The League of Women Voters of Plumas County has named the winners of its annual essay contest for high school students. The topic, “Does social media use have an impact on the mental health of adolescents?,” drew a record 79 essays submissions.
Judges evaluated the essays in two groups: students in ninth and 10th grades, and those in 11th and 12th grades.
Addison Gay, a Quincy Junior-Senior High School junior, was the grand prize winner for 11th and 12th grade students. Honorable mention went to Daniel Nickerson, also a junior at Quincy High.
In the ninth and 10th grade category, Madeline Blaufuss, a Quincy 10th grader, was awarded the grand prize. Honorable mention went to Cheyanne Ellison, who is also a sophomore at Quincy High.
“While writing styles were quite varied, this year’s entries were creative, resourceful, and very informative. The judges learned a lot,” said Clare Churchill, one of the League of Women Voters’ judges and a Plumas League member. The other judges were League members Karen Pierson, Susan Christensen and Hal Hein.
Essays were judged on theme development, creativity, clarity, writing technique, and manuscript appearance. Judges applied a slightly different weight to these criteria for the two grade categories. The grand prize winner in each grade category will receive $250 and the honorable mention winner in each grade category will receive $100.
“Students’ perspectives of social media use varied; it was refreshing to know they related the topic to their own personal interaction with it,” Churchill said.
Participation in this year’s essay contest included Quincy Junior-Senior High School, Plumas Charter School’s Quincy site, PCS’s Indian Valley Academy and Devin Cragg’s English classes at Chester Junior-Senior High School.
The grand prize essays will be read at a meeting of the Plumas County Board of Supervisors early in 2024. All of the winners will participate in a short group interview with Tommy Miles, general manager of KQNY radio, and read their essays for a radio show. The dates of both activities will be announced soon.
The Plumas League has been sponsoring the annual essay contest since the 1990s. Named in honor of its primary founder, the Nancy Lund Memorial Essay Contest is designed to promote an interest among students in civic issues and democratic processes.
Churchill congratulated all 79 students who entered the essay contest, and thanked them for participating.
Here are the winning essays, unedited and presented as submitted:
Madeline Blaufuss
“Social Media’s Impact on the Mental Health Of Teenagers”
It’s no surprise that 95 percent of teenagers are using social media but the shocking fact is that over half say that it would be hard to give it up. Teenagers are constantly on their phones and this addictive habit is having a massive effect on their lives. Social media is negatively impacting teenagers’ mental health in multiple ways. We need to be aware of this problem and come up with ways to address it as social media is taking over everyone’s lives, especially the younger generation.
There have been countless tests done on the effects of social media on adolescents, and most of the data points to social media being harmful. A study of U.S. adolescents aged 12 to 15 found that when adolescents spent over three hours on social media they “faced double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes including symptoms of depression and anxiety.” Along with causing depression and anxiety, social media creates unrealistic expectations with a constant display of people’s faces, bodies, and lifestyles that are usually heavily filtered and only show a select portion of their actual lives. Adolescents, especially teenage girls, are already dealing with being self-conscious, having low self-esteem, and constantly comparing themselves to others. According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory, “When asked about the impact of social media on their body image, 46 percent of adolescents aged 13 to 17 said social media made them feel worse.” Clearly, the potential effects of social media on mental health are dangerous and we must find a solution.
Many people may ask why teens who are concerned about their mental health being affected by social media don’t just stop using social media, but it isn’t that simple of a solution. If a teen decides to completely remove themselves from social media platforms it can be beneficial, but it can also severely isolate them from their peers. However, this doesn’t mean that people should ignore the problem of being too engulfed in their phones. Social media is addicting and research has shown that “the average time spent on social media is 3.5 hours a day” for eighth and tenth graders. A good compromise to the dilemma — between not being constantly on social media but not missing out on interacting with friends — is to remove apps like Instagram and TikTok but keep the apps that you use solely to text with friends.
Social media is causing mental health issues, bad body image, and unrealistic expectations about life. To prevent this teenagers should be aware of how much time they are spending on their screens and be conscious of always putting forth positive messages on social media to prevent cyberbullying. The negative effect of social media on teenagers’ mental health is a rising problem but if more kids, teenagers, and adults are aware of it, the faster we can stop it from becoming more of an issue.
Addison Gay
“The Impact of Social Media on Youth Culture
Almost everyone I know actively uses at least one social media platform. Recently, there has been a global boom of social media users and they keep getting younger and younger. Scientists have reasons to believe that social media use can have a negative effect on brains that are not fully developed. This can lead to self-image issues, depression, anxiety, and distractions from reality. Therefore, social media use negatively impacts the mental health of teens.
In the United States alone, around 302 million people access social media frequently as of 2023. According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory, 40 percent of children ages 8 to 12, and up to 95 percent of children ages 13 to 17 use social media. Kids pay more attention to the lives of the people on their phones than they do to their real lives. Oftentimes, this is a gateway to self-image issues and unrealistic views of other people’s lives. People on the Internet like to show off all of their fancy jewelry and their big houses, which sets high expectations for kids and could potentially make them embarrassed of themselves.
On a global scale, around 4.9 billion people view social media frequently. Approximately 65 percent of adults around the world say their kids have been bullied over social media. This kind of bullying has a name; it is called cyber-bullying. The results of cyber-bullying are depression, anxiety, pressure, and sometimes it leads to suicide. According to the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 13.6 percent of adolescents have made serious suicide attempts due to cyberbullying. Due to the risk of real-life harm, some states are considering age restrictions and certain controls on social media platforms.
Although people may think that social media can provide youth with opportunities to creatively think, express themselves, and enhance connection, it is not worth the risk. The negative effects of exposure to social media at a young age overpower the ability to be creative. The Internet can be beneficial, but it can also be dangerous to children with developing brains. The use of social media can lead to a loss of sleep, which can disrupt neurological development. There are many other ways for kids to express themselves like painting, playing sports, wearing fun clothes, and other things that kids should be doing.
Social media can negatively affect teenagers who actively use it. Many bad consequences of social media include cyberbullying, societal pressure, and mental illness. There are other activities that kids can do that will benefit them in the long run and help their brains grow. In conclusion, instead of putting your kid in front of a screen, make them go outside and make real connections with each other.
Information submitted by League of Women Voters of Plumas County
