Lainey Marquiss

Professor Leonard

English Composition

17 November 2019

Social Media’s Negative Burden on Society

When you wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing you normally do… if you’re

like me, you check your phone and scroll through any social media that’s downloaded. To me,

social media is a tool that allows people to discover who they are and find a way to truly express

themselves, but I also believe that social media is one of the main reasons why society, as a

whole, have doubted themselves. This is because there are a lot of people out there that try and

hurt other's feelings for no good reason, social media is a gateway to a lot of negative comments

and actions, and we are given such high standards on social media platforms. Whether we put

these standards on ourselves or not they are being shown by people that lead these “perfect lives”

on these apps and everything they post about we want for ourselves. As a result, social media

brings more negativity to people’s lives today, especially teens since they are in the stage of life

where they are finding out who they are. Does social media have a hold on our lives wherever

we go?

In Sarah Rocha’s article, “Talking with Teens and Families about Digital Media Use.”, it

provides evidence which suggests that there is a correlation between the increasing use of social

media and increasing rates of adolescent depression, anxiety, and suicide. In other words the

more that teens are shown to be on social media the more they show signs of mental illnesses,

and the evidence doesn’t stop there. The mental health clinicians, that they provided their
information from, are reporting that the use of social media is a frequent source of family

conflict. Which means that the use of social media doesn’t only affect the teenagers involved, but

also their families. This issue goes wider than what most people think. These families are

concerned about their loved ones and want to help them in any way that they can, but there are

some issues. The same clinicians also stated that they are facing challenges when assessing

family digital media use and then trying to provide evidence‐based recommendations to help

them out. This is because they are still collecting solid solutions that will lead to the best results

for the many different conflicts of social media. Are there any positive effects of social media

that can eventually lead to a more positive future?

When it comes to the positive effects of social media, there are plenty of things on these

platforms that can make us happy, but we have to go through a lot of negative to be able to find

the positive. Each social media app allows everyone to spread their creativity and fun to the

world while gaining new ideas and creating long-lasting friendships. In return, these apps also

allow people to comment hateful remarks on what anyone has posted because being hurtful is

how these people find their “creativity”. Even though as a society we are taught that you should

treat people the way you want to be treated, these types of people who put negative comments on

social media gain more confidence in hurting others behind a screen. This is because they don’t

have to show their face and deal with the punishment that would normally come if they said it in

person. When you think about, if we were all helping others and ourselves feel better about the

hurtfulness these hateful people bring, we could all stop the high standards that social media

provides. We could block out all the negative comments or even better, stop the posting of

negative comments in the first place. We would lead happier lives and set a good example for the
generations after. We would show that it's okay to be ourselves because we're all perfect in our

own unique way. Where should we start in making things more positive for the world?

We should start with the generation of people who are mainly on these social media

platforms because they get affected by it the most. In the article “Social Media Use May Harm

Teens' Mental Health by Disrupting Positive Activities, Study Says.” by Leah Asmelash, it

provides a lot of information about how it affects teens, and how we can help them. The source

gives a lot of insight on mental health issues and if we’re going to be able to help these

adolescents we need to understand their problems. According to the article, social media might

not be the problem for mental health issues seen in teenagers, but rather, it's the exposure and the

frequency of its use. This means that maybe it’s not social media itself that’s causing harm, but

the frequent use and the exposure of certain types of content that’s leading to the lower well-

being and problems of mental health in teens. If we were to adjust their unhealthy habits into

good ones we can help teenagers through the anxiety of social media. We can cut back on social

media, we can make sure they’re going to sleep at a reasonable time, and we can even make sure

they’re getting enough exercise. By bringing in healthy lifestyle changes, they are more prone to

a positive way of life and all of these mental health issues that are being caused by the exposure

and the frequent use of social media will start to fade. How bad is social media on mental health?

When discussing the subject of social media and trying to discover if it’s cruel to

people’s mental health, the simple answer is yes, but there are complicated facts to consider.

Including the fact that every person is nowhere near similar to each other and we all react to this

subject differently. We each have our own situations and experiences in our lives which can

affect how we look at social media. Some people are more sensitive and can get hurt easier than

others, this isn’t a bad thing, but it can determine how they will react if they get a hateful
comment on any platform. Or imagine if someone is suffering from depression and has a

negative encounter with someone through an app, how do you think it’ll affect them? There are

also those people who are extremely happy all the time, but one hateful remark can ruin them on

the inside because what if they don’t want to show it on the outside. You honestly don’t know

someone’s full story and even if you think you do, you don’t know how they’re feeling about it.

They can tell you, but you don’t know what it’s really like. That’s why we have to try and help

each other. If social media is a negative influence in the world and we all still use it because we

know there are some positives then we should stick together through those negatives to find the

positives. Is there more research concerning the negative impact that social media has on mental

health?

There is a great deal of research material that suggests that social media does have a

negative influence on mental health, even though in some ways the internet can cause teens to be

more social and creative. The article titled “Too Much Social Media Can Make Your Teen

Depressed.” Brought up some very interesting points about how “for many years now, social

media has been considered the main threat when it comes to the mental health of its users”

(paragraph 2). Research has linked social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook to high

levels of anxiety and depression on the teenagers of today’s society. The source has a lot of

research to suggest that the more teens spend on these social media platforms, the more likely

they are to be depressed. Since technology is advancing all the time, we as people want to try

these new technologies, which means we’re also spending more of our time in front of a screen.

Teenagers always seem to be the first ones to get all these new gadgets and to discover what’s

interesting on them, but this also increases their depressive state because of how much screen

time they’re having. Did you know that teens spend up to an average of nine hours a day in front
of a screen? With how much time is wasted on social media, no wonder how depressed and

mentally unstable adolescents are. How much time is being wasted on social media?

Well, according to the article “Teens Spend 'Astounding' Nine Hours a Day in Front of

Screens: Researchers”, it really is about six to nine hours. This team of researchers surveyed

2,658 eight to eighteen-year-olds, which it says represents children across the nation. As claimed

by this source "The fact that tween and teens in the U.S. are using an average of six to nine

hours' worth of media a day is still astounding," (paragraph 4). They say that this shows us how

kids spend more time on social media than they do with their parents, time spent in school, or

anything else they might do. On any given day these teenagers average about nine hours of

entertainment media use, excluding time spent at school or for homework, while the Tweens use

an average of about six hours' worth of entertainment media daily. They also believe that all this

technology could also be the reason that their ability to communicate in person is being hurt the

most. They say there is nothing better than face-to-face communication for understanding

emotions and being able to communicate with others. Of course, social media couldn’t stop at

negatively affecting their mental health with how many hours adolescents spend online, but it

had to also affect their communication skills negatively. How many teens do you think this

affects?

Social media affects a lot more teens than people think, tons of people in general, use

social media a lot more than we think. Just in the U.S., over 80% of people use social media

daily and that’s just here. Social media is truly a burden that follows us everywhere we go. We

can’t go into a coffee shop without someone sitting at a table on the computer or we can’t go into

a restaurant without someone taking a picture of their meal. We can’t even go shopping without

girls taking funny pictures in the mirror or we can’t travel without a tourist taking a vlog of
where they are and what they’re doing. Social media is just everywhere and we’ve all adapted to

it, we don’t even really notice or mind it anymore. If that’s the case, then why does it still have

so many harmful results in its use? Why are so many teens getting hurt mentally because of it?

These questions are harder to answer based on the fact that the solutions are ones that

some people don’t want to embrace because they don’t want to change the way they live their

lives. With the help of the source “Exploring Social Media Use as a Composite Construct to

Understand Its Relation to Mental Health: A Pilot Study on Adolescents.”, which was written by

Joana de Calheiros Velozo and Johannes E A Stauder, I was able to find accurate evidence. This

evidence was on the association between social media and mental health in teens and this source

provides this accurate information for their study includes more than just the general use of

social media. Other studies have focused on just social media use in general and have overlooked

the factor of social media activity. This means that the differences in activities within social

media can affect the results of their study. To be more specific this study is a pilot study that’s

trying to understand whether it is relevant to explore social media as a composite measure while

also thinking about how the genders would differ. It talks about how adolescents are spending a

lot of time on social media and studying how this factor is associated with their mental health has

become an important focal point of their research. The more damaging the content is on their

activities, the more negative thoughts and increasing mental issues these people have. What do

we mean by activities? How can the bad influence of these activities be so hurtful to our mental

health?

These activities that were discussed in the paragraph prior were talking about what each

app has to offer to its customers. For example, Instagram allows you to post any photos/videos

you want, but mainly these photos/videos are “model type” photos and videos that are to show
off a person's creative and artsy side. This app allows a person to show off their best look or

maybe their best art, whatever they specifically do, this is the app to show it to the world. Then

there are apps like the Tik Tok, where it’s the brand new trendy app where you can post videos

of anything. It can be a video of your lip-syncing and dancing to your favorite song or it can be a

really funny video that you make with your friends. The possibilities are endless with this video

app and since it’s new, it’s what teenagers nowadays can’t stop talking about. These activities

that you can do on the apps are not just about posting your own content, you also see everybody

else’s and you can comment on anything saying anything you want. This can lead to the

negativity that was being explained earlier. If someone doesn’t like something about another

person's content, they have the free will to make sure the owner knows it. There is also the

possibility of seeing something inappropriate on these apps that you don’t feel comfortable with

or, if you’re still a child, your parents don’t want you to see. There's a lot of space for bad

influences on these apps, which can eventually result in depression or mental health issues. Is

there any way to block out the negativity on social media completely?

Sadly, you can’t completely cut it out of you or someone’s life without deleting the apps

entirely or switching to a flip phone with only texting and calling. If you do want a little extra

help with these issues there's an article called “Impact of Social Networking Sites and Digital

Applications Upon Teens.”, by Amy Roehl and Alyssa Humphries Stewart. The purpose of this

source is that it provides information about the issues of teens and how we can encourage them

to engage in conversations about their social media use and to make sure they model healthy

behavior. Even though the intended audience was adults that have taken responsibility for teens

that are struggling with mental health issues as well as anyone who wants to help them through

the struggle, I’m sure the same strategies work with adults too. You probably just have to adjust
the approach. This source focuses on the development of youth by examining how the use of

social networking sites affects them mentally. Of course, like so many other researchers and

studies before them, they found that the more people were on these sites the more gloomy and

bleak they felt. They also included research that demonstrated that using certain types of social

media increases the existing issues that the teen population is facing. The issue stated, is the

anxiety, depression, and mental illnesses that are increasing every time someone logs onto social

media and even though you might not think it happens every time, just ponder on it for a minute.

Every time you’re on an app do you ever think to yourself, dang I wish I could pull off that outfit

or dang, I wish I was in an adorable relationship or even dang, I wish I got into my dream

college, well then you think negative thoughts every time you see those posts. When you think

negative thoughts, it leads to negative emotions, then results in your emotions affecting your

behavior and that can start you down the path to a negative life. Another thing that’s discussed in

the article is their new concerns that they are beginning to worry about, which is how we as

people are lacking communication skills more and more. Since we spend so much time looking

at our phones and texting with abbreviations, we’re starting to forget how to look into each

other’s eyes and start talking to one another. This scares me the most because when the day

comes (which it probably won’t) where all technology no longer exists, how will humans

communicate? Isn’t social media another way to communicate with people who don’t live close

to you?

Social media is a way to communicate with others, especially if they live several states

away or even several countries away. You’re able to connect online with the people you care

about without having to be with them in person, but this can affect how you talk to others around

you. When it comes to social media you can’t a positive without there being a negative and to
help prove that is Emily Weinstein, who wrote the article “The Social Media See-Saw: Positive

and Negative Influences on Adolescents’ Affective Well-Being.”. This research article is about

the relationship between social media usage and the well-being of teenagers, “whether enhanced

or degraded and how it's not confined to an “either/or” framework”(Paragraph, 5). It discusses

how there are both positive and negative influences involved with our lives on the internet and

how this is an important role in the “emotional see-saw” of social media. The article has done

several surveys to test their theories and what they conducted portrayed social media use as, for

the most part, is a positive influence in our lives. As long as we think more optimistically and try

to focus on the content that inspires us to be our best selves, we can only enhance the positives in

our world. Now, this article also conducted interviews that revealed that while yes, there are

positives that can come from the internet, there are still negatives creeping around every corner.

There are still going to be nasty, unwanted comments and there is still going to be inappropriate

content on your pages. No matter what it will be there, but if we all help each other out by

bringing happiness into the universe, it will get easier to cut out all those hateful things. You

know the greatest win is walking away and choosing not to engage in the drama and toxic energy

at all. We need to start having the courage to let go of the matter which doesn't matter, we need

to learn how to be happy with ourselves before we can consider what others think of us. If we go

into the bad vibes of social media with these quotes and mindsets, it will be a piece of cake,

ignoring the “haters” (this is what negative people on social media are called). Will these facts

and lessons help the people who were negatively affected by social media?

I hope this research article can help people, I hope it can help anyone who is struggling

with the idea of social media. Since it is how other people see our lives, it’s an example of who

we are as a person and negative content can mean a bad person. Showing our creativity to the
world and exposing who we are as an individual is a scary thought, especially if the internet isn’t

your thing. When you wake up in the morning, you go to grab your phone, and you start

checking social media, what are you thinking about? Is it a bad thought or a good thought? No

matter what it is, I wish you start your day with a smile and a good thought. I wish for you to

discover who you are and to find a way to truly express yourself in an environment that’s

comfortable for you, even though social media is one of the main reasons why society, as a

whole, have doubted about themselves, I want that to change for the better. For the better of you,

me, the younger generations, our families, and for everyone. There are a lot of people out there

that try and hurt other's feelings for no good reason, and social media gives them that gateway to

spreading a lot of negative comments and actions, and on top of this, we are given such high

standards on social media platforms. The people that lead these “perfect lives” on these apps

aren’t really perfect in any way, shape or form, just like everyone else, but how they display their

life and show how they live in a “fantasy” is mesmerizing and we want it for ourselves. As a

result, social media brings more negativity to people’s lives, especially teens since they are in the

stage of life where they are finding out who they are. Teens today are the most insecure,

unhealthy, and unstable generation of teenagers on record, but we can help change that. Let’s

start by showing them what true happiness and love for themselves looks like. Let’s help evolve

their life on social media for the better outcome of the world.

Works Cited

Asmelash, Leah. “Social Media Use May Harm Teens' Mental Health by Disrupting

Positive Activities, Study Says.” CNN, Cable News Network, 15 Aug. 2019,

www.cnn.com/2019/08/13/health/social-media-mental-health-trnd/index.html.

Edwards, Erika, and Maggie Fox. “Teens Spend 'Astounding' Nine Hours a Day in Front
 of Screens: Researchers.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 3 Nov.

2015, www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/kids-spend-astounding-nine-hours-

day-front-screens-researchers-n456446.

Rocha, Sarah. “Talking with Teens and Families about Digital Media Use.” The Brown

University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, vol. 35, no. 3, 2019, pp. 1–7.,

doi:10.1002/cbl.30361.

Roehl, Amy, and Alyssa Humphries Stewart. “Impact of Social Networking Sites and

Digital Applications Upon Teens.” Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences,

vol. 110, no. 2, 2018, pp. 37–42., doi:10.14307/jfcs110.2.37.

Velozo, Joana De Calheiros, and Johannes E.a. Stauder. “Exploring Social Media Use as

a Composite Construct to Understand Its Relation to Mental Health: A Pilot Study

on Adolescents.” Children and Youth Services Review, vol. 91, 2018, pp. 398–

402., doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.06.039.

Weinstein, Emily. “The Social Media See-Saw: Positive and Negative Influences on

Adolescents’ Affective Well-Being.” New Media & Society, vol. 20, no. 10,

2018, pp. 3597–3623., doi:10.1177/1461444818755634.

“Too Much Social Media Can Make Your Teen Depressed.” Pakistan Press International

Too Much Social Media Can Make Your Teen Depressed Comments,

ppinewsagency.com/too-much-social-media-can-make-your-teen-depressed/.