Social Media Controversies and Impact

📋 Course Outline

1. Social media controversy
2. Social media usage survey
3. Perceptions of social media effects
4. Instagram and mental health
5. Nuanced view of digital media
6. Cyberbullying and suicide story

📖 1. Social media controversy

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Social media dilemma : A debate about whether social media helps or harms people, especially adolescents.
• Social media controversy : A public dispute that weighs potential benefits of social media against potential negative effects.
• Moral panic : A collective fear that frames a group and its behaviors as dangerously harmful, often exaggerating direct causes.

📝 Essential Points

• The texts frame the social-media question as difficult because both advantages and disadvantages are often argued.
• The dossier presents multiple perspectives rather than a single “effects only” conclusion.
• Social researchers, psychologists, and sociologists are described as increasingly interested in this social phenomenon.

💡 Memory Hook

Dilemma = benefits vs harms; controversy = the fight over which wins.

📖 2. Social media usage survey

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions