Stress And Social Media Fuel Mental Health Crisis

The Guardian posted on September 27, 2017, an article titled, “Stress and Social Media Fuel Mental Health Crisis Among Girls”. This article is in response to a National Health Service study on mental health in adolescent girls and gives its own reasoning as to why the data has skyrocketed. Analyzing this discourse is important because, as the data shows, mental health issues within young girls are increasing exponentially and without fair representation in the media, young women will not get the help they need. Through quotes, word and verb choice and photographs, this article furthers the binary between boys and girls and reinforces stereotypes regarding emotional wellness and mental health. The words chosen to describe young boys and girls

This article only quotes 4 people, 3 being doctors and all 4 being female. The author, who is a male, primarily used quotes from Dr. Praveetha Pathway, lead author of the study and Dr. Bernard Dubicka, child and adolescent professor at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. These two women, both successful and experts on the issue, are wonderful people to quote. However, but not using any male quotes, it creates the belief that only women can talk about issues pertaining to women. Also, it forms the ideology that mental health in teenagers is only an issue for girls. Another way this article falsely portrays mental health is the only picture they use throughout the article. It is of two adolescent girls, looking in a mirror one with a solemn expression and one with a look of disgust. The caption on the photo reads, “From the age of 11 or 12, many girls start to worry intensely about their appearance and perceived pressure to be thin” having this caption with this photo fosters 2 beliefs: that all girls do is stew over their bodies and that mental health is solely caused by self-image and how girls perceive outside