Westlake Word

According to Charlotte Hilton Andersen, of Reader’s Digest, “Depression is like a war. You either win or die trying.” Many teens experience depression at a young age for many reasons. Unfortunately, as of late, social media has heightened the increase in teen depression. 

 

According to National Public Radio,  “A study published Thursday in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology finds the percentage of U.S. teens and young adults reporting mental distress, depression and suicidal thoughts and actions has risen significantly over the past decade.”

 

It is obvious that social media and smartphones are a leading cause of the rise in teen depression. Most teens in school probably register above 7 hours a day of screen time.

 

Social media exposes teens to many disturbing things. It not only lowers teens’ self-confidence and self-esteem, but it is an outlet for cyber bullying, which is a direct link to lowered confidence and self-esteem.

 

A specific example of how teens’ confidence and esteem are affected is girls who compare themselves to others on social media which makes them feel that they are not pretty enough. Another example would be if teens don’t have as many followers as their friends do, they would not be considered “cool” or “popular” enough. Peer approval is exaggerated through social media. Wanting to get the most likes on your post; the most followers; the most comments. All of these aspects of social media lead teens to feel stress and even leads them to feel bad about themselves.

 

What these teens aren’t fully understanding is that social media is not real: there are not real conversations, experiences, or true emotions from the interactions that happen on a smartphone. 

 

Unfortunately, teens have already begun to think: maybe I’m not pretty enough; maybe I’m too weird; maybe I should just stop trying. When in reality, none of these thoughts are true, but that teen will rarely believe it because they want to feel approval through social media.

 

Social media can be used for good, but exposing teens to it at a young age more than likely is leading to an epidemic of sadness, lack of confidence and self-esteem, and in many cases, depression.

As a society, we need to do something to help teens around the world understand that social media is not the key to happiness. 

 

Works Cited

"A Rise In Depression Among Teens And Young Adults Could Be Linked To Social Media Use." NPR, 14 Mar. 2019, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/03/14/703170892/a-rise-in-depression-among-teens-and-young-adults-could-be-linked-to-social-medi.  Accessed 16 Dec. 2019.

 

Andersen, Charlotte Hilton. “26 Depression Quotes That Capture Exactly What You’re Feeling.” Reader’s Digest, n.d., https://www.readersdigest.ca/health/conditions/depression-quotes/. Accessed 18 Dec. 2019.