Social media has been a part of my life since childhood.

When I was in fifth grade I got

my first phone, it didn’t have service and was basically an iPod, but it was still a big deal to me.

When I turned eleven my parents let me set up my first social media account on Instagram. At

the time it was still a pretty new app, and my parents restricted a lot of what I could use it for.

Then, when I was in middle school Snapchat became a big social media platform, but my parents

didn’t let me download it until I was in eighth grade. Because they made me wait to get it I felt

super left out and “less cool” compared to my other friends and classmates who had it. As I’ve

grown up more and more social media platforms have been created like VSCO and TikTok.

Personally, I try not to let social media affect my mood and how I view myself, but it can be hard

seeing celebrities, models, and even people you know in real life, posting about how great their

life is, and comparing it to yours. It can really affect some people and usually in a negative way.

So when given the opportunity to research a question about something that affects me, social

media was the first thing that came to mind. Specifically, how social media affects teens and

their mental health. And according to most research, social media can lead to higher rates of

depression, anxiety, and loneliness in teenagers.

Social media is still very new, the first ever recognizable social media platform was Six

Degrees. It was created in 1997, which was only 23 years ago. Then there was LinkedIn in 2003,

YouTube in 2005, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace in 2006, Pinterest and Instagram in 2010,

Snapchat and VSCO in 2011, and Musical.ly/Tiktok in 2014. Social media has come a long way

since Six Degrees, but it all happened very fast. Teenagers in the 90s didn’t have the same

amount of access to the internet as we do now. This is good and bad, now we can easily connect

to friends and family who live far away, we can shop online, and find answers to questions in

thirty seconds. But we also have higher rates of mental illness than teens in the 90s had, and all
of this happened in less than two decades. According to the article “Teenage Mental-Health

Crisis: Rates of Depression Have Soared in Past 25 Years'' by Geraldine Bedell it says, “Rates of

depression and anxiety among teenagers have increased by 70 per cent in the past 25

years,”(Bedell). This is explaining how much anxiety and depression in teenagers has grown.

Fig. 1. This photograph explains how much major depression in youth has increased over the last

6 years.
Fig. 2. This chart shows how the rates of depressive episodes and depression treatment for teens

has increased over 5 years.

Social media has led to higher rates of depression in today’s teenagers. In the article

“How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers” written by Rachel Ehmke it talks about how

certain social media platforms can lead to depression. In the article it says,

“A survey conducted by the Royal Society for Public Health asked 14-24 year olds in the

UK how social media platforms impacted their health and wellbeing. The survey results found

that Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all led to increased feelings of

depression…”(Ehmke). This explains how just those four social media platforms can lead teens

and young adults to feel more depressed. As a teenager this can be a big deal, and affect them for

the rest of their life.

Another example of social media leading to higher rates of depression is in the article “Is

Social Media Toxic to Your Teen’s Mental Health?” written by Alison Escalante. The article

discusses a survey that was conducted to see how the amount of time spent on social media

affected teenagers’ mental health. In the article it said,

“‘The more time you spent on social media, adolescents were more likely to have issues

like anxiety and depression on follow-up,’ lead researcher Kira Riehm, a doctoral student at

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said to HealthDay”(Escalante). This is

saying how during their research they recognized that teens who were on social media more,

were more likely to be depressed.

The last example for this is in the article “The Psychological Effect of Social Media on

Teens” by Jamison Monroe. In the article it states,

 “a 2018 study compared the mental health of 14- to 17-year-olds who used social media

seven hours per day to that of teens who interacted with it for only about an hour a day. The

frequent users were more than twice as likely to have been diagnosed with depression, been

treated by a mental health professional, or taken medication for a psychological or behavioral

issue during the 12 months preceding the study,”(Monroe). This shows that teens who spent

more time on social media were twice as likely to be depressed, which is a pretty big deal

considering that most teens are on social media a lot.

The second problem that social media leads to is higher rates of anxiety. In the article

“Social Media Explosion” by Marcia Clemmitt it talks about how our phones make us more

anxious. The article states, “‘Just the fact that we're constantly pulling our phones out’ is

evidence ‘that we're becoming anxious,’ says Rosen. ‘An obsession is something that builds up

an anxiety so that we have to do something about it to relieve it’ — in this case, check for

contact from one's social group, he says”(Clemmitt). This is discussing how we use our phones

as a way to relieve our anxiety, which was caused by our phones.

A second example of social media causing anxiety is how it has become such an

important part of our lives that it causes anxiety. In the article by Emkhe it says, “In fact, experts

worry that the social media and text messages that have become so integral to teenage life are

promoting anxiety and lowering self-esteem”(Ehmke). This is stating that experts are also

realizing that social media is causing anxiety problems.

A final example of this is in the article “Social Media and Teen Anxiety” by Leah Shafer.

In this article it states,

“Through likes and follows, teens are ‘getting actual data on how much people like them

and their appearance,’ says Lindsey Giller, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute
who specializes in youth and young adults with mood disorders. ‘And you're not having any

break from that technology.’ She's seen teens with anxiety, poor self-esteem, insecurity, and

sadness attributed, at least in part, to constant social media use.” In this it explains how teens

who constantly use social media are more anxious, due to them being able to know how much

people like them and their appearance.

The third problem that social media is causing is higher feelings of loneliness. Also in the

article by Emkhe it says,

“It’s also surprisingly easy to feel lonely in the middle of all that hyperconnection. For

one thing, kids now know with depressing certainty when they’re being ignored. We all have

phones and we all respond to things pretty quickly, so when you’re waiting for a response that

doesn’t come, the silence can be deafening. The silent treatment might be a strategic insult or just

the unfortunate side effect of an online adolescent relationship that starts out intensely but then

fades away”(Emhke). This is explaining how teenagers can now know when we are being

ignored, and that can lead to us feeling more alone.

Another example of this is in the article by Clemmitt. It says, “This fact may translate

into overblown fears of being alone, according to some analysts. ‘We have a generation of young

adults who, due to no fault of their own, have grown dependent on continuous technological

connection,’ wrote Vivian Diller, a psychologist in New York City. With so little experience

dealing with ‘frustration or loneliness,’ Diller wonders how a cell phone-dependent generation

will deal with such feelings”(Clemmitt). This is saying how due to our dependence on our

phones it can lead us to feel more alone, since we don’t know how to deal with it.

The third example of this is in the article “Teens Aren't Socializing in the Real World.

And That's Making Them Super Lonely” by Jayne O’Donnell. In this article it states,
 “The increase in loneliness might be due to how teens spend their leisure time, Twenge

says. When compared to teens in earlier decades, Gen Z are less likely to ‘get together with

friends in person, go to parties, go out with friends, date, ride in cars for fun, go to shopping

malls, or go to the movies,’ she reported,”(O’Donnell). This is explaining how some teens are

more lonely because they may choose to spend time on their phones, rather than go outside and

be with their friends. Which is what past generations would have done.

Some more things that social media contributes low self esteem. When you go on

Instagram and Snapchat, there are celebrities and models that have perfect bodies and lives.

When teenagers see this it can make them feel that they are worthless and not good enough,

which can be one of the factors contributing to their depression, anxiety, and/or loneliness.

Cyberbullying is something that also occurs more because of social media. People can

hide behind a screen, and it can make them do things that they may not do in real life. In the

article by Ehmke it states,

“The other big danger that comes from kids communicating more indirectly is that it has

gotten easier to be cruel. ‘Kids text all sorts of things that you would never in a million years

contemplate saying to anyone’s face,’ says Dr. Donna Wick, a clinical and developmental

psychologist”(Ehmke). This is explaining how due to being able to hide behind a screen teens are

more likely to say something cruel and hurtful to other people, and they won’t have to deal with

the consequences immediately or maybe ever.

Although it would seem pretty obvious that social media causes depression, anxiety, and

loneliness, some people question if those things cause teens to use social media more, rather than

social media being the cause. In the article by Escalante it says,

 “Author Michaeline Jensen, assistant professor of psychology at the University of North

Carolina at Greensboro, said : ‘Contrary to the common belief that smartphones and social media

are damaging adolescents’ mental health, we don’t see much support for the idea that time spent

on phones and online is associated with increased risk for mental health problems’”(Escalante).

This is explaining how they don’t see a lot of evidence that the time spent on their phones is

correlated to the increase in mental health problems, which leads them to believe maybe mental

health problems are causing teens to spend more time on social media.

However, later in the article it says that that observation was due to their amount of

screen time and not specific time on social media. And that an excessive amount of time on

social media is not healthy for anyone (Escalante).

In conclusion, social media is a big part of teenagers’ lives. This can be bad and good, but

excessive time on social media is always bad. I try to limit myself to only on social media for a

short amount of time, and stick to that as much as possible. But as most research concludes,

social media can lead to an increase of depression, anxiety, and loneliness in teens.

Works Cited
Bedell, Geraldine. “Rates of Depression Have Soared in Teenagers. What Are We Doing

Wrong?” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 27 Feb. 2016,

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/teenage-mental-health-

crisis-rates-of-depression-have-soared-in-the-past-25-years-a6894676.html. Accessed 20

March 2020.

Buchholz, Katharina. “Chart : More U.S. Teenagers Are Experiencing Depression.” Statista,

2018, https://www.statista.com/chart/20052/share-of-us-teenagers-experiencing-

depressive-episodes-and-receiving-treatment/. Accessed 20 April 2020.

Clemmitt, Marcia. “Social Media Explosion.” CQ Researcher, 25 Jan. 2013, pp. 81-104,

library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2013012500. Accessed 1 March 2020.

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

childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/. Accessed 1 March

2020.

Escalante, Alison. “Is Social Media Toxic to Your Teen's Mental Health?” Psychology Today,

Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shouldstorm/201909/is-social-media-

toxic-your-teens-mental-health. Accessed 1 March 2020.

Monroe, Jamison. “The Psychological Effect of Social Media on Teens.” Newport Academy,

Newport Academy, 15 Oct. 2019, www.newportacademy.com/resources/mental-

health/psychological-effects-of-social-media/. Accessed 20 March 2020.

“The State of Mental Health in America.” Mental Health America, Betterhelp, 2020,

https://www.mhanational.org/issues/state-mental-health-america. Accessed 20 April 2020.