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EDITOR IN CHIEF

MELISSA SCHOLKE

EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

DEREK WOLFE

MANAGING EDITOR

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Ann Arbor, MI 48109
 tothedaily@umich.edu

Edited and managed by students at 

the University of Michigan since 1890.

4

Thursday, June 25, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
OPINION

W

ith summer well under-
way, pool parties, sandy 
beaches and sunny skies 

appear splashed all 
over social media. 
Three weeks ago, 
my friend confessed 
to me that after 
changing her pro-
file picture, she was 
constantly checking Facebook to see 
how many “likes” it received.

Then last weekend, I was spending 

time with two friends who had both 
posted photos on Instagram. One of 
my friends turned to the other, after 
being disappointed by the low number 
of “likes” her post acquired and said it 
was probably because she had posted 
it at a bad time of day.

I don’t only hear these kinds of 

concerns amongst my friends, but 
I hear them as I sit in lecture halls 
and from strangers chatting next 
to me on the train or in the airport. 
Best-selling author and social media 
strategist, Julie Spira, calls a recent 
trend of social media induced anxi-
ety, Social Media Anxiety Disorder, 
which includes worrying about the 
“likes” on photos on Facebook, Insta-
gram or otherwise. Although it’s not 
part of the most recent Diagnostic 
and Statistical Manual of Mental Dis-
orders, SMAD describes a very real 
and current response to one of the 
challenges we face in the digital age.

There are many things I really enjoy 

about social media outlets, such as Ins-
tagram and Facebook. On Instagram, 
I enjoyed the pictures of cute baby 
animals, delicious food, monuments, 
nature hikes and important moments 
in people’s lives. On Facebook, I always 
laugh when I see the silly photos friends 
post of each other for their birthdays, 
and there are some great articles and 

videos about current events circulat-
ing on the site. I like being able to keep 
up with friends that are far away — as 
a student attending college out of state, 
social media can be a great way to stay 
connected. But what worries me about 
these social media sites is that they 
produce a situation in which users 
are constantly checking Facebook for 
“likes” on their recently updated pro-
file picture or how many followers they 
have on Instagram. Should “likes” on 
posts really become the focal point of 
Facebook and Instagram? It seems to 
me that more and more, social media is 
making it harder for individuals to be 
satisfied with self-validation.

I’m not criticizing social media 

users who keep checking back for likes 
on their photos, because that’s some-
thing many people do. That behavior 
is the result of the format of the web-
site, and these designs play on our 
human desire for social acceptance. 
However, it is important to highlight 
that using social media outlets can be 
more stressful than enjoyable at times. 
When usage of these sites becomes 
stressful, it’s a good idea to reevaluate 
the time and energy spent on captur-
ing that perfect sunset or the profile 
picture without a hair out of place, 
because one day you may realize you 
aren’t doing it for yourself.

People always ask me why I don’t 

have an Instagram. For a while, I 
did. I posted, checked for “likes” and 
followers and noticed when people 
unfollowed me. After a while, I real-
ized I was no longer really having fun. 
When I first got Instagram, I thought 
it would be a cool way to share 
moments in my life with friends and 
family. It didn’t cross my mind at 
the time that it could also leave me 
feeling like “likes” were validation. 
I realized after some time on Insta-

Currently, 
legislation 
in 

Michigan 
permits 
employ-

ers to provide young workers 
under 18 with an income that 
is 85 percent of either the state 
or federal minimum wage, 
depending upon which wage 
is the greater of the two. These 
young workers can be paid an 
hourly wage of roughly $7.25 
instead of the statewide hour-
ly wage of $8.15. The proposed 
Senate Bill 250 intends to 
extend this practice to individ-
uals 20 years old or younger. 
However, the intent of the bill 
operates under the assump-
tion that a majority of the 
workers in the targeted demo-
graphic are merely students or 
kids seeking a supplementary 
source of income and have 
access to other forms of finan-
cial means. Additionally, while 
a lower wage is logical for 
inexperienced workers who 
may just be entering the work-
force, those 18 or older have 
reached legal adulthood and 
often possess financial obliga-
tions that require them to be 
paid as such. A sizable portion 

of this particular age demo-
graphic — rather than attend-
ing college — may immediately 
enter the workforce full-time 
after high school and an initial 
minimum wage job may act 
as their sole source of income 
to cover all of their expenses. 
For students, this income may 
be heavily depended upon to 
pay tuition or for other related 
 

living expenses.

This legislation would be 

particularly disastrous con-
sidering recent rises in tuition 
rates across the state; the 
University Board of Regents 
recently approved a 2.7 per-
cent tuition increase. MSU 
and EMU will also raise their 
tuition by 2.7 percent and 
7.8 percent respectively. In 
the midst of college tuition 
increases, students from lower 
socioeconomic 
backgrounds 

who must work to pay increas-
ingly high tuition rates simply 
cannot afford to be paid less 
than minimum wage. In fact, 
the emergence of this legisla-
tion only threatens to further 
increase the overwhelming 

financial burdens individuals 
in this age demographic face.

One beneficial aspect of the 

bill is its intent to increase the 
“training wage” workers can 
be paid as they gain knowl-
edge of their newly obtained 
position within their first 90 
days of employment. The pro-
posed increases would raise 
this introductory wage from 
$4.25 to $6.25 an hour. This, 
however, in no way excus-
es the general objective of 
 

the legislation.

It’s likely that the legislation 

was created under the miscon-
ception that all adults who are 
18-20 years of age are still reli-
ant on parental support. How-
ever, this is far from the reality 
for many young adults. This 
legislation is not only unnec-
essary, but unjust. Why should 
they not earn a living wage 
simply due to their young 
age? There is absolutely no 
legitimate reason to deny one 
group of adults in Michigan 
the right to a living wage that 
all other adults in Michigan 
 

are guaranteed.

Social media validation

FROM THE DAILY

Waging a war on youth pay
 Proposed legislation seeks to lower wages for young adults
P

rospective legislation under the consideration of the Michi-
gan Senate intends to decrease the minimum wage for work-
ers under the age of 20. If approved and eventually signed 

into law, Senate Bill 250 would permit employers to pay any employ-
ee under the age of 20 a reduced wage that’s typically reserved only 
for workers under the age of 18. While the proposed legislation may 
offer some economic incentives for employers and businesses, the 
bill is highly presumptuous in nature, and if enacted, it would deny 
a livable wage to a population of young adults who may be relying 
on a minimum wage income for more than just spending money.

ANNA
POLUMBO-
LEVY

E-mail RachEl at Rdawson@umich.Edu
RACHEL DAWSON

