1 . Is there a link between social media and depression? Do Facebook and Instagram have a negative impact on your mental health? It’s complicated.
Sometimes, looking through Instagram just makes you feel bad. You try not to envy your friends, but they always seem to be traveling somewhere cool, eating something fancy, or looking cute in perfect just-rolled-out-of-bed hair. On the other hand, there are times when you laugh at funny memes (表情包), catch up with old friends, and feel happy to belong to fun social media communities. Clearly, social media isn’t all bad.
People are increasingly suspecting that there’re potential problems of social media. Things like cyberbullying (网上欺凌) , screen addiction, and being exposed to endless filtered images (美颜) that make it impossible not to make comparisons between yourself and others often make the news. In July, a big study came out in the journal JAMA titled “Association of Screen Time and Depression in Adolescence.” This big headline seems to confirm what a lot of people have been saying — screen time is horrible for young people.
The study followed over 3,800 adolescents over four years as part of a drug and alcohol prevention program. Part of what the investigators measured was the teens’ amount of screen time, including time spent on social media, as well as their levels of depression symptoms. One of their main findings was that higher amounts of social media use were associated with higher levels of depression. That was true both when the researches compared between people and compared each person against their own mental health over time.
Case closed? Not so fast. Before we end the debate once and for all, let’s take a closer look at this and other studies. Let’s ask ourselves: what exactly is the relationship between social media use and depression? It turns out there are several warnings.
1. Why do people sometimes feel bad when looking through Instagram?| A．They lack contact with old friends. | B．They can travel nowhere. |
| C．They don’t look perfect. | D．They feel unbalanced. |
| A．To comment. | B．To prove. | C．To suggest. | D．To explore. |
| A．Depression is related to social media use. |
| B．Teens’ amount of screen time is limited. |
| C．It is not easy to tell reasons for depression. |
| D．Social media contributes to physical health. |
| A．How to reduce depression? | B．Does social media cause depression? |
| C．Shall people reduce screen time? | D．Why is it time to give up social media? |
2 . It was a cold March day in High Point, North Carolina. The girls on the Wesleyan Academy softball team were waiting for their next turns at bat during practice, stamping their feet to stay warm. Eighth-grader Taylor Bisbee shivered (发抖) a little as she watched her teammate Paris White play. The two didn’t know each other well — Taylor had just moved to town a month or so before.
Suddenly, Paris fell to the ground. “Pairs’s eyes rolled back,” Taylor says. “She started shaking. I knew it was an emergency.”
It certainly was. Paris had suffered a sudden heart failure. Without immediate medical care, Paris would die. At first, no one moved. The girls were in shock. Then the softball coach shouted out, “Does anyone know CPR?”
CPR is a life-saving technique. To do CPR, you press on the sick person’s chest so that blood moves through the body and takes oxygen to organs. Without oxygen，the brain is damaged quickly.
Amazingly, Taylor had just taken a CPR course the day before. Still, she hesitated. She didn’t think she knew it well enough. But when no one else came forward, Taylor ran to Paris and began doing CPR. “It was scary. I knew it was the difference between life and death,” says Taylor.
Taylor’s swift action helped her teammates calm down. One girl called 911. Two more ran to get the school nurse, who brought a defibrillator, an electronic device (器械) that can shock the heart back into work. Luck stayed with them: Paris’s heartbeat returned.
“I know I was really lucky,” Paris says now. “Most people don’t survive this. My team saved my life.”
Experts say Paris is right: For a sudden heart failure, the single best chance for survival is having someone nearby step in and do CPR quickly.
Today, Paris is back on the softball team. Taylor will apply to college soon. She wants to be a nurse. “I feel more confident in my actions now,” Taylor says. “I know I can act under pressure in a scary situation.”
1. What happened to Paris on a March day?| A．She caught a bad cold. |
| B．She had a sudden heart problem. |
| C．She was knocked down by a ball. |
| D．She shivered terribly during practice. |
| A．She made a worthy friend. |
| B．She recovered from shock. |
| C．She received immediate CPR. |
| D．She came back on the softball team. |
| A．Enthusiastic and kind. |
| B．Courageous and calm. |
| C．Cooperative and generous. |
| D．Ambitious and professional. |
| A．He isn’t feeling well. |
| B．He doesn’t wear coat. |
| C．He feels the weather is cold. |
| A．She was ill in bed. | B．She passed the exam. | C．She is telling a lie. |
