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Abigail Brown

Ms. Dobry

ENGL 1213-17509

10 April 2023

What Is the Impact of Social Media on Today’s Adolescents?

Adolescent development is the most pivotal time in a human’s life. It defines how

somebody behaves, perceives themselves, and reacts emotionally. The adolescent age can range

anywhere from 10 to 19. As more and more technology has been integrated into everyday life,

adolescents, especially teenagers, have increased the time spent on electronic devices. The use of

technology has rapidly changed the way teens interact with each other and has pushed for a

decline in face-to-face interactions. The surge of Covid-19 has only increased the problem and

now teens heavily rely on their devices and social media to interact with each other. While teen

usage of social media has some positive aspects like staying in touch with long-distance friends

and family and allowing news to travel faster, it ultimately hinders the stages of adolescent

development by decreasing mental health, lowering self-esteem, increasing the chances and

severity of cyberbullying, and disrupting sleep.

Social media can provide positive aspects to the adolescent developmental stages. The

most common benefit is to provide connections between people. Because social media is a

strictly online source for people to use, it creates an instant conversation between friends and

strangers through direct messaging, likes, and comments. Lacking face-to-face interaction, teens

must make sure they use direct language instead of implied to get their point across. Mastering

how to communicate through social media only helps teens strengthen their communication
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skills (Gonzales and Young). Another positive aspect of the usage of social media by teens is

allowing news to travel at a quicker rate and spreading awareness for local and national issues.

While getting a newspaper is the easiest way to receive what is happening locally as well as

nationally, it has become a slower option compared to the news one can find on social media.

Many businesses and journalists have started social media accounts to keep their audience

updated on current events. Social media is what helps news spread faster and to a wider

audience. However, social media’s benefits do not outweigh the costs.

Mental health has become a big concern in this world. But how does social media directly

concern adolescents and their mental health? In recent years, a correlation between the number

of hours an adolescent spends on social media and the increase in anxiety and depression has

been discovered. A study conducted in 2019 of about 6,500 12- to 15-year-olds in the U.S. found

that the higher the number of hours spent on social media, the more at risk they are for anxiety-

and depression-like symptoms (How to help your teen navigate social media). When interacting

with a world that surrounds itself with technology, it is easy for teens to feel lonely and isolated.

That’s when depression can seep in and consume them. The substitution of face-to-face

interaction only heightens the problem. “Repeated activities such as checking messages,

investment, and addition,” meaning posting individual photos or statements, are just a few causes

for a teen or adolescent to feel lonely and depressed, says Elena Bozzola along with other

authors. They also state that social media creates a higher risk of depression in adolescents

(Bozzola et al.). Another leading increase in mental health disorders is anxiety. Online

interactions have brought comfort to adolescents, allowing them to take time to ponder about

their response and perfect it. However, they have also increased anxiety levels when talking to

someone face-to-face or even on the phone. Also, the idea of waiting hours on end for a reply to
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text messages can easily put a teen in an anxious trance. Adolescents even know when they have

been left on “read,” which only increases their likelihood of developing depression and anxiety.

The use of social media can cause teens to become depressed about the way they look and

anxious based on how they are compared to everyone else.

Comparison within social media has created low self-esteem, especially in teenage girls.

How is a child supposed to navigate a social media platform full of “perfect influencers” and

image-editing tools without comparing themselves in a negative way? Social media was created

to keep in touch with people while also showing off the life a person has. It is so easy for an

adolescent to compare themselves with someone online and destroy who they truly are. The

strive to look a certain way based on what someone sees on social media can lead to body

dysmorphic disorders. Teenagers are ruining their bodies in order to seek the validation of people

online even though their self-esteem is low, and they do not feel confident in who they are at all.

“28% of girls aged 8-18 years admit to editing their photos,” says Elena Bozzola and other

authors in order to feel more attractive like the influencers they see on social media and to gain

validation through likes (Bozzola et al.). While teens feel their lack of self-esteem, it makes it

much easier for them to be attacked by cyberbullying. 33.8% have experienced cyberbullying in

2016, a 13% increase since 2010 (Bozzola et al.). Because cyberbullying happens all online, the

degree of cruel comments has increased and has crossed a line that is no longer socially

acceptable, especially in public. People know that they can hide behind a screen, so it is much

easier for them to say what they want without suffering the consequences of an in-person

interaction. It is also a likely place for peer pressure as every teenager wants to fit in and be

accepted by their peers. The damaging idea of acceptance pushes many adolescents to harm their

body or way of thinking in order to impress their peers. They try to create a better version of
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themselves online, cutting out the parts that social media deems as weird or not trendy. Many

adolescents feel like they have “imposter syndrome” because they feel like they have no self-

worth even if they have great looks, intelligence, creativity, or athleticism. Teenagers can lose

sleep over the fear of not fitting in.

During the adolescent developmental stages, children require lots of sleep as their body

grows and changes. However, social media has severely impacted and disrupted adolescents'

sleep cycles. Smartphones are hand-held devices, which means they can easily be carried to bed

and be used before falling asleep. The mindless scrolling of social media has caught teenagers in

a trance before falling asleep and has cut short the number of hours they get each night. The use

of social media or any electronic device “is associated with daytime sleepiness and fatigue,

shorter sleep duration, later bedtime, and unfavorable changes in sleep habits over time”

(Bozzola et al.). Sleep is vital to this developmental stage and the usage of social media hinders

that process. By scrolling through social media before falling asleep, the mind is kept active, and

teens have a harder time falling asleep. Blue light emissions from electronic devices can also

disrupt the circadian rhythm and number of hours of sleep.

Social media is viewed by many as a positive way to stay connected and updated on

what’s going on with their family, friends, favorite celebrities, or current news. Overall, social

media has negative effects on adolescent development that can seriously harm them in the long-

term. Anxiety and depression can run rampant due to the lack of face-to-face interaction. Social

media has caused a lack of self-esteem from the unrealistic comparisons that it provides.

Cyberbullying and peer pressure have also rapidly increased and gotten out of hand. Scrolling

through social media before turning the lights out can create inadequate sleep quality and

quantity. Learning how to develop responsible and healthy habits for social media can only help
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adolescents in the long run. The best decision might be to restrict social media completely until

they have fully developed into the person that they want to be.
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Works Cited

Bozzola, Elena, et al. “The Use of Social Media in Children and Adolescents: Scoping Review

on the Potential Risks.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public

Health, vol. 19, no. 16, 2022, p. 9960., https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169960.

Ehmke, Rachel. “How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers.” Child Mind Institute, Child Mind

Institute, 13 Mar. 2023, https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-

teenagers/.

Gonzales, Lisa, and Charles Young. "Can social media impact learning?" Tech & Learning, vol.

35, no. 8, Mar. 2015, p. 36. Gale College Collection,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A412555362/GCCO?u=tihsho_b&sid=bookmark-

GCCO&xid=8ad9d452. Accessed 5 Apr. 2023.

“How to Help Your Teen Navigate Social Media.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical

Education and Research, 26 Feb. 2022,

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/tween-and-teen-health/in-depth/teens-and-

social-media-use/art-20474437#:~:text=However%2C%20social%20media%20use

%20can,much%20social%20media%20teens%20use.

Siddiqui, Shabnoor, and Tajinder Singh. “Social Media Its Impact with Positive and Negative

Aspects.” International Journal of Computer Applications Technology and Research, vol.

5, no. 2, 2016, pp. 71–75., https://doi.org/10.7753/ijcatr0502.1006. Accessed 1 Apr. 2023.