In this unit, we focused mainly on specific mental health conditions and how media may play a role in creating stigma. Mental health stigma is primarily caused by wrongful portrayals, which may be done through social media in the form of productions, discussions, or misinformation. I used to think media has an ultimately negative effect on mental health due to weakening social interactions and presence, but now I’ve learned some programs may actually be beneficial to adolescent health. For instance, an app reminder whenever you open certain social media programs could play a role in awareness of addiction. In the final unit project, we researched a chosen mental health condition in-depth and presented it to our group. Through this process, I’ve inferred it is crucial for teens to be aware of the severity and complexity of mental health issues. These can bring as destructing consequences as physical conditions, but sometimes are regarded negatively.
My main evidence according to “6 ways social media hacks your brain” reveals the many ways cell phones could potentially negatively impact high schoolers. It implies the idea of thoughtless scrolling and addiction. Furthermore, it points that social media could also harm our memory, through encouraging multitasking. My opinion is that increased cell phone usage would ultimately lead to weakened bonds between relationships, but which is inevitable due to our nature of seeking accessibility. I believe the best we can do is create certain habits of managements for ourselves (e.g. locking our phones during classes). I think my teachers and parents may agree with the part where we need management, but they might not completely trust our self-management skills. The most useful strategy is probably a healthy balance between in-person and cell phone social interactions, which could be managed by chatting/hanging out during breather and lunch during the school day.
My second wish was aimed towards detecting and detering my negative strong emotions. It is important to me because I have noticed that in circumstances where I feel a strong emotion, I often cannot remember to take a moment and rationally consider the options. Therefore, I have made this goal to increase my self-awareness. This relates to my wellness compass’s emotions section as well as my interpersonal relationships, as my control on my emotions impact my actions to other people. My main obstacle was not that I did not want to control my negative strong emotions, but rather I forget in the heat of the moment. This led to my plan of recognizing similar situations and start trying to prevent or predict these circumstances. Overall, I’ve had some success at least calming down my negative strong emotions, especially in recent tournaments regarding my nervousness. I employed the law of “make it easy” and “make it obvious”.
Why have a digital portfolio at SAS?
Creating a portfolio, or blog is a great way to collect all the work you’ve done throughout your academic career. You can include academic, athletic, and personal artifacts or experiences that you want to share with a wider audience. This is a great way to organize all your learning in one place and you can take it with you when you leave SAS. When you make your portfolio, you create posts that are categorized according to your subject. Some categories have already been set up for you, but if you need more categories you can add them as needed. It’s important that your posts have the following:
- An engaging title – this should not include the name of the subject since this is referenced in the category. Think of this as the first opportunity to engage and hook your reader!
- Body – this is where you share your learning. This should include a combination of text and media in the form of images, graphics, and embedded videos. You should always consider how your post looks to your audience. Is it engaging and organized? Do they want to keep reading?
- Category – select one that has been set for you or add a new category. Posts can have more than one category e.g. Humanities and Myself as a Learner
- Tags – create tags that can be used as keywords to describe your post. Tags help organize your post a little more! Aim to have 3-5 tags for each post. For example, if you are posting about a novel you wrote, you might want the following tags: #Fiction, #MurderMystery, #Theme, #PlotDiagram
Click on the images below to find a few helpful tips for creating your posts, adding media, and making categories:
