Made for
LFYT 2022. Charlie writes: "I was inspired when reading Hang Li's piece in
Video Vortex. It seems as though these corporations have found a way to control us and are squeezing every penny out of us until it eventually kills us. ("Mother sues social media giants, says they're to blame for daughter's
suicide"). We're unable to see it happening and that's perhaps the
scariest part. ("social media addiction short film 2017 || Short Movie on Social Media Addiction")
Every year the child suicide rate rises. After reading Hang Li's piece I was inspired to look further into this sugar-coated bullet that is social media. Where I found Ian Krietzberg's ("Social Media is killing us")
[cit].
The startling article gives the facts, social media is ruining our mental health. "In 2016, an estimated of 44.7 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States had a mental illness. Young adults aged 18–25 had the highest prevalence of any mental illness at 22.1% compared to adults aged 26–49 at 21.1% and aged 50 and older at 14.5%"
Another study looked at social media use and social isolation among U.S. young adults, ages 19–32. It assessed participants' usage of 11 popular social media platforms. The study found that those who visited any platforms at least 58 times per week were three times more likely to feel socially isolated compared to those who used social media fewer than 9 times per week.
[cit].