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Social media hurts girls' mental health and education potential, says UNESCO report – CBC News

Published

5 months ago

April 28, 2024

Girls around the world tend to spend more time on social media than boys and it’s hurting their mental health, says a new report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

In the latest edition of the agency’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report released on Thursday, researchers examined the intersection of education and technology as it relates to girls.

Based on UNESCO data and published research from academics around the world, it broaches a range of topics, including female students’ engagement with technology, gender comparison of digital skills and attitudes toward science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.

Social media was noted as an area of concern. Some findings include:

Social media algorithms can magnify negative gender norms and practices, thus impacting students’ wellbeing.
The wellbeing of girls, who tend to spend more time on social media, is under more strain than boys.
Social media users reported more body-related image concerns than non-users.
The addictive design of some platforms can lead to excessive screen time and distract students from academics and extracurricular activities, and may also affect attention spans and learning habits.

WATCH | How too much time on social media can have negative effects for girls:

Social media harms girls’ mental health, report warns

2 days ago

Duration 2:00

Spending too much time on social media erodes girls’ mental health with negative impacts on learning, warns a new UNESCO report that also found girls are more susceptible than boys to negative feelings about appearance and body image.

‘Negative impacts’ on learning

The report arrives at a time when lawsuits against social media giants and updates to online harms legislation have contributed to more scrutiny into how the digital world impacts young people.

Looking distraught, a young girl sits crosslegged on the floor in a darkened room with her head in her hands, peering at an opened laptop facing her. — Girls are more negatively affected by social media than boys, according to GEM director Manos Antoninis. ‘That also has impacts — negative impacts — on learning and that is where we’re really concerned.’ (Sam Wordley/Shutterstock)

Girls are more negatively affected by social media than boys, for instance in developing negative feelings and emotions over body image, according to Manos Antoninis, the Paris-based director of UNESCO’s ongoing GEM report.

“That also has impacts — negative impacts — on learning and that is where we’re really concerned.”

In education circles, technology is generally viewed in a positive light, he noted, because “of the potential it brings to improving the content, making so many resources available at the tip of our fingers [and] engaging young people with the new opportunities.”

Feeling included in their classrooms is key to academic success, but if a student feels singled out, ridiculed or bullied on increasingly ubiquitous social media, “they disengage from their education and that is something that we don’t want to see.”

A woman indoors holds a small painting of a budding tree branch, with stacks of books and some plants seen behind her. — Ontario parent Kelly Dynes stands in the bedroom of her 17-year-old holding artwork created by her daughter. Dynes says social media was a factor that exacerbated her teen’s disordered eating, which derailed her schooling. (Yan Theoreti/CBC)

Young people struggle process content, mum says

Whitby, Ont., parent Kelly Dynes’ daughter should be graduating Grade 12 this year, but hospital visits and treatment for anorexia have delayed the teen’s schooling. Dynes attributes the 17-year-old’s disordered eating to “a perfect storm” of different factors, but believes social media played a significant role.

Though her daughter had been an A-student, Dynes said online content led her teen down a damaging path where she began to constantly question herself, thinking: “I’m not enough. I can’t do it. I’m not pretty enough. I’m not fit enough. I’m not smart enough.”

Just before the pandemic, the teen was a bright, high-achieving eighth grader fascinated by biology, botany, the environment, painting and crafts. After classes first moved online, Dynes saw her daughter develop an interest in fitness and exercise videos, which morphed into searching out healthy eating content, which then shifted to “how to cook to be fit” or “how to cook to be thin.”

A trio of teen girls look at a smartphone while sitting outdoors on a steps. Other teens are seen sitting on steps in the background. — Teens are exposed to a barrage of social media content ‘and they really don’t have the ability to process it and understand what’s good, what’s bad, what’s real, [and] what’s not real,’ Dynes said. (Drew Angerer/Getty)

By September 2020, the teen had her first treatment for anorexia. She continues to pursue treatment at a facility in the U.S., as she gets back on track with her schooling virtually.

“Social media being unregulated, kids … get sent this content and they really don’t have the ability to process it and understand what’s good, what’s bad, what’s real, [and] what’s not real,” Dynes said.

WATCH | How social media ‘rabbit holes’ can hurt developing teen minds:

How falling into social media ‘rabbit holes’ can hurt developing teen minds

3 days ago

Duration 2:59

Dr. Rachel Mitchell, a child and youth psychiatrist in Toronto, outlines how teens can quickly get sucked into a rabbit hole of potentially damaging social media content they’re unable to cut themselves off from.

For some young people, interacting and communicating with others online is valuable in filling the “social bucket” in their lives, said Dr. Rachel Mitchell, a child and youth psychiatrist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences in Toronto.

Still, that UNESCO flagged social media as a concern sends an important message about its potential influence on girls today, she added.

“It sucks you in so to speak, into what’s called a rabbit hole. And if you’re not in a good place mentally, the ability to a) process what you’re seeing, b) regulate what you’re seeing and c) cut yourself off, is extremely hard,” Mitchell said.

“There’s no parent eye around… and so you’re really left, literally, to your own devices to fend for yourself.”

A group of teen girls in school uniforms look at their phones as they stand outdoors. — While teen magazines might have been blamed for fuelling negative body image issues in the past, the problem is now more ubiquitous with social media, said Toronto-based child and youth psychiatrist Rachel Mitchell. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Intensifying long-standing problems

In the past, teen and women’s magazines were blamed for fuelling negative body image concerns in girls, but the difference now is that online content is unrelenting, Mitchell noted.

“You wouldn’t always have a magazine in your back pocket to look at every spare moment … which is essentially what’s happening [with smartphones]. So it’s the volume and the intensity of the information. The vulnerability really hasn’t changed,” she said.

“That was already there in society and it’s just magnified that much more.”

Mitchell acknowledges that regulating social media is a complex discussion involving a host of issues, viewpoints and stakeholders.

“We need to have conversations about social media in schools. We need to have conversations about social media in our family lives. We need to have conversations about how much social media we as individuals are going to allow ourselves to use — and all those things apply to teenagers and younger children as well,” she said.

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What to stream this weekend: ‘Civil War,’ Snow Patrol, ‘How to Die Alone,’ ‘Tulsa King’ and ‘Uglies’

Published

4 days ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

Hallmark launching a streaming service with two new original series, and Bill Skarsgård out for revenge in “Boy Kills World” are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Alex Garland’s “Civil War” starring Kirsten Dunst, Natasha Rothwell’s heartfelt comedy for Hulu called “How to Die Alone” and Sylvester Stallone’s second season of “Tulsa King” debuts.

NEW MOVIES TO STREAM SEPT. 9-15

— Alex Garland’s “Civil War” is finally making its debut on MAX on Friday. The film stars Kirsten Dunst as a veteran photojournalist covering a violent war that’s divided America; She reluctantly allows an aspiring photographer, played by Cailee Spaeny, to tag along as she, an editor (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and a reporter (Wagner Moura) make the dangerous journey to Washington, D.C., to interview the president (Nick Offerman), a blustery, rising despot who has given himself a third term, taken to attacking his citizens and shut himself off from the press. In my review, I called it a bellowing and haunting experience; Smart and thought-provoking with great performances. It’s well worth a watch.

— Joey King stars in Netflix’s adaptation of Scott Westerfeld’s “Uglies,” about a future society in which everyone is required to have beautifying cosmetic surgery at age 16. Streaming on Friday, McG directed the film, in which King’s character inadvertently finds herself in the midst of an uprising against the status quo. “Outer Banks” star Chase Stokes plays King’s best friend.

— Bill Skarsgård is out for revenge against the woman (Famke Janssen) who killed his family in “Boy Kills World,” coming to Hulu on Friday. Moritz Mohr directed the ultra-violent film, of which Variety critic Owen Gleiberman wrote: “It’s a depraved vision, yet I got caught up in its kick-ass revenge-horror pizzazz, its disreputable commitment to what it was doing.”

— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

NEW MUSIC TO STREAM SEPT. 9-15

— The year was 2006. Snow Patrol, the Northern Irish-Scottish alternative rock band, released an album, “Eyes Open,” producing the biggest hit of their career: “Chasing Cars.” A lot has happened in the time since — three, soon to be four quality full-length albums, to be exact. On Friday, the band will release “The Forest Is the Path,” their first new album in seven years. Anthemic pop-rock is the name of the game across songs of love and loss, like “All,”“The Beginning” and “This Is the Sound Of Your Voice.”

— For fans of raucous guitar music, Jordan Peele’s 2022 sci-fi thriller, “NOPE,” provided a surprising, if tiny, thrill. One of the leads, Emerald “Em” Haywood portrayed by Keke Palmer, rocks a Jesus Lizard shirt. (Also featured through the film: Rage Against the Machine, Wipers, Mr Bungle, Butthole Surfers and Earth band shirts.) The Austin noise rock band are a less than obvious pick, having been signed to the legendary Touch and Go Records and having stopped releasing new albums in 1998. That changes on Friday the 13th, when “Rack” arrives. And for those curious: The Jesus Lizard’s intensity never went away.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

NEW SHOWS TO STREAM SEPT. 9-15

— Hallmark launched a streaming service called Hallmark+ on Tuesday with two new original series, the scripted drama “The Chicken Sisters” and unscripted series “Celebrations with Lacey Chabert.” If you’re a Hallmark holiday movies fan, you know Chabert. She’s starred in more than 30 of their films and many are holiday themed. Off camera, Chabert has a passion for throwing parties and entertaining. In “Celebrations,” deserving people are surprised with a bash in their honor — planned with Chabert’s help. “The Chicken Sisters” stars Schuyler Fisk, Wendie Malick and Lea Thompson in a show about employees at rival chicken restaurants in a small town. The eight-episode series is based on a novel of the same name.

— Natasha Rothwell of “Insecure” and “The White Lotus” fame created and stars in a new heartfelt comedy for Hulu called “How to Die Alone.” She plays Mel, a broke, go-along-to-get-along, single, airport employee who, after a near-death experience, makes the conscious decision to take risks and pursue her dreams. Rothwell has been working on the series for the past eight years and described it to The AP as “the most vulnerable piece of art I’ve ever put into the world.” Like Mel, Rothwell had to learn to bet on herself to make the show she wanted to make. “In the Venn diagram of me and Mel, there’s significant overlap,” said Rothwell. It premieres Friday on Hulu.

— Shailene Woodley, DeWanda Wise and Betty Gilpin star in a new drama for Starz called “Three Women,” about entrepreneur Sloane, homemaker Lina and student Maggie who are each stepping into their power and making life-changing decisions. They’re interviewed by a writer named Gia (Woodley.) The series is based on a 2019 best-selling book of the same name by Lisa Taddeo. “Three Women” premieres Friday on Starz.

— Sylvester Stallone’s second season of “Tulsa King” debuts Sunday on Paramount+. Stallone plays Dwight Manfredi, a mafia boss who was recently released from prison after serving 25 years. He’s sent to Tulsa to set up a new crime syndicate. The series is created by Taylor Sheridan of “Yellowstone” fame.

— Alicia Rancilio

NEW VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

— One thing about the title of Focus Entertainment’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 — you know exactly what you’re in for. You are Demetrian Titus, a genetically enhanced brute sent into battle against the Tyranids, an insectoid species with an insatiable craving for human flesh. You have a rocket-powered suit of armor and an arsenal of ridiculous weapons like the “Chainsword,” the “Thunderhammer” and the “Melta Rifle,” so what could go wrong? Besides the squishy single-player mode, there are cooperative missions and six-vs.-six free-for-alls. You can suit up now on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S or PC.

— Likewise, Wild Bastards isn’t exactly the kind of title that’s going to attract fans of, say, Animal Crossing. It’s another sci-fi shooter, but the protagonists are a gang of 13 varmints — aliens and androids included — who are on the run from the law. Each outlaw has a distinctive set of weapons and special powers: Sarge, for example, is a robot with horse genes, while Billy the Squid is … well, you get the idea. Australian studio Blue Manchu developed the 2019 cult hit Void Bastards, and this Wild-West-in-space spinoff has the same snarky humor and vibrant, neon-drenched cartoon look. Saddle up on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S, Nintendo Switch or PC.

— Lou Kesten

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Trump could cash out his DJT stock within weeks. Here’s what happens if he sells

Published

4 weeks ago

August 23, 2024

Harry Miller

Former President Donald Trump is on the brink of a significant financial decision that could have far-reaching implications for both his personal wealth and the future of his fledgling social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). As the lockup period on his shares in TMTG, which owns Truth Social, nears its end, Trump could soon be free to sell his substantial stake in the company. However, the potential payday, which makes up a large portion of his net worth, comes with considerable risks for Trump and his supporters.

Trump’s stake in TMTG comprises nearly 59% of the company, amounting to 114,750,000 shares. As of now, this holding is valued at approximately $2.6 billion. These shares are currently under a lockup agreement, a common feature of initial public offerings (IPOs), designed to prevent company insiders from immediately selling their shares and potentially destabilizing the stock. The lockup, which began after TMTG’s merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), is set to expire on September 25, though it could end earlier if certain conditions are met.

Should Trump decide to sell his shares after the lockup expires, the market could respond in unpredictable ways. The sale of a substantial number of shares by a major stakeholder like Trump could flood the market, potentially driving down the stock price. Daniel Bradley, a finance professor at the University of South Florida, suggests that the market might react negatively to such a large sale, particularly if there aren’t enough buyers to absorb the supply. This could lead to a sharp decline in the stock’s value, impacting both Trump’s personal wealth and the company’s market standing.

Moreover, Trump’s involvement in Truth Social has been a key driver of investor interest. The platform, marketed as a free speech alternative to mainstream social media, has attracted a loyal user base largely due to Trump’s presence. If Trump were to sell his stake, it might signal a lack of confidence in the company, potentially shaking investor confidence and further depressing the stock price.

Trump’s decision is also influenced by his ongoing legal battles, which have already cost him over $100 million in legal fees. Selling his shares could provide a significant financial boost, helping him cover these mounting expenses. However, this move could also have political ramifications, especially as he continues his bid for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential race.

Trump Media’s success is closely tied to Trump’s political fortunes. The company’s stock has shown volatility in response to developments in the presidential race, with Trump’s chances of winning having a direct impact on the stock’s value. If Trump sells his stake, it could be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his own political future, potentially undermining both his campaign and the company’s prospects.

Truth Social, the flagship product of TMTG, has faced challenges in generating traffic and advertising revenue, especially compared to established social media giants like X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. Despite this, the company’s valuation has remained high, fueled by investor speculation on Trump’s political future. If Trump remains in the race and manages to secure the presidency, the value of his shares could increase. Conversely, any missteps on the campaign trail could have the opposite effect, further destabilizing the stock.

As the lockup period comes to an end, Trump faces a critical decision that could shape the future of both his personal finances and Truth Social. Whether he chooses to hold onto his shares or cash out, the outcome will likely have significant consequences for the company, its investors, and Trump’s political aspirations.

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Arizona man accused of social media threats to Trump is arrested

Published

4 weeks ago

August 23, 2024

Harry Miller

Cochise County, AZ — Law enforcement officials in Arizona have apprehended Ronald Lee Syvrud, a 66-year-old resident of Cochise County, after a manhunt was launched following alleged death threats he made against former President Donald Trump. The threats reportedly surfaced in social media posts over the past two weeks, as Trump visited the US-Mexico border in Cochise County on Thursday.

Syvrud, who hails from Benson, Arizona, located about 50 miles southeast of Tucson, was captured by the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday afternoon. The Sheriff’s Office confirmed his arrest, stating, “This subject has been taken into custody without incident.”

In addition to the alleged threats against Trump, Syvrud is wanted for multiple offences, including failure to register as a sex offender. He also faces several warrants in both Wisconsin and Arizona, including charges for driving under the influence and a felony hit-and-run.

The timing of the arrest coincided with Trump’s visit to Cochise County, where he toured the US-Mexico border. During his visit, Trump addressed the ongoing border issues and criticized his political rival, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, for what he described as lax immigration policies. When asked by reporters about the ongoing manhunt for Syvrud, Trump responded, “No, I have not heard that, but I am not that surprised and the reason is because I want to do things that are very bad for the bad guys.”

This incident marks the latest in a series of threats against political figures during the current election cycle. Just earlier this month, a 66-year-old Virginia man was arrested on suspicion of making death threats against Vice President Kamala Harris and other public officials.