Dear Evan Hansen

1. Does social media greatly influence the main character in the story? Why?

Evan Hansen who is the main character is greatly influenced by social media. In the beginning
of the story where Connor snatched Evan's letter you saw Evan check every social media
platform to check if his letter has been posted. Social media greatly influenced Evan as he cares
a lot about what people think of him and social media is one of the tools to see how people
perceive him. He is greatly worried that people in social media will laugh at his letter so he didn't
feel at ease for a few days. The part where his speech about Connor went viral in social media
greatly influenced his life because people were finally saying good things about him. Evan felt
confident about himself and finally got friends and the girl of his dreams. In a way Even used
social media as a measurement of his self confidence. In another part where his letter got
leaked and people in social media said hateful things about the Murphy's he got really sad
because he is affected by the words people said on social media even if he doesn't know them
at all. Social media greatly influenced Evan in a negative way as it made him feel more alone
and based his self confidence on the opinion of other people who barely know him and not
himself who knows everything about himself.

2. Are there any societal implications observed in the story?

There are a few societal implications observed in the story. The first one is that we care more
about people who already killed themselves than helping them cope so they won't kill
themselves. The people in the story only gave importance to Connor's problems when he's dead
but when he's alive people just called him a violent freak and isolated him. The second societal
implication is that depressed people don't necessarily need to look depressed like sad, pale,
and crying but sometimes highly functional people are depressed too and they're just hiding it
because they are scared of judgments. We should remove the stigma about mental health
issues to help people because if they feel they will be judged then they won't seek help and
might result in suicide. The third societal implication is that lying to people to make them happy
won't last for a long time as the truth will always come out so it's better to tell the truth to avoid
further hurting people you care about. The fourth social implication is that when people feel they
aren't alone they feel more inclined to recover from mental health problems as it gives them a
purpose and they feel like they belong to a group and they want to better themselves for that
group. It is very evident in the part where they launched The Connor Project and it helped many
people as the people felt they finally belong to a group and they're not alone in dealing with
mental health issues.

3. After watching the movie do you think the story has made an impact on you?

The impact the story had on me is that I should always be kind to everyone. Being kind costs
me nothing but it can mean everything to other people. I also don't know what other people are
experiencing so I should also be kind as that someone might just give up if they felt more
disappointment or sadness. I would also try to never judge anyone quickly as maybe they have
problems so they act out or they are dealing with too much stuff and don't know how to cope. I
should also try to listen if they want to share their story but I should also never rush them so
that they won't feel like I'm just treating them like a pet or a novelty. It also impacted me in a way
that I should never tell lies to make other people feel good. Evan made up lies to help the
Murphy family cope with the loss of Connor but the truth just hurt them more as they lost their
son plus they got betrayed by Evan who was already treated like a family. Learning to love
myself is also an impact of the movie as it helps me realize that those people who judge me
don't really know anything about me and they probably created their own version of me that may
be really me. I learned not to put my worth in other people's hands as in this world the only
person who truly knows me is myself.