Proposal and Annotated Bibliography
Every day, I wake up and scroll through various social media sites. I double tap edited photographs of my peers and celebrities doing fun activities and traveling to amazing places. While teenagers scroll through photos of other people’s splendid lives they may sometimes develop feelings of jealousy and envy. Constantly feeling these emotions may cause teenagers to plummet into states of depression and evaluate themselves as inferior in comparison to the filtered view of the lives of the people they follow on social media. The thesis of my research paper would be about how social media may lead to rising rates of depression in teenagers but how social media use should not be eradicated. This topic is exigent because it directly affects students of every middle school, high school and universities around the world. I know firsthand how social media can spark my envy towards people and cause me to desire things I do not need. Sometimes, while I’m sitting at home at night on my phone, the pictures of people’s weekend plans sadden me and I have definitely developed a fear of missing out. Although I do not suffer from depression, I still find this topic to be both interesting and exigent. Even though I recognize the faults of social media, I am a firm believer in its benefits as well which I will strive to explain through my research paper.
In order to effectively research this topic, I will start by searching out information about the history of social media. I will seek out this information at the Communications Library. By starting with this research I will have a basis for the rest of my exploration. Next, I will find charts and articles to learn about the different social media teenagers use and how often they check them daily. An internet search will easily draw out this information. Subsequently, I will make sure to search causes and symptoms of depression and how it relates to social media. Once I can better understand the disease, I can connect it to social media as a possible effect. Lastly, I will explore the different benefits of social media in relation to mood enhancement and in regards to general use.
The search for information about my topic may prove to be difficult. Although the topic is exigent, social media’s effect on the development of mental diseases in teenagers is not a popular topic being discussed. I may need to search hard to find evidence to support my thesis. Despite these possible challenges, I will be able to find evidence for certain elements of my topic such as the benefits of social media. I am excited to begin my research about this particular topic because it effects myself and everyone around me.
Working Thesis: Although it has been discovered that social media causes depression in teenagers, there are still many benefits to using the internet.
Annotated Bibliography
Bessière, Katherine, Sara Kiesler, Robert Kraut, and Bonka S. Boneva. “EFFECTS OF INTERNET USE AND SOCIAL RESOURCES ON CHANGES IN DEPRESSION.” Taylor & Francis. Information, Communication & Society, 25 June 2008. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.
The source sheds light on how different ways people use social media change their depressive states. For example, there are people who use the internet in order to retrieve information and others who use the internet to make social connections. The article suggests that these two different uses of the internet have different effects on people’s mental state.
The article, Effects of Internet Use and Social Resources on Changes In Depression, directly addresses my research topic. Written by various academics, the journal is a great source. Sara Kiesler, one of the authors, has written other academic journals bout the emergence of technology on the effects on people. Robert Kraut has written different journals about other varying topics, some unrelated to the topic of this academic journal. The other two authors have only written this journal which can suggest that they dedicated time and effort to ensure its validity.
De Choudhury, Munmun, Michael Gamon, Scott Counts, and Eric Horvitz. “Predicting Depression via Social Media.” (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
This scholarly article will be a great source for my research. The article’s title alone showcases how perfectly suited this evidence will be to help with my exploration. “Predicting Depression via Social Media” will shed light on the possibility of a link between usage of social media and teenagers developing depression by explaining on instance when the two subjects together aided the researcher in completing their intended task.
By reading the abstract I learned that the article’s goal was to determine whether or not a possible development of depression can be predicted by analyzing a person’s social media. The authors used certain crowdsourcing methods and inspected the subjects’ Twitters a year prior to a person’s diagnosis of major depression. The authors believe this information can be useful to healthcare providers, or for individuals by developing a tool to identify an early onset of depression.
“Depression Symptoms and Warning Signs.” Depression Symptoms & Warning Signs: How to Recognize Depression Symptoms and Get Effective Help. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2015.
In order to have an understanding of depression, I will read about the causes and symptoms. By obtaining a better knowledge of the disease, I can relate more to the people I am researching and realize why there may be a link. Depression is one of the main focuses of the research paper and I am interested in learning more about this disease.
The website, helpguide.org will allow me to read about different types of depression, signs and symptoms, and recovery options. I believe this source to be credible because at the top of the website it states that it is a “trusted non-profit” and the main goal of the website is to provide aid to those suffering from a mental illness.
Dillman Carpentier, Francesca R., Jane D. Brown, Michele Bertocci, Jennifer S. Silk, Erika E. Forbes, and Ronald E. Dahl. “Sad Kids, Sad Media? Applying Mood Management Theory to Depressed Adolescents’ Use of Media.” N.p., n.d. Web.
Children with depression were called on a cell phone up to four times a day for eight weeks. The researchers examined mood use, mood during consumption of media, and media effects on mood. The researchers found that the children were using media to sustain their happy mood rather than try and enhance it. This article is a stretch from my research topic but I believe it to be helpful with my research. The research in this article is alluding to the fact that media can be used to enhance or sustain a mood.
This academic journal focuses on children with depression and how they use media. The journal will bring to light the different ways children with depression use different social media outlets. Francesca Carpentier, one of the journal’s authors, has written many other journals about medias effects on various subjects. Therefore, I believe her to be a credible source who is knowledgable about the possible bad effects media has on adolescents. Jane Brown has written articles about televisions effects and some about Chinese television.
Hansen, Joanne, and Kristyn Gorton. Emotion Online: Theorizing Affect on the Internet. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Print.
Emotion Online: Theorizing Affect on the Internet, ties more into the thesis of my research paper rather than just touching on one specific part. The book will directly talk about emotion, specifically, happiness in relation to social media. By learning how social media can affect people’s happiness, I can then easily infer how it may affect depression.
Dr. Joanne Garde-Hansen is a professor at the University of Warwick. She teaches classes about Media and Communications. She has done research on different social media topics, some relating to popular culture. Kristyn Gorton completed her MSc and PhD in English Literature and then went on to complete works on emotional effects of social media and television. Both of these women are credible sources that I will look to for my research.
Hinton, Sam, and Larissa Hjorth. Understanding Social Media. Sage Publications, 2013. Print.
The book, Understanding Social Media, will do for me just as the title suggests. Along with understanding the mental illness of depression, I must equally research and understand social media. The book touches on certain subjects like different social media sites and games, participation and user created content and art and cultural production.
One of the book’s authors, Sam Hinton, also authored a book about the Californian shore line. When I found this information I was discouraged. How much could he know about social media? But before I gave up on this source, I searched the book’s other author, Larissa Hjorth. She has been researching social media since 2000 and therefore I feel as though her credibility as an author and researcher is quite solid.
“Teen Depression Statistics – Teen Depression.” Teen Depression Statistics – Teen Depression. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2015.
I will use the article “Teen Depression Statistics” to compare with the Pew Study about teenager’s social media habits. It will be interesting to see if there has been a rise in depression occurring in teenagers since the rise of social media. Also, I will try and note whether or not using social media for a certain number of hours a day means teenagers are more or less likely to develop depression.
The website, teenhelp.com, touches on other difficult subjects relating to teens such as teen drug abuse, teen pregnancy and teen suicide among others. The site is committed to aiding teens in trying to live a healthy life devoid of dramatic events or stress that lead to mental and physical diseases.
“Teens Fact Sheet.” Pew Research Center Internet Science Tech RSS. N.p., 21 May 2012. Web. 27 Sept. 2015.
This Pew study was conducted about teenagers and different facts about the usage of social media in their daily life. The Pew Research Center is a well known research institute that conducts many different explorations and therefore I feel confident that any information I get from them will be accurate.
Understanding how teenagers use social media and figuring out the different times media they use will help to provide a setting for the research. I can compare the amount of hours teenagers are using social media per year to the rates at which depression has risen for the same age groups.