Have you ever seen teenagers that have their faces glued to a phone? They are most likely scrolling on Tik Tok or snapping their friends on Snapchat. An average teenager spends seven and a half hours on social media daily. When kids have their phones in front of them it is regular to wonder if it is too much. In this article we will talk about all the variables on social media impacting kids’ brains.
Social media causing depression:
Social media is the direct cause for people that are getting cyberbullied online. Many studies have shown that excessive social media exposure has caused depression. Child Mind Institute says, “In several studies, teenage and young adult users who spend the most time on Instagram, Facebook and other platforms were shown to have a substantially (from 13 to 66 percent) higher rate of reported depression than those who spent the least time.”
– Caroline Miller at Child Mind Institute.
Cyberbullying:
Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. “When adolescents are online, they adapt to a different set of social norms than when they’re interacting with their peers in person. Oftentimes, they are more aggressive or critical on social media because of the anonymity they have online and their ability to avoid retaliation. Additionally, cyberbullies may feel less remorse or empathy when engaging in these behaviors because they can’t see the direct impact of their actions.” – Kathryn Kao at University of Georgia. As stated in the paragraph above, cyberbullying has a direct correlation with social media and the effects it has on teens.
Sleep:
At the end of the day we all want to get in our beds and get some peace and quiet, but not the social media users. “On TikTok specifically, 19% of the app’s 13- to 15-year-old users and 25% of their 16- to 17-year-old users globally are active on TikTok between midnight and 5:00 a.m. TikTok sends push notifications directly to users’ phones, both during school and sleeping hours.”- National Institutes of Health.
School:
Do you ever hear about drama and how it is always related to a phone or social media? The University of Connecticut says, “On social media, when you argue, something so small can turn into something so big so fast.” Research has shown that over 80% of cyberbullying ends up with confrontation in person. In this case, social media is an instigator of bullying in and out of school.
Social Media is rotting the brains of our teens today leaving them cyberbullied, sleepless, or struggling in school. Is this becoming too much pressure associated with social media? Some people think that the amount of time on their screens is benefitting, but really it isn’t. The solution to this would be monitoring screen time for all teens so it doesn’t get to the point of the reasons above. My solution would be an app that makes sure that the viewers are viewing safe, appropriate material for a healthy amount of time.
Cites: https://childmind.org/article/is-social-media-use-causing-depression/