Obesity, Mawliga Nagabaskaran Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Yingjun Li…………………………………………………202 Photo Dump, Zainab Javid……………………………………………………………………204 Pick-Me Girl, Karolina Solovka………………………………………………………………206

Obesity

Mawliga Nagabaskaran

An important keyword that is central to the study of adolescence and health is obesity. Obesity is important in regards to how it takes a toll on an adolescent’s life physically, mentally, and emotionally. It is a medical condition and can also be referred to as a disease as it occurs when an individual has an abnormal or excessive amount of body fat to the point where it has a negative effect on their health. Being obese during the Middle Ages and the 17th century was often seen as something to be proud of as it indicated power and prosperity in a time where many people did not have access to food and there was a shortage in many places. There was a large increase in obesity rates mostly in the last decade and this was due to many reasons, including the promotion of foods high in fat and processed sugars. Many of the individuals that are affected by obesity are adolescents and it truly affects their growth and well being. Obesity helps us understand the experiences of young people as it affects their daily lifestyle in various ways. An individual can struggle with obesity starting at the age of 5 and it can go on through adolescence until adulthood. This helps us understand the experiences of these young people as many individuals become depressed, struggle with anxiety and a low self esteem, as well as are discriminated against, resulting in strained relationships with those around them. They begin to have many negative experiences with themselves and their peers and they begin to lose their support systems at a time of need. In regards to their health, they slowly start to deteriorate as it can affect their whole body from their reproductive system to their respiratory system as well as daily aspects such as mood and memory. During a young person’s adolescence stage they are already going through many changes and when obesity is added to the mix these changes and effects are amplified as it changes the way they think and act. Emotionally and mentally, an adolescent's well being is also being affected as they are at a higher risk for emotional problems. They become less popular with their peers leading to them being isolated and not comfortable in their own skin. This is when people like teachers can be a source of support for these young people as they are still going through many changes and need guidance and assistance. We should not try to change who they are but be there to help find their own strengths in order to build themselves in every way possible. This is especially an important time to be their aid as many individuals who are obese as adolescents will continue to be obese as an adult. Encouraging their interests, being a role model of healthy choices, and being there for support will definitely make an impact for the better with these young individuals. https://www.scielo.br/j/rsp/a/74Rd4HCX7cxL7vv6p3B779R/?format=pdf&lang=en https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQkuVVqx7ds

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Yingjun Li

The keyword I choose to talk about is OCD-Obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is a mental illness with a pattern of unwanted intrusive thoughts, fears, or sensations that can cause anxiety and use repetitive, compulsive behaviours to help reduce anxiety. Common obsession examples include fear of germs, dirt, and containments, worrying that they are going to die, worrying that loved ones would get sick or have an accident, and obsession with placing objects in a specific order. Common examples of Compulsive behaviors include excessive washing of hands and cleaning, and having to place certain things in a strict order, having to do something over and over until it feels “just right”. People can develop OCD due to genetic reasons, environmental exposures, and stressful events.

History of OCD

Obsessive-compulsive disorder has a very long history, but here I will highlight a few important evolvements. According to OCD UK (n.d.), the historical record of the term OCD can be traced back to the fourteen century. At that time, what we call OCD now was called “scrupulosity”. Scrupulosity was used to describe obsessive fears in religious contexts. The modern conceptualization of the term OCD started in the nineteen century. In the early twenty century, Sigmund Freud came up with the term “Zwangsneurose” to describe the obsession he observed in his patients, which was the original name of OCD. Later, the term was translated as “compulsion” in the UK and then as “obsession” in the US. Eventually, to compromise between the two translations, the diagnosis came to be called “Obsessive-compulsive”, which is the OCD we call today.

OCD and Adolescents

Mental health problems can cause severe negative impacts on adolescents. Obsessivecompulsive disorder is one of the most common mental illnesses among teenagers. It can occur early in life and most commonly appears in adolescents and adults. Students with OCD face more challenges than others. For instance, OCD can affect students’ performance at school. Students with OCD might have trouble focusing during class if they constantly worry about other things in their heads. Students might also spend excessive time doing their homework with much erasing and rewriting. In addition, OCD increases risk-taking behaviors that affect adolescents’ health and well-being. Adolescents who struggle to cope with OCD might turn to substance misuses, such as excessive drinking and drug use. Students with OCD may experience bullying at school as well due to their peers’ lack of understanding about the illness. OCD can also increase the risk of suicide. As teachers, we need to be more patient and encouraging in supporting our students with OCD. We must recognize the signs of OCD. If we think a student is developing OCD behaviors, we need to act immediately to help the student, such as guiding the student to seek professional help and receive treatment. We are also responsible for promoting awareness of OCD at school to reduce the harm of OCD to our students.

List of two sources: Academic source: Krebs, G., & Heyman, I. (2014). Obsessive-compulsive disorder in children and adolescents. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 100(5), 495–499. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2014-306934 Non-academic source: McLeanHospital. (2020, September 10). Dr. Elizabeth McIngvale on Navigating the Challenges of OCD. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAuvsfey9c8 Reference OCD UK. (n.d.). The history of OCD. Retrieved November 6, 2022, from https://www.ocduk.org/ocd/history-of-ocd/

Photo Dump

Zainab Javid

The term photo dump describes a random collection or “carousel” of images posted on Instagram that are low-effort and not highly edited. The photo dump trend became popular amongst Instagram users in the summer of 2020, as it essentially started as a casual Instagram carousel of an individual’s week, month, or day. Additionally, some users post photo dumps of their favourite items or simply random photos from their camera roll. Photo dumps allow users to move away from the highly edited, filtered photos to low-effort, unfiltered photos straight from the camera roll. The pandemic played a huge role in the emergence of the photo dump trend. As everyone’s lives slowed down, we started taking photos of our mundane, everyday activities. I believe that when photo dumps first became a trend, it helped alleviate the pressure, especially for young adolescent girls, to not have to look highly edited and airbrushed in the photos they post. Many content creators that these adolescents look up to such as Emma Chamberlain, Alisha Marie, Matilda Djerf, Mai Pham, and many more started posting photo dumps that consist of more casual, ordinary photos. These are just a few examples of people who started to post more “authentic” content about their own lives through photo dumps which helped them appear more “real” to their young audiences. Due to this, it became more socially acceptable to post unedited photos on your Instagram feed. With that being said, I find that this push towards being more casual on Instagram has now inadvertently created a new set of standards for fitting in, which impacts adolescents mental health. Through photo dumps, it has become “cool” to appear as though you are not trying hard. This trend leads people wanting to portray themselves online as effortlessly careless. Furthermore, photo dumps have become a way for adolescents to carefully curate their self-presentation on social media through impression management. This comes from the need for acceptance from others through the strategic presentation of the self. Rather than spending hours editing one photo to look perfect for an Instagram feed, people are now spending that same amount of time carefully selecting photos from their camera roll that they feel are aesthetically pleasing enough to post in a photo dump. Adolescents are posting photo dumps that represent a version of themselves that they may subconsciously be seeking approval from. In addition, though these photos are not highly filtered, they are still edited in a way that makes them look unfiltered to fit with the nonchalant aesthetic. Referring back to the content creators mentioned above, when adolescents see these effortlessly cool Instagram feeds, with seemingly unedited photos getting a significantly positive response, it is inevitable for that to influence their own ideas of self-presentation on social media. This photo dump trend has become just another way for adolescents to put the highlight reel of their lives on display. Creators such as Emma Chamberlain, who is a huge influence for adolescents, has talked about her frustrations with Instagram and the hold that it can have over one’s identity as it has become highly curated extensions of our personalities disguised as our authentic selves. With this, I believe that casual Instagram and appearing effortless has become just as toxic as posed Instagram, where under the guise of honesty and authenticity is still this high degree of curation and conformity. Non-academic source: Chamberlain, Emma, host. “The Instagram Illusion.” Anything Goes. Ramble. 9 April 2021. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-instagram-illusion/id1458568923?i=1000519259921 Academic source:

Herring, Susan C., and Sanja Kapidzic. "Teens, gender, and self-presentation in social media." International encyclopedia of social and behavioral sciences 2 (2015): 1-16. Additional sources: https://loyolaphoenix.com/2022/09/is-it-time-to-ditch-the-photo-dump/ https://thebutlercollegian.com/2022/08/time-to-bereal-the-impact-of-photo-dumps-casualinstagram-and-bereal/

Pick-Me Girl

Karolina Solovka

The term Pick-me girl has been flooding the TikTok trends and videos since the beginning of the social media platform became more popular in 2021. The term was first launched on Twitter after the hashtag #Tweetlikeapickme started trending after male users saw women were pridefully taking a domestic role and wanted to monk them. It is used to describe girls who are different from the societal norm of women through their interests and persona. According to Urban Dictionary, a pick-me girl is one “who seeks male validation… lets men walk all over her because of her “CaReFrEE” demeanor, only hangs out with men because they’re “unproblematic”, exerts qualities/characteristics of her male counterparts that were not initially present to be more likable and relatable to them, etc.” (Urban Dictionary) It is described that these types of girls are different from others through their love for activities such as playing sports, drinking beer, fishing, and more, all of which are considered predominantly male activities by society. Unlike other girls who do activities such as shopping and wearing makeup, they are considered the more ‘girly” interests. Pick-me girls feel they stand out in the crowd by participating in more masculine hobbies to gain more attention. While the term is seen mainly with the female gender attached to the end, other genders are associated with the word, just not as frequently. Overall, the pick-me person is just someone who behaves a sure way to get chosen by someone over someone else through being unique from society and doing anything they can to show that off.

The pick-me-girl is influential in understanding adolescence and health as it gives adults an understanding of social media terms and what slang is used amongst them. It also showcases how the term affects young girls as they develop their identity, as there are male-identifying folks who look at pick-me girls negatively. They use the term to make fun of girls’ interests and

believe that this is all a show for validation instead of allowing girls to explore the interest they want to. Young girls are taught to appeal to the male gaze and that being different from others is terrible. This leads to the phrase containing attributes of misogyny as it brings women down instead of supporting one another. By calling girls “pick-me,” the adolescents exploring themselves will feel guilty and ashamed of who they are, which can lead them never to discover who they want to be. This can lead to the downfall of their mental health and well-being and cause further issues within the child. The years of adolescents are crucial as this is the time they are discovering themselves. If society is holding them back from doing that through words, they will never get to be themselves. As an educator, understanding this word will help me to work on providing a space in my classroom where young girls or those who feel that they are “different” feel comfortable exploring their identity. It will also allow me to address the issues behind such words in hopes of teaching not only young girls but all genders too why words as such could be harmful and why we should be praising unique identities instead of everyone being the same. Two great sources listed below would be great to look at to learn further about the word and its effects on society would be the Urban Dictionary. On this website, all modern slang is put on with explanations and examples. As well as The Berkeley Beacons article, “The phrase ‘pick me’ has added fuel to the fire that is internalized misogyny.” This dives into the word's harm to young girls and how impactful the term could be. Sources to learn further about the word:

Academic:

Waldeck, Sabine. “The Phrase 'Pick Me' Has Added Fuel to the Fire That Is Internalized Misogyny.” The Berkeley Beacon, 20 Oct. 2021, https://berkeleybeacon.com/the-phrase-pickme-has-added-fuel-to-the-fire-that-is-internalized-

misogyny/#:~:text=For%20those%20who%20don%27t,re%20%27not%20like%20other%20girl

s.

Non-Academic:

“Pick-Me Girl.” Urban Dictionary, https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Pick-me+girl.