7 Ways Social Media Causes Depression in Teens.

Social media is indefinitely one of the most popular platforms in the 21st century, especially among teens and young adults. As a teen myself I can speak on the fact that social media is an easy way to share personal news and photos, stay connected to those far away and see what’s going on in other people's lives. But social media and its negative impacts are often overlooked, especially in my age group. From my personal observations of being active on social media myself, I've seen that teens are easily influenced by what they see around them, and social media is a major negative influencer in that way. Being involved too much in social media is a very toxic loop and can cause many major mental health issues that many do not realize.

1. Sleepless Nights and Sleep Deprived

It is often found in teens to be on social media at many points of the day, from personal experience I'm awake at 3 a.m. sometimes scrolling through Instagram. Afraid of missing out or getting into an endless loop of all the drama on social media, many teens mess up their sleep schedule sitting on their phones. From experience I've had and even been able to see within my friends is that staying up late at night on your cellphone causes sleep deprivation due to the lake of sleep you are getting which can tend to have a direct link to more anxious feelings because your body is not being provided the sleep it needs to function. Ultimately this is summing up on the observations of loss of good and consistent sleep has a negative effect on one’s mental health.

2. Crackling Self Esteem

Social media has millions of people and influencers, which also causes millions of expectations. Through social media, teens often experience viewing unrealistic expectations of people that are found to be idealistic. Seeing Kylie Jenner and hating oneself for not having the ideal hourglass body. Losing sleep and eating less to work towards an ideal body and losing self-confidence just because social media can cause those expectations. From my personal experience, I have seen many teens in comments wishing for qualities of another instead of loving their own qualities. This way of social media causes many to compare themselves to others and lose their confidence and self-esteem.

3. Feeling Needs to Change Who You Are

Along with unrealistic expectations of body image comes the expectations of what you should value based on social media. Teen’s sense of who they are and who they should be is affected and changes their self-image. It is easy to see within social media posts and comments that many teens rely on social media for the decisions they make such as the music they like, the clothes they should wear, what people should be hyped up and even political views. Trying to fit in and value what others value, so you’re not seen as an outsider, is affecting how people see themselves and can be found not to be true to themselves and change their self-image to fit others.

4. Easy Access to Harassment and Bullying

In current times, it’s common for a teen to have a smartphone which makes harassment and bullying way more capable of doing. It is too easy to take an embarrassing photo of someone and share it on social media. It is also extremely easy for those embarrassing posts to go viral. This all results in bullying. Bullied by people someone knows or may have never met in their life simply due to how easy it is to spread hate through social media platforms. From person knowledge of online bullying, these posts can cause teens to feel exposed, alone and can even cause them to question the importance of life.

5. Raging Technology Addiction

Many people can relate to the fact technology and social media are addictive. Scrolling through Instagram for hours getting addicted to the things you’re seeing. Being on social media consumes many teens' lives because it is what is considered the popular thing in this generation, being more invested in how many likes an Instagram post is getting versus what is going on in the world around you. When being addicted to social media this can cause a lack of physical activity. From basic knowledge, is is simple to understand that when lacking physical activity, not just your body’s health but your mental health is negatively affected. It is important to put the screen down and to get outdoors more.

6. Face-to-Face Communication

Due to how popular social media is, I believe it is often found to affect people’s real-world communication. Being incapable of holding a long conversation without picking up your phone to view notifications is very common and I've seen it many times when trying to uphold a conversation with others that are within my age range. Not living in the moment and taking out your phone because a selfie is more important in even very special moments of time. This then leads to relationships and connections with those physically around you to be lost. Losing those around you can cause you to spiral and feel alone, and from personal experience, social media followers are not your real friends. It's important to put the phone down and be present in the world around you.

7. Lacking Creativity

Similar to trying to fit in, social media can stunt one’s creativity. Becoming more common, it’s easy to go to social media for inspiration instead of coming up with one’s own ideas. Social media makes it very available to browse any website or any social media site to base ideas off of what is getting the most hype at the time, causing people to lose sense of their own personal creativity. For example, I've seen it on Pinterest that there are certain "vibes" people will change themselves to fit into. I believe going outside and being inspired by your own ideas and views is way more beneficial and important than getting creativity from what is found to be popular just to feel like you're fitting in.

Conclusion

Mental health within teenagers is a very important subject to look at. I believe that social media is a driving factor for depression and anxiety within teens. The topic is often overlooked and not taken as seriously as it should be. As I, and many others have experienced, social media can be a very toxic community and there needs to be importance in educating those who involve themselves in it and should be made aware of all the negative effects it has and how it may lead to very serious results of issues that may be hard to reverse. From losing sleep, to doubting one’s own qualities, I have seen social media to be one of the most driving and toxic forms of giving teenagers depressed and anxious feelings/thoughts. Teens are our future, and it's important social media doesn't destroy them.

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