In Bloomberg Businessweek, I came across an article that depicted the positive and negative effects of social media on children. As with adults, children are able to connect easily with friends and family through social media. But a report from Pediatrics stated “that more than half of adolescents log on to a social media Web site at least once a day, and nearly one-quarter of teens say they log on to their favorite social media sites 10 or more times each day”. Of course, this leads to all sorts of potential problems such as cyber-bulling, but the article illustrated a term that I wasn’t aware of: Facebook Depression.
Facebook Depression exhibits all the same signs; lack of sleep, change in eating habbits, ect. But this type of depression is caused though social media tools. For example, a child could be at risk if their friends do not write on their wall, which can cause them to feel socially isolated. While this may be true, Dr. Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe told CSPAN, “Facebook is really a magnifier. You're not going to catch something on Facebook, but Facebook tends to amplify any of our insecurities or anything we're feeling good about." She said that "it appears that it's the kids who are already heading toward true clinical depression that have the Facebook depression situation. It's not the normal kid who's going to have clinical depression occur because of Facebook”.
Its sad to see that social media has the potential to be one more of the many things that depresses people. I can understand why a child would be sad if no one commented on their wall, status, etc. I myself tend to get down if I dont see much interaction with my wall. I begin to question why I am on Facebook, then realize that I enjoy being in contact with people/getting to see everyone's life....not to be confused with stalking. (lol)
ReplyDeleteHowever, if "kids" are getting depressed on Facebook, I need to begin to question why they are on the site at all---they are a bit young.