health

Social Media Is a Public Health Crisis. Let’s Treat It Like One

Jasmina Kasimova

 Lee, Helen Bouygues. “Social Media Is a Public Health Crisis. Let’s Treat It Like One”. 20 July, 2021

          In this digital newspaper, founder and president of the Reboot Foundation, which develops tools and resources to help people cultivate critical thinking, media literacy and reflective thought discusses the red flags of social media. In the newspaper it states, “ need to start treating these platforms like we do cigarettes and alcohol. That means implementing warning labels and age restrictions, and conducting better research into the health effects of long-term usage.” Social media has become an addiction for society as serious as cigarettes and alcohol. In the newspaper it states, “ Social media’s threat to our national mental health is at least as dangerous as anti-vaccine disinformation”. Social media is really bad for mental health and spreads misleading information. It also states, “Our research has shown that some 40% of social media users would give up their pet or car before they’d give up their accounts. And shockingly, more than 70% said they would not permanently scrap their social media for anything less than $10,000.” It is imprudent for people to place greater value on a digital platform than on physical possessions like their car, pet, or money. Social Media has become a serious issue in society. 

Analysis of negative effects on social media

Jasmina Kasimova

Wei, Ru. “Analysis of negative effects on social media”. School of Management Science,                                                                                                                         Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, Sichuan. 

              In this article, an associate professor who has a PhD in Management Science and Engineering University of Science and Technology of China discusses the negative impact of social media, in order to provide a useful reference for social media platforms to reduce the scope of negative impact, and for public institutions to formulate social media management solutions. In the article on page 179 paragraph 2 it states, “overuse of social media may cause psychological distress and self-concept objectification. Controlled by for-profit company, social media’s initial mission to addict users to earn profits, which may bring severe psychological problems.”Companies use strategies to get users addicted to social media, which leads to people developing mental issues. In the article on page 179 paragraph 2 it also states, “not only decrease empathy, but also increase a sense of isolation and the risk of later depression, even strengthen suicide ideation”. Social media has really bad negative effects on people including mental health problems such as; mood swings, depression, isolation, suicide thoughts.   

 Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Right by Katha Pollitt

Giuliana Gerbino

Pollitt, Katha. Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Right. New York: Picador, 2015. Print. 

Katha Pollitt is a known feminist and has been covering gender equality and female reproductive rights for decades. In this book, she talks about women and their rights on abortion, debates about sex and how life begins at conception. She brings out abortion as part of a women’s reproductive life and that it should not be viewed as a moral right. In the book, she takes the first person position and tries to argue out how abortion is beneficial to families, women, and society. She concludes that by accepting and legalizing abortion, the lives of pregnant women can be reclaimed. I believe this book is important to incorporate in my paper. Ultimately, Pollitt is arguing not just for reproductive rights but for reproductive justice and gives a powerful argument for abortion as a moral right and a social good.

  1. “Instead of shaming women for ending a pregnancy, we should acknowledge their realism and self-knowledge. We should accept that it’s a good for everyone if women have only the children they want and can raise well. Society benefits when women can commit to education and work and dream without having at the back of their mind a concern that maybe it’s all provisional, because at any moment an accidental pregnancy could derail them for life.
  2. “In the end, abortion is an issue of fundamental human rights. To force women to undergo pregnancy and childbirth against their will to deprive them of the right to make basic decisions about their lives and well-being, and to give that power to the state.”

Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies by Joanna N. Erdman, Rebecca J. Cook, et al.

Giuliana Gerbino

Erdman, Joanna N, Rebecca J. Cook, et al. Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014. Print. 

This 16 chapter book written entirely by lawyers, views laws on abortion in all parts of the globe and highlights both the failures and successes of these laws. The chapters investigate issues of access, rights, and justice, as well as social constructions of women, sexuality, and pregnancy, through legal procedures and regimes. They state that,“Although today is exceedingly difficult to encounter any legal treatment of abortion without some comment on the rights involved…Reflecting on historical revolutions led us to think of new transitions in hand and in prospect” (Erdman et. al). The authors write that their aim is to find new approaches in abortion and come up with ideas regarding abortion laws. They suggest that reforms in this legislation and legalization of abortion would help women make good choices about pregnancies. In their conclusion, women stand to benefit the most if restrictive abortion laws get abolished. This book would be a good source to incorporate in my research paper because the authors go in to talk about how legalization of abortion would benefit women.

“Although today is exceedingly difficult to encounter any legal treatment of abortion without some comment on the rights involved…Reflecting on historical revolutions led us to think of new transitions in hand and in prospect”

“Abortion law evolved ‘from placement within criminal or penal codes, to placement within health or public health legislation, and eventually to submergence within laws serving goals of human rights.”

National Laws and Unsafe Abortion: the Parameters of Change by Marge Berer

Giuliana Gerbino

Berer, Marge. “National Laws and Unsafe Abortion: the Parameters of Change.” Reproductive Health Matters. 12.24 (2004): 1-8.

The author of this article Marge Berer has been the Coordinator of the International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion since mid-2015. She founded and was the editor of the journal Reproductive Health Matters (1992-2015). Berer believes that unsafe abortion and deaths are avoidable. She states that “In countries where laws allow abortion, a lower number of unsafe abortions and deaths had been reported in comparison to countries with laws that restrict abortion” (Berer). This detail shows how safe abortion is a vital service that should be available to all pregnant women. Even if abortion is prohibited in countries and different states, abortions would still be carried out by unlicensed people causing women to suffer. I believe the author’s argument will help me in my paper when talking about the health risks that come with getting unsafe abortions in places where it isn’t legal.

  1. “Safe abortion is an essential health service for women, as essential for sexual and reproductive health as a safe contraception, and safe pregnancy and delivery care.”
  2. “The data also show that most abortions become safe mainly or only where women’s reasons for abortion, and the legal grounds for abortion coincide.”
“Safe abortion is an essential health service for women, as essential for sexual and reproductive health as a safe contraception, and safe pregnancy and delivery care.”
“The data also show that most abortions become safe mainly or only where women’s reasons for abortion, and the legal grounds for abortion coincide.”

Women Share What Abortion Was Like Before Roe v. Wade: “I Was One of the Lucky Ones, I survived.” By Kaelyn Ford

Giuliana Gerbino

Forde, Kaelyn. “Women Share What Abortion Was Like Before Roe v. Wade: ‘I Was One of the Lucky Ones, I survived’.” ABC News, ABC New Network, 4 Aug. 2018

This source is retrieved from ABC News, a reputable broadcasting company. It is not a primary source, however, it does focus on an interview with Adele Zimmermann, a woman who talks about paying for an illegal abortion before Roe v. Wade. In the article Forde states that “such restrictions are taking abortion access back to the time before Roe when only some states made abortion legal and only in some instances” (Forde). This source provides important information about the restrictions that make getting abortions difficult for women. This can be useful to strengthen my argument about the current day necessity for abortion. 

  1. “Nash said that today, while abortion remains relatively easy to access in the Northeast and on the West Coast, there are regions in the South and middle of the country where clinic closures, mandatory waiting periods and other restrictions have made it very difficult for women.
  2. “Marino added. ‘Women were dying, women were trying to create abortions on their own using coat hangers and things like that.”