Social Media and Adolescents Essay Sample

Adolescents who spend more time on social media are more prone to experience mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and stress when compared to those who do not. When people hear the word "social media", their brains automatically think of the younger generation; specifically teens. With social media being the most used apps around the world. One has to wonder what happens mentally to the user due to its use. Over the past couple years, social media has become one of the main things that teens use on a daily basis. Many studies have been conducted to see what happens mentally in teens. 

Social media is commonly defined as a form of electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content. Over the past couple years, social media has had a huge impact on adolescents all over the world. The University of Maryland put together a national survey which concluded that, "73% of online teenagers use  [social networking sites]” (Ahn, 2011). Other researchers from the University of Minnesota did a study on 13 to 17-year-olds and found that "72% use Instagram, 69% use Snapchat, and 51% use Facebook" (Dworkin, 2021). With these statistics, it concludes that social media is utilized by the majority of teens, and many researchers want to know what brings adolescents to the apps. Teenagers, “developmentally, use social media to help develop friendships, figure out their identities, and help establish social status” (Ehmke, 2022). It is reported by the Child Mind Institute that maintaining friendships is the most common reason teens use social media. As they grow up, they view social media as a place online to communicate with their friends. With the world as it is today, teens are growing up in a whole new social circle that depends fully on public attention and acceptance. Almost all schools, universities, news outlets, and companies have some kind of social media presence. With so many people and organizations using social media, teens also use social media to stay informed on current topics. Which is a necessity in today's society .

With social media being so prevalent in modern society, it can cause an excessive amount of anxiety and stress. Interestingly, it’s been found that, "individuals with high social anxiety seem to think badly of themselves because they believe themselves to appear more unfavorable than others." (Hofmann, 2007). One can see that when people struggle with social anxiety or any form of anxiety, they have a hard time being themselves.Which can lead to them having an unnecessary amount of anxiety that people see them as they see themselves. On the other hand, "there are many opportunities for miscommunication and mismanaged expectations, and maladaptive tendencies can be exaggerated, leaving individuals feeling a greater sense of isolation" (Ahn et al., 2011). Teens live with the fear of being misunderstood while posting or doing anything on social media, it causes an unending amount of  stress and feelings of loneliness. McLean Harvard Medical School Affiliation said “Being intruded with messages and notifications can also cause a dopamine spike”(Sperling, 2021). When these notification sounds are not received as anticipated by a teen, the anxiety worsens. When presented with a common stressor (a given quantity of notifications), individuals experience a form of digital stress. Individuals who experience manageable or no subjective stress result in different coping mechanisms. On the other hand, individuals who experience more digital stress and have less coping mechanisms can more likely experience coexisting or upcoming mental symptoms. Therefore, people view digital stress as a variable that explains the relationship between the aspects of digital media usage and behavioral responses. 

Social media has become an essential part of teens' lives and have impacted their self-esteem. According to YoungMinds, a U.K. charity dedicated to improving the emotional wellbeing and mental health of teens, "Teens with low self-esteem display behaviors such as negative self-image, finding it hard to keep friendships, inability to deal with failure, tendency to put themselves down, lack of pride in their achievements, and constantly comparing themselves to peers in a negative way" (Richmond, 2021). YoungMinds also says that "teens and young people with low self-esteem are more at risk of developing depression, anxiety, self-harming and other mental health problems as they struggle to grow into adulthood" (Richmond, 2021). Which can confirm that social media lowers self-esteem levels, making teens more conscious that people are always judging them. Although working on improving self-esteem has proven itself difficult, it is a necessary step that people need to take. Platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat are said to "increase these false perceptions of beauty and health. Filters and photo-shopped images are plastered across these mediums in front of young people, and as these standards aren’t realistic, (Kaura, 2020). Teaching teens about normal bodies, unrealistic beauty standards, and self-care can help prevent students from feeling bad about themselves and ruining their self-esteem.

Social media has impacted teens academically in many ways. Social media can have a negative effect on student productivity when it comes to concentration in the classroom, timekeeping, and conscientiousness. Productivity wise, it's been shown that "procrastination and media platforms go hand in hand when it comes to completing homework on time or concentrating during lesson time" (Peiró-Velert, 2014). Doing anything for an excessive amount of time and spending too much time staring at a screen is not good for the teen brain. According to a study done by Carmen Peiro-Velert from the University of Valencia, it is found that "boys use passive videogames and computers for playing to a greater extent than their female counterparts, while girls, more often than boys, use mobile phones to communicate with other people”(Peiró-Velert, 2014). Knowing this shows that teen boys use video games to get away from reality and their responsibilities. Another study done by Carmen Peiró-Velert took 537 girls total and 463 of them "showed excellent academic performance, greater sleep time (nearly 9 hours), and less time per day devoted to overall sedentary screen media (two hours and twenty minutes)." This research shows that girls have a better time engaging with reality and taking on their responsibilities. With knowing how both genders use social media it revealed how they both differently approach school when engaging with social media. 

Another huge issue with social media is cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is defined as the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person (such as a student), often done anonymously. Cyberbullying can take on many forms, including personal attacks, harassment, discriminatory behavior, spreading defamatory information, misrepresenting oneself online, spreading private information, social exclusion, and cyberstalking. The most common type of harassment online is name-calling. A study showed that "42% of teens say they have been called offensive names online ... Additionally, about a third (32%) of teens say someone has spread false rumors about them on the internet, and a further 21% have been the target of physical threats online” (Anderson, 2018). Showing all the percentages of how many teens have been affected by cyberbullying, it can be concluded that everyone has at least once been affected by it. With being called names, having false rumors spread, or being a target for physical violence, teens can feel unsafe with themselves causing them to fall into an unstable state.  While social media is still growing at an enormous rate, one can only see cyberbullying getting worse. Teenage boys and girls are equally likely to experience cyberbullying. However, there are some differences in the types of harassment they encounter. 

In conclusion, teens who are on social media more are more likely to have experienced mental health disorders compared to those who do not. With how much social media has impacted teens it's shown that it helps teens express who they are to the world. It's also shown that it can cause excessive amounts of stress and anxiety. Furthermore the research showed how social media affects teens' mental health. Lastly the paper also covers how cyberbullying has become more recent and causes mental issues for teens. With how society is today social media will continue to be a bigger part of everyday life. Moving forward children need to learn boundaries and how to manage friendships online so when they become teenagers their mental health doesn't decline like how we are seeing today.