Headline, June 27 2022/ ''' '' LOG -OFF MOVEMENT- LOT '' '''

''' '' LOG -OFF

 MOVEMENT- LOT '' '''

THEY'VE HAD THEIR FILL OF SOCIAL MEDIA : And now, a student encourages her peers to rethink their relationship to the web.

MILLENNIALS MAY HAVE BEEN THE FIRST GENERATION to come of age online, but their Gen Z successors have truly grown up with it - and hardly ever log off.

A 2018 Pew Research Center survey found that 95 percent of teenagers have access to smartphones, and 45 percent say they use the Internet almost constantly. For many of them, social media has been a space for self-expression, entertainment and connection.

But as social media use has risen among teenagers, so have rates of depression, anxiety and suicide. Though the relationship is not directly correlational, there is evidence that some platforms have exacerbated young people's mental health issues; for instance :

Internal research documents from Facebook, leaked to The Wall Street Journal by the whistle blower Frances Haugen, showed that Instagram exacerbated body-image issues for one in three teenage girls.

A March 2022 study published in the scientific journal Nature found that that the relationship between social media use and mental health varied by age, but that there were two windows where social media use was more likely to have a negative effect on the well-being of an adolescence : at the start of puberty and again around age 19.

Emma Lembke, a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis, experienced those negative effects firsthand. That's why she started the Log Off Movement in June 2020. The project aims to encourage dialogue among young people who are feeling the adverse effects of social media and want to adjust their relationship to it.

In a phone interview, Ms. Lembeke, who is 19, spoke about the movement she had started, the upsides and downsides of social media and how she has worked to loosen its hold on their well being.

.- What was the experience of being on social media like for you?

I was spending at least six hours a day on these apps, just mindlessly scrolling, absorbing all of these unrealistic body standards.

That down the line resulted in disordered eating. It just became this horrific loop of going on these apps, specifically Instagram, feeling worse about myself, but feeling as though I could not stop scrolling because it has this weird power over me.

Social media served as a tool for amplification of negative attributes and feelings that I really didn't want to have.

.- Many recent news reports have highlighted the negative effects that social media can have on young people and self esteem. How did those stories play into your thinking about the project?

The first article that I read that really launched me into it explored the question of whether smartphones have destroyed a generation. I found study and after study showing the possible correlation between increased rates of anxiety, suicide rates and eating disorders tracking alongside increased rates of usage.

.- What other factors fueled your decision to start the Log Off Movement?

The most powerful thing to me was not the studies. It was the fact that personal stories were not being told and there was not an epicenter where people could come together and say : 

''Here's my personal experience.'' ''Here's how I was harmed.'' ''These were the accounts that made me feel worse about myself.'' I knew that was  necessary. The genie's out of the bottle.

As a member of Gen Z, we understand that there are positive attributes and there are negative attributes to social media, but right now, in its current usage it can be really harmful.

.-  What's your ultimate goal with this effort?

I really just hope that it results in a kind of prioritizing the well-being of users in these online environments. Technology is baked into the DNA of our generation. It's working to push towards regulation, so that more systematic change can occur where individuals can feel better protected and find healthier habits.

The Honour and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Social Media and Times & Tides, continues. The World Students Society thanks author Julie Halpert.

With respectful dedication to the Grandparents, Parents, Social Media Users, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society - for every subject in the world : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless