Social Issue Blog--Abortion

"The removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy," is how Dictionary.com defines the word abortion. On paper it doesn't seem like too much to fuss about, but in reality, abortion is so much more than a "removal of an embryo". It is a subject that people have very strong opinions about. Are you pro life? Or are you pro choice? That question alone can end relationships and stir up much controversy. The truth of the matter is that no matter what side you're on, abortion is very serious, and people in this country should be much more educated about it.

Every year in America, approximately 1.21 million abortions take place. This number may seem very high, but it's actually been declining since the 1980's. Abortion was very popular around this time because of the infamous "Roe vs. Wade" trial. The argument in this court case was that antiabortion laws violated women's constitutional rights of privacy. You can see the movement of feminism with this case as well. It made women feel very powerful in the sense that they wouldn't have to take on the role of the typical house wife. If they didn't want a child, they could get rid of it and get on with their lives. The opposing side to this case of course is that abortion is murder. Many people believe that as soon as conception takes place, life has begun, and for doctors or other means of medicine to end that life is considered killing the child. Ronald Reagan, a man who opposed abortion said, "I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born."  Weather you're pro life or pro choice, this quote makes you stop and think about what is really going on with abortion.

There are reasons for the steady decline of abortions taking place in the United States. One is the steady decline of teenage pregnancies. The rate of teen pregnancies has declined by 42% between the years of 1990 and 2008. This could be do to the availability and prevalent use of contraceptives. Since the number of teen pregnancies has dropped, so has the number of abortions among the adolescent age group. According to numbers that were taken in 2008, 26% of all teen pregnancies end with abortion, which is almost 60% lower than when it was at its peak in 1988.

Figure 1: Birth rates per 1,000 females ages 15-19, by race/ethnicity, 1990-2012

Source: Hamilton, B. E., Martin, J. A., & Ventura, S. J.(2013). Births: Preliminary data for 2012. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.

Another reason for the decline in abortion rates is that there are more reliable forms of contraceptives than there were 20-30 years ago. The intrauterine device (IUD), for example, was a good alternative for women who did not want to get pregnant, but didn't want to take pills or have surgery done. This would obviously help because less women are having "unwanted" pregnancies, and therefore have no need to get an abortion. In general, the accessibility to get abortions has decreased recently as well. According to the National Abortion Federation, 87% of counties in the US have no identifiable abortion provider. To someone who is pro choice, this would be appalling because it's becoming very difficult for a woman to have a medically "safe" abortion. If a woman doesn't have an abortion clinic nearby, wouldn't she be more likely to take matters into her own hands and try to eliminate her pregnancy by some other means? Or would the unavailability of a clinic make her go through with the pregnancy, and therefore force her to have a child that she didn't want in the first place? The Access Initiative Project was started by the National Abortion Federation in order to improve some of these set backs for women who wish to get abortions. 

A sociologist would have a field day discussing abortion. So many questions can be asked. Why do women even consider abortion? What social forces influence and shape their decision making? There is a picture that enters every woman's head at least once in her lifetime. She will grow up, fall in love with Prince Charming, get married to him and have beautiful children. Women envision their lives going a particular way, and when things don't go that way, it can get messy. It's the most messy when you're a teenager and still trying to figure out who you want to be and how you want your life to turn out. That's the reason why most abortions take place in the teen/adolescent age group. When teenage girls get pregnant, an enormous amount of fear swoops in. What will their parents think? How will she provide for this child? Will the father stick around to help out? Or did he bail already? You had your whole life ahead of you and it all comes to a halt because you are now responsible for bringing a child into the world. And it's not just delivering a baby. Your body needs to undergo some serious changes in order to carry a baby for nine months. It is a sacrifice and a huge commitment. It doesn't quite seem fair for the girl. If a boy gets a girl pregnant, he doesn't have to worry about anything. If he's a responsible person, he'll support the girl and help her. But there's really nothing stopping him from pretending like the whole thing never happened. There's so much pressure. How would a girl who didn't think she was ready to have a child handle that pressure? Most would handle it by aborting the pregnancy.  

What many people fail to realize is the psychological components that accompany a woman who has an abortion. A study in Finland showed that women who aborted their pregnancy were six times more likely to commit suicide than women who did not have abortions. Other studies have shown that when a women carries her baby full term, she is much less likely to have suicidal thoughts or commit suicide than if she were to abort the pregnancy. Some might think that if an unexpectedly pregnant woman did not have an abortion, she would be more likely to have suicidal thoughts because of all the stress and uncertainty that comes along with pregnancy; however, as the baby develops inside the mother, an emotional bond begins to grow that actually diminishes the risk of suicide. It is statistically proven that women who have abortions are more likely to experience depression, drug abuse, and post traumatic stress disorder. There are other stories, though, of women who feel that having an abortion was the best decision they could have made. They feel as if having the child at that certain time in their life would've prevented them from living the life they were meant for. 

No matter how much research is done, no matter what statistics are showing, I don't think as a nation we will ever agree on what is best. Pro life? Pro choice? People are too divided and too set in their own opinions. What we can do as a nation is to educate people about abortion because it's important. We can educate young people to be aware of what is happening when they decide to have sex. Sex leads to pregnancy, and if that pregnancy is unwanted, it can lead to abortion, which can potentially lead to suicide and other issues. It's more than just, "Oh, I don't want a baby." It's more than just, "That girl was dumb and got herself knocked up." It's human life. And that is nothing to joke about.

http://www.operationrescue.org/about-abortion/abortions-in-america/

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/07/31/studies-show-higher-risk-of-suicide-for-women-following-an-abortion/

http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2005/AbortionintheUnitedStatesandtheWorld.aspx

http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-health-topics/reproductive-health/teen-pregnancy/trends.html

http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/facts/access_abortion.html

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_roe.html

Attend A Meeting

I attended the Drag Show during Pride Week here at Tech. I had never been to one before, nor did I know much about drag, so I decided it would be a good choice for this specific posting. It was definitely different than what I was expecting. To explain why attending this event was out of my comfort zone, I should probably give some background information about myself...

I grew up a WELS Lutheran. I went to church every Sunday. I attended a WELS Lutheran grade school and continued on to a WELS Lutheran high school. Even the town I'm from is a fairly "Christian" area. I pretty much lived in a bubble, meaning that I'd not being exposed to homosexuals, transgenders, or anything besides heterosexual people. If you met someone, you just assumed they were straight. You didn't have to think about being politically correct by asking someone if they had a "partner" versus specifically a boyfriend or girlfriend. Of course I knew what the term "gay" referred to. I knew of people that were gay, but no one personally. I knew what drag queens were, but I don't think I had seen any in real life before this. The point is, I've never really been around the gay community until I came to school here. Homosexuality is not something that I celebrate or take pride in, but I am in no way, shape, or form a "homophobe" or think that homosexuals are less of human beings, or that they should rot in hell, like most people assume I would since I'm a Lutheran.  At the drag show, however, I felt very awkward and uncomfortable. It was on the day the state of Michigan legalized gay marriage, so that made everyone even more fired up and excited than they normally would be. Honestly, it was overwhelming. For the first 18 years of my life I had not been around homosexual people (generally speaking). So when I was in a room surrounded by people of that lifestyle, I felt like nothing. Literally like a speck of dirt on the ground. I think I felt this way because it was so "in my face", for lack of better words. I have good friends up here that are homosexuals, but it's not like the only thing we talk about is their sexual preference. I know that they're gay, but it's not like I treat them any differently because of it, or like I can't be friends with them anymore because they have a different sexual orientation than me. But when it comes right down to it, I believe that the lifestyle they are living is wrong. This would be the time where most people would jump on my back and accuse me of being a bigot Jesus freak who is a terrible person and has her head up her butt. I was actually afraid to write this post because I thought I would get a bad grade since I'm saying I believe homosexuality is a sin. But you know what? So is stealing, lying, being greedy, committing adultery, and a whole list of other things. I can truthfully say I have committed all these sins, and therefore am no better or worse than homosexuals. The truth is that we all sin everyday. Many people fail to realize that even though I believe that homosexual people are sinners, I also believe that I am a sinner. And without God the Father sending his son Jesus to live a perfect life, die on a cross, and rise from the dead on Easter Sunday, I would have absolutely no chance of receiving forgiveness and would not be able to enter heaven someday.

I guess I didn't mean to lecture you about the WELS Lutheran faith, but I just wanted to clue you in how important my faith is to me. And that's why I felt so uncomfortable at this event. For the first time in my life I felt like my faith meant absolutely nothing. I felt like if people there knew I was a Christian they would throw me out of the university. I was actually kind of scared to be there. But the real world isn't like the bubble that I grew up in. The real world is full of people who have much different beliefs and values than I. Just because they don't believe the same things as me, will that prevent me from working with them? Will that make me build a house deep in the woods so I don't have to associate myself with them? Of course not.

The drag show was all about being proud of who you are. At this drag show, if you were gay, lesbian, trans, bisexual, you didn't have to be scared that others would make fun of you, because I'm sure if they're open about their sexuality, they've received some harshness/bullying from the outside world. It was almost like the social tables had turned a little bit. Instead of a gay person feeling reserved or uncomfortable about who they are, I was the one who felt very self-conscious about who I am and what I believe in. Even though I felt uncomfortable and if given the chance, I probably won't attend one again, it probably wasn't the worst thing I could have done. It opened my eyes a little bit. This is what the world looks like today. I can't run and hide from it, or pretend like it doesn't exist. It is our human nature to be prejudice. Homosexual people are judged  and ridiculed all the time, but our society is moving away from that. I am judged because of my religion, but mostly because people fail to realize what my faith is actually about. The only one who has a right to judge us is God, because only he can see what is in our hearts. I'm glad I don't live in my little bubble anymore, but I also will not abandon my faith while living in today's society.

Breaking A Gender Norm

Some gender norms our group discussed: 1) Guys wear loose fitting, baggy clothes. Girls wear tight clothes. 2) Girls wear make-up. Guys do not wear make-up. 3) Guys are more physical. Girls are more reserved.

On Sunday, March 30, my group and I decided to go to the library to carry out our gender norm experiment. Ryan Benson (our test subject) and I walked into the main area by the windows where most people sit. We tried to pick a table that wasn't hidden by anything so that most people would be able to see what we were about to do. When we sat down, we took out some study materials, and also a bag of nail polish. Ryan picked out one of the colors and I then proceeded to paint his nails. The other members of our group were positioned in different spots around the area in order to observe the reactions of all the people. I was trying so hard not to laugh. It was embarrassing for me so I can only imagine how embarrassed Ryan must have been! I didn't look around to see others' reactions because I didn't want it to look staged at all, but I did notice the reactions of some girls that were sitting at a table right next to us. The girls would look over occasionally and snicker to each other and then look away. It seemed as if they were uncomfortable and felt awkward. After a few minutes they actually got up and left! I don't know if that was because they finished their homework for the night or if they were just that put off by what was going on. Danna was one of our observers and she noticed that so many other tables were laughing and looking over at us. There was a group of football players at one of the tables and she said that table had the most noticeable reactions. Apparently people were even pulling out their phones to take pictures and snapchats of what we were doing. After I was done painting all ten fingernails, we asked Ryan if he would be willing to move over to the couches in the main area and paint his toenails. He didn't want to go that far... quite understandable. We did, however, go to different parts of the library to see if we could get any other reactions. We went to the second floor, but only got a few weird looks, nothing extreme. Then we went down to the first floor computer area and only got a few looks. So we definitely got the best stuff from the first floor main area.

It isn't exactly normal for a girl to paint her nails in the library out in the open, but especially not normal AT ALL for a boy to do that. Girls paint their nails to be girly and to feel pretty, kind of like wearing different styles of make-up. Unless you're a member of the punk band Green Day, it's socially not "okay" for a guy to paint their nails. Guys are socially constructed to be manly and rough around the edges, not to paint their nails in order to enhance their style. If a typical male today noticed another male who had pink nail polish on, I would guarantee the first word to pop into his head would be, gay. Why? Why does the color of a man's nails decide if he's a homosexual or not? Because it's just been taught from generation to generation that girls can paint their nails but guys do not. I thought it was so interesting that Dr. Winkler brought up her son and how nail polish is like the coolest thing to him. I can remember when I was little and my mom used to paint my nails, my little brother would always want to get his nails painted too. My dad thought that was ridiculous so he only allowed his pinkies to be painted or something minor like that, haha. But it's just interesting that when boys are little, they don't usually know about gay stereotypes and other things. To them, nail polish is just a cool color that you can put on your body. It has nothing to do with their sexuality.

Comment on Everyday Sociology Blog

The post I chose to read from the Everyday Sociology Blog is called, "Affluenza, Privilege and Justice" written by Karen Sternheimer. I thought this would be an interesting blog since it had the word "afflluenza" in the title and we have discussed affluenza numerous times in class. This post, though, took a different spin on what we as a class discussed regarding affluenza. Sternheimer wrote about a 16 year old boy, named Ethan Couch, who drove drunk and got into a car accident, killing four people in the other vehicle. The reason that this particular drunk driving story made the news was because at this boy's sentencing, his legal team stated that he "suffered from affluenza". This boy was then sent to a treatment facility, which was funded by his wealthy parents, instead of facing many years in prison like most people in his situation would've had to do. This raises so many red flags in my mind. First off, a person is driving under the influence of alcohol, and there is no reason why he should've been doing that. Second, he killed people. And third, he didn't even pay the necessary consequences because mommy and daddy were rich enough to basically pay his way out of it. He had lived a privileged life for 16 years so when his actions caused him to face serious consequences, he was told it wasn't his fault that he had grown up with everything handed to him on a silver platter, and therefore wouldn't have to go to prison. Instead, he would try to "treat" his "issue" of not understanding that there are consequences for people's actions, no matter how rich they are. This case really got people talking about how "socioeconomic status" can and does influence court cases. If this exact situation had happened to a 16 year old of middle to lower class status, would he/she have received the same sentence as Ethan Couch? One has to question how that can be considered justice.

I found an article online that I thought did a great job of describing affluenza in America and also stressed how serious it actually is. The article was entitled "Affluenza- A Modern Epidemic". This particular article attributed the rise of this "virus" to generations of parents wanting better lives for their children than they had. That is exactly what Jack said the other day in class is considered the American Dream. Parents who grew up in the Great Depression obviously weren't surrounded by a plethora of material goods. They didn't want that to be the case for their children, though. So when the economy started to improve, children of those Great Depression Era parents were given much more than their parents were ever used to. This cycle has continued since then and that is a main cause of why many children in America today are living in an age of entitlement. Moreover, this explains why Ethan Couch, and his parents, had the idea that he didn't need to go to jail because he was above "regular people".
What I really liked about this article is how it describes affluenza as extremely addictive. Buying more things will never satisfy you. It will only make you want more, bigger and better things. I relate it to me eating ice cream. I love ice cream more than almost any other food. I can eat it and am known for eating it in large quantities. Do I need to have huge bowls of ice cream? No, of course not. But if I only dish myself up one scoop, I just end up going back to the container and dishing myself up more. I am rarely satisfied with the amount of ice cream I eat, even if I am full. That is both poor self-control and also a poor health habit. Affluenza works the same way in a sense. American people are no longer satisfied with buying what they need and what they can afford. They are obsessed with getting new, bigger and better things and the sad part is there isn't an easy way to fix it. People need to realize that money cannot buy happiness. It only leads to bad things like greed, envy, stress, and not to mention how it can harm relationships with others. I wish I could say that this "epidemic" could be cured in my lifetime, but unfortunately, I think it will take people a very long time to get over this sickness.

http://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2014/02/affluenza-privilege-and-justice.html#more

http://realtruth.org/articles/090806-004-middle.html

My Identity

Identity is a small word but implies a lot of things. The way I see myself is probably a lot different than how someone else identifies me. The more you get to know someone, the more you are able to understand their true identity, not just what you see on the surface. For instance, to a lot of people at this school, my identity is "Soccer Player". People probably see me with MTU Women's Soccer apparel on walking around campus and think, oh, she's a soccer player. They might see me on a poster up at the SDC advertising the next game and think, oh yeah I think she's in one of my classes.. huh, she's a soccer player, okay. But to others, I am known as much more than just "Soccer Player". My teammates are the people that have spent the most time with me so of course they are going to know a lot more about me than someone who sees me in passing once a week or sits behind me in a class. My teammates see me not only as a soccer player, but an extreme goofball, a slightly above average student, a wanna be singer/hip-hop dancer. They know I hate losing with almost all of my being, that I will do pretty much anything for ice cream, and that I believe in Jesus. They know basically everything there is about me, and I am in no way ashamed of my true identity around them because that's how close we've become.

I think that certain people have helped influence my identity. Growing up, I was one of those kids that looked at someone older than me and wanted to be like them. My Dad is a high school teacher and a coach, so I spent a lot of time at that high school (where I would eventually attend) seeing older kids. I would watch his basketball practices and picture myself being an awesome basketball player. I wanted to be that girl that people loved to watch and cheer for. I would see a new homecoming queen get crowned every year and I wanted that to be me. I have had many role models in my life that have definitely helped shape my identity. My parents were/are the most important role models in my life. Some parents I think are too concerned about shaping their child's identity. Yes, discipline and instruction are necessary tools to help children grow up to be mature and contributing members of society, but there needs to be a point where the child decides for themselves who they want to be. My parents did an amazing job with that. They have supported me my whole life and encouraged me to be the best person I can be. They instilled in my brain from a small age that I can be anything I want to be if I put my mind to it and work hard.

Identity can definitely change with time and place. That's actually one of the things I love about coming to this school, away from my hometown. Many people from the town of Fond du Lac, WI are part of a cycle. They grow up in Fondy or another small town in the area, then they go to high school at one of the three in town where they date a person that they eventually marry. After that they may or may not attend UW-Fond du Lac or another college within an hour from Fondy. Next comes marriage and raising kids that are sent to the same school their parents attended and therefore sucked into that same cycle. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I just didn't want that to be me. It's not like I hated my town growing up and had a horrible high school experience. In fact, it was the exact opposite for me. However, I knew I wanted to get out and be able to grow up, and that's exactly what I'm able to do here. I can't come home every weekend. My friends from back home can't visit me all the time. But those are the types of things that made me grow up and become who I really am. People say that college changes people. I think that is completely true, and for me I think I changed in a good way. I have become so much more comfortable in my own skin and have been exposed to so much more than just "small town" experiences.

My identity is constantly being shaped and reshaped by the experiences I go through from day to day. I could change up my identity by associating myself with a different groups or by the clothes I wear. I could reshape my identity by switching majors and pursuing an entirely different career. All those things, though, are part of my superficial identity. I don't think my true identity, like my goals, what I believe in, how I treat other people, should constantly be shaped and reshaped. I think that those are the types of things that people should hold on to. After all, those types of things are what makes you, you. Staying true to the things that matter is what will allow you to have the closest relationships to people. Falling in love with someone's true identity is much more rewarding in the long run than falling in love with someone just based on their outward identity.

Data as Evidence: Binge Drinking

These charts and graphs show the data on binge drinking by youths in the United States. According to the Kids Count website, binge drinking is considered having five or more drinks in the same sitting (within a few hours of each other) at least one time in the past 30 days. It is clear and not really surprising that binge drinking by youths occurs in every state. The difference though, is the amount of youths that are drinking. Why are there differences from state to state? Let's take a closer look. The first graph shows some of the highest, and the lowest binge drinking percentages according to state from 2009-2010. This bar graph shows that 51% of North Dakota and Vermont young people from the ages of 18-25 are binge drinking. Wisconsin is not far behind at 50% and Michigan was around the national average at 41%. Utah was the lowest of the 50 states with only 24% of 18-25 year old people binge drinking at least once a month. I thought this information from the graph was interesting because some states double the youth binge drinking of Utah. One reason I thought this happens is because of the high Mormon population in Utah because the Mormon religion forbids consuming alcohol. Mormon parents then instill the "anti-drinking" belief in their children. The reason I thought Wisconsin had such a high percent of youthful binge drinkers is because of the culture. I was born and raised in Wisconsin and drinking is deeply ingrained in the culture of this state. Person for person there is three times more taverns in Wisconsin than the rest of the country. It is rare to go to a social event without alcohol involved. The reason I decided was plausible for North Dakota and Vermont leading the nation in 18-25 year old binge drinking is because of the low population levels of these states and it would cause the percentages to be higher. Another interesting bit of information from this graph is that of the green bars or the percentage of 12-17 year old people that binge drink once a month. All of these states have around the same percentage of binge drinkers for this age group. Only ranging 4% from the lowest to the highest was completely different than the 18-25 age group which had a 27% difference from lowest to highest. The last two graphs show how the amount of binge drinking by the two age groups has changed from 2002 to 2010. Looking at these two line graphs the first thing I noticed was how constant the binge drinking rate for the 18-25 year old group has remained over this time for these states and the nation as a whole. The other thing I noticed was that the 12-17 year old percentages for the U.S. have been dropping from 2002 to 2010. I thought it was really interesting that over time these states and the nation kept the same binge drinking rate in the 18-25 year old group. I suppose this is because this age group is living the "college life." Youths in this age group are just living like the normal college student does. Partying on weekends after class or work all week has been the norm for years and will probably always stay about the same level. I think the reason that the 12-17 age group is dropping is because of more focus on reducing underage drinking. An example being at my hometown of Fond du Lac's annual festival of Walleye Weekend. It is an event that takes place in the summer time when people from the community come and partake in many activities like fishing, softball, volleyball, basketball and other social activities. Police are constantly keeping watch for underagers that are trying to get a buzz. They have even fined booths that have provided alcohol to underage drinkers. Parents are being discouraged by television ads to not give alcohol to their kids which will also reduce the number of binge drinkers for this age group. I think it is very interesting to see how culture plays a big role in alcohol consumption by younger people in our states. This data clearly shows that culture can keep levels constant and can also help to reduce underage drinking. 

 

The Sociological Imagination

Many people wake up in the morning and go about their day doing many social things. These things become so habitual to us that sometimes, we don't even realize that they are social.
On a typical day, I wake up and wash my face with a face scrub that is supposed to take away blemishes and other imperfections on my face. Why do I use that instead of regular soap and water? Why do I even worry about washing my face? Our society tells us that a dirty face with pimples on it is frowned upon. The company that sells Clearsil products wants consumers to think that unless they use their product, they will not achieve beautiful, radiant skin that everyone wants. So, twice a day, every day, I do my best to clean my face and hope that acne breakouts are prevented.
Another thing that I do on most days is watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy. This show is very popular in our country and has won numerous awards. When I first started watching this show, I didn't like it. I thought it was way too dramatic and predictable. After a few episode's, however, I fell in love with the characters and the thrill/suspense of it all. I was hooked. I think many Americans depend on TV shows to get their minds off their own lives and pretend for a little while that they have the lives of those people they see on television. Why? Because it seems exciting, glamorous, and perhaps "better" than how they perceive their own lives. Heck, when I watch this show I always think I want to be a surgeon in a hospital out in Seattle because if Katherine Heigl can do it, so can I.
Being on the MTU women's soccer team is basically like having a part time job. Part of that job is preparing yourself during the spring and summer for the upcoming season in the fall. Every day during the week except for Thursdays, my teammates and I head up to the SDC for lifting, running, and soccer practice. It seems like a normal thing to us, but to some people, I'm sure they'd think working out four times a week is insane and a waste of time. Even though it's hard to motivate myself sometimes to work out, I feel so much better and accomplished than if I had stayed home and not done any physical activity. In order to be the best soccer team we can be, we need to put the time and effort into it. Personally, I have a pretty good time doing it too. I'd like to expand a little more on this everyday activity because it probably would not be an everyday activity if it weren't for the progress that women have made in sports throughout history. There are probably some people who take for granted how fortunate we are to be able to participate sports and have the same opportunities as men do. This was not the case 100 years ago, and it probably still isn't the case today in other countries.
Something that has changed socially for me over the past few years is how I dress for school. In high school, I would maybe wear sweat pants once a week. You would never catch me going a day without make up on. And it would take me at least an hour to get ready in the morning. Since being in college, that has completely changed. It is now a special occasion for me to wear jeans, a real bra (not a sports bra), mascara, and my hair down. I think this is because of the increase in maturity level from high school to college... at least for some people. In college, people aren't going to be your friend based on the brand name on your clothes, or how much make up you wear and if you fake tan or not. In college, people have better things to do with their time than waste it on someone who doesn't like them for who they are versus how cool they are and what kind of car they drive.
I check Twitter every night before I go to sleep. Our society has become obsessed with social media. People "need" to know what's going on with friends and family members. I think sometimes people turn their social media into a popularity contest. How many followers do you have? How many friends? Do you get a lot of "likes" on your profile pictures? Are people constantly retweeting and favoriting your tweets? When these things are going on, people are probably going to get a boost of self-esteem because their followers and friends are paying attention and liking whatever it is they post. There are definitely some drawbacks and dangers of social media, but it is also a great tool to help us keep in touch with friends and family.
These are just five things that I do on a normal day. It's funny to think how some of them actually have a lot to do with society...

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