Singh 1

Harmanjot Singh

Professor Dean Leonard

ENG 120.509

30 June 2019

Annotated Bibliography

My essay will attempt to answer how are Teenagers Affected by Social Media?

Teenagers have isolated themselves in the social-media world, that they fail to experience a real

life and interact with others in person. statistics raise the question whether such a high usage of

phone has harmful effects on an adolescent’s development. I will try to to solve and come up

with an answer for these questions.

Flora, Carlin. "Are Smartphones Really Destroying the Adolescent Brain?” Scientific American,

vol. 318, no. 2, Feb. 2018, pp. 30- 37. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-

smartphones-really-destroying-the-lives-of-teenagers/?redirect=1

Carlin Flora was on the staff of Psychology Today for eight years, most recently as

features editor. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Columbia University School

of Journalism and has written for Discover, Glamour, Women's Health, and Men's Health,

among others.

In this article, Flora explains how the smart phones are damaging teenagers' brain. With

enough research, Flora argues that teenagers have become so dependent on smart phones that

they lose their ability to interact with each other. Also, it is argued that social media has made

teenagers more vulnerable, and teenagers are more interested in what is presented on social

media, and not what is happening on real life. In the end, the article mentions parents' role on the

development of their teenager when they incautiously introduce them to the technology world. I
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will use this article for the negative effects that smartphones and social media has on teenager’s

development. I will use the studies done by professionals to provide examples on how it has a

dramatic effect on their cognitive development and their social skills. For example, I will use a

study performed by Sherman where teenagers prefer texting and other digital communications

rather than face to face conversations, and their inability to read facial expressions. At the end of

the paper, I will use the point made about parents’ influence on their child's development; that

social media can 't be blamed for everything.

Guinta, Maggie R. “Social Media and Adolescent Health.” Pediatric Nursing, vol. 44, no. 4,

July 2018, pp. 196 - 201. EBSCOhost,

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-

live&db=ehh&AN=131366570.

The author is Associate Professor of Nursing and the PNP Program Director, Columbia

University School of Nursing, New York, NY.

This article touches on all the harmful effects that social media can impose on a teenager,

and some of those results include cyberbullying, sexting, privacy and mental health. It also

discusses some of the benefits, such as social networking support and self esteem. In the end, it

explains the role of nurses to educate the parents and teenagers the effect of social media. I will

use the statistics provided for cyberbullying and sexting to further explain the impact of social

media on the development of the teenage brain, and later on I will expand the topic of sexting

into the invasion of privacy into their lives. Also, this article mentions self-esteem in teenagers as

a benefit, and I will use that in my counterargument to compare how it can either build or lower a

teenager's self-esteem.
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Heid, Markham. “We Need to Talk About Kids and Smartphones.” Time Magazine, vol. 190, no

19, Nov. 2017 pp. 42-46. https://time.com/4974863/kids-smartphones-depression/

Markham Heid is an experienced health reporter and writer, has contributed to outlets

like TIME, Men’s Health, and Everyday Health, and has received reporting awards from the

Society of Professional Journalists and the Maryland, Delaware, and D.C. Press Association.

This article shares a story of a teenager, Nina Langton who has attempted suicide after

being depressed on social media. She shared that she became very concerned the way she

looked after the models on social media. A study of 17, 000 teenagers showed that 13% had a

major depressive disorder. Majority of the day is spent on smartphones and many teenagers

become victim of it. I will use a story like Nina Langton to show that there is some correlation to

the high usage of social media and depression. This topic will serve as one of the evidences

made in my thesis about mental health, and I will provide statistics on teenagers being affected.

This article also goes on to say about parents 'roll in their kids’ life, and I will use that for my

claim made about parents being more involved in their children' lives.

Kamarck, T W. “Social Support Reduces Cardiovascular Reactivity to Psychological Challenge:

a Laboratory Model.” Psychosomatic Medicine, U.S. National Library of Medicine,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2305022?dopt=Abstract.

Kamarck, T W works at Clinical Psychology Center and has studied at University of

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

They investigated the effects of nonevaluative social interaction on the cardiovascular

response to psychological challenge. They came to many conclusions and had many stats for this

experiment; I will be using most of these conclusions to help support my statements. Like Their
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wear 39 girls that took part of the experiment and wear either “friend condition” or “alone

condition”. Subjects in the friend condition showed reduced heart rate reactivity to both tasks

they wear put through, relative to the Alone group.

Kawachi, Ichiro, and Lisa F. Berkman. “Social Ties and Mental Health.” SpringerLink, Springer-

Verlag, 1 Sept. 2001, vol. 78, no. 3. link.springer.com/article/10.1093/jurban/78.3.458.

The author Kawachi, Ichiro works for Department of Health and Social, and has studied at

Behavior Harvard School of Public HealthBoston. Dr. Berkman is the director of the Harvard

Center for Population and Development Studies and the Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public

Policy and of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

In this source they talk about how social ties play a beneficial role in the maintenance of

psychological well-being. They highlight four sets of insights that emerge from the literature on

social ties and mental health outcomes first being stress reactions, second psychological well-

being, and third psychological distress, last but least including depressive symptoms and anxiety.

I will use this these point to for my argument.

Uhls, Yalda T., et al. "Benefits and Costs of Social Media in Adolescence.” AAP News and

Journals Gateway, vol. 140, Nov. 2017.

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/140/Supplement_2/S67

The author Yalda T Uhls has a MBA, PhD, and teaches and conducts research at UCLA.

She does research on how media affect the social learning and behavior of preteens and

adolescents.
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This article was written by the professionals and it shows the benefits of the social media.

Some of the benefits are that it has helped with peer engagement and identity development.

Social media allow teens to make friends faster, but that has many major drawbacks. More

interaction with people can lead to cyberbullying, and a very low self - esteem. I will use this

article to mention how social media has increased cyberbullying and lowered their self - esteem.

A study was done, and the statistics showed. Also, I will use the benefits of social media in my

counterargument, and work around my thesis.

Woods, Heather Cleland and Holly Scott “#Sleepyteens: Social media use in adolescence is

associated with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem.” Journal of

Adolescence, vol. 51, 2016, pp. 41-49.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303906199_Sleepyteens_Social_media_use_in

_adolescence_is_associated_with_poor_sleep_quality_anxiety_depression_and_low_self-

esteem

Woods, Heather Cleland along with Holly Scott are a teacher at University of Glasgow

and do research on the effects of social media on people.

This peer reviewed article examines the quality of sleep from using excessive amount of

social media. It expands on how the poor quality of sleep can lead to anxiety, depression, and

lower self-esteem. Teenagers become so invested on social media and their smart phones which

can cause many disruptions during a person's sleep time. Studies were done to show how lack of

sleep can have long term effects on an individual, especially a teenager. I will use this article to

bring up a point that teenagers stay up all night to be on their phones, whether to talk to their

friends, or to be on social media, which further leads to long term effects on their mental health.