Social Media Cleanse Blogs

Overview: Before I start my blogs I want to give an overview of my usage of social media: I really only go on when I am alone in my free time, when I am doing homework and trying to waste time. I rarely post on social media, if I do post it would be an edited picture on VSCO or instagram and I will tweet on twitter. I sometimes will reply to people on twitter or I will find myself liking things, republishing pictures and videos and even retweeting others tweets. I also find myself just browsing on other peoples pages or browsing what is trending at that time. I am not really big into letting people know what I am doing every single second of the day, therefore the reasoning I don’t post as much as others. However when I am with friends I try not to be on my phone at all because I want to enjoy the moment that I am in with my friends. If I do post it will be on snapchat and a picture of me and my friends doing something, usually something fun like bowling or at the bar.

Day 1 –

Agenda for the day: Work 6 AM to 2 PM, Gym 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM, Class 6:30PM – 8:15PM.

The only times I was actually wanting to scroll through my social medias was in the morning before work to help wake myself up, on my thirty minute break, waiting for class to start and when I got home from school while laying in bed. I felt very detached from the world and not knowing what was going on. In a way it was freeing, but I felt a little weird not knowing what others were doing. I felt out of the loop.

The first day was quite a toughy. I had some trouble with deleting my social media apps, so I first started off with just turning off the notifications. I actually liked the idea of turning off the notifications, because I was not notified every 5 seconds when people tweeted or mentioned me in something. I still found myself going to the apps and wanting to click on them though. I did stop myself and was able to find something else to look at during my down times in the day. In the morning when I woke up I looked at the weather and my horoscope for the day to help me wake up. During my break at work I looked at houses and cars on google instead of scrolling through my timelines. I also found myself texting my friends a lot more to talk to them about how their day was. (They knew I was on a social media cleanse.) I felt lonely, left out, and sad; but the music helped boost my mood.
Day 2 –

Agenda for the day: Class at 8 AM to 9:45 AM, break from class 9:45 AM until 11 AM, Class 11 AM to 1:45 PM (back to back classes), then I stayed at school to work on homework in the library from 2PM until 6PM, I was home for the night after I got home from school.

The only times I found myself wanting to go on social media was in the morning before class laying in bed, a little during the class, on my break from classes, a few times before starting my homework and during, and obviously when I got home. I also felt really bored when I had down time and tried to do different things I normally do not do.

The second day dragged horribly. I was so excited for this project but after one day of no social media I felt like I was really alone. It felt like I was in some sort of depression from not checking my timelines. I tried to make plans to hang with my friends, I thought they could help me occupy my time. Sadly all four of my friends were busy, so I found myself organizing my schedule. When I got home I talked to my family for a bit about their day and what was going on for the weekend. Then I occupied myself from sitting on my phone by playing fortnite for the rest of the night. It was really hard to hold back from not looking at my phone when I went to went to lay down to go to sleep. Instead I took a walk downstairs to get a snack, watched netflix and passed out.

Day 3 –

Agenda for the day: Work 6AM to 2PM, Gym 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM, Class 6:30PM – 9:15PM.
(Day three is basically the same schedule as day one.)

The third day I was extremely tired. this is usually the part of the week where I am so tired because I run around so much during the week with no breaks. At this point of my week I get very whiny and I will only text people back and look at my phone if it is important. I was already feeling upset about not being able to check my social medias so that was just adding to my bad mood that I was in. I even let my phone die at one point during the day. I still did not delete my apps.

In the morning when I woke up is when I reached for my phone started to click on some apps but then I quickly exited out of them. By simply clicking on my social media apps and having them loading for two seconds got me a little excited to see what was going to pop up. But I didn’t even see anything since I was really trying to stick to the cleanse. The next time I wanted to scroll through social media was on my break at work but instead of doing that I put my phone down and went to bother my coworkers.  Instead of looking at my phone during class (and paying attention), I organized my homework and sort of listened to the professor’s lecture. After class I just felt very angry and alone. So my solution for when I feel like this is to go right to sleep, plus I was exhausted.

Day 4 –

Agenda for the day: Work 6AM to 2PM, nap 2PM to 4PM then I went for dinner and drinks at the bar after work 5PM-10:30PM.

This is almost the end of my week so I was still tired but I was excited for the weekend. I was not feeling as sad and lonely because I knew I had plans for the weekend which was exciting for me. So the whole day all I was thinking and talking about was the weekend and what my plans were.

The morning at work was super busy. I didn’t even look at it in the morning because I woke up with just enough time to leave. I didn’t touch my phone until I sat down for break. I was too busy eating, calling and scheduling appointments to worry about looking at my social medias. After work I went right home to nap, then got ready to go out. I looked at my phone only a couple times to check if anyone had texted em because I was busy catching up with my friend. I did not have the urge to look at my social medias until I got home. This was the night I almost cracked my cleanse. I clicked on Instagram, it started to load and I saw one picture, I was ready to scroll to see more but I stopped myself. I put my phone down and went to sleep.

Truth – o – Meter : Marijuana VS Alcohol, which is worse for your brain?

Is alcohol more damaging to your brain than marijuana is?

As I was searching on the internet, searching for interests of mine… such as wine… I came across an article that explains that alcohol may be more damaging to your brain that marijuana can be. The article states that a new study found that marijuana is nowhere near as harmful as alcohol. Even though marijuana has been illegal for decades.

SO….

After reading the begging of this article, I decided to look up the long term affects for both substances before reading any further.

Affects of alcohol : long term

• Unintentional injuries such as car crash, falls, burns, drowning
• Intentional injuries such as firearm injuries, sexual assault, domestic violence
• Increased on-the-job injuries and loss of productivity
• Increased family problems, broken relationships
• Alcohol poisoning
• High blood pressure, stroke, and other heart-related diseases
• Liver disease
• Nerve damage
• Sexual problems
• Permanent damage to the brain
• Vitamin B₁ deficiency, which can lead to a disorder characterized by amnesia, apathy and disorientation
• Ulcers
• Gastritis (inflammation of stomach walls)
• Malnutrition
• Cancer of the mouth and throat

Affects of marijuana: long term

• Decline in IQ (up to 8 points if prolonged use started in adolescent age)
• Poor school performance and higher chance of dropping out
• Impaired thinking and ability to learn and perform complex tasks
• Lower life satisfaction
• Addiction (about 9% of adults and 17% of people who started smoking as teens)
• Potential development of opiate abuse
• Relationship problems, intimate partner violence
• Antisocial behavior including stealing money or lying
• Financial difficulties
• Increased welfare dependence
• Greater chances of being unemployed or not getting good jobs.

My thoughts: Both can have the possibly to lead to depression… BUT alcohol definitely seems to take the cake on physical damages.

Next:

As I read more of the Lad Bible’s article I read a quote that said…

“The next study then comes around, and they say that marijuana use is related to changes in the cerebellum or the whatever.”

I decided to google the last part of that sentence to find the original study. Which then lead to me to an article posted by Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine.

This article explained the study and also gave me a link to the research.

Inside this article it explains the long term affects of alcohol are worse, but there is no information proven yet that marijuana is actually beneficial to the brain. Even though The Washington Post wrote an article about marijuana saving lives.

…Okay so it is saving lives, but is it helping the brain???

Then:

I decided to go back to my original article, and read the next paragraph about The New Zealand Study.

“A New Zealand study surveyed more than a thousand locals and found that long-term marijuana use has no long-term effects on your heath, adding that the only negative outcome is on your teeth. It claimed these weed lovers actually had better cholesterol levels and a smaller waist size.”

But referring back to my compare and contrast (earlier in my post) about the long term affects of both alcohol and marijuana, there seems to be mental health effects.

The Lad Bible’s article also said this:

“But then another research group looked at what happens if you smoke the ganja every week as a teen and they found it’s definitely not the best.”

The research group was The University of Maryland School of Medicine, this article spoke about smoking marijuana everyday could lead to developing conditions such as attention deficit disorder (ADD) and schizophrenia, and suffer permanent reductions in intelligence.

I then clicked on the study that was done by the Neuropsychopharmacology, and in the abstract they claimed that…

“Regular marijuana use during adolescence, but not adulthood, may permanently impair cognition and increase the risk for psychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia. Cortical oscillations are integral for cognitive processes and are abnormal in patients with schizophrenia.”

One result of the study was also:

“Long-term cognitive impairments and elevated risk of psychiatric disorders in regular marijuana users are less pronounced when use is initiated in adulthood, instead of in adolescence.”

Back to the original article from the Lad Bible:

The article talks about the grey matter containing your mind’s cell bodies and synapses. It also talks about white matter, which is made of axons which connect grey matter to each other.  Booze affects your brain’s grey and white matter, whereas marijuana doesn’t, even after years of use.

I then decided to type in grey matter and marijuana in google, and I found this article from The National Institute on Drug Abuse, that stated :

Studies have consistently shown that marijuana changes brain function, studies have not agreed whether the drug alters brain structure. The solution that The National Institute on Drug Abuse came up with was to keep checking in on the individuals they tested at different time points. They will check to see how their brains change over time in comparison to themselves and not as a control group.

Then I looked up white matter and marijuana in google, and I found this study from the United States National Library of Medicine.

The study stated this:

 “a growing body of research suggests that an adolescent onset of heavy marijuana use can have neurotoxic effects on developing white matter”

Finally:

I just decided to google, “is marijuana bad for the brain”, and google took me to this website on the National Institute of Drug Abuse. This drug fact website just gave me information about the drug marijuana. It said it acts on the brain by THC acting on specific brain cell receptors. This will react to natural THC-like chemicals. These natural chemicals play a role in normal brain development and function.

Truth -o- Meter: Draft

Is alcohol more damaging to your brain than marijuana is?

As I was searching on the internet, searching for interests of mine… such as wine… I came across an article that explains that alcohol may be more damaging to your brain that marijuana can be. The article states that a new study found that marijuana is nowhere near as harmful as alcohol. Even though marijuana has been illegal for decades.

SO….

After reading the begging of this article, I decided to look up the long term affects for both substances before reading any further.

Affects of alcohol : long term

• Unintentional injuries such as car crash, falls, burns, drowning
• Intentional injuries such as firearm injuries, sexual assault, domestic violence
• Increased on-the-job injuries and loss of productivity
• Increased family problems, broken relationships
• Alcohol poisoning
• High blood pressure, stroke, and other heart-related diseases
• Liver disease
• Nerve damage
• Sexual problems
• Permanent damage to the brain
• Vitamin B₁ deficiency, which can lead to a disorder characterized by amnesia, apathy and disorientation
• Ulcers
• Gastritis (inflammation of stomach walls)
• Malnutrition
• Cancer of the mouth and throat

Affects of marijuana: long term

• Decline in IQ (up to 8 points if prolonged use started in adolescent age)
• Poor school performance and higher chance of dropping out
• Impaired thinking and ability to learn and perform complex tasks
• Lower life satisfaction
• Addiction (about 9% of adults and 17% of people who started smoking as teens)
• Potential development of opiate abuse
• Relationship problems, intimate partner violence
• Antisocial behavior including stealing money or lying
• Financial difficulties
• Increased welfare dependence
• Greater chances of being unemployed or not getting good jobs.

My thoughts: Both can have the possibly to lead to depression… BUT alcohol definitely seems to take the cake on physical damages.

According to the new research from the University of Colorado Boulder and the CU Change Lab, Marijuana may not be as damaging to the brain as previously thought. 

This information was taken from the article, “Cannabinoids are easier on the brain than booze, study finds”.

 

 

Fact Check #5 – 3 ideas

1.

High School in California bans the National Anthem?

At a high school in California the national anthem will not be played at rallies any more because it is considered racially insensitive. The high school received a lot of back lash from this decision. The article stated that the president of the student body cited the third verse and how racial the remark is. I think this would be a good story to expand on because I would be able to talk about the rioting of the students and their thoughts. I could also talk about the culture of our society today.

2.

Cannabis legalization will lead to less consumption of alcohol?

This article discusses what the after work special will be after marijuana is legal. It talks about how much alcohol will be consumed. This article is good to expand on because I can go into health benefits, and the taxes it will affect. I can also expand into the laws that might be brought up.

3.

Does your love life affect your taste in wine?

This article is about a couples tastes in wine aligning. I can expand this into talking about the surveys that were done and the answers of them. I could also expand on how the testing of different taste buds were examined along with with the age of the person. Also I could talk about the foods that people like and the certain wines they would drink with it. I can also talk about about how long the couple has been together.

Fact – #4 : The Research

On CNN I found a recent study that was done on how teenagers are identifying themselves as different nontraditional gender labels.

CNN then provides the study that was preformed: Health and Care Utilization of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Youth: A Population-Based Study. 

Purpose of this study: 

to examine health differences between gender-nonconforming teens and teens who are cisgender.

Conclusion: 

• Transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) youth reported “reported significantly poorer health” including mental health.
• TGNC teens also were less likely to get preventive health checkups and more likely to visit their school nurse, the study found.

From the research team:

We suggest that health care providers should screen for health risks and identify barriers to care for TGNC youth while promoting and bolstering wellness within this community.

2017 to 2018

A lot of teens are begging to say they do not fit into gender norms in 2018 (2.7% of 13-17 year old). Since the 2017 survey the 13 to 17 year old age range was only 0.7% of teens saying they are transgender.

Then the CNN article brought awareness to transgender youth. Transgender is growing, and it is important to get the youth out of their shell for sake of their health.

 

I continued to do more research about transgender and health care. I went to Snopes.com and found this article about the issues transgenders might have in the future with doctors and refusing to treat LGBTQ patients.

CNN has a valid point in introducing transgender to the youth because:

• it will help raise awareness to other children.
  • after all, the youth is the future: maybe it will stop the health professionals from turning down LGBTQ patients.
• children will become more accepting.
• children will have an easier passage to becoming themselves.
• mental health and the fear of being transgender will decrease.

If a person explains to the youth that it is not an ‘icky, gross thing’ then it will not be taken that way. All is needed is just some explanation on how it works.

Fact – Check #3 – What do people really think about Fox News?

My family puts on fox news in the morning when we are all getting ready for work and school, just as a background noise and something to wake us up. We sometimes listen, but we are really only looking for the news to tell us about the weather for the day. I personally do not like listening to the news because it makes me sad to hear how many bad things happen.

I thought about why other people listen to the news:

• do they listen to the same news station
• when do they listen?
• where do they listen?
• why do they listen to a certain station?
  • do they watch or listen to Fox News?
    • do people even like Fox News?

I decided to google if people like Fox News.

The first link that popped up was labeled “Why does it seem like so many people hate Fox News ….”, from there I clicked on the website and it brought me to Quora. This website allows users to ask questions and have other answer them in their own opinions.

I read the answer to the question, “Why does it seem like so many people hate Fox News when it’s the most watched cable news network in America?” The main reasons why I saw people do not like Fox News is because the agency says it is one thing but then they really are doing something else. One of the examples from Dan Holliday’s answer to the question was, “That it calls itself a “news” agency, which it is not, it’s political commentary and reporting (which is fine, but it should call it that).”

What concerns me most about this answer is that if a watcher is saying this about the news station how well can Fox News be trusted, if they are saying they are one thing but they really do another?

Then I headed to snopes and typed in Fox News in the search bar.

I came across a lot of negative fact checks that came from Fox news, sixty-four pages worth of fact checks all from Fox News.

 

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Once I got bored from reading that, I went to google some videos.

And came across this video from CNN.

David Frum mentions that Fox is the dominate cable news network. BUT he and apparently a lot of other people believe that Rob Ailes, from Fox News, is running a political operation that is employing journalists.

Frum believes this for two reasons:

1. Profit for corprate
2. Advancement on their personal political agenda

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I think it’s safe to say this is how some people are feeling on the topic of Fox News.

 

Fact – Check #2 : Apple purposely slows their batteries down?

In the article from The Verge,  they speak about how Apple is under investigation by the US Government. The article specifies that they think Apple is violating the laws of their securities with the new software updates. On the article from Bloomberg Technology, it is explained that many Apple Iphones have slowed down after the update.

The article also states that the company is under investigation with France and Italy, with multiple lawsuits placed against Apple. The investigations are still in the early stages, and it is predicted that something may not come of the investigation.

Apple confirmed that the older Iphones have been slowed down intentionally to prevent former issues. But since the Iphone battery slow down, there have been a lot of Apple customers complaining about the battery issues. Since there was so many complaint of batteries becoming slow, Apple had made an agreement to replace batteries for twenty nine dollars a pop during 2018.

Apple has explained that in the next major update, iOS 11.3, there will be an option to not update the Apple product to the latest iOS.

What is false about this slow down?

According to the Harvard study which ‘proved’ Apple was purposely slowing down their Iphones.

According to the Snopes website, the only thing that appears to be false is the boosting of sales on the new Apple products. Apple intends to prevent unexpected ‘shutdowns’ and other issues concerning battery power on their older Iphone products.

The Harvard study shows this image to help how many people were googling about their device, and how slow it is along the years.

My personal thoughts on Apple products:

I feel that Apple is purposely slowing the older Iphones down every time they produce a new iOS update. BUT if you think about it, it is a great business technique.

As an Iphone user, my Iphone typically cannot last the full two years they say it should last. But I firmly believe that if a user does not drop their Iphone or update their phone with in the two years, it may be able to last longer.

Another factor about the Iphone’s battery that people need to put into perspective is how much do they charge their Iphone? Technically a user should wait until their Iphone completely dies to charge their phone. They should not take it off and put it back on a million times before the Iphone is completely charged. They also should not put it on the charger when they just have fifty percent battery left, just because they are afraid of it dying when they are out.

Final thought about battery life and Iphones, is that cold weather can affect their batteries.

• Basically don’t go walk through a blizzard and be on face time.
• And don’t forget that the usage of the Iphones can kill a battery too.

 

Fact – Check #1 Tide Pods discontinued?

On ABC news they draw attention to Tide replying to a tweet from a twitter user, Meme meme boy, @iquer119; about their tide pods being discontinued.

In the news article they speak about how Doctors have discussed different issues that eating tide pods can do to a persons health throughout their life.

Long term affects:

as told by Dr. Sarang Koushik include:

• breathing problems
• damage to the esophagus from the corrosive ingredients
• burns
• blood pressure changes
• gastrointestinal problems
• neurological symptoms
• including loss of consciousness

Some users of the “tide pod challenge” has had different Affects after eating the detergent.

Affects right after eating the pod can include:

• foaming at the mouth
• coughing frantically

Tide says that they are used safely in households. But the internet craze of “the tide pod challenge” says differently. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the reason behind why Meme meme boy questioned Tide for the discontinuation of tide pods in stores was because of an earlier tweet saying they will be removing it on February first. But snopes had found that tweet to be false.

The removal of tide pods in stores on February 1st will not happen, according to Tide’s reply tweet.