how social media is a toxic

2022 Spring Semester
ENGL 106 – M2
Assignment 1 (15%)
Due date: March 9th
, by 17.00 pm
Task: Summary of a reading text
Instructions: Read the text on page 2&3 until you understand and summarize it by
following these steps:
• look up any unfamiliar words
• put the main ideas in your own words (use appropriate synonyms)
• include only the main points
• condense the information by leaving out the details
• avoid cutting too much important information
• make your summary much shorter than the original
• do not change the meaning of the original
• maintain the order of the original text
• revise and edit your summary for grammatical and mechanical errors
Create a new word document and write the summary on that document.
Summary should start with the title (original title of your Reading Text)
Summary should end with the in-text citation of the reading text.
Summary should be typed in Times New Roman font, 12 font size, double space
Word count should be stated at the end of the document (… words)
You need to include 150-250 Words for your summary
Assignment should be submitted on Turnitin.
How Social Media Is a Toxic Mirror
Rachel Simmons (August 19, 2016)
We’ve long understood that movies, magazines and television damage teens’ body
image by enforcing a “thin ideal.” Less known is the impact of social media on body
confidence. With the rapid aging down of smart phone ownership, most parents spend “digital
parenting” time on character coaching, making sure their kids think before they post and refrain
from cyberbullying. For at least a decade, educators like me have argued that social media’s
biggest threat was its likeness to a bathroom wall, letting teens sling insults with the
recklessness that comes only with anonymity.
Not anymore. Social media has also become a toxic mirror.
Earlier this year, psychologists found robust cross-cultural evidence linking social
media use to body image concerns, dieting, body surveillance, a drive for thinness and selfobjectification in adolescents. Note: that doesn’t mean social media cause the problems, but
that there’s a strong association between them.
Visual platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat deliver the tools that allow
teens to earn approval for their appearance and compare themselves to others. The most
vulnerable users, researchers say, are the ones who spend most of their time posting,
commenting on and comparing themselves to photos. One study found that female college
students who did this on Facebook were more likely to link their self-worth to their looks.
Interestingly, while girls report more body image disturbance and disordered eating than
boys—studies have shown both can be equally damaged by social media.
And thanks to an array of free applications, selfie-holics now have the power to alter
their bodies in pictures in a way that’s practically on par with makeup and other beauty
products. If the Internet has been called a great democratizer, perhaps what social media has
done is let anyone enter the beauty pageant. Teens can cover up pimples, whiten teeth and even
airbrush with the swipe of a finger, curating their own image to become prettier, thinner and
hotter.
All this provides an illusion of control: if I spend more time and really work at it, I can
improve at being beautiful. “I don’t get to choose how I’m going to leave my apartment today,”
one young woman told me. “If I could, my body would look different. But I can choose which
picture makes my arms look thinner.”
But invariably, the line between a “like” and feeling ranked becomes blurred. “I think
it affects teens subconsciously just seeing how many likes they get and how much attention get
just for how they look,” one 16-year-old told me.
The meteoric rise of the “wellness” industry online has launched an entire industry of
fitness celebrities on social media. Millions of followers embrace their regimens for diet and
exercise, but increasingly, the drive for “wellness” and “clean eating” has become stealthy
cover for more dieting and deprivation. This year, an analysis of 50 so-called “fitspiration”
websites revealed messaging that was indistinguishable, at times, from pro-anorexia (pro-ana)
or “thinspiration” websites. Both contained strong language inducing guilt about weight or the
body, and promoted dieting, restraint and fat and weight stigmatization. Writing in Vice, 24-
year-old Ruby Tandoh recounted how a focus on “healthy” and “clean” eating and “lifestyle”
enabled her to hide her increasingly disordered eating and deflect concerned peers. “I had found
wellness,” she wrote. “I was not well.”
Many teens are media-literate about movies and magazines; they take in digitally
altered images with a critical eye. Less clear is how social media literate they are. The older
adolescents I work with often shrug off conversations about the perils of social media with a
“duh” or “I know that already.” That doesn’t mean they’re not listening, or feeling worried that
their bodies don’t measure up. (Besides, this population is hardly famous for gushing gratitude
for parental advice.)
So, what can parents do? Ask teens their opinion of the ways people modify their own
appearance online: Why do people do it? What do they gain, and from whom? Sometimes just
naming a feeling as normal can make a young adult feel less alone. It never hurts to tell your
teen they matter more than their looks. As they peer into the mirror on the screen, a good oldfashioned “I love you exactly as you are” may be more timely than ever.
Summary Rubric
Criteria Very Good
(15-20)
Average
(9-14)
Poor
(0-8)
Score
Organization
(20 points)
The summary has a
clear topic sentence
and several subtopics that explain
key ideas from the
original. The
summary is
organized.

The summary is
overly general or
very short;
The topic sentence
does not express
the main idea of the
original article the
organization is
unclear or
inconsistent.

The summary has
no topic sentence;
the paragraph is
disorganized; it
contains ideas in a
random order.

Accuracy of main
idea
(20 points)
All the key ideas
from the original are
included.

Some of the key
ideas from the
original are
omitted; minor
details or examples
are included

Several key ideas
from the original
article are included;
or ideas that are not
in the article are
included.

Complete/accurate
paraphrase
(20 points)
All sentences
paraphrase the
original source
completely.

There are some
sentences that
“echo” the original
source and some
sentences contain
incomplete
paraphrases of the
original.

The summary
contains same
sentences as the
original.

Grammar and
Mechanics
(20 points)
The summary is free
of spelling,
punctuation,
capitalization, and
grammar/usage
errors; transitions are
used appropriately.
Occasional errors
are found. There
are some problems
with capitalization
and punctuation.
Transitions are
used occasionally.

Very frequent
errors are found.
Sentence
organization
impedes
understanding. No
transitions are used.

Originality and
critical thinking
(20 points)
Content clearly
displays evidence of
independent and
critical thinking.
Some ideas display
capability of
independent and
critical thinking or
perspective.

Ideas are unrefined
and/or fail to
demonstrate
independent and
critical thinking.
Total Points

______ / 100 %