The Growing Use of Social Media Among Teenagers
What is the effect of social media on the mental health of teenagers? An important issue and I really want to shed light on this because according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 90% of teens aged 13 to 17 have used social media in some way, shape, or form.
So that means Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, whatever it may be. And not only is that true that 90% of people have used social media or teens have used social media, the average time spent for teens on social media is nine hours a day and that doesn’t include homework. So they are spending a large amount of time on these devices.
Mental Health Impacts: Sadness, Hopelessness, and Suicidal Thoughts
And according to CDC data, 57% of teen girls have experienced persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness. That is an alarming number. For teen boys that number is 29% which is still alarming and should raise eyebrows.
That’s nearly one in three teen girls living in America and this is up from 19% dating back about a decade ago in 2011.
Research Linking Social Media to Mental Health Deterioration
So what’s causing this and is social media really having an effect on this? Well there was a study done in 2019 from the UK Millennium Cohort Study that showed that higher use of social media was associated with low self-esteem, poor sleep, increased depressive symptom scores on surveys, and more online harassment.
So there’s a study that shows a direct association between social media and mental health deterioration. But what is clear is that more and more teens are using social media in large amounts of time throughout the day.
Weighing the Benefits and Harms of Social Media
It should behoove us to ask us, well is social media really benefiting them? And there’s no doubt that social media allows us to stay connected with our friends across the globe. It allows us to use our voice in spite of others. But there can be harm as well especially for teens, boys and teen girls living in America.
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We should ask ourselves, well does the harm outweigh the benefits for social media? That’s a question that we should all, especially as parents who have children, ask ourselves. And it’s very important in this day and age.
The Surgeon General’s Warning on Social Disconnection
Dr. Vivek Murthy, the Surgeon General, has said that the risk of premature death from social disconnection is similar or comparable to that of smoking daily.
And I think that’s just such a powerful statement. We know that smoking can cause lung cancer and eventually death. And if social disconnection is being compared to that, I think that should open all of our eyes.
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The Disruption of Human Connection
And, you know, while we’re on social media, we have the tendency to be glued to our phones. We’re not making personal connections with other people. It’s decreasing our time to interact with others.
All this has a role and an effect. When teen girls are looking at amazing images of maybe teen models, you know, that are, you know, very hard to emulate, what effect is that having on their psyche? Is this contributing to, you know, depression, stress, anxiety?
These are all questions that we should ask ourselves and weigh in as we consider how much time teens or our children should have on social media. I hope that was insightful.
A Personal Perspective on Social Media and Its Impact
The Distracting Nature of Social Media
I like to share my perspective on social media and how it impacts our generation in this day and age.
I hate social media.
In this vast ocean, we are fishes being hooked.
Social media is a hook, it’s a distraction.
We may want it, however, we don’t really need it.
It influences something that’s not materialistic.
In a way, it taught me that we always want more than what we have and that’s not realistic, rational, or even reasonable.
We don’t realize it, but to want more is to do more.
What’s even worse is that most people who want more are not ready to do more.
Productivity, Screen Time, and Wasted Potential
Ultimately, we have to work hard and succeed to live the life that we see on our phone.
If you ask Google what the healthy amount of screen time for an average teenager is, it shows no more than two hours.
If you ask another bright question, what’s the average amount of screen time for an average teenager, it shows almost triple the healthy amount.
That’s seven hours of being on your phone.
Now that we’ve acknowledged how much time we’ve actually wasted, I still feel as if you don’t understand how much that really is.
If you average seven hours a day, that’s 49 hours a week, 210 hours a month, which makes it 2,555 hours a year, which is also 106 days.
That’s one third of the year wasted on our phone.
The Need for Change and Mindful Limitation
Now forget about holidays, summer or winter breaks, or even weekends. 106 days is a lot to waste.
To even think about what all you can do in that time is just crazy.
I’m not complaining about how social media is bad in the aspect of comparison, self-esteem, cyberbullying, or misinformation, which are all still horrible things that should be fixed as soon as possible.
But I’m talking about the impact of our productivity, the addiction and distractions that ever so cunningly crawl along with it.
I myself struggle with prioritizing using my time, and I’d partially like to blame COVID.
The generation before mine didn’t have exposure to laptops and phones as early as we did.
Because of this, I feel like I’m wasting my potential.
And I know a lot of my friends may feel the same way, and I’m sure even you watching this may agree.
A Vision for a More Purposeful Future
Right now I feel as if a big chunk of our generation is stuck.
We’re too late for the times of discovery on Earth, and we’re too early for the discovery outside of Earth.
We’re not born at the right time, they said.
But what if we make it the right time?
Virtually, there’s nothing stopping us from doing it, except our distractions.
If we limit these distractions, imagine what all we can accomplish.
A Practical Proposal for Reducing Social Media Use
I propose an easy yet incredibly effective way to combat.
I say that we reduce our time spent on social media by 10 to 30 minutes each week, until we reach an hour, or even less if you’re ready to go the long line.
I feel like we still need social media in our life.
After all, a lot of our connections and communication online are dependent on that.
We shouldn’t avoid, we should just limit.
With these limitations, we discover and learn so much that our life has to offer, unlock an entirely new, different perspective, and possibly change everything.
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