School Based Assessment

Subject: English A
Name: Ayanna Hutchinson
Candidate number: 1000051363
Theme: Caribbean Media
Topic: The Effects of Social Media on Adolescent Behavioural Development
Teacher’s Name: Ms. D. Johnson
Year of exam: May 2022
 Table of Contents

Plan of Investigation ..................................................................................................................... 3

Reflection 1 .................................................................................................................................... 4
Reflection 2 .................................................................................................................................... 7
Reflection 3 .................................................................................................................................. 10
Written Report ............................................................................................................................ 11
Plan of Oral Presentation ........................................................................................................... 12
Appendix ...................................................................................................................................... 13
Written Media Piece................................................................................................................ 14
Audio Media Piece................................................................................................................... 17
Visual Media Piece .................................................................................................................. 19
References .................................................................................................................................... 20
 Plan of Investigation
The theme that my group and I chose is “Caribbean Media”. My individual topic is “The
Effects of Social Media on Adolescent Behavioural Development”. I chose this topic because, as
a teenage social media user I am privy to the negative effects, and I would like to share these
effects. As a student of English Language, this research will benefit me by developing my
writing, analytical, comprehension and critical thinking abilities. I will be using the internet as
my primary source of data to collect artifacts related to daily news. These pieces will be further
analyzed using language skills which are comprehension, reporting and analyzing.

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 Reflection 1
For the English SBA, my group theme is “Caribbean Media”. From this theme, my
individual topic is “The effects of social media on adolescent behavioural development”. I
obtained three pieces of data for my individual topic, a written, audio and visual piece. My
written piece was entitled “How social media is affecting the health of young people” and was
written by Meisha-Gay Mattis and taken from the Loop News website. My audio piece was a
song called “I wrote a song about social media influence”, written by Hadley Shay and taken
from YouTube. The visual piece I used was a picture taken from an article on the Child Mind
Institute website and was entitled “How-Using-Social-Media-Affects-Teenagers”. The purpose
of this message was to highlight the individual topic I chose.
My first piece of data is the written piece, which is entitled “How social media is
affecting the health of young people”, and was written by Meisha-Gay Mattis. The article talks
about the way how using social media affects the mental health of young people who use it
everyday. The lavish lifestyles and experiences seen on social media can cause feelings of
depression or anxiety, as young people think that those persons are doing much better than them.
Similarly, it influences them to spend a lot of money so that they too can enjoy the things they
see online. The writer gave statistics on spending habits by detailing a poll conducted by social
media apps. It said, “In a recent poll that was running on Twitter and on Instagram, 65 per cent
of Twitter respondents said that social media did not impact their spending habits, 19 per cent
said it did, and 16 per cent said it did somewhat. However, the Instagram respondents gave a
completely different result with 65 percent agreeing that it does impact their spending habits.”
Social media also leads to self esteem issues due to the portrayal of unrealistic beauty standards
online. Meisha-Gay also talks about how persons will go “the extra mile” and perform life-
threatening stunts just to get the perfect Instagram picture. The excessive use of social media by
young people leaves them with less time to perform meaningful activities with family and friends
in the real world, away from the screen. This can lead to social ineptitude due to spending less
time interacting in the real world or engaging in mindful activities. Identical to this, people are
losing sleep because they are too invested in being “social media beings”. Another statistic
provided by the writer said that “Facebook says the average individual spends 50 minutes daily
on their site, including Instagram.” However, she quoted that “To maintain optimal health, the

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World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75
minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity.” The writer closed off the article by
making a suggestion to reduce social media screen time, which was to place the phone in another
room, making it easier to stay off it.
The audio piece I had obtained was a song entitled “I wrote a song about social media
influence” and was written and performed by Hadley Shay. It speaks about the negative
influence social media has on the psyche of teenagers. The artist talks about how “obsessed and
addicted” people are to social media and are basically just living life to post it. She sings that
“we claim media connects us but remain disconnected”, which illuminates her point when she
sings that social media is ridding us of genuine relations. The song also talks about how the
constant exposure to filtered lives made to look perfect on social media is causing teens to
constantly compare their lives to what they see online. As said by Hadley, “they don’t know it’s
alright to be different than what’s online”. Constantly trying to look perfect and polished on
social media even though it is okay to be a mess takes over the minds of teenagers and impacts
them negatively. It makes teenagers starve themselves just to look perfect online and tear
themselves down by comparing themselves to others. She ends the song by saying that “this
generation needs to fight to be different than what is online”.
My visual piece, “How-Using-Social-Media-Affects-Teenagers”, was taken from an
article published on the Child Mind Institute website. The picture depicts a group of teenagers on
their phones. Above their heads are social media app icons that are melting down on their heads,
illustrating how the constant use of social media embeds all these ideas into our heads. Teens are
on their phones all the time, scrolling through social media and absorbing what they see. As a
consequence, this can have negative impacts on their psyche and self-esteem. In the picture, the
teenagers are on their phones and not interacting with one another in the real world. This further
emphasizes how the constant use of technology and social media is preventing people from
having physical contact and forming genuine relationships away from a screen. Overall, the
picture paints the general image of social media addiction in teenagers.
Going into this SBA, I had a certain set of thoughts and feelings on social media and how
it affects adolescents. However, after conducting all my research and reading information on my
individual topic, my thoughts and feelings have been further cemented but I have also gained

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new ones. My new thoughts and feelings are not much, just a couple. I had often contemplated
how social media affects teenagers mentally, whether it makes them more depressed, anxious,
etc or messes with their self-esteem. After doing the research, my eyes were open to how literally
life-threatening social media can be. People perform life-threatening stunts just to get the perfect
Instagram picture, and the people who see it want to try it too. I had never given much thought to
that until I did this SBA. My other new thought/feeling is how social media truly makes it harder
to form genuine relationships with people in real life. I had always had the mentality that you can
be with people while on your phone, just for the company. However, I have now realized that it
is more important to spend real time with people instead of wasting it away on social media.
Conducting this SBA research helped to broaden my views on my topic which was very
beneficial.

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 Reflection 2
According to a quick Google search, language techniques are the elements that a writer
brings to his or her story to emphasize the theme on which they are focusing. But they are not
heavily utilized in everyday life. So why are they so important? An attempt to answer this
question is what has led me here, to writing this reflection. My group and I chose the topic
“Caribbean Media” and from this, I formulated my subtopic “The Negative Effects of Social
Media on Adolescent Behavioural Development”. I garnered three pieces of data for my
subtopic: an article, a song and a picture. From these pieces, I identified a multitude of language
techniques however I will only highlight salient techniques used in this reflection.
My written piece was an article I sourced online from the Loop News website. The article
was written by Meisha-Gay Mattis. The piece was titled, “How social media is affecting the
health of young people”. The author made use of statistical data, quoting a Twitter poll and
research done by Asian researchers that reaped astonishing results. The data showed readers that,
not only was social media very influential in convincing viewers to spend money which they
might not have, but people were also executing death defying stunts (sometimes death won) just
to get the perfect Instagram picture. These statistics were used in such a way that left me amazed
at the results. But it’s not just the statistics that reel you into the article, but also the author’s style
of writing. Her writing style made for a very pleasant reading experience. Not only did she have
my undivided attention from start to finish, she also persuaded me to really ponder on social
media’s effect on my life. This tied in really well with the tone of the article, which was also
very persuasive as she really wanted readers to understand the points she was trying to make.
She made use of expert opinion by quoting research done by a Dr. Tara Swart and the
aforementioned Asian researchers. What was also engaging was the use of rhetorical questions
and evidence in the article. It is obvious Meisha put time and effort into this article to ensure that
readers were engaged and actively thinking on the information being presented to them. To me,
these were highly effective in conveying the message of the article and encouraging readers to
really contemplate on social media’s effects on the young psyche.
Pictures tell stories, but those stories differ based on who is interpreting the picture. My

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visual piece was taken from an article published on the Child Mind Institute website. The image
depicts four teenagers on their phones with social media app icons above, melting down on their
heads. Now let’s “paint the picture”. From their facial expressions, we can tell they aren’t happy.
They’re focused on their screens but what they’re seeing brings them zero joy. So why are they
so invested? That’s a question you’d have to ask them, but since we cannot, let us move on.
After looking at this picture for an extended period of time, you might start to feel some
emotions bubbling up to the surface. At first, I thought I felt sorry for them; poor children so
caught up in what social media shows them, oblivious to the real world. But then I remembered I
was one of them in the past. So, while evoking feelings of sympathy for the personas depicted,
the picture is also relatable. I mean, we’ve all been there, so we understand. As previously stated,
pictures tell stories, and this story is clear: social media is addictive, and like all addictive
substances it affects our livelihoods and wrecks genuine, meaningful relationships. To interpret it
any other way would be impractical; thus, this image adequately conveyed the message it wished
to.
Music is an insight to the soul. It allows people to let out emotions and share them in the
form of music for others to enjoy and relate to. That is exactly what my audio piece did. The
song I procured was titled “I wrote a song about social media influence” and was written and
sung by a young girl named Hadley Shay. The song dove deep into the unrealistic portrayals on
social media and its negative impact on teens. The use of emotive language and appeal was
strong in this song. Phrases like “Are we really living life or just living to post it?”, “Have to
present my best when it’s okay to be a mess”, and “Personal touch has now become an
abstraction” were used to evoke an emotional response from the audience. The emotion
expressed in the lyrics was profound and really emphasized the problem being addressed. Hadley
also used inclusive language to show that this is a problem that affects most teens, not just her.
The lyrics of the song included the words ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘ourselves’, and listeners could
understand how easily relatable the song was. The lyrics and rhythm of the song were catered
towards a younger, teen audience like the artist herself. As was obvious from the lyrics and
performance, this was a topic that she was clearly passionate about. For me, it was a good use of

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emotive language and appeal and inclusive language as it really helped present an upfront case
about a poorly addressed problem.
To conclude, one can see how the language techniques used in each of these pieces
helped to sell the message they conveyed. Each brought a depth of emotion and understanding to
each piece that could not have occurred without their presence. This might explain why language
techniques are so important. In any case, against all trials and tribulations, language prevails, and
that deserves the utmost respect.

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 Reflection 3
As we embarked on the starting of this English SBA, my group selected the theme, “Caribbean
Media”. From this theme, I formulated my topic, “The Effects of Social Media on Adolescent
Behavioural Development”. I had chosen this topic because of an interest I had in researching
and learning more about the impact of social media on adolescents, more specifically the daily
impact as well as the long-term impact. This SBA allowed me to facilitate this interest.
The skills I had expected to garner and mature throughout this SBA were my analytical,
comprehension and research skills. While my analytical skills still need some polishing, this
SBA truly helped to mature this almost non-existent skill. I have also seen improvement in my
comprehension skills through the creation of my reflections as well as my research skills as I had
to search the internet deeply for relevant and appropriate pieces of data to use for my SBA.
Additionally, I have seen improvements in my writing skills and my ability to express myself
well in my writing.
As a person who prefers to work alone, I initially had a hard time coming to terms with the SBA
being group based. However, I have developed a better attitude towards group work. My group
members have not made this SBA process difficult at all. They have all done their respective
parts to ensure a smooth completion of the SBA. Additionally, I have learnt how to better
communicate in a group and work harmoniously to achieve an end goal. I am certain that this
will benefit me in my future endeavours.
Lastly, I have been able to refine my creative writing skills and my public speaking skills.
Through composing my reflections and oral presentation piece, I have been afforded the
opportunity to build on my creative writing skills. Especially for my oral presentation, where I
went through various creative pieces in an attempt to find the one that best brought out the
message of my individual topic and allowed me to fully express myself. The confidence I had in
the writing of my piece helped to ease my nerves for the oral presentation. The oral presentation
helped with my public speaking skills as I had to memorize my piece then present it from
memory in front of my invigilator. I believe these skills have bettered me as a student and person
and will serve me well as I move on in life.

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 Written Report
The group’s chosen theme was “Caribbean Media”. Under this theme, we investigated; “The
Effects of Dancehall Music on The Jamaican Education System”, “The Effects of Modern
Jamaican Music on Traditional Jamaican Culture”, “The Effects of Social Media on Adolescent
Behavioural Development”, “The Effects of Local Producers and Influencers on Jamaican
Music” and “The Effects of Reggae Music on the Caribbean”. Completing this task was
facilitated by extensive research and thorough group discussion.
The written piece was chosen from an online article entitled “Rampin Shop - Musical Poison” by
Esther Tyson was selected because it emphasized how Dancehall, a form of Caribbean Music,
affects the island’s younger population. Of all the written pieces analyzed this best reflected our
group theme and expressed that the psyche of Jamaican students is being seriously affected by
rewiring their moral and behavioural code.
The audio piece chosen was a song sourced on Youtube entitled “I wrote a song about social
media influence” by Hadley Shay. This piece talks about how negatively social media impacts
the psyche of young teens and rids them of genuine relations. This audio piece best represented
the group theme because of its message.
The visual piece was chosen from www.slimsuzy.wordpress.com. This piece best highlighted the
overpromotion of violence in Jamaican music; arguably the most influential form of Caribbean
Media. This visual piece best represents our group theme.
To conclude, the broad theme of Caribbean Media allowed the group to thrive with the various
sub-topics and allowed efficient delivery of this report with our distinct viewpoints in mind.

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 Plan of Oral Presentation
My general group theme is “Caribbean Media”. My individual subtopic from this theme is “The
Negative Effects of Social Media on Adolescent Behavioural Development”. The genre I have
chosen to express my thought and feelings on my topic is a dramatic monologue. This dramatic
monologue will highlight the effects of social media through the point of view of a teenage girl
in Jamaica. It will highlight how social media affects her daily life and her mental health. The
sources I will be using to help in preparing for my oral presentation will be my three pieces of
data which I will use to help establish the theme of my dramatic monologue. The dramatic
monologue will be written and presented in Jamaican Standard English only.

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Appendix

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 Written Media Piece
How social media is affecting the health of young people – Meisha-Gay Mattis
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in today’s society, that picture is worth a
thousand “likes”, which often generates income and clout for social media influencers. But at
what cost?
Many Millennials and Generation Zers are willing to go above and beyond to capture and upload
that perfect picture moment, sometimes pulling life-threatening stunts and antics, or even going
into debt to portray perfection. On the other side of the screen are those who spend their lives
just taking it all in, scrolling through and double tapping on hundreds of pictures every day.
Social media does come with the benefits of connectedness, bringing the world closer together
and making tons of information available at our fingertips, but it hasn’t come without its cost to
our mental health as a result of misuse and overuse. And that cannot be ignored.
If it wasn’t posted on Instagram, did it really happen?
To many Millennials and Gen Zers, the answer would be no. The obsession with sharing every
aspect of life and curating perfection has led many young people to think that their lives are
meaningless because they don’t have access or proximity to the lavish or adventurous lifestyles
they see on their screens courtesy of their favourite celebs and influencers, or even their friends -
- the fun, fashion, food, and travel. This constant obsession with keeping up with the Joneses or
creating our own picture-perfect lives has been taxing on our health, but are we ignoring these
implications?
There is this constant fear of missing out (FOMO) that gets people so caught up in documenting
and sharing the moment that they don’t truly experience it. Just pay keen attention the next time
you go out. At dinner, there are people trying to find the best angle of their meals before they
take a bite. At concerts, there are people more concerned with recording the artiste on stage than
actually singing and dancing along. In fact, you’d be lucky to see the stage with all the cell
phones in the air, either streaming the show to their followers or recording snippets to drop later -
all to prove they were there and had the time of their lives.
The pressures of wanting to keep up and thinking that everyone is doing so much more or better
than you are leading to feelings of depression and anxiety, and many young people are spending
beyond their means to ensure they, too, can enjoy, snap and share the “perfect” experience.
What many people don’t understand is that these celebrities and influencers, who earn millions
to their hundreds, are oftentimes given for free what they have to shell out thousands of dollars to
purchase - all to chase the almighty “‘like”.
In a recent poll that was running on Twitter and on Instagram, 65 per cent of Twitter respondents
said that social media did not impact their spending habits, 19 per cent said it did, and 16 per
cent said it did somewhat. However, the Instagram respondents gave a completely different
result with 65 per cent agreeing that it does impact their spending habits. The main difference
here is showing how persuasive pictures can be.

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Psychological research has shown that constant comparison can result in acute stress and anxiety.
According to Dr Tara Swart, a neuroscientist and lecturer at MIT: “Your brain is looking for a
threat...so it will look at the image and think: 'Is this as good as me, better than me or less good
than me?'"
Not only is this true in the need to keep up with our faves, but in terms of the beauty standards
we believe. The presence of so many heavily altered selfies can make one question natural
beauty or believe they’re ugly in comparison, which leads to self-esteem issues, especially
among young women and teenage girls.
The bottomless platform of Instagram is hard to resist and this results in people spending
countless hours scrolling away, leaving little or no time to dedicate to more meaningful activities
like spending time in the real world with family and friends. The less time we spend interacting
in the real world or engaging in mindful activities, the more room it creates for us to be socially
inept. Additionally, it makes one forget to actually appreciate what they have as their lives are
now constantly being judged.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There have been many reports of injury and even death as
people go the extra mile for the most “epic” Instagram photos.
For instance, a student, Rachel Louise De Jong, was swept to her death by dam waters seconds
after posing for selfies in a river in New Zealand in 2017. According to researchers, Agam
Bansal, Chandan Garg, Abhijith Pakhare, and Samiksha Gupta (Selfies: A boon or a bane?),
“From October 2011 to November 2017, there have been 259 deaths while clicking selfies in 137
incidents. The mean age was 22.94 years. About 72.5 percent of the total deaths occurred in
males and 27.5 per cent in females. The highest number of incidents and selfie-deaths has been
reported in India, followed by Russia, the United States, and Pakistan. Drowning, transport, and
falls form the topmost reasons for deaths caused by selfies.”
Take a look at this popular risk-taking couple on Instagram (close to 200,000 followers). They
have often been called out by their followers, but that never seems to deter them.
Some comments include: “Why would anyone do that?” “Do what you love of course, but don’t
do stupid things like putting your life at risk.” “I hope she doesn’t die for likes..one wrong move
and it ends..”
Another comment went on to say: “How can you say this crazy stunt wasn't dangerous? God
forbid someone copies you, falls and dies! Use some common sense.”
Social media definitely has its positives, but it also has its negatives, so at the end of the day, it’s
all about moderation. Too many people are missing out on sleep, not dedicating enough time to
meaningful activities, or not doing things that lead to improved wellbeing because they are too
invested in being “social media beings”.
Facebook says the average individual spends 50 minutes daily on their site, including Instagram.
This may not seem like much, but let’s put it into perspective: That’s 350 minutes weekly. To
maintain optimal health, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 150 minutes of

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moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, yet most would
say they can’t find that time.
While there are no quick fixes to the current predicament, I will make one recommendation
which I do believe can be extremely valuable: Most of us, if not all, can access our cell phones
without moving our feet to get to them, and this is one of the key reasons people are constantly
glued to Instagram.
Try placing your cell phone away from you. Having to walk from your bedroom to the living
room to get to your phone is an easy deterrent. Keep this up and you will automatically see a
reduction in the time you spend glued to social media, which will only improve your mental
health and overall wellbeing.

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 Audio Media Piece
I wrote a song about social media influence – Hadley Shay
Likes on a post
My most recent status
Have to fit in a box public figures throw at us
Stuck in this loop of constantly wanting more
But if it’s just numbers, then what’s it all for?

We’re obsessed, we’re addicted

We’re unaware of these filtered lives
We can’t help but compare
Claim media connects us but remain disconnected
Are we really living life or just living to post it?
These stats don’t define me
All these friends online don’t count if they’re not really mine
Can’t ever stop trying
Have to present my best when it’s okay to be a mess
Kids are dying
They don’t know it’s alright to be different than what’s online

Clouded visions of false realities

Number based thoughts
Caught up in battling these
Consumed in scrolling, now an everyday action
Personal touch has now become an abstraction

We’re obsessed, we’re addicted

We’re unaware of these filtered lives
We can’t help but compare
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 Claim media connects us but remain disconnected
Are we really living life or just living to post it
These stats don’t define me
All these friends online don’t count if they’re not really mine
Can’t ever stop trying
Have to present my best when it’s okay to be a mess
Kids are dying
They don’t know it’s alright to be different than what’s online

This multimedia generation

Is ridding us of genuine relations
We starve and we bleed and we tear ourselves down
Only to make ourselves renowned
This multimedia generation
Is ridding us of genuine relations
We starve and we bleed and we tear ourselves down
Only to make ourselves renowned
But these stats don’t define me
All these friends online don’t count if they’re not really mine
Can’t ever stop trying
Have to present my best when it’s okay to be a mess
Kids are dying
They don’t know it’s alright
A desire to hide
Our generation needs to fight
To be different than what’s online

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Visual Media Piece

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 References
Mattis, M.-G. (2020, January 15). How social media is affecting the health of young people.
LOOP News Jamaica. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from
https://jamaica.loopnews.com/content/how-social-media-affecting-health-young-people
Shay, H. (2019). I wrote a song about social media influence. YouTube. Retrieved October 31,
2020, from https://youtu.be/uxLLnxcM0Q4.
Ehmke, R. (n.d.). Social Media Effects on Teens | Impact of Social Media on Self-Esteem . Child
Mind Institute. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-
media-affects-teenagers/.
Tyson, E. (2009, January 1). 'Rampin' Shop' - musical poison. Jamaica Gleaner Commentary
RSS. Retrieved March 2, 2022, from http://jamaica-
gleaner.mobi/20090201/cleisure/cleisure4.php
Slimsuzy. (2010, May 12). Unnamed. SLIMSUZY'S BLOG. comic strip. Retrieved March 3,
2022, from https://slimsuzy.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/ed-cartoon-may-12-2010.jpg.

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