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Adam Huff

Dair Arnold

English 1101.209

26 November 2019

Social Media Crisis

Social Media has engulfed the lives of many in the last ten years. You cannot even walk

down the street without seeing some scrolling through their phones. Although social media has

changed the lives everyone in the world today, people are not being taught how to use it

properly. This poses a threat to the young and vulnerable. School-aged children across the

country are experiencing low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety that is stemming from the

overuse and misuse of social media. This can be concerning due to the fact that when you are

young, you are most vulnerable to absorb what is said around you, and you eventually believe

those things. If you are at such a vulnerable part of your life, then why do your parents just hand

you a device that has millions of apps at hand, with no regard to educating you about the dangers

of some of the apps and the repercussions they can face for misusing some apps. By offering a

course in schools that educates students how to use social media properly and shows them the

effects of the improper use of social media, you can lower a student’s predisposition to low self-

esteem, depression, and anxiety. Also, as a result of offering a course about social media,

students will be able to make a name for themselves as young entrepreneurs. By providing a

social media course, students will be able to eliminate some of the dangers that social media

imposes as well as allowing students to possibly make a career.

Students of today’s world are basically thrown into social media with no prior education

or understanding about the adverse effects that social media may impose. Liu yi Lin explains
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that, “Use of [social media] sites such as Facebook and Twitter have particularly increased

among young adults, who are at critical junctures surrounding developmental tasks such as

identity development and establishment of social norms” (Lin 324) This can be concerning due

to the fact that when you are young, you are most vulnerable to absorb what is said around you,

and you eventually believe these things said around you. If you are at such a vulnerable part of

your life, then why do your parents just hand you a device that has millions of apps at hand, with

no regard to educating you about the dangers of some of the apps and the repercussions they can

face for misusing some apps. Liu yi Lin also states that “26.2% of people who use social media

are considered to be in the ‘high’ classification of depression, 29.2% of people are considered to

be in the ‘medium’ classification, and 44.5% were not depressed” (Lin 324). To put this in

perspective, that means a little over one out of every four social media users are considered

highly depressed and over half of all social media users are considered to be depressed. This is a

very serious problem that needs to be addressed immediately.

Yousra Zaki, the guides deputy editor for Gulf News, states “The image-sharing platform

causes high levels of anxiety and depression. Sometimes, all you do is see people, who may not

even be your friends, on holiday or enjoying nights out. They can make you feel like you are

missing out, or not doing enough with your life” (Zaki 6). It can be damaging to those who might

think they need to fit in with everyone around them. When someone develops with that mindset,

they never find out who they truly are, they only find out what everyone else wants them to be.

Zaki goes on to explain “They give away information without thinking or knowing the

consequences. They get sucked into a world of online games and dangerous online trends. There

have even been cases where suicide games were trending online, that children all encouraged

each other to participate in. It can be a dark and unpredictable place” (Zaki 10). Having no
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knowledge of what information you should and shouldn’t believe on social media can be very

dangerous. When a young adult believes everything they see online, very adverse consequences

can arise. This problem can be addressed if students had the ability to use social media in a more

proactive manner, rather than just mindlessly scrolling through your devices.

As a result of students being taught all of the ins and outs of social media, they can have

access to millions of opportunities for all aspects of life. Nate Green, an upper school history

teacher at Montclair-Kimberley Academy in New Jersey, argues that “Educators should guide

students not only in their consumption of information but also in finding internships and other

experiential opportunities to build an authentic resume in a given industry. Ideally, social science

teachers should encourage students to follow Re/code, Techstars, or Kickstarter so that they can

feel empowered to build their own brand and start their own business when the time comes”

(Green 6). By giving students the power to build their brand from the ground-up at their

fingertips, makes it easier than ever for young adults to make a name for themselves. This can be

lifechanging for the students who were never really given a chance because of the background

they came from or from their appearance, because it allows them to build their brands without

any of the road blocks that may have come up if they had to do it all without the different social

media platforms that we have today.

Green strongly explains “Fulfillment comes from exploring a wide variety of interests

and developing an understanding of them all. It’s time to help students pursue interests outside of

their core academic courses — or as an extension of a core academic field that deeply interests

them. It’s time to help students learn how to customize their own learning and engage in

professional dialogue in an appropriate manner. With our guidance, students will feel prepared

and confident navigating the professional landscape they inherit” (Green 8). When students are
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being taught about social media, they may come across information that sparks an inspiration

about something they find interesting. If someone is learning about something they are interested

in, they are obviously going to be a lot more involved in learning than someone who may not

find that same thing interesting. This will give young adults an advantage in starting their careers

or even developing a business off of a social media platform.

If students are further educated about social media, they can maximize their social media

experience at a young age. Howard Rheingold, a social media professor at Stanford University

and UC Berkeley, advocates that “[b]y showing students how to use Web-based channels to

inform publics, advocate positions, contest claims, and organize action around issues they care

about, participatory media education can influence civic behavior positively throughout their

lives” (Rheingold 25). By offering this educational opportunity to students, a whole new world

of opportunities for young entrepreneurs to make a name for themselves arises. If a student were

to apply the tools learned in this course, they may be able to properly voice their opinion on

social matters as well as having the opportunity to curate their own businesses on different

platforms. Rheingold goes on to say, “In order to give students a private, easy-to-use, flexible

environment for blogging, chatting and aggregating their social bookmarks, we will use a free

and open source content management system (CMS)” (Rheingold 26). This will allow students to

learn and master the mysterious art of social media in a safe and secure environment.

There are some who may not agree with furthering the use of social media in young

adults because that would draw even more business away from newspaper companies

nationwide. Tom Price, a freelance writer in Washington D.C, argues “The Internet continues to

pummel newspapers, which are losing advertisers to online media and failing to earn enough

from their own digital operations to cover operating costs” (Price 1). Price later goes on to add
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“Newspapers aren’t the only old media affected by the rising popularity of the Internet for news

as well as entertainment” (Price 5). Further educating students will undoubtedly adversely affect

local television and newspapers nationally. While Price’s argument is true, it still doesn’t

outweigh the positive effects of installing social media-based classrooms across the country.

In order protect young adults nationwide from experiencing low self-esteem, depression,

and anxiety that is stemming from the overuse and misuse of social media, there must be a

course to educate students about social media. Students may also find these courses beneficial

due to the fact that they are learning all the ins and outs of the social media platforms. These

courses will be beneficial in breaking down social barriers of today’s youth, educating students

thoroughly about social media, as well as sparking an interest of young entrepreneurs. Also, by

providing a social media course, students will be able to eliminate some of the dangers that

social media imposes.

It is critical that the young adults in America get as much information as they can

regarding technology because that is what the future is going to consist of. These young adults

are going to be all we have one day, so why not give them an advantage by giving them a proper

education of everything that social media consists of?

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Works Cited

Green, Nate. “Teaching Social Media in Our Schools.” NAIS, 2015,

www.nais.org/magazine/independent-school/winter-2015/teaching-social-media-in-our-

schools/.

Internet and Social Media." CQ Researcher, 15 June 2013,

library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqr_ht_internet_and_social_media_2013

Lin, Liu yi, et al. “Association between Social Media Use and Depression among U.S. Young

Adults.” Depression & Anxiety (1091-4269), vol. 33, no. 4, Apr. 2016, pp. 323–331.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/da.22466.

RHEINGOLD, HOWARD. “Using Social Media to Teach Social Media.” New England Journal

of Higher Education, vol. 23, no. 1, Summer 2008, pp. 25–26. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=44371545&site=ehost-live.

Zaki, Yousra. “The Dangers of Social Media That No One Likes to Admit.” Op-Eds – Gulf

News, Gulf News, 22 July 2019, gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/the-dangers-of-social-

media-that-no-one-likes-to-admit-1.2087285#.