Steven Liu (2015, May). “Social Media and Depression.” CYS. Does social media play a part in youth depression? This generation of teenagers is the first to grow up in the U.S. So much of their social reality occurrs over venues like Facebook or Snapchat, and their social world is defined by an unending connection to one another throughout the day albeit a connection without physical or auditory proximity. With this question in mind, let us survey some of the research that had been done by practitioners and students of mental health. There seem to be several factors pointing to a connection between social media and depression. Late night usage of technology with light-emitting screens impacts quality of sleep. While this effect is not due to social media alone, studies with teenagers find that many of them did use their devices close to bed time. Should you loved this information and you would love to receive more information about [Casual] What makes Reddit the best social media site generously visit the webpage. And true to the research, 21% of the teenagers we polled in a survey reported difficulty sleeping after using social media. Since the quantity and quality of sleep is important for adolescent development, we would expect this kind of social media usage to negatively affect youth cognitively.
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Additionally, frequent use of handheld devices and social media may be correlated with difficulty concentrating. In a survey we conducted among 30 respondents, 30% of the youth reported concentration problems immediately after using social media. This factor too may be related to the sleep deprivation that sometimes comes with night-time social media consumption. In a University of Missouri study, Facebook use was tied to depression, depending on how users used the site. Particularly, “surveillance use” of the social media site, where users checked up on how their friends were doing and compared what they saw to their own lives, tended to produce feelings of depression. Users who view Facebook in this way often “sized up their accomplishments against others”, producing envy that their vacations, possessions, or relationships could not match up to what their friends posted. In addition, cyber-bullying is a recent phenomenon that puts children in emotional and social danger.
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Smartphones allow for constant unsupervised access to the internet and communities where youth can be exploited or defamed by fellow youth via text or post. According to the American College of Pediatricians, “over half of adolescents state they have been bullied online and over 25 percent of adolescents state they have been bullied repeatedly through internet or on cell phones. However, only 1 in 10 teens will tell a parent about the bullying” (American College of Pediatricians, 2014 Feb., “The Media, Children, and Adolescents”). From the available studies and data, there seems to be enough evidence to establish that social media can contribute to depression. Social media usage is bound up with how we view and portray ourselves, in other words, it affects our sense of identity. While depression is not only emotional and spiritual, experience working with youth shows that depression often comes with a lowered sense of self-esteem and self-efficacy.
When youth base their identity on what others perceive, they develop a twisted version of their own worth, value, and capacity to be loved. This inaccurate view of self leaves teens vulnerable to things like Facebook envy and depression and cyber bullying. It causes them to look to the power of social media to heal our hurts and provide affirmation when they post our authentic or inauthentic selves for the world to see. And it causes them to experience frustration and disappointment when that power lets them down. The subjects were Chinese-Americans and Caucasians in the urban context, both middle- and high-school students. They were polled in an after school program at Boston Chinese Evangelical Church, Chinese Gospel Church of Greater Lowell, and Charlton Baptist but most of the respondents were from non-churched backgrounds. The information we obtained led to only a few correlations with depression symptoms, but there were many findings that could be peripherally symptomatic or contributive.
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One notable finding was a big difference in who obtained social-media capable devices at different points in their lives. I had expected that youth in the urban, low-income, immigrant context might obtain devices later, but in fact, they were the earliest adopters of smart-phones or other similar devices. Almost all the BCEC youth got their devices before the age of 12! By contrast Chinese Gospel Church of Greater Lowell, a suburban Chinese church, where most youth are from Christian families, had youth receiving their devices in the 13-14 age bracket. In the rural Caucasian church, Charlton Baptist, the youth obtained devices after the age of 14. This is significant, as it has been well documented that Asian American youth have higher rates of depression and suicide risk. Finally, my analysis of the teenagers’ quantity of time spent with parents yielded some results. Out of the 13 who reported negative effects with social media (low concentration, sleep difficulty, anger, anxiety appetite), only one student had spent more than 2 trips or extended times with his or her parents in the past 12 months. Most of the others had been on 0 or 1 trip/family time.
There was not enough of a connection to establish a correlation, however, since there also six youth who did not experience negative effects while also having had 0 family trips. Social media is a powerful force in our culture. My work with teenagers has shown me that social media’s power is amplified when parents are not able to expend the in-person relational energy to balance the virtual relational allure of sites like Facebook. It is important for youth workers to help parents understand this important part of their teenagers’ social world. One practical application is offering workshops where parents can be educated about responsible management of their children’ s social media exposure, and also be able to identify signs that somebody is heading toward social media depression. It is important for youth workers to have a presence on social media. This helps them to understand the social world of youth, but also to be able to look out for warning signs or risk indicators that would otherwise remain invisible, and to respond or counsel accordingly. In addition, youth workers should find a way to include media education to help young consumers be self-aware about messages that are being fed to them without their knowledge. Relationally, social media can never make up for in-person relationships. Intimacy in relationships was designed with physical proximity in mind, where we can hear, touch, and see one another. Finally, we need to understand that though there are risks associated with social media, the answer is not always to completely disconnect. Engaging with culture in a healthy, balanced way requires both creativity and wisdom.
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Another issue for employers is the problem of employees tattling to managers about other employees' personal posts on social media sites, especially when those items could get the poster in trouble at work. HR needs to anticipate this eventuality and have a procedure in place: Managers take no initial action, and HR checks the questionable posts first because the posts may be protected speech. According to the 2011 SHRM social media survey, about 40 percent of organizations have a formal social media policy. A code of conduct for employee use of social networking environments for professional purposes (68 percent of organizations included this item in their policies). A code of conduct for employee use of social networking environments for personal purposes while at work (66 percent). Notification to employees that the organization has the right to monitor their social media use in the workplace (56 percent). Guidelines for social media communications (55 percent). Guidelines for responding to feedback on social networking environments (35 percent).
Although a growing number of employers use social media, 43 percent of the respondents in the 2011 SHRM survey reported that their organizations block access to social media sites on company-owned computers and handheld electronic devices. The survey found that larger organizations (more than 500 employees) are more likely to block access to social media sites and to track employee use. Employers do have the right to prohibit any personal use of company computers, but such a prohibition is not likely to yield optimal results. If an employer decides to permit employees access to social networking platforms, then the employer needs a comprehensive and well-defined policy to prevent abuse. Establishes a clear and defined purpose for the policy. Communicates benefits of social networking and of having a policy. Provides a clear platform for educating employees. Takes into consideration any legal consequences of not following laws. Refers to proprietary and confidential information at risk. Talks about productivity in terms of social networking.
Establishes expected behavioral norms in the use of social networking. Provides guidance regarding social networking that could be associated with the organization, employees or customers. Some employers may prohibit posting of company information on social networking sites without the employer's explicit consent. Outlines disciplinary measures the employer will take if employees violate social media policy. See Social Media Acceptable-Use Policy and Social Media Policy. Exercise good judgment and common sense. Not allow social networking to interrupt productivity. Be mindful of their privacy settings. Be polite and responsible. Be accountable and correct mistakes. Use disclaimers or speak in the first person to make it clear the opinions expressed are not those of their employer. Bring work-related complaints directly to HR, not through postings on social media sites or the Internet. Remember the audience and that what is being said might create a perception about the employer. See Social Media Policies Slowly Catch on Worldwide.
Employers should become familiar with NLRB's decisions.
Social media are young, and case law about social media and employment is in its early days. Among the legal issues employers should watch are policy content, problems with using social media for recruitment and hiring, pitfalls of social media "friendings," and questions about ownership of materials posted online. Any policy should be in the form of a guideline, not an absolute rule. NLRB is building case law on social media and the workplace through its rulings on adverse actions involving employee use of social media use. Employers should become familiar with NLRB's decisions. See NLRB Rejects Common Practices: What is HR to Do? Employers must exercise caution when using social networks for recruiting or when viewing candidates' personal social media profiles while in the recruiting or hiring processes. Access to protected information about candidates. When looking at candidates' social media profiles, HR professionals may learn information they should not have when screening candidates.
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A candidate could claim that a potential employer did not offer a job because of information found on a social networking site, which discusses legally protected categories such as the candidate's race, ethnicity, age, associations, family relationships or political views. To avoid problems, employers should ensure they do not use social media to screen applicants when deciding who gets an interview. They should also require that HR, not the hiring manager, conduct any social media reviews—and only during the background check of the finalist, when the HR professional already knows the finalist's equal employment opportunity profile. See Widening Web of Social Media and Despite Legal Risks, Companies Still Use Social Media To Screen Employees. Possible violations of fair credit reporting law. The Fair Credit Reporting Act identifies background screening companies as "consumer reporting agencies" and outlines specific requirements for employers and screening agencies. Screeners must meet certain standards for accuracy of the information they use. Fulfilling that obligation can be challenging, given that content on social media sites can change at any time and is controlled by users. Online "friending" between managers and employees increases the chance—should a working relationship turn sour—of additional claims in any subsequent employment litigation.
Managers will all too easily wind up with too much information if they have "friended" their employees, including (as with recruiting and hiring issues above) personal information that might fall within a protected category under federal or state employment laws. A fired or disciplined employee might later argue that the real reason for any adverse employment action was based on personal information that the manager learned by viewing the employee's social media site. If managers and employees become each other's contacts on professional sites such as LinkedIn, the online relationship can come back to bite the employer. For example, if a supervisor or manager writes an online recommendation for an employee and later fires that employee, the employee might be able to cite the online recommendation as evidence that he or she was not performing poorly. Employers need policies about recommendations or other comments managers may or may not make on such sites.
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Yet employers might be reluctant simply to prohibit managers from friending employees. Such a prohibition might itself be the target of legal challenges under laws guaranteeing the right of privacy and the right to associate, or under laws restricting employers from regulating lawful off-premises conduct. Growing risks and legal implications exist when employers ask applicants and employees for their passwords to social media sites. In 2012 Maryland became the first state to pass legislation to prohibit employers from requiring access to social media passwords. A 2015 Montana law prohibits employers from requiring employees to grant access to their social media accounts or to discipline them because of social media activity. See Montana Law Bars Employers from Employees Social Media Information. Lawsuits over social media are on the rise as employers and former employees wrangle over who owns Twitter handles and followers, as well as LinkedIn connections and MySpace friends. In one case, a website sued an editor who left but took his Twitter followers with him; the site maintained that those followers belonged to the site, not to the individual editor. The followers were effectively a customer list generated when the editor worked for the site, the site's lawyers argued.
In another case, a former employee sued her employer for access to her LinkedIn account, 7 Social Media Concepts Average Users which the employer cut off when she left the company because the account had been maintained for her by company staff. Organizations should ensure that social media policies say who owns those accounts and their followers and what happens to those accounts if an employee leaves. Measuring the results of social media is becoming a common practice. Visitors and sources of traffic. Network size (followers, fans, members). Quantity of commentary about brand or product. Monitoring data are only valuable if the organization is tracking and analyzing metrics relevant to it and then applying the information to improve its social media strategy. As part of their social media strategy, organizations should identify what important metrics to track. Undoubtedly, the range of metrics to consider will continue to evolve as social media use continues to expand. To sustain and maximize business uses of social media, having the right technologies is only one part of the equation.
Even the most user-friendly and feature-rich tools will not overcome a culture in which employees are discouraged by managers—overtly or subtly—from using social tools for fear of taking time away from "real" work. Another impediment to business use of these media is failure to assign skilled talent to manage and cultivate the organization's own participation on social networks. Employers need to have "social media champions" to collect the most relevant content, draw attention to it, keep conversations going and reward people who are the most active in sharing their knowledge with others. A sustainable social media strategy requires both a culture that encourages knowledge sharing and a team with a wide array of competencies dedicated to managing and promoting these potentially powerful social media initiatives. Without this focus, organizations can quickly lose traction as busy employees find little time or reason to use these collaborative tools amid the demands of daily work.
Topic title: Social Media And Depression
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