls and their body image are portrayed inaccurately resulting in lower self esteem for the girls who do not look like that.

This study consisted of 72 participants (35 girls) ages 13-16. Multiple schools were involved. Each participant was emailed a survey where the parent and adolescent each had a section to answer. Parents answered questions regarding their child’s mental health state and teens answered questions about their social media use.

This results concluded that more time on social media socializing led to aggressive behavior. The Objective Self-Awareness Theory plays a part in this negative outcome because people tend to objectify themselves through social media and by making profiles. Comparing their profile to others, especially those who only post positive content, leads to lower self-esteem. It is possible for adolescents today to realize this false depiction and to consistently change their profile resulting in higher self-esteem. Other results show that self-regulation may be a factor in online shopping and conduct. Also, video gamers tend to show more addictive traits than other social media users.

Evaluation (strengths and weaknesses)

A strength of this paper is there are many examples not only in this study but also many cited from other studies to back up conclusions. The relation between studies helps verify the results. A weakness however, is the sample size used for the study was small. Also, when adolescents were asked to answer questions about their social media use some may have lied or may have had an inaccurate depiction of their social media usage.

Relation to my research question

            This study relates to my research questions because it discusses the effects social media has on adolescents. It describes what each type of social media corresponds with mentally as well as the physical characteristics. There are also explanations as to why certain apps or websites are connected to certain behaviors.

Significant quotes
“Social media provides a safe space for adolescents to share their concerns and learn about topics that are more uncomfortable to talk about face-to-face such as substance abuse, health, or sex (O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011)” (Velozo et al., 2018, p. 398-399).

“Results from a longitudinal research on a sample of 663 Dutch students’ Internet use showed that instant messaging and chat rooms were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms as well as compulsive Internet use six months later (van den Eijnden, Meerkerk, Vermulst, Spijkerman, & Engels, 2008)” (Velozo, et al., 2018, 399).

“Adolescents who spend more time on screen based activities are more likely to be bullied and perpetuate bullying they are also more likely to skip school and have low grades, drink alcohol, and have poor physical and eating habits (Busch, Ananda Manders, & Rob Josephus de Leeuw, 2013; Busch, Laninga-Wijnen, Schrijvers, & De Leeuw, 2017; Jacobsen & Forste, 2011)” (Velozo, 2018, p.399).

“Adolescents who spent more time on social media socializing, shopping, and those who followed a greater percentage of people they did not know in real life were more likely to exhibit conduct problems such as aggressive behavior, stealing, and lying” (Velozo, 2018, p.400).

“evidence from a study on college students suggested that time spent looking at others’ content was strongly related to greater feelings of loneliness (Burke et al., 2010)” (Velozo, 2018, p.400).

“Adolescents who spent more time playing games and posting content online were more likely to also display addiction-like symptoms such as preoccupation, and inability stopping” (Velozo, 2018, p.401).

Vocabulary words

Social media: any online platform that allows for teens to interact with one another

Internalizing problems: emotional difficulties that are internalized and can turn into depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem

Externalizing problems: disruptive behavior such as hyperactivity, peer problems, and behavioral problems such as getting into fights, lying, and stealing.

Phantom vibrations: the illusion that a phone is vibrating when it is not

Self-regulation: the ability to regulate emotional and physical responses to social stimuli according to social norms.

Source reference

Griffiths, M. D. (2018). Adolescent social networking: How do social media operators facilitate habitual use? Education & Health, pp. 66-69. Retrieved February 26, 2019, from http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=AN&K=132616118&S=R&D=eue&EbscoContent=dGJyMNXb4kSeqLU4xNvgOLCmr1Gepq5Sr664SbKWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGptE2yprdIuePfgeyx43zx

Article type

Periodical

Summary

            This article explains the eight main reasons why social media has become habitual to adolescents and teenagers.

In-depth summary

            This article begins with Griffiths explaining how he was to give oral, after written, evidence of the effects of social media and addiction. Young people may experience what Griffiths believes are the six components to an addiction: salience, conflict, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, and relapse.

• Salience: social media is the most important activity
• Conflict: neglect other aspects of life (social relationships, education, everyday activities)
• Mood modification: social media used to modify mood states
• Tolerance: build up time spent on social media
• Withdrawal: negative psychological/physical effect if not using social media
• Relapse: struggle to cut down/stop using social media
• (Griffiths, 2018, p.66)

Some of these components may occur, such as not spending much time with family, but many adolescents are not actually addicted to social media; it is seen as more of a habit. Griffiths explains the main reason why social media use is seen as habitual:

• Unpredictable rewards
• Social affirmation and validation
• Fear of missing out
• Smartphone sounds and vibrations
• Social connection
• Reciprocal liking
• Social competition
• Psychological investment

            The first reason is unpredictable rewards. There is an element of randomness and users can not predict what will show up. This anticipation cam be psychologically pleasing as well as if they get a notification that they did not expect that makes them feel good.

The next is social affirmation and validation. This is seen mainly in the “like” button on Facebook but can also be found in other social media. People like to feel rewarded for what they post, and the anticipation makes them feel almost the same as getting that “like.” Also, simply waiting to open the app “is a deliberate ploy to increase anticipatory feelings of the user (because the anticipation of a reward is almost as good as the reward itself in releasing dopamine) (Morgans, 2017)” (Griffins, 2018, p.67).

Another reason is the fear of missing out. Adolescents do not want to feel like they are not getting that rewarding feeling while others are. High levels of FOMO lead to negative effects such as lower well-being and life satisfaction.

Smartphone sounds and vibrations also play a role in habitual social media use. It is a natural reaction for teenagers to look at their phone screens when they hear a sound or watch it light up. This is the goal of social media operators and is described by Morgans as the “attention economy.” They must grab the attention of users and then keep them engaged.

Social media creates a social connection for teenagers in an easy and fast way. “Most individuals want to be connected with other like-minded individuals” (Griffiths, 2018, p.67-68).

Reciprocal liking is another reason social media has become a habit. If you “like” someone’s post, that person is more likely to now “like” yours. “Reciprocal liking is tendency for individuals to like others who express a liking for themselves (‘I like you because you like me’) (Eastwick & Finkel, 2009)” (Griffiths, 2018, p.68). Social media operators typically alert people when someone has seen, liked, commented, etc. on a post to enforce the idea of reciprocal liking.

Along with this, adolescents tend to make “likes” and social media a competition. They try to beat their own record for number of likes or other people’s. It becomes a routine to check the number of likes there is on a post to see if they are “beating” their “competition.”

Lastly, the large amount of time teens put into social media gets them psychologically invested similar to how adults play the lottery or gamble. Snapchat is a good example of this. The longer a streak is (consecutive days sending pictures to each other), the more persistent the user is going to be in continuing the streak.

Social media is not necessarily made to create addictions, however just to get users to want to use it often. Teenagers use it every day, and the more they are on these social media sites, the more likely they are to create a routine out of it.

Evaluation (strengths and weaknesses)

            This article had many strengths including good reasoning and good examples/statistics. There were many other sources cited which gave many different perspectives, although they all agreed that social media has become habitual. The other side of the argument was mentioned briefly, however, a weakness is the rebuttal could have been stronger with more solid evidence.

Relation to my research question

            This is very relevant to my research question because it gives the reasons as to why teenagers are addicted to social media. Although it is seen as a habit, addiction is mentioned as well as ways that the two are related. The first page explains how social media can in fact cause an addiction even if it is not seen in many adolescents.

Significant quotes

“Research suggests that a small minority of adolescents genuinely become addicted to social media in the same way that other individuals become addicted to activities such as drinking alcohol or gambling (Kuss & Griffiths, 2017)” (Griffiths, 2018, p.66)

“The rewards – which may be physiological, psychological and/or social – can be infrequent but even the anticipation of one of these rewards can be psychologically and/or physiologically pleasing” (Griffiths, 2018, p.66)

“random rewards keep individuals responding for longer and has been found in other activities such as the playing of slot machines and video games (Griffiths, 1991)” (Griffiths, 2018, p.66-67).

“While I have little doubt that such rewards (or the anticipation of such rewards) release dopamine, the idea that dopamine ‘hijacks the brain’ and leads to ‘compulsive loops’ are analogies used in the media rather than the phrases used by scientists (the word ‘hijack’ is emotionally-laden to say the least)” (Griffiths, 2018, p.67).

“Higher levels of FOMO have been associated with greater engagement with Facebook, lower general mood, lower wellbeing, and lower life satisfaction, mixed feelings when using social media, as well as inappropriate and dangerous social networking site use (i.e., in university lectures, and whilst driving) (Buglass et al., 2017; Oberst et al., 2017)” (Griffiths, 2018, p.67).

“Sounds and vibrations are deliberately designed and distracting technologies that facilitate users’ attentions away from the offline world and back to life online – pulling individuals ‘out of the moment’ (Morgans, 2017) and is arguably an example of ‘persuasive technology’ (Alter, 2017)” (Griffiths, 2018, p.67).

“In some recent research we did on obsessive selfietaking, social competition (i.e., getting the most ‘likes’ for selfies posted online) was one of the major reasons for posting selfies in the first place (Balakrishnan & Griffiths, 2018; Griffiths & Balakrishnan, 2018)” (Griffiths, 2018, p.68).

“Individuals have spent so much time psychologically invested that to stop doing it would mean that all their previous time spent on social media sites has been a complete waste of their time” (Griffiths, 2018, p.68).

Vocabulary words

FOMO- fear of missing out