Moreno !

1
Topic: Social media influences health related issues
Argument: Social media causes major health problems across the United States.
For my Argument

Against my argument

1. An online web article talks about

issues related to social media use. The
article interviews Robert Portnoy, the
director of counseling and
psychological services at UNL. He
talks about how people feel the need to
follow everything that people are
doing in order to feel like they too
have a life like that. This then leads to,
to increasing levels of anxiety and
depression(Kirby 1).

1. Social media can create an awareness for a

specific disease or health issue. An article
from The Times of India(online) talks about
how social media can create trends to support
for something. The author brings up, getting
people to post videos and pictures of
themselves sporting moustaches, pouring ice
over themselves or wearing bizarre shades of
lipstick - all depending on the cause they're
supporting(Muthanna 1).

2. People stay up late every night

constantly checking their friends and
familys new status updates. An article
online illustrates that a person feels the
need to be socially available 24 hours a
day. This need causes, A lack of sleep
among teenagers who are spending the
night hours on social media can cause
depression and anxiety(Social Media
at Night Causes Teen Depression 1)

2. Breast cancer is a very well known health

issue across the world. It has a very popular
campaign of wearing pink a certain week in a
year to show support. Breast cancer awareness
is so popular that even the MLB, NFL, and
NBA have players wear pink and donate a lot
of money towards research to show their
support. A hospital in New Haven is using
social media now to help promote awareness.
Dr. Denise Barajas, director of St. Raphael's
Women's Center for Breast Health, states,
Social media is a new forum for us to spread
the word about breast cancer diagnosis,
treatment and prevention(DeMatteo 1).

3. In an online article the author

interviews Neuroscientist Susan
Greenfield. Greenfield talks about how
the internet creates a short attention
span for children. Later on in the
article the author points out, Shorter
attention spans could potentially harm
cognitive skill development(How
Social Media Influences Health 1).

Moreno !2

Works Cited
DeMatteo, Ann. "Hospital Promotes Awareness with Social Media." New Haven Register: 4. Oct
21 2010. ProQuest. Web. 8 Nov. 2015 .
"How Social Media Influences Health." Kashmir MonitorOct 25 2011. ProQuest. Web. 8 Nov.
2015 .
Kirby, Jane, and Health. "Experts Find Link between Social Media use and Mental Health Issues
in Children." The HeraldOct 21 2015. ProQuest. Web. 8 Nov. 2015 .
Muthanna, Anjali. "When Social Media Stood Up for Health Issues Health News]." The Times of
India (Online)Sep 24 2015. ProQuest. Web. 8 Nov. 2015 .
"Social Media at Night Causes Teen Depression." The Western Morning News: 16. Sep 11 2015.
ProQuest. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.