Category: RCL

The Social Media Disconnect

As we live in a age of constant technological advancement, more and more people have access to the internet and all of its applications. Although this sounds like a great advantage toward our societies, there are also many glaring problems that have come to light. On the one hand, the undeniable advantage of widely accessible internet is that it connects you to people all around the world. However, this also leads to many unfiltered hate comments and harmful speech on the internet, and especially on social media platforms. According to the DC Report, 95% of children and adolescents in the United States are using social media platforms almost constantly, and according to the Pew Research Center 69% of adults use social media. This constant usage of social media contributes to social comparisons, unrealistically high expectations, and negative mental health effects.

Change needs to be made in order to save the young generations from mental health issues caused by social media. That is why I am calling to action a new policy that could help put an end to all of these mental health cases. With the implementation of new algorithms, closer monitoring of hateful speech, and better privacy, we can get one step closer from ending social media caused depression.

 

1st Focus Area: The problem of algorithms on social media platforms

• Do algorithms cause mental health issues on social media?
• by changing the algorithms this could lead to a decrease in mental health problems

2nd Focus Area: Hateful Speech

• Some platforms sensor profane videos and images but does that have an effect?
• Implement methods that monitor hate speech on posts and comments

3rd Focus area: privacy

• how can we improve privacy on social media?
• what is the current state of privacy
• make it so not everyone can comment on a public post and have it filtered for hate speech

 

Plan: The Social Media Act: Federal bill that creates new rules that all platforms must follow in order to keep social media safe from hateful speech and mental health issues.

Advantages: This bill provides a safe place for people of all ages to navigate, with the reduction of words, images, and video that could potentially cause any mental health issues.

The Social Media Disconnect

As we live in a age of constant technological advancement, more and more people have access to the internet and all of its applications. Although this sounds like a great advantage toward our societies, there are also many glaring problems that have come to light. On the one hand, the undeniable advantage of widely accessible internet is that it connects you to people all around the world. However, this also leads to many unfiltered hate comments and harmful speech on the internet, and especially on social media platforms. According to the DC Report, 95% of children and adolescents in the United States are using social media platforms almost constantly, and according to the Pew Research Center 69% of adults use social media. This constant usage of social media contributes to social comparisons, unrealistically high expectations, and negative mental health effects.

Change needs to be made in order to save the young generations from mental health issues caused by social media. That is why I am calling to action a new policy that could help put an end to all of these mental health cases. With the implementation of new algorithms, closer monitoring of hateful speech, and better privacy, we can get one step closer from ending social media caused depression.

 

Sources:

Mounting Research Documents the Harmful Effects of Social Media Use on Mental Health

https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/it-or-not-social-medias-affecting-your-mental-health

For my personal is political blog I have decided to blog about different stories and situations my father has told me about his work as a police officer and how the things he has seen and dealt with shaped my beliefs. For my civic issues blog I’ve decided to blog about politcal issues that our country is facing like polarization and voting.

When I was young, I lived in a very colorful home. My family is extremely close and each member has very distinct and vibrant personalities. When I was in my youth I tried to absorb and learn as much as I could from my family as possible. I distinctly remember one Christmas when I was very young. The whole family was at my aunt and uncle’s house for the holiday. At one point in the night I remember seeing everyone rise from their seats as they all migrated from the dining room to the garage. I remember being very confused and I asked my father what was going on. It was at this point when I was first introduced to live music.

As I walked into what I thought was the garage, I came across a massive room filled with all kinds of instruments. I come from a very musical family, with my uncle having the ultimate music room. As a young child, seeing this room for the first time was an extraordinary experience. Once we all filed into the room, my uncle, cousins, and aunt all began to perform with my uncle on guitar, cousin on piano, and my aunt on the microphone. Seeing my family create amazing music with just the three of them making it was very inspirational for me. It was at that point where I decided that I wanted to learn how to play the drums and how to understand how music works.

I believe that everyone should try to understand how music works. This could mean learning an instrument or simply just immersing  themselves more in different types of music. When I first got behind a drum set, it was almost freeing. The first time I played a groove, I was overtaken by the feel of the music. As I progressed over time, this experience only got stronger. When I turned 16 I bought my first guitar in an attempt to expand my knowledge of music. With me already being a solid drummer, my feel for rhythm was pretty good and this helped me accelerate my guitar progression. Today, I am a first year in college and I can play four different instruments. I believe that taking the time to learn all these different skills has not only made me a better musician, but it has changed my look on certain aspects of life. I remember when my uncle was first teaching my how to play the drums and he said to me “Just feel every beat. Feel every note and feel the rhythm”. This piece of advice from my uncle unlocked something within me and it all came to me easy. Now, every time i sit down to play music, I do exactly as he told me. I feel every beat, note, and the rhythm. By doing this, I am not only just playing the chords or notes of a song, but I am feeling the music within me.

I think that music is a therapeutic tool that can help us get through hard times. Just sitting down and grabbing a guitar after a long day is one of the most freeing feelings I have experienced. I think that everyone should experience the true enlightenment of music and experience for themselves how freeing it truly is.

The first idea we had was about abortion. Throughout history, the topic of abortion has been at the for front of many political debates and questions. The topic has been recently controversial because of the Dobbs case and the overturning over Roe v Wade.

The other idea we had was about zoos. Zoos all over the world are starting to dwindle in popularity. This is because people are calling zoos out for animal cruelty. People say that animals should be in the wild and not trapped in a zoo for human entertainment.

 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_LSJnAKfq_X1DOOJrVzdnI9kejk5iTE6Ni3fxh7VQA4/edit?usp=sharing

For my slides I wanted each slide to be a different decade. This way I can elaborate on how nutrition has evolved over time decade by decade. I’m thinking about adding some slides to show in between decades, just to show more. I may put in a graph or something along those lines so I can use data to prove my point.

Here is the link to my elevator pitch:

 

One ted talk that I remember watching in school a few years ago is Bill Gates’s presentation called “The Next Outbreak? We’re not ready”. One thing that stood out to me while watching it is Gates’s ability to engage with the audience. As the head of Microsoft, he is no stranger to public speaking. This is especially evident in this ted talk, as he delivers an all-around great performance. He spoke very clearly and it is very easy to understand all of his points. Throughout the speech, Gates talks about ebola and all of the dangers it presents. His delivery is great and that makes it easier to understand his overall message.

For my unit 2 projects, and idea that I have is talking about how things like modern medicine and diets have evolved over time. Although, these are very broad topics and I will probably narrow these ideas down.

Reflection on my speech:

I think that I did a good job getting my points across during my speech. I feel like my visual aids were very helpful as well. I think that I did a good job choosing the images to show during the speech and that they help the viewer understand my claims. One thing that I could’ve done better in my speech is overall pacing. I feel like I could’ve spent more time going over the graph that I showed and I could’ve explained it in more detail.

Peer reflection:

After viewing several other speeches, I learned a few things. One thing I learned is that a few of my peers had great pacing and rhetorical questions. I think that I should have used some rhetorical questions in my speech because they help with engaging the audience, as the questions can apply to the viewer directly.