Blog Post 4 - Isaac Cardoso

 Throughout the time of this course, we have looked at social media and the effect it has on our mental health. I think it's safe to say that in many scenarios its effect is certainly a negative one but it varies from person to person and app to app. Looking at the article posted in the classroom about Molly Russell and how she fell into a vortex of depression through the dark side of social media which ended in her killing herself, I personally think that social media addiction and all of the fake things that we see online is something that needs fixing

In the article, Molly's mom talks about the algorithm of apps and how scary it is because it keeps you trapped within the app. For example, what we have learned about TikTok and the way its algorithm is so personalized to make you see strictly things that you are interested in ultimately keeps you glued to the app and it makes it significantly harder to take a break from it and use the app less because of the fear of missing out.

Her parents said that other than her saying she felt sort of off she wouldn't have known and that 2100 of her last 16000 liked/saved pieces were related to suicide (Guardian). Again this can relate to the movie we watched in class and how Kayla just told her dad she was feeling off whenever she was anxious and had things going on and people could have zero idea someone is feeling like that. I think that not only do we need more people opening up and talking about their issues with social media but these apps are becoming more and more addicting and something needs to be changed before we see this more often.



https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/30/how-molly-russell-fell-into-a-vortex-of-despair-on-social-media 




Comments

  1. Jenna TrantauDecember 11, 2022 at 1:54 PM

    Hey Issac, This is such a moving post and I totally agree. It is extreme and sad situations like these that show us the realities of people's "fakeness" can do to one's mental health and state of mind. We normally interact with the media posts that we feel the most connected too and relatable, this means that people can be attracted to what they want to see and hear. This is a difficult battle between what we post and how we present ourselves. This has allowed the topic of mental health issues online to flourish. Through the COVID-19 pandemic we saw a new movement of mental health awareness since it was so prevalent during isolating times. The question is how do we prevent situations like this for the new generation of children being exposed to this type of content. How could we program social media platforms to show children age appropriate content?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CS371 Blog Post #1 - TikTok Icebreaker - By Sarah Humphreys

Image
CS371 Blog Icebreaker (TikTok) - By Sarah Humphreys Hello! My name is Sarah Humphreys, and I am a third year Communication Studies student, with a minor in Education and North American Studies. I utilize various social media platforms daily, and my favourite platforms would include, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok. I love these platforms as I can explore an abundance of interests, including fashion trends, healthy lifestyle accounts, and workout routines. The platform I favour the most is TikTok as you can quickly absorb convenient content when time is limited. TikTok produces short and snappy videos, and I find my algorithm to be very accurate in showcasing my interests. A particular TikTok account that I find compelling is @movementwithjulie ( https://www.tiktok.com/@movementwithjulie?lang=en ), this account focuses on showcasing workout routines that target different muscles, and each video is conveniently labelled so you can find the desired workout you are looking for in...
Read more

CS371 Blog Post #3 - Tiffany Chan

In class, we talked about Baym’s four perspectives on the causal relationship between technology and society, which technological determinism is evident in The Guardian's article discussing Facebook’s Awareness of Instagram’s Harmful Effects on Teenage Girls . Technological determinism is when technology plays a principal role in society’s transformation, ultimately having an effect on our everyday lives. Although Instagram was originally intended to share photos and videos with one’s friends and family, it has provided new opportunities for social media influencers and celebrities to post heavily filtered content of themselves and their lives to showcase a glamourized lifestyle. What was once a fun and carefree platform has now become a competition for others to gain popularity based on their looks and lifestyle, breeding toxicity within the platform. With the constant comparison, young individuals, especially teenage girls feel pressured to achieve this ‘perfect’ life, which affe...
Read more

Cs 371 - blog post #1 - Kim Browne

Image
  Hi everyone, my name is Kimberly Browne, and I'm a 3rd-year communications student! I love music and think Spotify stands out from every other music platform. I make many playlists and can find different songs with some of the features that Spotify has. Discovery weekly is a Spotify-generated playlist that releases 30 songs every week based on your music taste. Another feature called "go to radio" plays similar songs to the one you're currently playing, and when I'm making my playlists, the "enhanced" feature adds similar ones to your playlist. I find it funny that there's a constant argument between people choosing the two major streaming platforms, Apple Music, versus Spotify. However, because of these features, being able to see friends' listening activity and the app's clean layout, I switched from Apple Music to Spotify. If you like making playlists and finding new music/genres, consider making Spotify your new music platform!
Read more