Your posts in response to other student’s posts should be 125-175 words long

1. The section I have chosen to look into is “drugs and society,” more specifically, the rise in teen drug use due to flavored nicotine products. This is an issue that is very close to me because I have seen the effect that nicotine use has had on people around my age who are very important to me. A non-sociological explanation as to why teens are drawn to flavored nicotine is that it tastes good and that it is widely accessible to minors. Many stores do not even ID their customers because they are more interested in profiting off of teens than protecting them. There is also an issue with nicotine use in teens because there are an overwhelming amount of kids who struggle with disordered eating and nicotine is an appetite suppressant that kids use to stop eating properly. From a sociological perspective, considering Mill’s idea of the sociological imagination, using drugs as a teen has gone from an individual decision to a societal pressure. The reason why so many teens use nicotine is not because they are stupid and it is their fault that they do not care about themselves; it is because it has become widely normalized in society and it is not in their control whether they want to do it or not.

sociological analysis: http://samples.jbpub.com/9781284110876/9781284110982_CH01_Print.pdf (Links to an external site.)

non-sociological analysis: https://www.rallyhealth.com/quit-smoking/why-do-so-many-teens-vape (Links to an external site.)

The sources that promote sociological ideas are usually sociology text books and ASA articles. There is not a lot of verifiable sociological material out there because a lot of these issues are so common that everyone wants to talk about them. I have noticed that the non-sociological material usually comes from popular culture websites or blogs that share people’s personal theories.

2.I ask the question of “Has social media affected your mental health in any way?” I wanted to focus my topic on social media because of the significance it has in society today. For my method of research, I would organize a qualitative survey then gather a random sample of my population and have them answer questions anonymously. My population would be the undergraduate students at UC Santa Cruz. I would perform a random cluster sample where I will divide the names by year and perform a simple random sample in these specific groups. Thirty names from each cluster will be pulled and they will each take the survey anonymously to encourage honest answers! I will then collect the answers and make a graph based on the results illustrating the data collected and state my theory. My method would be able to give a good view of how social media affects mental health. It would not have a big concern for bias because I performed a cluster sample which ensures that all of my participants were randomly selected while also making sure that each year is being fully represented as well if age were to be a big factor. Although my survey is randomized, there is a cause for concern that I am not providing enough coverage to people of a younger or older age. Students that are younger may spend more time on social media than college students and vice versa for people who are older. If I were to expand my population to the entire state or country the results may prove to be more accurate.

125 words for each of them