Depression and anxiety are the leading mental health issue for college students; stress leads to academic disruption

Roughly 18 percent of American adults are affected by an anxiety disorder, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA). That’s forty million people, in the United States alone. 75 percent of this population say that they have experienced their first episode of anxiety before the young age of 22. Most college students are between the ages of 18 and 24, and because of their setting, they are more likely to develop mental health issues than older age groups. In 2008, Associated Press and mtvU survey of college students found that at least 13 percent of students have been diagnosed with a mental health condition such as an anxiety disorder or depression. At least 80 percent of students experience frequent stress or encounter stress on a daily basis in their lives. This stress affects not only the mental health, but can affect other aspects of daily life, if not properly treated.

The Rise of Depression and Other Mental Illnesses in Schools

Recently, depression has been increasingly common among students. In a recent survey of 765 people (59 percent being current students) conducted by National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), depression was the number one type of illness reported. It's not unusual for one to have more than one mental illness simultaneously. It’s also dangerous because mental health issues affect the brain and one’s way of thinking and they can co-occur with other issues. For example, it’s common for someone with anxiety issues to also suffer depression. Other diagnoses of illnesses that make up 12 percent are borderline personality disorder, dysthymia, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), schizoaffective disorder, and autism spectrum disorder. Just because you can’t see mental health issues out the outer appearance doesn’t mean that they are inferior to physical health issues. As a matter of fact, people which mental health issues require just as much attention as people with other issues. According to the ADAA, people with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more likely to visit the doctor than people who do not have an anxiety disorder.

How Mental Health Problems Affect Students

There are many factors that contribute to the development of mental health issues in young adults. Stephanie Rivero, Assistant Coordinator of the CARE to Stop Violence program at the University of Maryland, shares effects that mental health issues have on students.

Many young adults are students who transition into college after grade school in their hometown. The transition is not always easy, and it is a stress factor to some students. Even the infographic below presented by onlinecollegeclasses.com outline that adjusting to college life is the biggest cause of stress for students based on a 2010 national survey of college freshmen. Transitioning into a new environment and meeting new people can be hard for some students. Because they’re surrounded by unfamiliar faces, it may be hard to share their thoughts with others.

Not all students are like this, but the students that get stressed from school are at more risk. When stress builds up, it can lead to other issues such as academic distress, decreased social activity, or even thoughts of dropping out of college.

Kerrigan 52 Video Interview on Questions about this iCourse

Question 1

Question 2

Comparative view of digital news access within the U.S. and around the World by Chan41 Lakshimi6

Technology is advancing at a rapid rate these days and the ways that we access daily news are growing, too. More and more people access the news they want whenever they want through technology. Access of digital news is growing in the U.S., but it is also growing outside of the U.S.

News Interest and Access Trends in the U.S tend to be congruent with Worldwide* trends

Before considering overall news access, it’s important, and necessary to consider overall interest in news. In a study across 10 countries* (Brazil, Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Finland, U.S, Japan, U.K and France), we see that in general, a majority of the population does have an interest in news, where the U.S lies in the middle of the spectrum (68% interested, 30% less interested). As we progress with this information, the number of devices on which news can be accessed must also be considered. Like a majority of the countries, the U.S shows a greater use of digital access rather than traditional (print + radio). In terms of digital access, the U.S, and most other countries, there’s a preference for smartphones over tablets, but there isn’t a great difference between the two. In addition, we see that the U.S does seem to have the greatest proportion interested in a mix of video and text, while other countries, although they may have greater percentages, show a preference for text.

The usage of digital news within the U.S.

In the United States, many people access news every day just like people in other countries. Many news outlets now provide most, if not all, of their news stories online. Many people view news on digital devices on various news outlets. In fact, 35% of Americans get news on two digital devices, and 12% get news on three or more digital devices. According to the following graph, the most popular news source for people who access online news is Yahoo, with 28% of weekly usage being on this popular news site. Websites from local newspapers and television news were popular, too.

-World

 >countries: Brazil, Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Japan, United Kingdom, France

-News overall (trends)

How you customize settings vs. how technology personalizes settings

Personalization vs. Customization

To some people, personalization and customization are similar terms. But with the growing usage and invention of technology, personalization and customization are becoming completely different terms. The main difference system-initiated personalization (SIP) and user-initiated customization is how you tailor the content.  When you talk about customizing your phone, it is usually you who is controlling what you see. Personalizing means that you choose options but the system tailors content based on your personal information. Although both methods make web usage easier and more fun, are they effective? Agency is when you have a sense of the actions you are making. Whether it is walking, talking, cleaning, or browsing the web, we are conscious of our actions. As humans, we don't have to just do one action at a time. We can multitask, or do multiple tasks, consciously.

Results of Study

Power users are people who actively use technology. They always are up-to-date on the latest technology and they know how to use the technology efficiently. For power users, customization is better than personalization. They can get more out of it and it works better for them. But for people who are non-users, personalization was better for them. As a non-user personally, I like personalizing my phone and computer. If I set a certain amount of settings, the system automatically sets up details according to how I might like it.

Student-Student Interactions vs. Student-Instructor Interactions via Technology

Student Cyborgs

 

This series of graphs is a good representation of technology in education because it depicts how not only students utilize technology in classrooms, but how faculty members use technology as well. The bright, bold colors of the graphs compliment the white background well, making them easy to read. The title of the visualization was appealing because there included a word that I had never seen before. The author uses the term, "cyborg". Cyborg is an alien term to me, but it means, "a person whose functioning is aided by or dependent  upon a mechanical or electronic device." Technology in today's society has gotten to the point where it is almost impossible for many students to have classes, even function, without technology. Through the data in this visualization, I thought saw that much more technology was used in schools for an extensive variety of purposes than I thought. It doesn't surprise me that over time, there are more and more students who use technology, but the number of students enrolling in online classes surprised me. There was over 2 million students who enrolled in online courses in the span of 7 years. The technology used in classrooms have advanced greatly within the past 10 years, also. It's rare that I have walked into a classroom without a projector. This article from The Journal outlines 10 major trends in technology in education and I, as a student, am part of most of these trends. I'm very reliant on technology myself, but how much more will future generations rely on technology? With the rapid growth of development of technology, increased use in online resources, and ease of use, it is inevitable that technology in education will be more prevalent in the upcoming years.

My Twitter

If I were to post to Twitter this morning, I'd like to share science news that is affecting all people and our environment. In a new Washington Post article, reports by the United Nations show that the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are rising rapidly. Along with carbon dioxide, other greenhouse gases are more abundant in the atmosphere. The levels are breaking records, and I'd like to inform the people around me of this news so that they become aware of this environmental situation and share with others, too.