Olivia Rodriguez

Mrs. Almack

English 1301

March 3rd, 2024

Social Medias effect on Mental Health

When opening your phone to do your daily scrolling through social media do you ever

wonder how much that actually affects you? Studies have found that “teens who spent more than

three hours a day on social media "faced double the risk of experiencing poor mental health

outcomes, including symptoms of depression and anxiety.” (Social). Most teens just think of

social media as a normal part of their lives and don’t realize the long-term effects of their social

media consumption. Today, many teens struggle with mental illnesses “With 13% of 12-17-year-

olds reporting depression and 32% reporting anxiety, mental illness is a concern for adolescent

health” (Social, 2). Social media can cause so many problems for teens who over consume it. As

social media continues to grow, the negative effects it is having on adolescent mental health can

no longer be ignored.

A common suggestion to decrease negative mental health in teenagers is to completely

take social media out of their lives. While completely deactivating all your social media and

going off the grid would reduce mental illnesses, its impact as a solution is limited. Social media

is such a big part of today’s world and one of the main ways to stay connected with those in your

community and around the world. Cutting social media completely out of the life of a teen will

simply not be efficient or last because it’s the only way they can stay connected with their friends

and other people in the media.

 When thinking of solutions for this issue, most would automatically say to completely cut

social media out of the lives of adolescents. This is not an accurate and efficient solution because

social media plays such a huge role in the world today and taking it away from young/ soon to be

adults would simply not last long enough to make a change in their mental health. Although that

solution wouldn’t be sufficient, limiting screen time for teenagers as a whole would be an

effective solution to this issue. Studies show that “limiting daily social media use can

significantly enhance the mental health of young adults” (In). It is very easy for parents or

guardians to implement screen time controls on teens electronic devices. With limited screen

time, “it is also important for parents to establish regular tech-free times as part of the family’s

daily routine” (Limiting), this will make it easier for parents to set screen time limits because

teens won’t be on their phones as much during family time. This is an easy solution to a big

problem that many teens face today, negative mental health due to social media use. With this

solution, social media won’t completely be taken out of teens lives but they will have limited

time on it each day and won’t be spending excessive amounts of time on it. This leaves less time

for them to doom scroll and more time for them to spend on other hobbies and face to face

activities.

This solution is very effective yet very easy to enforce. Families or guardians who have

teenagers that spend copious amounts of time on social media tend to suffer from mental health

issues due to social media and its negative impacts on them. In order to stop this, parents/

guardian must take action and install screen time limitation apps on their teen’s phones. Studies

show that “Many of us access social media purely out of habit or to mindlessly kill moments of

downtime” (Robinson). While limiting social media usage, teens can find new activities or

hobbies to devote their time to so they don’t gravitate to their phones as much. With screen time
limitations, teens are still able to be active on social media meaning they won’t be completely cut

off from it. The limitations do not need to be very strict either, just a few hours less than the

usual day to day usage because “you don’t need to cut back on your social media use that

drastically to improve your mental health” (Robinson). With this, adolescents will still be able to

use social media, however they won’t be overconsuming it. This will create a better mindset and

improve their mental health.

This solution will overall benefit the teens in many ways. By spending less time on social

media, teens will experience a “a significant reduction in levels of anxiety, depression,

loneliness, sleep problems, and FOMO” (Robinson). They won’t be on their phone enough to be

worried about what others are doing, what the media says about them, and they will have less

screen time to doom scroll during the night. All these things will significantly increase their

positive mental health. Another effect that will come with the implementation of screen time

limits is teens will be able to focus on extra-curriculars or start new hobbies as well as spend

more time with family and friends. Instead of spending hours out of their day on their devices

scrolling through social media, teenagers can find better and more efficient ways to spend their

time that will bring them more happiness and serotonin. This solution doesn’t only work in

homes, it can also be effective in classrooms. Teachers can limit phone usage during class hours

or implement phone jails during lectures. With this, students will have more focus on what’s in

front of them such as classwork, class discussions, and face to face teacher instruction. This will

cause students to be more productive and learn more information while in class. In-turn

adolescents will see an increase in grades and schoolwork productivity.

With all the backlash and negative effects of social media, many would suggest to just

completely cut it out of teens lives. Completely cutting social media out of adolescents lives
would leave teens feeling happier and more carefree right? They would not have the weight of

what the media would say about their decisions. However, cutting screen time completely out of

teens lives can be inefficient because “As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools,

afterschool activity centers, and other locations where your children could engage with peers in

person and develop or learn new skills are no longer a means of disconnecting children from

screens” (Silva). Screen time doesn’t always have to be negative because teenagers can be using

the screen time they have for educational purposes, etc. which would benefit them in a positive

way instead of spending their allotted screen time on social media.

Although screen time reminders are already placed on most devices, bolder steps need to

be taken to enforce less screen time in adolescents in order to improve their mental health. Today,

most teens spend multiple hours a day on social media which causes damage to their mental

health and creates anxiety and depression amongst many users. To better the mental health and

productivity of teens, parents and guardians should enforce screen time limits on their devices as

well as encourage them to devote their time to more extra curricular activities.

Social media will always be a big part of todays world and have a huge impact on

peoples lives. With the right mentality, teens can easily change the amount of time they spend

doom scrolling. They can devote their time to other productive things that will give them a better

mindset in their day to day lives. At first glance teens may say they could never cut social media

out of their lives. But on closer inspection, it is a lot easier than many anticipate.
 Works Cited

“Social Media Is Driving Teen Mental Health Crisis, Surgeon General Warns.” NBCNews.Com,

NBCUniversal News Group, 23 May 2023,

www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/social-media-mental-health-anxiety-depression-

teens-surgeon-general-rcna85575.

“Social Media and Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Mental Health.” National Center for Health

Research, 20 July 2023, www.center4research.org/social-media-affects-mental-health/.

“In Brief: Limiting Social Media Boosts Mental Health, the Negatives of Body Positivity, and

More Research.” Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association,

www.apa.org/monitor/2023/11/benefits-limiting-social-media. Accessed 14 Apr. 2024.

“Limiting Screen Time.” Ebsco, research.ebsco.com/c/iwrgcs/search/details/7r33yuqt2f?

limiters=FT%3AY%2CRV%3AY&q=limiting+screen+time&db=a9h%2Cawh%2Cnlebk

%2Ccph%2C8gh%2Clxh%2Ctrh%2Ceric%2Czbh%2Cfunk%2Cizh%2Culh%2Cmih

%2Cprh%2Ctfh%2Cpbh%2Cnfh%2Cser%2Ce872sww%

Robinson, Lawrence. “Social Media and Mental Health.” HelpGuide.Org, 5 Feb. 2024,

www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/social-media-and-mental-health.htm#:~:text=A

%202018%20University%20of%20Pennsylvania,to%20improve%20your%20mental

%20health.

Silva, Posted By: Vitor. “News.” Built By Me, 1 Feb. 2023, www.builtbyme.com/not-all-screen-

time-for-kids-bad-you-think/.