For a long time, social media has been at the forefront of teenage minds. Whether it’s Snapchat, Instagram, or TikTok, children are constantly consuming content on social media. Daily, people view thousands of different posts from thousands of different people. Constant exposure to other people’s lives inevitably causes comparison, affecting mental health. Social media can also cause addiction to a screen and doom scrolling. Social media’s problems are brushed under the rug and not seen as important. However, this issue shifts how young minds form, affecting the future of our world. People constantly face hate, shame and cyberbullying through social media outlets and the issue needs to be dealt with. Students should stop over consuming material on social media because it harms their relationships and well-being.
Stanford Law and Bioscience students conducted a study on social media and its connection to mental health, finding that the use of social networking sites leads to increased depression, anxiety and psychological distress. The study also shows that these issues show up in a more prevalent way in adolescents. In just a year, the percentage of adolescents experiencing major depressive episodes in the United States rose from 8.7% to 11.3%. Along with these facts, the American Academy of Pediatrics found that social media use and screen time are associated with the increasing risk for children and adolescents, such as attention deficits, increased aggression, low self-esteem and depression. All of these facts show that social media has countless negative effects on the human mind.
In a study on social media and comparison, The OxJournal states that due to the nature of social media, people are consistently observing others and their lives. This leads to an immense amount of comparison in young minds. When people compare themselves to others and think they don’t measure up, it leads to self-doubt and a low sense of self. Self-doubt causes people to lack in many areas of their life. It causes them to fail classes at school, not perform like themselves during extracurricular activities, and damage their relationships with their family and friends.
Despite the harmful effects, social media can also positively affect young minds. It facilitates communication, builds strong online communities, and serves as an outlet for people to express themselves and be creative. Harvard’s school of public health states that social media provides individuals with a way to communicate with others over any distance or time barrier that may stand in the way. Yes, social media allows communication across the world, but at what cost? The negative effects of social media highly outweigh the benefits.
Changing this problem involves changes in its users. For starters, parents can limit their children’s social media use by enforcing screen time on their devices. Peers can hold each other accountable when it comes to online communication. Friends and family can initiate in-person interactions rather than only keeping contact online. It takes more than one person for change. Help spread positivity, report harmful content and stay connected to a life outside of social media.
