Essay on The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health

Many health issues are talked about amongst people, but one health issue that often gets neglected the most is mental health. Many people forsake those suffering from mental health issues as they believe it to be unreal. Nowadays, most teens and young adults suffer from mental health issues be it family abuse, social isolation, discrimination, etc. Though some may come from the real world the main cause of mental health issues is social media. As phones are at the fingertip of people, it is common for teens and young adults to be carried away from the real world into the virtual world of social media. Day by day mental health issues are rapidly increasing due to the fact of people neglecting mental health as an issue, not getting the proper treatment needed, and most importantly social media which triggers peoples’ mental health. 

Mental health is a discussion that has been ongoing for quite some time now. Mental health is a level of psychological, emotional, and social well-being or the absence of mental (MentalHealth 2018). Mental health affects a person's behavior, how they think, feel and act. It determines how well a person can handle uncomfortable situations that can lead to stress and affect the ability of a person to make choices. Mental health is important because it affects everything. It affects our ability to cope, adapt, and solve problems. It also affects our ability to be happy, productive, and well adjusted (Browne, S. 2021).  It is a topic that gets stigmatized so often in our society. If someone is having a mental health issue, they are less likely to get help because of that stigma and shame (Browne, S. 2021). The percentage of young Americans experiencing certain types of mental health disorders has risen significantly over the past decade, with no corresponding increase in older adults. “The people likely to deal with mental health disorders in the U.S. are adolescents and young adults'' (Silwa, J. 2019). It is because young adults never speak up about their personal life until you ask them. Some of them are afraid to speak up about it because they think what society will think about them.

The main reason why teens and young adults go through mental health disorders is social media. “ Social media has a bigger negative impact on teens and young adults' mental health”.  It is because a lot of teens and young adults have gone through online harassment which has caused mental health in the past (Anderson, M. 2018).  Teenagers learned many negative things from social media. Social media these days has become a platform of just showing off and trying to gain more and more attention from the public. It has become a highlight reel that is just creating an impact on people’s minds of what they don’t have in their lives and which further leads to discontentment and dissatisfaction (Shafer, L. 2017). Several findings have found out that among adults and teenagers who used to spend most of their time on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media had shown a rise of about 66% from 33% rate of having more anxiety issues ( Perrin, A. 2015). 

Social media also can impact teenagers' mental health a lot by distracting them, disrupting their sleep, and exposing them to bullying, rumor spreading, unrealistic views of other people's lives and peer pressure”(Mayo Clinic, 2019). Teenagers believe everything they see on social media. They feel insecure about themselves every day. Social media is not real, people act like they are living their best lives in the media but in reality, some people are going through a lot. Teenagers just believe in what they see and want the same life. what teens often do not realize is that people tend to only post their "highlight reel" on social media and often keep the mundane or difficult experiences off the Internet. As a result, another person's life may look perfect online, but offline they have struggles just like anyone else (Gordon, 2020).  

In today’s society, it is all about staying connected with others. “Staying connected through social media also affects our social and communication skills. When it comes to being given the option to meet up with an individual and talk face to face or text the individual, most individuals prefer to text them”(Kloog 2017).  A reason could be it is easier for them to text and get it done in one text message, whereas if you meet face to face you have to plan where, and when. People have become lazy due to social media usage. With social media playing a huge role in today's society, people have lost their ability to understand emotion (Kloog 2017, para, 2). They have learned growing up to read others’ body language through face-to-face interactions. With the increase in social media usage, they have not been able to tell how others may be feeling, therefore, they “read” the person's words wrong. 

Social media is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, it also is not the same as face-to-face communication. For instance, a teen cannot see a person's facial expressions or hear their tone of voice online. As a result, it is very easy for misunderstandings to occur, especially when people try to be funny or sarcastic online (Gordon, S. 2020). Many teens spend so much time online checking other people’s statuses and likes that they forget to interact with the people right in front of them. For this reason, friendships and dating relationships can suffer when social media takes center stage in a person's life. As a result, teens risk having relationships that are not deep or authentic (Gordon, S. 2020). 

Though mental health issues are increasing through social media, neglecting the issue, and not getting the proper treatment such as communication with others, there are ways to improve a person's mental health. For the most part, if the person recognizes their issue and visits with a therapist they are likely to feel better and feel confident to deal with time when they feel troubled. Just by being on social media less and enjoying the weather, getting in more sleep, and doing what makes the person happy can drastically decrease the number of people with mental health issues. Being on social media is not always a bad idea because people can spread awareness and connect with others who help them with dealing with mental health issues so limiting the time of social media should be highly effective in reducing mental health issues. Teens and young adults should care for themselves and remove the negativity in their life for the mental health issues to stop increasing.