Author: Konstantinos Antonoglou
Publication date: 23.04.2024
With the growing accessibility of technology in recent years, combined with the popularity of Social Media applications, the number of teenagers that use social media has increased dramatically. To be specific, it has become the norm, as a teenager, to have accounts on multiple Social Media platforms and to spend a significant amount of time on them.
The question is how does this newfound way of living have on teenagers mental health ?
The Benefits of Social Media
Social media is not all positives however, a multitude of studies that have been conducted in recent years, show that high levels of social media use is linked to an increase in depression and anxiety, as well as low self-esteem, body image issues and eating disorders.
The reason being all the unhealthy body standards promoted by influencers and celebrities. Which do not depict a realistic standard of how people should look like, but in contrast a processed, edited, and glorified fake that makes teenagers insecure, because they compare themselves to the seemingly “ideal” that cannot be achieved.
These risks are often greater for girls and those that already experience mental health issues. What’s more, since the nature of social media allows for a significant amount of people to interact and view a person’s pictures and profile, teenagers are prone to experience cyberbullying. Specifically, studies have found a connection between social media cyberbullying and depression amongst young people. It is also not as uncommon as you think, as 66% of adolescents are often exposed to hate based content on social media.
Social media platforms are also a place where a teenager can develop FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), which is an exacerbated feeling of people having better lives or having more fun compared to the person viewing them. Even though that conclusion is not necessarily true, as people only post noteworthy material to make it seem as if they are living a more exciting life, it really takes a toll on young people that think that their life lacks socialization and activities.
Additionally, Teenagers risk developing addictions to certain social media apps, as stated above, adolescents spend many hours of their day on them and in many cases, this can spiral out of control with many adolescents spending the entire day on their phones and neglecting their responsibilities.
Final Word
Furthermore, even though social media can be a source of entertainment and a great tool for adolescents to communicate and keep up with each other, it can often bring unwanted effects on their lives. Teenagers should do their best to monitor the time that they are spending on such platforms, use it more to communicate and less to scroll and waste valuable time. Another alternative would be stop using most social media almost entirely, only utilizing it for basic communicational and informational needs. This would most likely result in improved concentration, mental health and overall mental wellbeing, as well as making teenagers more connected to the real world around them. Finaly, teens should assess how social media affects them as individuals and then regulate the use of such applications accordingly.
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