The Impact of Social Media on Teen Mental Health

Daily, with the rapid advancements in technology, social media platforms continue to evolve. Although they might be the reason for many solutions to an individual’s daily problems, the disadvantages, however, outweigh their benefits. It is one of the most common reasons amongst the youth, especially high school students, that leads a person toward multiple mental health issues. In fact, it is one of the highest significant causes of suicide amongst teenagers in the 21st century. The so-called “perfect world and stress-free life” that is being portrayed on social media is ruining teenagers’ lives and encouraging them to depict their reality as flawless. While failing to do so, the possibility of ending up in depression has increased in the 21st century more than at any time in history. 

If something could truly be used to describe social media, it would be “the cause of depression”. This might sound overly exaggerated to many people, but this is exactly what is happening in reality. According to the National Institutes of Health, “Several studies have indicated that the prolonged use of social networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook, may be related to signs and symptoms of depression. In addition, some authors have indicated that certain SNS activities might be associated with low self-esteem, especially in children and adolescents.” It is evident through this report that teenagers and high school students who use social media platforms have a very high possibility of ending up with mental health issues like depression due to prolonged use. 

Many teenagers and high school students can be heard complaining about the amount of homework they get, relating it to the reason that causes stress. This might be true to a certain extent, but not always. There is even a major possibility that the stress is caused due to social media platforms. Although the positive effect of social media is to make it easier to communicate with family and friends, and even raise awareness, the negatives of these platforms have outweighed their benefits in the 21st century and might even continue to do so in the future. The reason for this is seeing people manifest their lives as completely perfect on social media. After seeing this, an individual tries their utmost effort to achieve that “fake happiness” by portraying their lives and their reality as flawless, too. However, it just doesn’t work. While failing to depict their lives perfectly, an individual’s self-esteem gradually lowers to an extent that they end up in depression, stress, and sometimes even commit suicide, since they weren’t able to portray a fake, stress-free reality. 

Another disadvantage is that “social media deprives parents of having a thorough conversation with their children without them checking their phone.” While checking their phones every minute, children don’t even have the decency to lift their heads and make eye contact when talking to their parents. Sometimes, while enjoying the little things around them, they find it extremely complex to be content or even be simply happy. The reason for this is again because social media has diverted their minds to an extent that being able to focus on something completely for even just one minute becomes very challenging. 

In conclusion, as time changes, so do people’s perceptions. Before, technology or even social media wasn’t much of a distraction to people because it was simply being used to communicate with family or friends or even gain some awareness about what’s happening around in the world. In the 21st century, social media hasn’t just been a huge distraction with the developing technology every day, but it has also been the reason why people have stress, depression, and sometimes even commit suicide. The fact that individuals aren’t able to depict their lives perfectly, like other people, is killing them from the inside, causing them to have numerous major mental health issues. The fake, stress-free reality that is being depicted is, in fact, causing humans to have rapidly increasing stress every day. Daily, it is becoming nearly impossible to pay full attention to something for just a minute without thinking or getting the mind diverted toward social media. Hence, it is conclusive that social media platforms are misguiding individuals, and in order to really change one’s life for the better, the use of social media should be avoided as much as possible or completely halted. 

Works Cited

Pantic, I. “Online Social Networking and Mental Health.” National Center for Biotechnology Information, 1 Oct. 2014,

  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4183915/.

McCullough, R. “Social Media Argumentative Essay.” Teen Ink, 2 June 2014,   https://www.teenink.com/opinion/social_issues_civics/article/687365/Social-Media-Argumentative-Essay.