Why Social Media Harms?

This website is dedicated to my sons and grandchildren. 

My 17 year-old son, Alex Peiser, died by suicide in October 2017.  

Mental health experts say that suicide is often the result of a cascade of negative experiences.  From my interactions with other suicide loss survivors and their stories about their loved ones, I believe this to be true.

I also believe that Alex’s online interactions influenced the mental state that caused him to take his life.  

It is my greatest wish that the harms from social media and other internet platforms are mitigated to ensure safer online experiences for everyone.   

This can only be accomplished if research documenting harms is evaluated alongside the research that documents the positive aspects of online services.

I have made the following pledge, will you join me?

"I will not create any new social media accounts until the U.S. Congress passes legislation that regulates social media and other internet platforms."

My name is Sharon Winkler and I am the publisher and editor of Social Media Harms.  I started this website after watching the Center for Humane Technology's film,The Social Dilemma. I also took Jaron Lanier’s advice from his book “Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now” and started my own website (page 148).  

I currently have social media accounts with LinkedIn and YouTube.  I deleted my Twitter account in May 2020 and my Facebook account in December 2020 and have never looked back. 

I am a member of the not-for-profit organization Fairplay, an organization that advocates for safer online platforms for children and teens.  I also work with Fairplay’s Screentime Action Network. 

While not an information technologist myself, I have been information technology (IT) adjacent for most of my career.  When I was on active duty in the United States Navy, I spent a tour as a Navy Program Manager for Department of Defense (DoD)  Electronic Medical Records systems, to include the Composite Health Care System II (CHCS II), the precursor to the current electronic medical records systems in use.   When I retired from active duty, part of my responsibilities as a civilian working as the Director for Healthcare Business at Naval Health Clinic, Charleston, SC, was to coordinate the Department of Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery’s participation in the Carolina e-Health Alliance, a Charleston-area Health Information Exchange (HIE).   

Having some background in IT and IT research, it was a great surprise to find that there were few studies available online by United States researchers that documented externalities caused by social media use.  However, there were many studies that documented these externalities from researchers in other countries.

This imbalance was unusual and intriguing. 

It is not my intent to make money from this website.  Social Media Harms does not have an online store, nor does it solicit donations.  I am always looking for peer-reviewed research studies that document the externalities created by social media or other online platform use.  If you have studies to share, please contact info@socialmediaharms.org.