In the world we are living in today, social media has become something that we are all viewing and being exposed to. Apps such as Instagram and TikTok has become something we find ourselves scrolling for long hours at every day and has become part of our everyday routine without even noticing. Being online on the internet is especially popular with teenagers and young adults. It is true that social media can provide multiple benefits such as faster communication, entertainment, faster access to information, important ways to raise awareness on important issues. However, there has been an increasing number of studies that shows negative correlation between social media and mental health issues. Researchers are suggesting a negative outcome such as a potential link between social media usage and an increasing rate of depression among teenagers and young adults. Factors that contribute to it can be pressures of comparing yourself to others online, seeing the unrealistic lifestyles that people live, and cyberbullying. My essay is aiming to explain how the continuous usages of social media may affect mental health of teenagers and young adults, which shows the correlations between screen time and depression rates.
Everyone is online now a days and teenagers, and young adults especially often spent a lot of time online and with them being online often can have multiple negatives such as being exposed to harmful content, such as cyberbullying and suicide-related posts. The article “Middle School Students’ Social Media Use.” By Florence Martin is a Professor at North Carolina State University and she proves my statement by providing data within national surveys of teenagers getting exposed to media at a young age unsupervised. These results show problems of cyberbullying, inappropriate postings, and dangers of privacy violations. This study is speaking about implementing necessary cybersecurity educations to prevent online situations like this from happening more and more often which causes harm. It is necessary for educators, policymakers, and researchers to inform and address online safety.
One of the major problems that is linked to social media is the issue with the rise of cyberbullying which can have a significant effect on mental health. According to Florence Martin, in the text, it states “The results show that 17% started using social media at age nine or younger, 40% accepted friend requests from people they do not know, and 40% reported that their parents did not monitor their social media use, which calls for the needs of cyber-security education… These students have concerns about social media due to inappropriate postings, getting hacked, getting their feelings hurt, lack of privacy, inappropriate pictures, bullying, negativity, and stalkers.” As stated in the study, early and unsupervised access to social media may result in viewing harmful content. The lack of parental supervision is a huge problem as frequent exposures to negative experiences online such as bullying, inappropriate content which are all factors contributing to negative mental health outcomes. Harmful experiences like these can create lasting impressions on users as young as these. Negative experiences can lead to increased anxiety and depression. These studies urge a need for better parental involvements and more online safety educations in schools to prevent these types of risks and mental health issues that can occur.
In the second source, “COMMON RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH ADOLESCENT AND YOUNG ADULT DEPRESSION” by Swenda Moreh and Henry O’Lawrence, Swenda Moreh is the Vice President and Chief Operating Office of Bridgepoint Healthcare. Henry O’Lawrence is a Professor of Health Care Administration and Undergraduate Program Direction at California State University Long Beach. Their article explains the external influences that may be contributing to depression among adolescents and young adults. Societal pressure, media influences and high beauty standards are all reasons contributing to how social media can cause mental health issues. Unrealistic high beauty standards are often promoted online through different filters, edits, shaping our perceptions of what is attractive. For young adults, this can cause insecurities and body dissatisfaction which is a factor in depression. The authors cite evidence in the text where there is research showing dissatisfaction in the beginning of early childhood which later intensifies during adolescences.
The portrayal of unrealistic beauty standards on social media plays a major role in depression, which is especially common among adolescents. In the text, Moreh and O’Lawrence says, “Due to the influence of the media, adolescence has been targeted as the most likely for the emergence of body dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction, in the form of wishing to be thinner has now been demonstrated in girls as young as six years of age and is generally found to be greater for girls and boys. (Clark & Tiggemann, 2006). As one enters into adolescent years and begins experiencing changes with their bodies may lead to less satisfaction with body image and physical appearance leading to depression.” Teenage users will frequently compare themselves to those who present themselves online—however, it is unknown as to whether said online influencers are authentic. Adding on body filters or anything that could distort and make someone look more like the beauty standard are a common method for people to present themselves seemingly “good-looking.” And because a younger audience is naive and doesn’t have their frontal lobe fully developed yet, they are more prone to taking everything for face value. Someone who could have an almost impossible body structure and be as thin as their arms might negatively influence their younger audience into believing that this is the perfect body to retain; this will influence people into trying to obtain this body type, despite it most likely being the cause of body filters. The authors Moreh and O’Lawrence create an understanding to how social media contributes to depression and their research provide evidence that young users can be vulnerable to what social medias presenting.
The article “How Social Media Affects Your Mental Health and Causes Depression” by Jack from BestMind Behavioral health speaks on the negative psychological impacts that social media have. It mainly speaks on prolong screen times, exposures to unrealistic standards and cyberbullying result to depression and anxieties. Long usages of social media can contribute to a cycle of comparisons, where people could constantly compare themselves to people online and they would measure their worth against often unrealistic figures. Comparisons like these, along with other exposures like cyberbullying and constant validations can create a toxic cycle. Social media algorithms are designed to keep users engaged and this leads to addictive behaviors that can feed into the feelings of isolations. Users could also seek validations through likes and comments. This article aims to speak more awareness to the public about the mental health risks that comes along the excessive social media usages and encourages using it in moderation.
This article is showing the important effects of social media that could be harmful for mental health, especially on its role in depression. One of the important points that this article brings up is the fear of missing out (FOMO). The article states, “It’s easy to scroll through your social media feed and see pictures of friends hanging out, on holiday, or at parties. This can make a person feel like others are living better lives or having more fun than they are, lowering self-esteem and triggering anxiety. Often, people will start compulsively checking their phone to stay updated on what those around them are doing, reinforcing those feelings of missing out.” The perception of seeing how others are living a more fulfilling life can do many harms, creating a cycle of mental health strains. FOMO can not only impact mental health but also create addictive behaviors. The quote explains how the need to constantly check up on others’ lives results in compulsive social media usages and it prevents you from focusing on yourself. Over time, these habits can lead to isolation as users prioritize online over relationships in person and this disconnection from reality and feed into feelings of loneliness, which research has also linked to depression.
In conclusion, all three texts speak on the negative effects on mental health that social media can bring. These sources all heavily emphasize on issues like cyberbullying, body image concerts and fear of missing out (FOMO), all factors that contribute to mental health problems like anxieties and depression. To prevent these cases from happening, these texts are also pushing for more action to happen to prevent more cases like these. I believe that implementing more online safety education in schools, increasing parental supervision, having more conversations about the risks of social media are all steps towards preventing these harms. Promoting this kind of self-awareness can help people be more responsible online and reduce more negative impacts on mental health.
Reference page
Martin, Florence, et al. “Middle School Students’ Social Media Use.” Journal of Educational Technology & Society, vol. 21, no. 1, 2018, pp. 213–24. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26273881. Accessed 17 Nov. 2024.
MOREH, SWENDA, and HENRY O’LAWRENCE. “COMMON RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH ADOLESCENT AND YOUNG ADULT DEPRESSION.” Journal of Health and Human Services Administration, vol. 39, no. 2, 2016, pp. 283–310. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44504679. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Jack. “How Social Media Affects Your Mental Health and Causes Depression.” BestMind Behavioral Health, 15 Mar. 2024, bestmindbh.com/blog/how-social-media-affects-your-mental-health-and-causes-depression/.
