Pre-reading:

Instructions:
 Read the title and subtitle. Write one paragraph explaining what you think the reading
will be about and why it is important.
 Identify what type of reading this is (short story, poem, news, etc).
 Identify the author of this reading.

Social Media and Teens: How Does

Social Media Affect Teenagers’ Mental
Health
Teenagers can use social media to find community,
but their mental health is often negatively affected
by this culture of comparison
Article by:
 Katie Hurley, LCSW

The verdict is still out on whether social media is damaging to the mental health of teens.
This is in part due to the lack of research. Some studies show that online connections
with small groups of people can be beneficial to teens, while other research points to a
rise in symptoms of anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.

The other reason it’s difficult to get a good read on the issue is that social media is
constantly changing and evolving. Plus, no long-term studies have been completed. So,
we’re left making educated guesses based on current research. There’s just not enough
data to back up the potential long-term pros and cons of living on “likes”.

Small Studies, Worrisome Results

One study out of the University of Pittsburgh, for example, found a correlation between
time spent scrolling through social media apps and negative body image feedback. Those
who had spent more time on social media had 2.2 times the risk of reporting eating and
body image concerns, compared to their peers who spent less time on social media. The
participants who spent the most time on social media had 2.6 times the risk. 1

Results from a separate study from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
showed that the more time young adults spent on social media, the more likely they were
to have problems sleeping and report symptoms of depression. 2

And another small study of teens ages 13-18 from the UCLA Brain Mapping Center
found that receiving a high number of likes on photos showed increased activity in the
reward center of the brain. Further, teens are influenced to like photos, regardless of
content, based on high numbers of likes. Bottom line: It feels good to be “liked” and herd
3

mentality is big on social media. Like what others like and you’re in.

The Upside of Social Media for Teens

There are some positive aspects to social media. It’s important to remember that teens are
hardwired for socialization, and social media makes socializing easy and immediate.
Teens who struggle with social skills, social anxiety, or who don’t have easy access to
face-to-face socializing with other teens might benefit from connecting with other teens
through social media.

Teens in marginalized groups—including LGBTQ teens and teens struggling with mental
health issues—can find support and friendship through use of social media. When teens
connect with small groups of supportive teens via social media, those connections can be
the difference between living in isolation and finding support.

The Downside Social Media Use by Teens

Read enough of the current research and you’ll find that the negatives tend to feel bigger
than the positives. While teens can use social media to connect and create friendships
with others, they also confront cyberbullying, trolls, toxic comparisons, sleep deprivation,
and less frequent face-to-face interactions, to name a few.

Too much time spent scrolling through social media can result in symptoms of anxiety
and/or depression. Here’s how social media can be destructive:

 Focusing on likes: The need to gain “likes” on social media can cause teens to
make choices they would otherwise not make, including altering their appearance,
engaging in negative behaviors, and accepting risky social media challenges.
 Cyberbullying: Teens girls in particular are at risk of cyberbullying through use
of social media, but teen boys are not immune. Cyberbullying is associated with
depression, anxiety, and an elevated risk of suicidal thoughts.
 Making comparisons: Though many teens know that their peers share only their
highlight reels on social media, it’s very difficult to avoid making comparisons.
Everything from physical appearance to life circumstances to perceived successes
and failures are under a microscope on social media.
 Having too many fake friends: Even with privacy settings in place, teens can
collect thousands of friends through friends of friends on social media. The more
people on the friend list, the more people have access to screenshot photos, Snaps,
and updates and use them for other purposes. There is no privacy on social media.
 Less face time: Social interaction skills require daily practice, even for teens. It’s
difficult to build empathy and compassion (our best weapons in the war on
bullying) when teens spend more time “engaging” online than they do in person.
Human connection is a powerful tool and builds skills that last a lifetime.
There’s a happy medium in here somewhere. The key to helping teens learn to balance
social media with real life friendships is to keep the lines of communication open and
keep talking. Honest communication shows your teen that you are there to support, not to
judge or lecture. It’s also important to walk the walk. Disconnect on weekends and show
your teen that there is a whole world out there that doesn’t require a handheld
screen. She may miss her phone a lot less than she thinks she will and this is a very good
lesson to learn.

Post-reading:

Instructions:

 Go back and underline each topic sentence.

 Use reporting verbs to summarize each section of the article. You should have a total of
four paragraphs.
 Identify the final argument and explain if you agree or disagree with it.
Analyze the graph below:

Ask yourself:

 What is this graph about?

 What are the four important aspects of this graph?

 What is this graph implying?

 How does this relate to real world issues historically and socially?

Write a 150-250 words response about the graph.

Make sure to answer the above questions and to use your reporting verbs!
Pre-reading:

Instructions:
 Read the title and subtitle. Write one paragraph explaining what you think the reading
will be about and why it is important.
 Identify what type of reading this is (short story, poem, news, etc).
 Identify if there is an author.

Circadian clocks: Body parts respond to day and night

independently from brain, studies show
Can your liver sense when you're staring at a television screen or cellphone
late at night? Apparently so, and when such activity is detected, the organ can
throw your circadian rhythms out of whack, leaving you more susceptible to
health problems.

That's one of the takeaways from two new studies by University of California, Irvine scientists
working in collaboration with the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, Spain.
The studies, published today in the journal Cell, used specially bred mice to analyze the network
of internal clocks that regulate metabolism. Although researchers had suspected that the body's
various circadian clocks could operate independently from the central clock in the hypothalamus
of the brain, there was previously no way to test the theory, said Paolo Sassone-Corsi, director of
UCI's Center for Epigenetics and Metabolism and senior author of one of the studies.
To overcome that obstacle, scientists figured out how to disable the entire circadian system of the
mice, then jump-start individual clocks. For the experiments reported in the Cell papers, they
activated clocks inside the liver or skin.
"The results were quite surprising," said Sassone-Corsi, Donald Bren Professor of Biological
Chemistry. "No one realized that the liver or skin could be so directly affected by light."
For example, despite the shutdown of all other body clocks, including the central brain clock, the
liver knew what time it was, responded to light changes as day shifted to night and maintained
critical functions, such as preparing to digest food at mealtime and converting glucose to energy.
Somehow, the liver's circadian clock was able to detect light, presumably via signals from other
organs. Only when the mice were subjected to constant darkness did the liver's clock stop
functioning.
In upcoming studies, UCI and Barcelona researchers will phase in other internal clocks to see
how different organs communicate with each other, Sassone-Corsi said.
"The future implications of our findings are vast," he noted. "With these mice, we can now begin
deciphering the metabolic pathways that control our circadian rhythms, aging processes and
general well-being."
In earlier studies, Sassone-Corsi has examined how circadian clocks can be rewired by such
factors as sleep deprivation, diet and exercise. Exposure to computer, television or cellphone
light just before bed can also scramble internal clocks.
Because of modern lifestyles, it's easy for people's circadian systems to get confused, he said. In
turn, that can lead to depression, allergies, premature aging, cancer and other health problems.
Further mice experiments could uncover ways to make human internal clocks "less misaligned,"
Sassone-Corsi added.
Other UCI researchers involved in the studies included Kevin B. Koronowski, Jacob G. Smith,
Muntaha Samad, Siwei Chen, Christophe N. Magnan and Pierre Baldi. The work was supported
by the National Institutes of Health, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency, Spain's Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, the European
Research Council and the government of Catalonia, among other funding sources.

Post-reading:

Instructions:

 Go back and underline each topic sentence.

 Identify the different subtopics of the article.
 Use reporting verbs to summarize the article in three paragraphs.
 Identify the final argument and explain if you agree or disagree with it.
 Identify the academic words, along with all scientific jargon.
Analyze the graph below:

Ask yourself:

 What is this graph about?

 What are the four important aspects of this graph?

 What is this graph implying?

 How does this relate to real world issues historically and socially?

Write a 150-250 words response about the graph.

Make sure to answer the above questions and to use your reporting verbs!