Using Social Media to Diagnose Depression

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So often, we hear about the damage that social media is having on our mental health, from isolating ourselves to avoiding face-to-face human interaction to experiencing FOMO. A recent study however, tried to see how social media wasn’t affecting mental health, but instead how it can help diagnose mental illnesses, specifically with depression.

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Going Off the Grid – A Social Media Hiatus

The SOVA Project is happy to feature this blog post written by one in our team of fantastic SOVA Ambassadors—these are young people who help create meaningful blog posts from adolescents’ perspectives.


For most people, social media is an intrinsically large part of our lives. Young people can easily spend hours per day on various social media networks without even realizing they are doing so. Continue reading Going Off the Grid – A Social Media Hiatus

Some Social Media Stats

It’s almost pointless to constantly discuss the effect that social media has on our interactions and communication without having the information to back it up. There are almost always surveys and polls released to see how people, adolescents in particular, are using social media and the effect it has on them. We’ve taken a couple of recent ones to see what the most up-to-date statistics say.

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The Right to Vote

Politics have become a part of everyday conversation, as naturally brought up as the weather or celebrity gossip. The is especially true for the latter, as politics are almost one in the same with celebrity news. After 2016, the amount of activism and speaking up from entertainers has significantly increased, especially so in the last few weeks. Continue reading The Right to Vote

The Art and Harm of Subtweeting

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The art of subtweeting isn’t a particularly difficult one. It involves posting something on social media (usually Twitter) that’s most likely negative, most likely about someone you know, but always indirect. No names are mentioned, no handles are included, and the post is passive-aggressive, rarely specific, but hints that someone has offended the original poster. Continue reading The Art and Harm of Subtweeting

YouTube, YouTubers, and Relationships

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It’s difficult not to feel even a little jealous when scrolling through our numerous feeds, seeing people we know participating in adventurous activities and hanging out with other people, wishing we could do the same instead of viewing someone else doing so on a screen. FOMO is an all too familiar term, but recently, the fear of missing out has only intensified with the increased use of social media, particularly when it comes to the endless material from YouTube, one of the most popular sites for adolescents.

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Using Social Media as a Resource

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In the never-ending debate on the pros and cons of social media, particularly on mental health, there isn’t as much discussion about how social media can be used as an outlet. While it isn’t a replacement for therapy and professional help by any means, social media can help to reassure people about how they’re feeling, whether it be through initial research or talking to other people who are going through the exact same thing.

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An App Designed to Stop Lunchroom Bullying

Have you ever had to sit by yourself in the lunchroom? Seventeen-year-old Californian Natalie Hampton has—for two whole years—and she’s invented an app to make sure no one else ever has to go through that.

When Hampton—an outgoing girl who had always had lots of friends—moved a new school in seventh grade, she had high hopes of making new pals, but that’s not what happened. Instead, she was completely ostracized by the other students.

The worst part was lunch: she would walk into the crowded cafeteria and see that no one was willing to eat with her.

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This lasted for two years.

To make matters worse, none of the adults at the school supported her. The school counselor even interrogated her on a weekly basis, trying to get her to admit what she had done to make the students behave this way.

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Prioritizing Yourself

The SOVA Project is happy to feature this blog post written by one in our team of fantastic SOVA Ambassadors—these are young people who help create meaningful blog posts for us to share.

One of the most important things I have learned on my mental health journey is that it’s okay to be self-centered. In fact, you NEED to be self-centered to some degree. It’s so easy to get caught up in the lives of everyone around you and lose sight of your own path.

At the beginning of 2018, I decided to make myself the focus of this year. While this doesn’t mean I neglect my friends and family, it does mean that I stop breaking my back doing things that don’t bring me joy. Here are some of the important steps I’ve taken to accomplish this goal:

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