Bibliography

Chiu, Allyson. “Will hiding likes on Instagram and Facebook improve users’ mental health? We asked experts.” The Washington Post. 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/likes-facebook-instagram-mental-health/2021/05/27/132073d0-be55-11eb-9c90-731aff7d9a0d_story.html

Citron, Danielle Keats, and Mary Anne Franks. “The Internet as a Speech Machine and Other Myths Confounding Section 230 Speech Reform.” Scholarly Commons at Boston University School of Law, 2020, https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1833&context=faculty_scholarship

The main point of this debate was around Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which is an attempt to get tech companies to get rid of any offensive content on their platforms. The writers then discuss how Section 230 can be weaponized and used to the company’s benefit instead of protecting the general public, as it was intended to. Many different groups and companies have things to say about Section 230. For example, “enthusiasts” of the section say that “it's even better than the first amendment,” but others argue that it must be changed now that it is the 21st century and more people have access to the internet than before. This paper cites many other people, mainly congressmen, senators, and others involved in legislation. They also provide a list of solutions in order to fix the problems with Section 230.

Cohen, Rachel, et al. “The Case for Body Positivity on Social Media: Perspectives on Current Advances and Future Directions.” Journal of Health Psychology, vol. 26, no. 13, Nov. 2021, pp. 2365–2373, doi:10.1177/1359105320912450.

Rachel Cohen explores both the positive and negative aspects of body positivity on social media based on research and theory. From her early findings, she sees more benefits than disadvantages due to body positivity.

Livingston, Mercey. “How to beat your social media addiction, according to a therapist.” CNET. 1 Dec. 2019, https://www.cnet.com/health/the-right-way-to-beat-your-social-media-addiction-according-to-a-therapist/

Persliy, Nathaniel and Joshua A. Tucker. “How to fix social media? Start with independent research.” Brookings, 2021, https://www.brookings.edu/research/how-to-fix-social-media-start-with-independent-research/

The main point of this debate is that in order to start fixing the problems that social media prompts (which is a long list of many issues such as misinformation, eating disorders, etc) is by allowing independent research on social media. The writers argue that the companies keep the “raw data” to themselves and do not share it with independent researchers. They propose a solution, the Platform Transparency and Accountability Act, that will essentially help outside researchers gain data without “endangering user privacy.” This would help increase transparency with the intentions of social media platforms and ties into my research of teens on social media because the algorithm social media promotes definitely is tied into this issue.

Reardon, Marguerite. “Section 230: How it shields Facebook and why Congress wants changes.” CNET. 6 Oct. 2021, https://www.cnet.com/news/politics/section-230-how-it-shields-facebook-and-why-congress-wants-changes/

Abstract:

My paper analyzes the attempts of mitigating the detriment of social media on female teens’ mental health. Many proposed solutions to this problem are not effective due to social media’s widespread usage amongst the younger population. Although the users of social media platforms could potentially help themselves by practicing mindfulness, ultimately the best solutions come from holding big social platform companies, like Meta, responsible for the wellbeing of their users. One way this could be done is by reforming Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, because, as of right now, social media companies cannot be sued for what they decide to take down or keep up. If lawmakers were to fix this outdated legislation, there is hope for overall mental health in teen girls to go up.

What is social comparison? What is body positivity? What is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act? What can users do to minimize deterioration of mental health? What can companies do? My paper argues that with increased accountability placed onto social media platforms on what is posted, the mental health of teen girls will improve.