Social Media’s Effect on Teens and Adolescents Essay Sample

Anxiety, depression, and suicide are all things increasing in our youth today. Is it worth subjecting our children to that type of harm? What if I told you that the leading cause of mental health in teens and adolescents is social media. In knowing this, would you still allow your child to spend hours a day scrolling through their chosen social media site? For much of the teen population, Social Media is becoming a leading addiction. 

Most teens and adolescents are accessing social media through the use of personal devices such as smartphones or tablets. A recent study showed that the younger population between the ages of 13- 17 have some sort of smartphone device. This has increased to 89% almost doubling over 6 years (Abi-Jaoude et al.).This allows teenagers to access social media multiple times throughout the day exposing them to harmful material and behaviors which lead to damaged mental health. An observational study was conducted amongst teens which showed that spending more than a few hours a day on electronic social media devices correlated to negative reports of happiness, life satisfaction, and self-esteem (Abi-Jaoude et al.). This compared to the time consumed on social media and not on non-screen activities such as; peer to peer interactions, outdoor physical activities, work, or even homework has diminished. 

This increased time spent on social media sites leads to harmful behaviors that are damaging to their mental health such as; disrupted sleep patterns, anxiety, depression, and self-harm. Teens are now spending almost over half of their days browsing social media sites. This is taking away from everyday essential needs such as sleep, the average teenager needs 8 to 10 hours of sleep to maintain a healthy balance. Falling asleep with a cellphone in hand, up until wee hours in the night scrolling feeds on Facebook all sounds too familiar? This behavior is very common amongst the teenage population, with teens feeling as if they are going to miss out on something in the social atmosphere they lie awake far into the night browsing media sites. A research study conducted found that the pressure to be online 24/7 leads to poorer sleep quality and an increase in depression and anxiety in teens. The research study was conducted with 467 teens between the ages of 11-17 years of age who were surveyed based on their social media use during the day and night (Blaszczak-Boxe). This survey showed how teens were affected based on sleep quality, self-esteem, and anxiety. It was found that the teens using social media were negatively impacted in all of these categories but most were affected by those who logged on during the nighttime hours (Blaszczak-Boxe). The prolonged use of electronic devices to access social media sites leads to disrupted sleep patterns for most teens. A 14-day crossover study was conducted amongst teens on the use of electronic screens before bed and was shown to have disrupted sleep times in many ways (Abi-Jaoude et al.). It caused longer times for the teens to actually fall asleep and reduced the amount of actual sleepiness by decreasing the amount of melatonin secreted, causing the circadian clock delay and reducing rapid eye movements (Abi-Jaoude et al.).

The disruption in patterns of sleep amongst teens leads to serious harmful behaviors such as anxiety and depression. For most teens the fear of missing out is what draws them to the social media platforms, the constant need to feel connected with the social world. Studies have shown that high levels of social media use are related to depression and anxiety symptoms in teens and adolescents. A 2019 study of more than 6,500 teens ages 12-15 in the U.S. found that those who spent more than three hours a day using social media are at heightened risk for mental health problems (“Teens and Social Media Use: What’s the Impact?”). The way that social media is used by teens and adolescents is the leading rise in anxiety and depression today. 

The co-constructive theory tells us what teens post on social media is likely to reflect in their offline behaviors and attitudes (George 9). This being said teens who frequently promote self-harm behaviors and materials online will often reflect that behavior offline as well. The opposite side of that is the social cognitive theory and transformation approach which argues that the content seen by teens such as posts by friends and public users has a greater impact on their offline behaviors and feelings (George 9). Anxiety and depression hold a strong tie to social media usage but tend to favor one particular user over the other. Females tend to be more affected by anxiety and depression through the use of social media than male users. 

This occurs due to the amount of time spent on electronic social media devices. Females tend to spend more time on social media sites than boys do this making them more susceptible to cyberbullying and harmful media posts.

Increased social media usage is known to cause self-harmful behaviors in teens. Thoughts of self-injury and suicide are often commonly communicated about throughout social media amongst teens. This behavior can be brought on due to the cyberbullying and cyber harassment experienced by teens through social media. Teens feel pressured into fitting in with the “popular” crowds. Trying to fit in this leads them to follow destructive behaviors and patterns of other users. Poor body image is particularly common in female users. Social media allows its user's numerous features to tailor its images to “doctor up” the original image. This allows users to take away any imperfections of themselves and add in different lighting to make the image more appealing. This creates unrealistic ideals of people who in turn feel distraught when they are unable to meet those same standards as other users. The pressure to fit in with the “popular crowd” and the constant harassment from other users leads to self-harming oneself. 

This increased time spent on social media leads to harmful behaviors that are damaging to their mental health such as; disrupted sleep patterns, anxiety, depression, and self-harm. For most teens, the fear of missing out is what draws them to social media platforms. Due to the increased mental health concerns for teens and adolescents, I strongly advise time restrictions for all teens in regard to social media usage.