Unit 2 Reflection

 Rory Day

Lyndsey Weiner

WRT 205

3/26/2024

Unit 2 reflection

The topic of technology is an extremely broad topic so originally I had a difficult time deciding and narrowing down the focus of my final research article.  Through the unit one and unit 2 assignments I grew to narrow my focus on something that I personally am very interested in and find extremely important in today's day and age.  Using the sources given to us in class and found as homework I chose to write my final part of the portfolio about the negative impacts of social media and content addiction.  This is a topic that I think that all people my age can relate to and should know more about.  Especially me, because I always find myself on my phone trying to distract myself from boredom and using two different screens at the same time for entertainment.  I knew this was a problem about myself personally so I wanted to look deeper into the topic so that I can improve myself and my own well being as well as informing others and hopefully make a change for the better.  I wanted to write to the people my age going through the same experience as myself and the best way that made me realize my horrible habits was to look at facts and online articles as well as video essays posted onto sites like Youtube.  I attempted to make it clear, concise, and with multiple viewpoints and opinions to try and paint a large picture.  

This unit I challenged myself to use different types of sources more than last time.  In unit one I used mainly articles and websites as well as sources given to me, which worked but I wanted to push myself to find sources that resonated with me on my own.  So I used Youtube videos, studies, data, and opinion piece articles, with the intent of being as well informed regarding the public perception and what research says.  I found it difficult to find many studies that provided concrete decisions regarding the conversation which I found interesting, and I believe that a reason for that would be how new and young the conversation really is.  The major effects of social media use on mental health only started to gain interest around 2020 because of covid and people being forced to use them to connect with anyone else in quarantine.  Because of this I had to shift towards looking at public perception and other people's personal experience and testimonials.  The conversation seems to be staying the same but i believe as more research and time is spent surrounding the topic we will find more concrete data and information to truly form a scientific backed opinion.  There was a wide variety of information and sources available to me, but most importantly plenty of quality research and information published by government health organizations.  I think more primary research surrounding teenagers and children even younger needs to be taken because that is where the largest effect seems to be taking place.  More surveys and person by person stories being told about their own experience will only further the conversation.  Personally I would go to high schools and middle schools and give surveys and attempt to interview as many people as possible.

This project has completely changed the way that I personally engage with my phone and technology as a whole.  I had a realization about how much time I waste on these sites and how I can more efficiently use my time to better myself.  I have personally reflected and thought about this alot in the recent months and I have decided to actively try and change for the better, whether that is through limiting my screen time or just being more cognizant of how the information i am engaging with influences and affects me.  I personally am so happy with the progress I have seen within myself and it really inspired me to learn as much as possible before writing the final assignment of the unit.  Content addiction and addiction to your phone was a problem that I had realized about myself and this unit was a great reason to really dive deep and learn more about the topic and myself as a person.  With writing never really being a specialty for me I have found it to be difficult to find motivation and really care about what I'm writing about, but with this project i chose something deeply interesting to me and i enjoyed ever second of the unit.  I would love to take that and apply it to my other classes and find what interests me about those topic to be truly motivated as well as enjoying my entire time doing the work.