Social Media Effects on Teens Mental Health

Social Media Effects on Teens Mental Health

The technological advancements the world has seen have transformed it from an analog era to a digital age. The digital age is illustrated in any given aspect of life, such as in transportation, smart cars are representations, and in communication, smartphones are representations. Accordingly, in today’s society, people’s lives revolve around technology, from their homes to places of work and recreation. Needless to say, society is dependent on technological use, a dependency that has not only posed numerous advantages to society but has also yielded some disadvantages. Any given technological advancement presents these two aspects, as is the case with social media. Social media presents numerous advantages for people of all ages as not only can they interact with friends and family, but they can also interact with their colleagues from work and even classmates from school, posing advantages professionally and nonprofessionally. In any case, the impacts of social media on society are apparent, with teenagers being the most apparent representations. Taylor (2023) positions that 95% of teens worldwide have access to smartphones while at home, depending on their parents’ income; this statistic is in line with their uncontrolled screen time. Additionally, CNN presented a report that elaborates on how teens spend 9 hours on their smartphones using social media (Wallace, 2015). This longevity bears truth as teens must spend a good amount of time on their phones for mental health to be impacted. Mental health encompasses not only psychological health but social and emotional health. Accordingly, social media effects on teens’ mental health are numerous, including their social, psychological, and physical health. Do you need any help for completing your assignment ? Contact us at eminencepapers.com. We endeavor to provide you with excellent service.

Braghieri et al. (2022) state, “In the mid-2000s, the mental health of adolescents and young adults in the United States began to worsen.” The increase in suicide and depression cases supports their position. An interview by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) with Benjamin Zablotsky revealed that, as of 2021, suicide was considered the second leading cause of death for children between ten and fourteen years of age (Children & Mental Health: Part one, 2021). Additionally, the interview revealed that cases of depression and anxiety are common diagnoses for teenagers due to the changes they undergo at that time of development and other stressors, including social media (Children & Mental Health: Part One, 2021). As a result of the diagnosis, treatment is given to about fourteen percent of children. There are numerous social media platforms that teens around the world use, including TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, amongst others, and on these platforms, teenagers are exposed to more stressors.

Psychological Health Effects

Social media’s effects on teens’ mental health influence psychological health. Psychological health is illustrated by; the need distortion a distortion-free perception of the world, problem-solving ability, and satisfaction with one’s living (Davies & Kinderman, 2017). Psychological issues are thereby tied to these three factors, all of which can be identified in teenagers. According to Davies & Kinderman (2017), “People are born as natural learning engines, with highly complex but very receptive brains, ready to understand and then engage with the world.” Despite this, people are exposed to experiences that interfere with their health. To elaborate, a person put forth in a foreign environment tends to observe it, and then perceive it in a given way. This perception shapes the behavior, thoughts, and even emotions that the person shows in that environment. Consistently, this position illustrates how environments and circumstances influence people’s mental health.

Need distortion-free perception of the world is one psychological effect. How people perceive occurrences vary from one to the next. A healthy perception of reality is one which illustrates views of the world without any personal influence. People with psychological issues will present a real perception that is tied to what they need at any given time. For example, a teenager may consider themself as an adult despite being a fourteen-year-old, or a student vying for a class president position might view the competition as one where they can win while they probably do not qualify to vie in the first place. These examples show their perception of reality is distorted. A teenager may dress like or even create content that emulates that of adults on social media, and this behavior may also be depicted in their day-to-day lives. Problem-solving ability or behavior is also impacted by social media use. People on social media express their likes and dislikes, as shown in the term ‘canceled,’ which is common on these platforms, showing people’s unity. Accordingly, being constantly shown what others prefer may cause one to suppress their opinions, making decision-making and problem-solving difficult. This is whereby a teenager in a situation does not know what to do in a given situation and may even consider what others would have done to make their decision or solve a problem.

Further, being satisfied with one’s living may have been easy before social media, but with social media, people constantly post their lives, which in many cases are lavish. A teenager from a middle-class family is then forced to compare themselves to a wealthy peer whose life can only be dreamt of. Also, beauty standards comparisons are unavoidable, even in the cases of disfigurement (Williamson et al., 2019). The comparison will make a teenager, and adults too, unsatisfied with their lives. Dissatisfaction may cause them to resort to negative emotions and actions to console themselves. All these factors may be present in a teenager constantly using social media platforms, illustrating that social media affects teens’ psychological health.

Social Health Effects

Social media’s effects on teens’ mental health influence their social health. Social health is the well-being shown in creating and maintaining healthy relationships and connections with others. Additionally, it can also be shown in how comfortable people are in social situations. Teenagers spend a good amount of time interacting on social media. Prinstein et al. (2020) state that “adolescents may spend more hours each day communicating with peers via electronically mediated platforms than they do sleeping, attending school, or interacting with adults.” This stipulation implies that most of the interactions teenagers are involved in occur via their smartphones, including social media platforms. That much screen time implies that face-to-face interactions are limited, and even in a home, all members of a family may be on social media meaning people are not conversing. A parent in the kitchen may send their teen a message asking them to join them in the kitchen rather than calling their name.

Social media interactions limit teenagers ‘ face-to-face interactions in society. This limitation implies that teenagers’ ability to form relationships with others is impacted, and they may feel uncomfortable in social gatherings or situations. These leave teenagers feeling lonely and secluded, which can lead to psychological effects (Prinstein et al., 2020). Additionally, social media becomes addictive, which puts more pressure on social health and creates internet disorders due to “Problematic Interactive Media Use (PIMU)” (Pluhar et al., 2020). Social health is also impacted in schools where teenagers illustrate school burnout and disengagement (Salmela-Aro et al., 2016). Early exposure to mobile phones among teenagers creates a dependency and problematic use of their phones. The compulsive use of social media promotes a lack of engagement in schools and burnout.

Physical Health Effects

Social media’s effects on teens’ mental health influence physical health. Physical health encompasses body functionality. Under a healthy state, all body organs illustrate functionality in growth and emotions, amongst others, with the lack of ailment and being fit. Physical health is maintained through nutrition, physical activities, and mental wellness. Social media affects physical health in several ways. First, on social media, numerous diets are advertised or promoted. With society’s beauty standards, teenagers may use some of the advertised diets, some of which may not be good for them and their development stage, affecting their nutrition. Additionally, beauty standards may lead to eating disorders among teenagers, which affect their physical health.

Second, a lot of screen time or social media use implies the absence of physical activities such as active games and exercise. Consequently, a teenager is predisposed to diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Third, poor physical health leads to poor mental health, and poor mental health leads to poor physical health. For instance, poor physical health may cause depression and anxiety, and poor mental health increases the chances of heart disease, among other chronic illnesses that affect physical health. In addition, poor mental health increases chances of self-harm and self-injury, such as burning and cutting oneself and even suicide, all of which affect physical health.

Counterargument

Despite social media’s negative effects on teens’ mental health, there are some benefits. Social media platforms provide a platform for teenagers who feel isolated in their society to form supportive relationships with others. Prinstein et al. (2020) argue that supportive online relationships have reduced suicide cases with reduced stress and friendship formation. This is one positive effect of social media. Secondly, social media interactions impact effectual thinking in teenagers (Fischer & Reuber, 2011). Effectual thinking is shown in the creativity teenagers show in their content. In some cases, content creators who are paid appear to be entrepreneurs. Interactions on social media promote effectual thinking leading to creativity among teens by promoting effectual cognition in determining the means and effects of a given action. For example, a teen may have the idea of selling goods online, the means can be using their social media accounts, and the effect would be monetary gain.

In conclusion, social media platforms exist for people to interact easily. However, the use of these platforms has become addictive, with users compulsively using them. Users vary in age from children to the elderly, and the effects of use are apparent in all. Teenagers are in their developmental phase, and they undergo several transitions. Social media plays a part in teenagers’ lives as they frequently use their phones. Consequently, social media use is tied to numerous effects, from physical to social health effects. These effects are in addition to psychological effects. All these effects are evident in teens around the world, ranging from moderate to severe. Despite the advantages posed, the adverse effects of social media on teens’ mental health are dire, outdoing the positive effects. As a result, to safeguard teenagers in society, it is highly recommended to control or regulate screen time to prevent addiction and dependency on social media.

References

Braghieri, L., Levy, R., & Makarin, A. (2022). Social Media and Mental Health. American Economic Review, 112(11), 3660–3693. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20211218

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, May 14). Children & Mental Health: Part one. National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/podcasts/2021/20210514/20210514.htm

CNN. (2015). Teens Use Media 9 Hours a Day, Report Says. Teens spend a ‘mind-boggling’ 9 hours a day using media, report says. https://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/03/health/teens-tweens-media-screen-use-report/index.html.

Fischer, E., & Reuber, A. R. (2011). Social Interaction via new social media: (HOW) can interactions on Twitter affect effectual thinking and behavior? Journal of Business Venturing, 26(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2010.09.002

Kinderman, P. (2017). Chapter 6 – A Manifesto for Psychological Health and Well-being. In J. Davies (Ed.), The Sedated Society: The Causes And Harms Of Our Psychiatric Drug Epidemic. Palgrave Macmillan.

Pluhar, E., Jhe, G., & Tsappis, M. (2020). A Primary Care–Based Program: Managing Problematic Interactive Media use by adolescents and young adults. Psychiatric Services, 71(6), 641–642. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.71602

Prinstein, M. J., Nesi, J., & Telzer, E. H. (2020). Commentary: An updated agenda for the study of Digital Media Use and Adolescent Development – Future Directions following Odgers & Jensen (2020). Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61(3), 349–352. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13219

Salmela-Aro, K., Upadyaya, K., Hakkarainen, K., Lonka, K., & Alho, K. (2016). The Dark Side of Internet use: Two longitudinal studies of excessive internet use, depressive symptoms, school burnout and engagement among Finnish early and late adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 46(2), 343–357. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0494-2

Taylor, P. (2023). U.S. teen smartphone reach by HHI 2018. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/256544/teen-cell-phone-and-smartphone-ownership-in-the-us-by-household-income/

Williamson, H., Hamlet, C., White, P., Marques, E. M., Paling, T., Cadogan, J., Perera, R., Rumsey, N., Hayward, L., & Harcourt, D. (2019). A Web-Based Self-Help Psychosocial Intervention For Adolescents Distressed By Appearance-Affecting Conditions And Injuries (young persons’ face it): Feasibility Study for a parallel randomized controlled trial. JMIR Mental Health, 6(11). https://doi.org/10.2196/14776

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Social Media Effects on Teens Mental Health

List five or more (5+) possible “secondary sources” – that is, peer-reviewed, scholarly/scientific information sources related to your chosen topic for your project. These should be listed in a bibliographic format like you would on a References page — in APA format. [These may include sources from Papers 1 and/or 2 but also should include ADDITIONAL sources beyond those two papers.] ☐ List the main point or points you would like to address in your writing (essay/paper). In other words, what do you think you will SAY? What statement do you have to make? If you are not sure, then just restate this point as the question, problem, or issue that you are pursuing.

Sources:
1.) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883902610000856?via%3Dihub

2.) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6898888/

3.) https://www.proquest.com/docview/1859049945?pq-origsite=primo&parentSessionId=Xzf9JGCqUxKGIvdbmNweIjeIGtSPLzgk9jUNqFTkLDU%3D

4.) https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcpp.13219

5.) https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.71602