Paper #2 for Comm. 3078 Fall 2021 Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok

Paper #2 for Comm. 3078 Fall 2021 Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok – all of these are familiar to millions of people around the world, of all ages. There are countless reasons why people engage with these social media platforms. Until recently, user commentary on these platforms was unregulated in the U.S. (not so in other countries). Facebook is now, however, enacting policies on content after public and governmental pressure. Some of these policies deal with revenge porn and purposeful misinformation/disinformation. There are more issues, though, that Facebook knows of but has not shared, such as depression and self-harm. Instagram (owned by Facebook) is now acknowledging that that platform is known to harm the self-esteem of young users, especially teenage girls. The Wall Street Journal has posted several studies on these issues. I sent you all in Canvas mail an overview of what the WSJ has found. (“Instagram Facebook concerns”) In this paper, you will focus on research on the uses of social media, its dangers, and what is being done in the U.S. to protect users from content considered harmful. “The correlational evidence showing that there is a link between social media use and depression is pretty definitive at this point,” said Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University. “The largest and most well-conducted studies that we have all show that teens who spend more time on social media are more likely to be depressed or unhappy.”Remember – do not use first-person (I, we, us) as that denotes your opinion. Focus on the published peer-reviewed research on social media uses. Due before midnight Oct. 23. (I will also attach a related article that can help)