Question: How have technology and social media affected your life negatively/positively?
“I have Instagram, but I don’t really use it. I see what other people are doing, but I don’t post myself.”
Negative: “I find myself looking on TikTok for really extended amounts of time without even realizing. I think my dopamine receptors are like fried.”
Positive: “It helps me communicate with people from my hometown who I don’t see often and friends who live far away.”
Negative: “I’ll get lost in my phone and I’ll just waste hours, and I could have done something else or been more productive.”
Positive: “I don’t have social media–I can enjoy what I’m doing without worrying about if I’m going to post on social media later.”
“I feel, like sometimes, it hides your true self. So, like, when I post, I know I’m only showing people what I want them to see about me.”
“No, it has not. I’ve had moments where, if something is bothering me, I just shut my phone off. So I don’t have to look at it.”
“I would say, yes, it’s caused me a lot of unnecessary stress, especially for teenagers’ appearances and stuff like that. I’d say that’s had an impact on me since like middle school.”
“Yes, it has some bullying. Mainly bad things online aren’t, true but many people think they’re true. It has good and positive, there’s pros and cons to everything.”