Stephanie Lohman

Prof. Rush-Ossenbeck

English 102

Research Project Essay

31 January 2012

Annotated Bibliography

American Psychological Association. “Social networking’s good and bad

impacts on kids.” ScienceDaily, 6 Aug. 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2012.

• “Facebook can be distracting and can negatively impact learning. Studies found that middle school, high school and college students who checked Facebook at least once during a 15-minute study period achieved lower grades.”

• “Daily overuse of media and technology has a negative effect on the health of all children, preteens and teenagers by making them more prone to anxiety, depression, and other psychological disorders, as well as by making them more susceptible to future health problems.”

In this article by the American Psychological Association they discuss they negative effects that social networking sites can have. They include how it has been shown that it creates a negative impact on learning and depending on the amount of times you check it daily it can proven that students will receive lower grades on average. It also states that social networking has been to shown to cause health problems in children and teenagers in that they may be more likely to have anxiety, depression, and are more likely to be effected by health problems in the future.

Timm, Dianne, and Carolyn Duven. “Privacy and social

networking sites.” New Directions for Student Services. 2008.124 (2008): 89-101. Print.

• “College students are increasingly sharing their lives online through social networking sites with little concern for who may be viewing their information. Understanding student use of social networking sites along with privacy rights online will help professionals in the development of appropriate online activity and policies.”

• “When contemplating issues of privacy, there are two important considerations to keep in mind: the intent of the information shared and the expectation that it will remain private (Hodge, 2006). A person who willingly posts information on a social networking site for others to view cannot assume it is private because the intent is to share that information.

• “Individuals feel that it is within their rights under the First Amendment to post information on a social networking site (Hodge, 2006). The First Amendment does protect an individual’s right to speak, write, and gather freely so far as it does not cause harm or incite violence (Verga, 2007).”

This article discusses the importance of privacy when using a social networking site. Many college students carelessly post things on their Facebook thinking that they are private yet they don’t know exactly what is public and what is private and who can see it. Many people believe that they have every right to write whatever they want to display on their social networking site because of the first amendment. Even though the first amendment supports the idea of the freedom of speech there are restrictions. For instance, you are not allowed to post something that may be threatening to somebody else even if it is supposed to be private and they see it because when you post something on a social networking site you are choosing to share an idea or a thought publicly.

Frazier, Karen. “Negative impact of social networking sites.” Love to Know Social

Networking. N.p., 23 7 2011. Web. 31 Jan. 2011

<http://www.socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com>.

• “According to e-master, global social networking revenues will exceed $10 billion 2013. Most social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and many others offer their services to members for free, yet still net significant income.”

• “Social networking sites are uniquely positioned to make money by matching people to products. Since you generate content on a social networking site that indicates your interests, social and work background, and a great deal of other information about your personal preferences, the social networking sites can target advertisements specifically to you, a service for which advertisers are willing to pay significant amounts of money.”

• “While on the surface it appears social networking brings people together across the Internet, in a larger sense it may create social isolation, according to a BBC News report. As people spend increasing amounts of time on social networks, they experience less face-to-face interaction”

So after doing more research on the sources that I had found for my topic last week I’m disappointed in saying that I am switching my topic. Alternative methods of curing cancer was an interesting topic however did not full captivate my attention and lacked any true results that could be set in stone. I feel as though I would be unable to back up my argument. I know that this is a last minute decision, but is completely necessary if I want to write a persuading argumentative research paper that will meet the requirements for this course.

After I attended class last Thursday I was intrigued by the discussion we had that was revolving around Facebook and other social networking sites. My head was spinning with all the negatives and pitfalls that were included in the social networking world that I would have never noticed if it weren’t for the discussion. It was then that I decided I needed to change my topic to something that would intrigue me as much as this did. I immediately wanted to know more about how social networking sites can in fact affect your life. There is so much to cover when it comes to social networking so I know that there will be more than enough information to help me support my argument.

My argument is that social networking sites are becoming too much of a priority in peoples lives and is creating bad habits and many issues in peoples lives that they could avoid if they would limit the importance and use of their social networking sites. The first issue I would address is the time commitment people invest in on whatever social networking site they are apart of. According to facebook.com 8 billion minutes are spent a day browsing across the world. Think of all the time that is wasted. Couldn’t we be spending time in a more productive way, even if it was just spending time with a friend in person and working towards being able to communicate socially with people that are sitting right in front of you and not on a computer monitor?

Another pitfall I would be glad to address about social networking sites is the issues that involve privacy. Even if you have your privacy settings set to friends only, you can never control what other people post about you or tag you in. For example what if you tell your boss that you are sick on Friday, but then a friend outs you by writing on your Facebook wall and asking how your vacation was and you forgot you were Facebook friends with your boss. You can delete the comment, but what if you aren’t quick enough and your boss sees it? You lose all your credibility as one of your boss’s workers and be doubted the next you call off. Not to mention that Facebook keeps all public records ones Facebook so if it was not private at one point in time then a potential employer would be able to view what was on your Facebook at the time that it was not private.

Something that I think many people have a problem with, but are too afraid to admit is social networking addiction. Psychologists have found that Facebook addiction is a real diagnosis and just like any other addiction can only be addressed if you can own up to it and admit that you have an addiction Facebook. There are many signs that you may have an addiction to Facebook. The first sign that you may be addicted to Facebook is if you lose sleep over Facebook and end up spending hours on end a night on the site. If you are losing sleep over Facebook you may have a problem. Another clue that may inquire that you have an addiction is if you spend more than an hour a day on the site. Specialists suggest that there is no need to spend over a half of an hour a day on Facebook. I think this links with how most of the time we do spend on Facebook is wasteful and unimportant.

One other sign of addiction is if you are feeling compelled my social pressure on the websites. Facebook and other social networking sites have been proven to create insecurities in users and create low self esteems as well as created a huge issue that being cyber bullying. The amount of suicides that have happened in the past couple of years as a result of cyber bullying are disgusting ad people taking part in these activities should be disgusted with themselves. I will be to include many personal stories in my paper that will prove my point about just how relevant cyber bullying is not just in the United States, but as a growing epidemic in the world. On the other hand it’s social networking that is making this problem more well known and is also creating support for people who have been cyber bullied or are still being bullied over the internet. One example of a support group is the “It Get’s Better” Campaign. Along with this I want to do more research on whether or not there are more support groups on social networking sites or if there is more cyber bullying going on. Another side to this research would be psychological and why people feel more comfortable saying thing through text on the Internet than saying things to ones actual face. There is proof that people are more likely to say something that they wouldn’t normally say over the Internet in text than they would say to an actual persons face. I would be interested in discovering more statistics on that information.

The last and post popular issue that I’ve found popping up in many of my classes this year is the concern that the reliance on communicating through social networking sites is effecting how effective people are when they are socially interacting with one another in person. There is big worry that the younger generation is going to have communication difficulties outside of social networking and it is going to affect us when we have to perform in the work world. Although social networking is beneficial in the fact that it allows us to keep strong bonds with people across the world it’s also creating an issue with misinterpreting who your genuine friends are because of the “perfect” front people can easily portray on a social networking site. It’s so much easier to log in and write on someone’s wall and tell them that your thinking about them, but would that person make the effort to call or visit you in the same situation. Some people have thousands of “Facebook friends” but nobody can actually keep up with that many people on a genuine intimate level. These websites can make it difficult to decipher who your true friends are and who your “Facebook” friends are.

All of these negative examples of social networking are something to think about. As someone who spends multiple hours a day on social networking sites I know this research is going to make me think twice about how I use these sites and how much I really do rely on them in my daily life. Something to think about.

Kehr, Richard, ed. “Cancer Options: The Surprising Power of

Mother Nature.” Cancer Tutor. N.p., 2012. Web. 24 Jan 2012. <www.cancertutor.com>.

Pierce, Tanya. Outsmart Your Cancer. 2nd ed. Stateline:

Thoughtworks, 2009. Print.

Robotin, Monica. Integrating complementary therapies into

mainstream cancer care: which way forward?. 185. Sydney: The Medical Journal of Australia, 2009. 377-379. Web. <http://www.mja.com.au>.

Schmid, Ulla. “Healing Cancer Naturally.” Alternative Holistic

Cancer Treatment. N.p., 2012. Web. 24 Jan 2012. <www.healingcancernaturally.com>.

Snyder, Joshua. “Alternative Methods of Treating Cancer.” Know

Cancer. N.p., 2012. Web. 24 Jan 2012. <www.knowcancer.com>.

White, Jeffery. “Complementary and Alternative Medicine.”

National Cancer Institute. N.p., 2012. Web. 24 Jan 2012. <www.cancer.gov>.

In the past few months my dad’s diagnosis has truly made a huge impact on my family and I. When something like this happens it’s hard to get your mind off of it. It’s difficult enough to not just believe everything has been happening is just a bad dream. My father’s diagnosis has made me more aware of how many people are actually affected by cancer every year. My growing curiosity about this subject has led me to the conclusion that a topic revolving around cancer would be a great topic for me because the more I know the better. So where to begin? How do I narrow this broad topic into something that’s not only interesting to me, but others? When my dad when through his first round of chemotherapy I had no idea what to expect. In fact I thought he would be getting his chemo through radiation treatments. It had turned out that I was completely wrong. He would be receiving his chemo through an IV that would be going through him for 24 hours a day seven days of the week. When I finally got the courage I asked my father if he was scared. His reply surprised me. He told me that he had felt confused and angry, but never once scared. Followed by that he explained that there are only two people that can control his fate: the doctor and God. I realized all I could do was have faith. I needed to have faith in my dad and be as positive as I could bear. Positivity is a word that has become very popular in my vocabulary over the past few months. It’s redundant in all of the get-well cards we’ve received and spewed out to my father by all of his visitors. It was not until the other day at the hospital until it hit me. I knew what I was going to research. My best friends Emily’s mother is a spiritual healer and although it was something my friends and I used to laugh about joke about, it wasn’t until my dad’s diagnosis that I took it seriously. When Emily’s mother offered to come in and work with my dad I thought it was a little strange. However, my mother took the offer graciously and believed in trying anything and everything to help my dad’s situation. So when Emily’s mom came in to use the healing touch on my dad my mother and I had no idea what to expect so we left and waited in the lobby as she began to work her magic. After a half hour had passed, Emily’s mom met us in the lobby. She told us to wait ten minutes before entering his room so he could relax. She ended up telling us all about her past as spiritual healer and how the importance of her process was to collect all the bad energy in his body and to replace it positivity and relaxation. She said positivity was the key. Although I first thought that it was a bunch of bologna at first, it wasn’t until I heard my father raving about his experience with the healing touch that I began to second-guess my opinion on the idea of it. This is where my research topic idea ties in. I want to ask the question is chemotherapy the only thing that can cure cancer? Can positivity, vitamins, a nutritional diet do the trick? While many may think this is a stupid question to ask I beg to differ. I’ve found many studies and research that has been done on this topic and I want to find all the answers. If there is something other than chemotherapy that can help my dad I want to know. Although I know there will be many arguments verifying that chemotherapy is the most productive and proven way to kill cancer I am determined to educate others about the “alternative” cancer treatments that are out there and why they may accommodate to many of the cancer patients hostility towards the repetitive chemotherapy treatments they most face. My first source that I have found is www.cancertutor.com, which has given me some facts about natural cancer treatments as well on facts for why chemotherapy shouldn’t be the first suggested treatment to every patient. There should be more options out there! This first description of chemotherapy that I found on the website was surprising and really caught my attention. “Chemotherapy destroys a person’s immune system because the immune system has many fast-growing cells. Chemotherapy also kills many fast-growing cells in the stomach and colon, making it difficult for the cancer patient to properly digest healthy foods. Furthermore, chemotherapy is so toxic that if a person used enough chemotherapy to kill all of their cancer cells, the patient would die long before all of their cancer cells died. Thus, chemotherapy makes both sides of the equation worse. Not only is the immune system damaged, but also there are lots of cancer cells left over after treatment. The person becomes dependent on chemotherapy for life because they have no immune system; assuming they live very long.” This website has helped give me some basic information on the subject and now I have also found some books that may help me to learn more about the topic as well! The first book I found is called “Outsmart Your Cancer” by Tanya Harter Pierce and this novel is supposed to inform me on the myths about alternative cancer treatments. The novel also includes 21 different methods including real life stories.

There were two major events in my life that came to mind after reading this assignment that asked me to recall distinct events that have helped shape who I am as a person. The first event is something that has happened to me very recently. On thanksgiving my dad was diagnosed with leukemia and was told that he has a 40 percent chance of surviving this horrific disease. My second event that effected me is much lighter. The summer I spent living in San Francisco has made a huge impact on who I am as well.

My dad getting diagnosed with cancer has effected me in many ways including the obvious:I was scared for him. My first reaction to the news was to cry. What does this news mean? At the time I knew nothing about the disease, but since the diagnosis my knowledge base on the disease has steadily increased.I always want to know more. Cancer is something that you can never really understand until someone you love gets diagnosed with it. In that moment after hearing the news, before I climbed the stairs to go back into the intensive care unit, I had to make a decision. Would I let my dad see me cry and see how scared I was or was I going to be strong and hide my shaking palms in my pockets. I opted for the decision to be strong. It was my job as his daughter to keep him positive. There are all the medications and treatments in the world, but you can’t beat anything with a poor attitude. This is an experience I would never wish upon anyone, but somehow I reach to look at how it has allowed me to see how much good is in my life and how important family is. The amount of support that has been provided to not only my father, but my family as well has truly been outstanding. You never realize how great life is until you have a setback such as this that makes you take a step back and reevaluate your one life. Take life for all that it’s worth. Although there is no end result yet, I know that with everyday of his treatment I will change and learn to become a better person. Seeing my fathers positivity and peace toasted his situation has allowed me to see the good in everything and to always take one day at a time.

Another event that has improved me considerably was my summer I spent living in San Francisco where I spent my days taking college art classes and my nights to meet people from all walks of life. To be honest I think my social life there was just as educational as the classes I took at The Academy of Art University. Going to class was educational, but within the city itself just encountering everyday life was just so educational in that it was so different from the small city that I grew up in Ohio. I learned how to navigate a fast paced city on my own, how to schedule my time wisely so that my assignments were ready even if I wanted to have a social life. I learned how important it is to be accepting of others and to be yourself all the time…not just the people your comfortable with. Being on my own in such a big city was nerve raking at first, but ultimately paid off when I realized how independent I had become over the three months I spent there. I became independent financially and socially. I realized the importance of relying on yourself because at the end of the day that is all you are guaranteed. Obviously I’m still learning new things about myself everyday, but I will always remember that trip as the time in my life where I discovered the difference between who I was and who I was meant to be.