Social media has become a big part of teenagers’ lives, especially for the ages of 15-18. I do not think that it is a coincidence that with social media being used by almost all teenagers of this generation, mental health issues have also become more of a problem. Social media is a huge reason for why teenagers do not get the proper amount of sleep at night and why cyberbullying is happening more often. These are only some of the factors of social media that are affecting the mental health of teenagers, but I believe they are problems that need to be addressed to help improve mental health.
As a teenager, Instagram and other forms of social media take up a lot of my time and I know it is the same for a lot of teenagers as well. Teenagers get distracted by different posts and end up being on Instagram a lot later than they intended to be. This takes away from teenagers getting a good sleep. Because of social media, there has been a lot more cyberbullying which is affecting the self-esteem and confidence of teenagers. People are quick to judge and make fun of people over Instagram because people find it easier to say something mean behind a screen than to somebody’s face. It is also common for teenagers to lose self-esteem because of the models they see on Instagram, this can give teenagers a negative outlook on their own body image.
Teenagers start to think that they need to look like a model to fit into society. Social media is a contributing factor to the poor mental health of teenagers. I believe more awareness should be brought to this subject through the education system and the use of social media platforms because that is where teenagers spend most of their time, either in school or online.
Ashleigh Marshall,
Halifax
UPEI student
