Cassie Blanchard
Inquiry Project
University 200/Wonder People
My Final Inquiry Project turned out to be more inspiring than I could have imagined. It has
always been my ultimate goal to work in the nonprofit world, so that I can help others. I would
absolutely love to inspire and impact others to help one another and add positivity to our world. This is
the basis of where the idea of my project came from. When starting this class at the beginning of the
semester, it was pretty difficult for me. I am twenty-eight, so although I feel like I somewhat grew up in
the technology era, it is a lot more extreme this day in time. With technology as a foundation for almost
everything, came the struggle for me to navigate through the blogging and siting world. It was extremely
frustrating at first that I had to learn how to basically write and post a blog. An awesome idea, but a
little discouraging at first when you don’t exactly know how to design one, or what happens when you
publish it.
This brings me to Social Media. Social media is changing the world, it is a link between every
human and activity you could imagine. Social media is not only used for social purposes, but businesses,
promotions, school, and news. The downfall to the social media world is negativity. My project describes
all the negativity that is generated and passed around the world by the tips of our fingers. We all enjoy
the perks of social media, the easy access, communication, and most of the time a sense of community.
However, if everyone agreed to disagree, enjoyed all comments and opinions, and worked together to
promote positivity as a community, social media would be a Godsend. Unfortunately it is not all positive.
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More people use social media than not and the percentage rates of users are increasing.
According to the Pew Research Center seventy-two percent of adult users use Facebook, thirty-one
percent use Pinterest, twenty-eight percent use Instagram, and twenty-three percent use Twitter. There
are multiple social media sites and seventy-one percent of Teenagers use more than one social network
site. What does this mean? Teenagers are at even more of a risk of accessibility by predators and bullies.
Accessibility such as photos, videos, and personal information. Ninety-one percent of teenagers post
photos of themselves, and twenty-four percent post videos of themselves. This enables people all over
the world to view there profiles in seconds. Although more than half of internet using teenagers have
decided not to post content online over reputation concerns, that leaves half that are not concerned
about how they are portrayed or act towards others online. Are you scared yet? In my opinion, it is
terrifying to know how many teenagers put themselves out there without realizing the repercussions.
After conducting interviews with five adults who are parents, I have concluded the following.
The biggest fears they have for their children using social media are; exposure to violence and
negativity, bullying others, or being bullied, the risks of low self-esteem, overshared information,
contact from harmful predators, connecting with strangers, identity theft, and sexual harassment. All of
these are huge risk factors that are becoming harder to control as technology continues to thrive. To
help protect their children from these risks all parents agreed to approve the web browsing of their
children, set parental blocks, make daily time limits, and even have access to their passwords and search
history. These are easy ways to help with privacy protection.
When asking the group of parents their thoughts on using social media for school information
they had a few disagreements. Most like the idea of the school using social media for updates, upcoming
events, and alerts during emergent situations. Other parents felt it was unnecessary to use social media
for school because it encourages their children to spend even more time using social forums.
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Another important question I asked parents was, if they thought that social media has a positive or
negative effect on their children’s self-esteem? Majority believed that it could have a positive influence,
but that a negative influence could have extreme repercussions. The positive influence could be
comments and compliments from friends and family members. Some children may receive
encouragement from the community for accomplishments they may post. The negative concerns were
the unrealistic portrayals of life and body images that may be posted online. One mother made an
excellent observation of how so many pictures are now photo-shopped and distorted that a young girl
may strive to be like something unrealistic. Unrealistic expectations through images and posts, and
negative comments also raise concern.
The final question I asked parents was how they would explain the importance of privacy to
their children. All agreed that using examples of people who had been taken advantage of on social
media was a way to show the importance of keeping their information private. One mom, the wife of a
military officer said she stressed to her children how important their privacy was due to their Dad’s job
in the military. Military families are at more of a risk using social media, due to job status, deployment
and even identity theft. When in the military sometimes even families do not know exactly where a
military member may be, due to safety reasons. If for some reason it is posted on social media, it could
actually endanger their lives. I also know of an incident where a soldier was killed in Afghanistan and it
was leaked onto social media before all family and friends were notified. How horrible to have to find
something this traumatic out on a social media website. What I learned from these parents was that all
of them are aware of the dangers of social media and are open to suggestions to prevent harm to their
children. Everyone wants the best for their children, and any type of safety prevention is helpful.
I also interviewed another group of people, women between the ages of eighteen and twentynine years old. Eighty-nine percent of this demographic use social media forums such as Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. This group are the highest percentage users of Pinterest. Pinterest
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being a forum that you can post just about anything, from workouts to recipes, from quotes and
beyond. Most women agreed that their biggest concern using social media is overshared information,
and the risk of strangers knowing too many intimate details. Even with privacy settings, there are now
ways to find out information about others who use social media forums. Not only are they concerned
with identity theft, but stalking incidents as well. According to victimsofcrime.org 7.5 million people are
stalked in the United States in just one year. Social media gives dangerous means of accessibility and
contact to people increasing the likelihood of being stalked. Think about how many friends you may
connect with online. Next, think about how many friends those friends have and so on. Soon you are
into thousands of people seeing your name, picture, and information. Now think of how many times you
may have “checked in” to somewhere you were on Facebook. You have just notified thousands of
people exactly where you are and when you are there. This is just inviting stalkers to follow you around,
you are basically notifying them of everywhere you go.
Self-esteem plays a huge roll in a women’s life and when asked how social media effects their
self-esteem I got quite a split of negative and positive. Some said they feel social media is negative due
to being scrutinized by others with negative comments, judged negatively on what they post, or
discouraged by other women posting pictures of their “perfect” selves. The other half claimed that
social media helps them gain confidence when encouraged or complimented by followers. Compliments
and “likes” give them a bit of an ego boost. My next question had to do with how social media effects
employment. Majority said social media was a great way to network and gain important connections in
the business world. It is also beneficial in the sense that small businesses, and online businesses can
advertise, promote, and even boost sales by using social media. The only downfall to social media versus
employment is when something controversial is posted. Companies now use social media to do research
on employees and potential employees. If something negative comes up that you have posted it could
negatively affect your career. You also have to trust that your friends will not post anything that could
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get you into trouble with an employer. Lastly, how many times have you seen someone post how much
they hate their job or boss online? What if your boss comes across these comments?
Lack of privacy is a concern in most people’s lives, especially with the increase in technology. I
was surprised when asking the question about concern of lack of privacy on social media, that most
were not too worried. Majority of the women interviewed stated that privacy settings and being able to
choose what they post on different forums gave them a sense of comfort. One interviewee said she was
extremely concerned because most downloads and programs seem to be unprotected and easily
hacked. So many things are now backed up and auto saved, it can somehow, some way still be accessed.
Imagine all the pictures you post that you forget about and are somewhere out there in the media
world. Imagine how many emails you get with passwords and names. All of these can spread like
wildfire.
My last and most important question involves the negativity on social media. Everyone agreed
that negativity on social media is out of control. Suggestions to help with these issues were, more strict
regulations on the age of who can sign up for social forums, and regulations on comments, posts, and
videos that are negative. It seems that just about anything can be posted online without going through
some type of filter. This raises the concern for cyber bullying, and the risks of controversial posts. People
seem to be much more courageous behind the screen of a computer and may post or express more
negativity than they would in a one on one situation. Because a lot of things are not censored it is a huge
risk factor for a young child or teenager to be scrolling through social media. One bad link or post can
lead to hundreds of others. We could protect younger children from being exposed by not allowing
them to have access or sign up for social media until a certain age. It would also be extremely beneficial
if someone could regulate what is posted. If a negative video, picture, or comment is posted by
someone they should be at risk to having there page completely shut down.
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These leads to the importance and main topic of my inquiry project, that social media has
introduced us to harsh influence of cyber-bullying, and negativity causing low self-esteem and
depression. According to the Washington Post, low self-esteem is said to be killing young girl’s success
around the world. Due in part to their lack of confidence and how much of their extra time is spent using
forms of social media. Instead of using free time for school work or extracurricular activities, they are
more concerned with what is happening in the media world. Cyber-bullying not only leads to low selfesteem but a larger concern, suicide. There has been a strong link between bullying and suicide, and
with the usage of social media, a newer trend of cyber-bullying. The definition of cyber- bullying is as
follows, “the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an
intimidating or threatening nature.” According to the Center for Disease Control, suicide is the third
leading cause of death, it results in about 4,400 deaths per year. Also stated is that students who
experience bullying are twice as likely to have negative effects such as depression, anxiety, difficulty
sleeping, and adjustment problems at school. Urban Institute’s study on bullying showed that seventeen
percent of students are victims of cyber bullying. Suicide Awareness Voices for Education states that
suicides among the ages of fifteen and twenty-four is the third leading cause of death for youth. One of
65,000 children ages ten to fourteen commit suicide every year. Over sixteen percent of students
seriously consider suicide, thirteen percent create a plan, and eight percent have made a serious attempt.
There are tons of horrible stories of teenagers who have acquired depressive symptoms from bullying
that has led to low self-esteem or suicide. Most who have followed through with a suicide plan have left
some sort of evidence and or note stating they were bullied by peers, whether in person or on the
internet. Sixty-nine percent of teenagers have their own computer, or cell phone which gives them direct
access to social media. The sad of this is, over eighty-one percent of teenagers admitted that it is easier
to bully online. We all want social media to be a positive thing, it could do wonders for our lives, and the
truth is, it is extremely dangerous.
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The older I get, the harder life gets. There are added struggles and stress of daily life such as bills,
work, family, school, and health concerns. Positivity is something that helps us get past these struggles
and encourage one another to overcome the obstacles that may be upon us. The last thing anyone needs
is to get online and be treated negatively or experience negative media. Some people do not take in to
consideration or realize the extremely harmful effects that they have on one another by what they say or
post online. A girl or women may be negatively affected by comments men make about what they think is
beautiful and what they don’t. A man may be offended by someone posting something negative about
politics or jobs. Parents may state an opinion about how they handle a situation with their child that
others do not fully agree with. People just are not careful enough about what they post and what is not
private. Just observing the actions of others while on my media accounts has made me want to do what I
can to encourage positivity. My idea was to post a positive message myself and post it ont o my Facebook
and Instagram accounts. Once I did this I encouraged my friends, and there friends to do the same. Little
did I know how many amazing people would participate and spread positive vibes throughout the social
media world. This to me proves we are all in the same boat. We all lead hectic lives and just need a little
bit of positivity on a daily basis. Why knock each other down when we can pick each other up? More and
more people continue to post positive quotes on Facebook and Instagram and the comments and likes
are incredible! My first picture posted on Facebook with the quote that read, “A negative mind will never
give you a positive life,” sending positive vibes received ninety-five likes and seven shares on Facebook
and Instagram within twenty-four hours. Two days later fifteen people had posted their pictures with
their positive vibes quote onto social media. Each of the fifteen people have at least 800 friends meaning
that 12,000 people got to see the posts about positive vibes. 12,000 people got to see something positive.
12,000 people got to experience positivity and encouragement instead of negativity. 12,000 people in just
a few days were influenced and inspired by others in a positive way. Small acts like these can make such a
huge impact on our world.
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My Inquiry project has taught me so much. I learned the dangers and crazy statistics of social
media and cyber bullying. I was able to hear the opinions of twenty intelligent people, parents and nonparents and their opinions and concerns of social media. The greatest thing was that I got to experience
the spread of positivity throughout social media proving that it is possible and people are willing to
change the negativity on all of these forums. I am grateful for all the amazing things I learned doing this
project and all the amazing people that helped me. I am now a firm believer that there are still great souls
out there that want to effect the world in a positive way, just like I do!
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Works Cited:
Hyperlinks:
http://nobullying.com/
https://img.washingtonpost.com/pb/resources/img/thewashingtonpost-white-2x.png
http://www.npr.org/
References:
https://www.victimsofcrime.org/docs/default-source/src/stalking-fact-sheet-2015_eng.pdf?sfvrsn=2
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/03/08/how-low-self-esteem-is-killing-girlsacademic-success-around-the-world/?postshare=4591449116587064&tid=ss_mail
http://nobullying.com/bullying-suicide-statistics/
Gharib,Malaka. 23 October 2015. Being 15 is Tough No Matter Where You Live: #15 Girls
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/10/21/450240416/being-15-is-tough-no-matterwhere-you-live
15girls?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&ut
m_content=2046
Interviewees:
Rachel Lewis
Lauren Wilkes
Carter Feight
Lauren Theobald
Danielle Blanchard
Megan Gilbert
Emily Woodhal
Aaron Ruggles
Morgan Harler
Kristin Farag
Kristina George
Kelly Jessup
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Pictures: Lisa Williams, Amanda Landis, Kristina George, Kelly Jessup, Lauren Wilkes, Randy Taylor, Ryder
Taylor, Eric Walker, Hope Walker, Kristin Farag, Kennedy Farag, Alexandra Zeidman, Jamie Bailey, Nancy
Ayad, Ryan Berryman, Makennah Harler, and Leanne Harrow.
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