Unit 3 Reflection

We chose our Unit 3 project based on the positive and negative effects of social media.  We had an extensive discourse over this topic in our podcast. In the podcast, we discussed how social media can have both positive and negative connotations.  For example, we talked about the effects of social media on teenagers.  Social media can be viewed positively in the sense that it provides individuals with an effective way of communication, access to information, and even a form of self expression. Nonetheless, social media has its negative aspects. Social media use has been shown to correlate with an increase in anxiety and depression, specifically in teenagers. In the podcast, we talked about one source that Emma Berkowitz used. The source details the negative impacts of social media on the mental health of teenagers. The source Emma alludes to is titled, Social Media is Driving Teen Mental Health Crisis, Surgeon General Warns, by Erika Edwards and Hallie Jackson. Edwards and Jackson write, “...social media use is a main contributor to depression, anxiety and other problems in the nation's teenagers.” Ultimately, it can be seen through this article that the effects of social media are not all sunshine and rainbows, but of serious concern for our youth. 

We then shifted the conversation to discuss Emma Haacke’s topic of social media and business. Growing businesses succeed when it comes to social media.  In his TED Talk, How Social Media is Changing the Way We Do Business, Austin Falter discusses how we use social media to capture business. He begins by sharing his story, explaining that he had two months to get himself "out of the ditch" and make something with his company. Falter then runs straight to TikTok to see how this would help.  In doing so, Falter was looking at how big the influencer marketing economy can be when you know what to do.  Falter uses the example of Dungeons and Dragons in his talk.  He states,"... it's in the hundreds of thousands and now it's millions of people who every night they are on their live stream, watching these nerds play D and D for four hours, and now all of a sudden they have revenue coming in from their content...," (Falter, 2023).   Falter emphasizes throughout his talk and his own experience that if you know how to capture people's attention, the emphasis on how social media can be used as a positive when promoting businesses, and stories can be successful.  

When discussing business on our podcast, we talked about how businesses have a mostly positive impact on social media.  There are some negatives, such as a bad experience with online shopping, or scams, but compared to the impact on teens, social media is viewed more positively when it comes to business.  

Additionally, we discussed our personal experiences with using social media from a young age. We both believe that social media has a massive impact on those who use it, specifically adolescents with developing brains. As we have grown up, we have found that social media and what we see online does not affect us as greatly as it did when we were younger. We both use various social media apps such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube. At times, social media has been an immensely positive experience, however we have both experienced incredibly dark times as a result of social media. Social media is a poor representation of reality. Despite knowing this, we have had a difficult time internalizing this fact. We often come across people’s profiles and envy things about them: Money, beauty, etc. Frequently, we fail to realize that these lifestyles are not representative of the majority of the population. 

Social media can distort our perceptions of reality and thus, harm us. At the end of the podcast, we felt uncertain about whether or not social media has a positive or a negative impact on those who use it. In the end, we decided that the discussion of social media is two-fold. The story of social media has its positive and negative attributes, it can promote happiness and also cause pain.