Amelia Greenwood

English 1201-509

Professor Slanker

7 September 2019

The Effects That Social Media Has On Adolescent Mental Health

As an adolescent, I spend hours on various social media platforms, as do many of my

peers. These platforms range from Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and other social

media sites. In high school, there is a multitude of students who actively struggle with numerous

mental health illnesses based on their social media usage. Many of my personal friends and

family have experienced their mental health affected by their use on different social media

platforms. For example, increased bullying, declined self-esteem, false profiles and overuse all

lead to negative outcomes in a person’s mental health.

In the past few years, the mental health stigma has drastically changed but there is more

that can be done. Although there are many organizations and help lines available, those who

struggle are not likely to receive help due to embarrassment based on the stereotype surrounding

mental health. Social media is so prevalent in adolescent lives’ and there are numerous dangers

that come with it’s usage. There is a strong correlation between mental health and the use of

social media. Before actively researching this topic, I have struggled with several mental health

disorders that were caused or worsened due to having social media. Based on my personal

experience, I strongly believe that social media can be damaging to one’s mental health because

of the detrimental posts, by other users, that can trigger an exponential decline in one’s normal

behavior. Social media is frequently used in an adolescent’s life varying from social uses to
educational uses; however, there are many instances where social media is wrongfully used

which can result in an individual’s lack of self-esteem and lowered mental health.

Personal experiences are not enough to fully support the prior statement. Through

research, I can observe data showing the correlation between social media usage and various

diagnoses in adolescent mental health. I hope to find statistics, medical records, and graphs

providing data that can show the decline in mental health due to social media use. Once finding

these statistics, I anticipate finding specific mental health diagnoses that are highly correlated

with an adolescent’s use of social media. Due to the following questions: “How does social

media affect the mental health of an adolescent?” and “What are the most common adolescent

mental health diagnoses connected to the use of social media?”, I am optimistic about finding

the research that brings clarity for each question.