Social media is an everyday tool for most people in the world, with an estimated 4.9 billion users worldwide. It has allowed many people to connect with each other and loved ones without having to see them. For some, it is also a part of their daily life with many hours spent on sites per day. With the growth of social media, more young people have been using it in their daily lives which has led to struggles. Many children who use social media have seen an increase in mental illnesses along with other issues that can affect their social development. Because of this, social media has brought more harm to younger people than the benefit of it.
According to Mayo Clinic, "Social media is a term for internet sites and apps that you can use to share content you've created." Social media started out in the early 2000s with companies and sites such as MySpace and Facebook. These programs first were created in order for people to connect with each other from around the world. It was a way for people to talk and chat with friends no matter where they are in the world. Ever since then, social media companies have begun to grow into some of the largest companies in the world boasting millions of daily users per day. These sites have also evolved to be more sophisticated with algorithms to maximize engagements and clicks. Social media has become an environment where people "sell" their contact and share it online and their payment is people's attention. Social media usage amongst younger people has gone up substantially throughout the last 20 years. Along with the growing number of children and youth on social media, the mental health rates within that group have gone up substantially.
Many more people are being diagnosed with mental health issues affecting their daily lives. Within these groups of people, kids have seen a sharp uptick in mental health issues throughout the last twenty years. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), "Nearly one in five U.S. adults is living with a mental illness, and the prevalence of mental health problems among youth is even more alarming." This trend has only kept growing faster and faster affecting more people each year. With these spikes in mental health issues, many experts have made links to social media use and rising mental health issues. This has caused the trend for "Over the last decade, increasing evidence has identified the potential negative impact of social media on adolescents" (YaleMedicine 11). Social media has been shown to help accelerate people's problems with mental health. High usage of social media is linked to levels of depression and anxiety among younger users.
As social media has grown more over the past twenty years, now in 2023, it was estimated that there are about 4.9 billion social media users with each spending about 145 minutes a day on these sites. Facebook alone has 2.85 billion users, and companies like "Facebook was aware of mental health risks linked to the use of its Instagram app but kept those findings secret" (Columbia 1). The mental problems kids can face from social media use can include things such as anxiety, depression, and loneliness (UC Davis 6). Yale Medicine reports that "according to a research study of American teens ages 12-15, those who used social media over three hours each day faced twice the risk of having negative mental health outcomes, including depression and anxiety symptoms."
Along with these mental problems, children have been introduced to content that might be deemed inappropriate and can affect them. Bullying can negatively affect children and lead them to mental health issues as "cyberbullying represents a form of online aggression directed towards specific individuals, such as peers or acquaintances, which is perceived to be most harmful when compared with random hostile comments posted online" (Naslund 33). This type of bullying can increase depressive symptoms in younger people. The problem with cyberbullying also disproportionately affects women in the United States. Switzerland also found that cyberbullying has contributed to greater depression over time.
Lastly, social media has inhibited kids' abilities to develop crucial communication skills that they will benefit greatly from in life. Social media allows users to connect with each other digitally without having to see each other in person. This ability has allowed more people to be open, however, it keeps children away from interacting with others face-to-face. The National Alliance on Mental Health states, "If the majority of your interactions with others are coming through a screen or in written messages, especially when you are young and your brain is still developing, you may be missing out on opportunities to improve your people skills through face-to-face communication."
Social media has caused children issues with their self-image because it sets unrealistic expectations that susceptible children compare themselves to. Children's minds are still developing and are easily influenced by what others put on social media whether it is reality or not. Social media has allowed creators and influencers to portray their lives as perfect and exciting to get more engagement. Many younger children cannot discern whether one's life that is portrayed on social media is distorted or reality. The National Alliance on Mental Health states, "People often present unrealistic or adjusted images of themselves and their lives on social media. They may only share the fun and exciting aspects of their lives, never mentioning any of their private struggles - or they may digitally edit photos to hide things they perceive as flaws." The altering of one's life might also make younger people feel left out and experience FOMO or the "fear of missing out." FOMO creates anxiety, especially in younger people, and drives them to consume more on social media.
As social media continues to grow and expand, more children become at risk of developing addictive habits to these sites. These habits can greatly hinder their health and developmental progression. Over the past two decades, social media usage has surged to new highs, with platforms designed to intentionally get users hooked and addicted to scrolling. These addictions can keep fueling negative behaviors and making kids feel lonely. Columbia states that "reports have linked TikTok to dangerous and antisocial behavior, including a recent spate of school vandalism." Children's addiction to social media can also lead to negative behaviors from them. With increased time some may be missing out on crucial sleep and be distracted from other activities such as homework. Mayo Clinic also states that in more severe cases of social media influence, "certain content related to risk-taking, and negative posts or interactions on social media, have been linked with self-harm and rarely, death." This type of social media content can glorify portrayals of self-harm, suicide, and illegal behavior to impressionable minds.
Lastly, social media allows teens and other younger people to post personal stuff to a wide audience. While this can be seen as a benefit to have your voice heard by a large group of people, many younger brains are still developing, and teens can post information without thinking of repercussions. Mayo Clinic classifies this type of posting on social media as "stress posting," where "teens might post something when they're angry or upset, and regret it later." Teens who post with this type of behavior can also be "at risk of sharing sexual photos or highly personal stories. This can lead to teens being bullied, harassed or even blackmailed" (MayoClinic 21). Allowing younger children to share sensitive information can put them in harm's way when someone with malicious intent uses it against them. They can use these details to be inappropriate towards younger people or stalk them.
To start in the fight against massive social media use in children, parents can do their part to facilitate the process. Parents should implement rules and solutions for the children in order to encourage healthier habits. An effective approach is to set a specific time of day for social media use, this allows one to designate time to use it and not distract themselves with it at other parts of the day. While you are offline in other parts of the day you can have children engage in more offline activities to help build their skills. It is always healthy to have a break from social media and putting up this barrier allows it, "If you feel social media is a negative experience, you might need a break" (Columbia 18).
Another quick solution that parents can do is to create lines of communication with their children and lead by example. Yale Medicine puts it, "It will be easier to talk to your teens about social media if you have comfortable conversations with them about other issues, the doctors say." If you can keep open communication with your children, it can allow them to be more open about issues they are facing from social media. Knowing and understanding the problem as a parent is the first step in fixing it or making adjustments to better it. To further help as a parent, leading by example and following these rules yourself allows your children to not feel alone, because "as a parent, you are a role model and that means following all the same rules you are setting for your children." (Yale Medicine 53) This allows them to want to be more open with you about problems they are facing. It makes your children more likely to follow the rules that you put in place.
There are other long-term solutions to help children from facing problems from social media. Some parents might restrict their children from using social media at all until they reach a certain age in which they see fit. While experts are "still exploring whether there is a "right age" for a child to access social media" (Yale Medicine 39), parents can still use their judgment to determine when they will allow their children to use social media. Young kids are using social media because their parents are not setting restrictions causing their young children to be exposed to harmful content. This solution could show great progress especially because t" he minimum age most commonly required by social media platforms in the U.S. is 13, "nearly 40% of children ages 8-12 use social media (Yale Medicine 40)
Another approach to not allowing children to access social media is for governments to regulate when someone is allowed to have a social media account. Some government agencies have floated the idea of making a minimum age for children to access social media, with ages ranging from 16-18. Some have already seen problems with youth usage of social media. As an example, "New York City has taken the unprecedented step of classifying social networking sites as a public health threat" (Stanford 4) Governments are starting to see the dangers of younger children being able to use and access social media freely without any protection. New York has already started with a lawsuit, with Stanford Law describing it as "a significant development in the ongoing debate about the responsibility of social media companies to address the negative impact of their platforms on mental health." Governments can take legal action for repercussions from social media companies to set regulations on their apps to help curve the mental health trend. Repercussions can include social media companies being liable to damages they cause to some people's health. Governments can impose that these companies set futures that encourage positive and healthy use of platforms. TikTok and Instagram have features which allow its users to set screen time and limits on use. These types of features allow for a more positive and healthy use of social media and encourages less usage. If governments regulate other social media sites to make them give features such as screen time it can help grow the discussion of healthy use.
Social programs and schools can help teach social media literacy to people who might be at risk of these dangers. "Mental health professionals must adapt to the changing landscape of technology and incorporate social media literacy into their treatment plans" states Stanford Law. As this problem begins to keep growing, professionals need to learn how to use technology in order to help teach people and young children how to use social media in a safe way. Some of the ways these health professionals can help kids are similar to parents as they can "maintain a healthy relationship with social media, including setting limits on use, engaging in offline activities, and seeking support when needed" (Stanford 7). Schools and educational institutions can help use their abilities and powers to help teach their students about safe social media use. Schools can introduce digital literacy education into their teaching and curriculum to help teach students how to navigate writing their social media landscape. These classes can help spread awareness about the issues to groups that are most vulnerable to the negative impacts of these sites. Programs from governments and schools help younger kids learn how their social media behavior can affect them negatively and hinder their health. Once younger people become educated and aware they can also start to make decisions regarding social media to help maintain a more healthy balance. These programs can also get better the more technology grows. In the realm of AI, moderation tools can utilize AI to create more healthy habits and track behaviors of people. As technology becomes more advances, pattern recognition can help educate experts on the underlying issues that cause these effects and create a plan from that to help the issue.
Social media has been able to transform the way people connect with each other globally and allows people to connect with others that they might have not been able to without it. However, the rapid growth and expansion of social media have brought struggles and concerns, especially for teens and younger people. Their still-developing minds make them even more susceptible to the negative impacts of the addictive use of social media. Social media causes and encourages mental health struggles, cyberbullying, and inhibiting social development among its younger users with the more exposure they get to social media. There are ways to help curb the negative effects of social media with many different solutions. Solutions include limiting access based on a child's age, setting clear boundaries on when social media can be used, and fostering open communication between a parent and their children who use social media. Additionally, on a larger scale, governments can use regulations to help discourage social media use in younger people. Institutions can also use their power in order to teach people to maintain a healthy relationship with social media and show them ways that they are able to accomplish that goal. Social media is harmful to younger children, even if it might bring some positives of communication with it. The negatives greatly outweigh the positives in arguments for children using social media, and using strategies parents and governments can help solve the problem of mental health and social media use.
According to Mayo Clinic, "Social media is a term for internet sites and apps that you can use to share content you've created." Social media started out in the early 2000s with companies and sites such as MySpace and Facebook. These programs first were created in order for people to connect with each other from around the world. It was a way for people to talk and chat with friends no matter where they are in the world. Ever since then, social media companies have begun to grow into some of the largest companies in the world boasting millions of daily users per day. These sites have also evolved to be more sophisticated with algorithms to maximize engagements and clicks. Social media has become an environment where people "sell" their contact and share it online and their payment is people's attention. Social media usage amongst younger people has gone up substantially throughout the last 20 years. Along with the growing number of children and youth on social media, the mental health rates within that group have gone up substantially.
Many more people are being diagnosed with mental health issues affecting their daily lives. Within these groups of people, kids have seen a sharp uptick in mental health issues throughout the last twenty years. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), "Nearly one in five U.S. adults is living with a mental illness, and the prevalence of mental health problems among youth is even more alarming." This trend has only kept growing faster and faster affecting more people each year. With these spikes in mental health issues, many experts have made links to social media use and rising mental health issues. This has caused the trend for "Over the last decade, increasing evidence has identified the potential negative impact of social media on adolescents" (YaleMedicine 11). Social media has been shown to help accelerate people's problems with mental health. High usage of social media is linked to levels of depression and anxiety among younger users.
As social media has grown more over the past twenty years, now in 2023, it was estimated that there are about 4.9 billion social media users with each spending about 145 minutes a day on these sites. Facebook alone has 2.85 billion users, and companies like "Facebook was aware of mental health risks linked to the use of its Instagram app but kept those findings secret" (Columbia 1). The mental problems kids can face from social media use can include things such as anxiety, depression, and loneliness (UC Davis 6). Yale Medicine reports that "according to a research study of American teens ages 12-15, those who used social media over three hours each day faced twice the risk of having negative mental health outcomes, including depression and anxiety symptoms."
Along with these mental problems, children have been introduced to content that might be deemed inappropriate and can affect them. Bullying can negatively affect children and lead them to mental health issues as "cyberbullying represents a form of online aggression directed towards specific individuals, such as peers or acquaintances, which is perceived to be most harmful when compared with random hostile comments posted online" (Naslund 33). This type of bullying can increase depressive symptoms in younger people. The problem with cyberbullying also disproportionately affects women in the United States. Switzerland also found that cyberbullying has contributed to greater depression over time.
Lastly, social media has inhibited kids' abilities to develop crucial communication skills that they will benefit greatly from in life. Social media allows users to connect with each other digitally without having to see each other in person. This ability has allowed more people to be open, however, it keeps children away from interacting with others face-to-face. The National Alliance on Mental Health states, "If the majority of your interactions with others are coming through a screen or in written messages, especially when you are young and your brain is still developing, you may be missing out on opportunities to improve your people skills through face-to-face communication."
Social media has caused children issues with their self-image because it sets unrealistic expectations that susceptible children compare themselves to. Children's minds are still developing and are easily influenced by what others put on social media whether it is reality or not. Social media has allowed creators and influencers to portray their lives as perfect and exciting to get more engagement. Many younger children cannot discern whether one's life that is portrayed on social media is distorted or reality. The National Alliance on Mental Health states, "People often present unrealistic or adjusted images of themselves and their lives on social media. They may only share the fun and exciting aspects of their lives, never mentioning any of their private struggles - or they may digitally edit photos to hide things they perceive as flaws." The altering of one's life might also make younger people feel left out and experience FOMO or the "fear of missing out." FOMO creates anxiety, especially in younger people, and drives them to consume more on social media.
As social media continues to grow and expand, more children become at risk of developing addictive habits to these sites. These habits can greatly hinder their health and developmental progression. Over the past two decades, social media usage has surged to new highs, with platforms designed to intentionally get users hooked and addicted to scrolling. These addictions can keep fueling negative behaviors and making kids feel lonely. Columbia states that "reports have linked TikTok to dangerous and antisocial behavior, including a recent spate of school vandalism." Children's addiction to social media can also lead to negative behaviors from them. With increased time some may be missing out on crucial sleep and be distracted from other activities such as homework. Mayo Clinic also states that in more severe cases of social media influence, "certain content related to risk-taking, and negative posts or interactions on social media, have been linked with self-harm and rarely, death." This type of social media content can glorify portrayals of self-harm, suicide, and illegal behavior to impressionable minds.
Lastly, social media allows teens and other younger people to post personal stuff to a wide audience. While this can be seen as a benefit to have your voice heard by a large group of people, many younger brains are still developing, and teens can post information without thinking of repercussions. Mayo Clinic classifies this type of posting on social media as "stress posting," where "teens might post something when they're angry or upset, and regret it later." Teens who post with this type of behavior can also be "at risk of sharing sexual photos or highly personal stories. This can lead to teens being bullied, harassed or even blackmailed" (MayoClinic 21). Allowing younger children to share sensitive information can put them in harm's way when someone with malicious intent uses it against them. They can use these details to be inappropriate towards younger people or stalk them.
To start in the fight against massive social media use in children, parents can do their part to facilitate the process. Parents should implement rules and solutions for the children in order to encourage healthier habits. An effective approach is to set a specific time of day for social media use, this allows one to designate time to use it and not distract themselves with it at other parts of the day. While you are offline in other parts of the day you can have children engage in more offline activities to help build their skills. It is always healthy to have a break from social media and putting up this barrier allows it, "If you feel social media is a negative experience, you might need a break" (Columbia 18).
Another quick solution that parents can do is to create lines of communication with their children and lead by example. Yale Medicine puts it, "It will be easier to talk to your teens about social media if you have comfortable conversations with them about other issues, the doctors say." If you can keep open communication with your children, it can allow them to be more open about issues they are facing from social media. Knowing and understanding the problem as a parent is the first step in fixing it or making adjustments to better it. To further help as a parent, leading by example and following these rules yourself allows your children to not feel alone, because "as a parent, you are a role model and that means following all the same rules you are setting for your children." (Yale Medicine 53) This allows them to want to be more open with you about problems they are facing. It makes your children more likely to follow the rules that you put in place.
There are other long-term solutions to help children from facing problems from social media. Some parents might restrict their children from using social media at all until they reach a certain age in which they see fit. While experts are "still exploring whether there is a "right age" for a child to access social media" (Yale Medicine 39), parents can still use their judgment to determine when they will allow their children to use social media. Young kids are using social media because their parents are not setting restrictions causing their young children to be exposed to harmful content. This solution could show great progress especially because t" he minimum age most commonly required by social media platforms in the U.S. is 13, "nearly 40% of children ages 8-12 use social media (Yale Medicine 40)
Another approach to not allowing children to access social media is for governments to regulate when someone is allowed to have a social media account. Some government agencies have floated the idea of making a minimum age for children to access social media, with ages ranging from 16-18. Some have already seen problems with youth usage of social media. As an example, "New York City has taken the unprecedented step of classifying social networking sites as a public health threat" (Stanford 4) Governments are starting to see the dangers of younger children being able to use and access social media freely without any protection. New York has already started with a lawsuit, with Stanford Law describing it as "a significant development in the ongoing debate about the responsibility of social media companies to address the negative impact of their platforms on mental health." Governments can take legal action for repercussions from social media companies to set regulations on their apps to help curve the mental health trend. Repercussions can include social media companies being liable to damages they cause to some people's health. Governments can impose that these companies set futures that encourage positive and healthy use of platforms. TikTok and Instagram have features which allow its users to set screen time and limits on use. These types of features allow for a more positive and healthy use of social media and encourages less usage. If governments regulate other social media sites to make them give features such as screen time it can help grow the discussion of healthy use.
Social programs and schools can help teach social media literacy to people who might be at risk of these dangers. "Mental health professionals must adapt to the changing landscape of technology and incorporate social media literacy into their treatment plans" states Stanford Law. As this problem begins to keep growing, professionals need to learn how to use technology in order to help teach people and young children how to use social media in a safe way. Some of the ways these health professionals can help kids are similar to parents as they can "maintain a healthy relationship with social media, including setting limits on use, engaging in offline activities, and seeking support when needed" (Stanford 7). Schools and educational institutions can help use their abilities and powers to help teach their students about safe social media use. Schools can introduce digital literacy education into their teaching and curriculum to help teach students how to navigate writing their social media landscape. These classes can help spread awareness about the issues to groups that are most vulnerable to the negative impacts of these sites. Programs from governments and schools help younger kids learn how their social media behavior can affect them negatively and hinder their health. Once younger people become educated and aware they can also start to make decisions regarding social media to help maintain a more healthy balance. These programs can also get better the more technology grows. In the realm of AI, moderation tools can utilize AI to create more healthy habits and track behaviors of people. As technology becomes more advances, pattern recognition can help educate experts on the underlying issues that cause these effects and create a plan from that to help the issue.
Social media has been able to transform the way people connect with each other globally and allows people to connect with others that they might have not been able to without it. However, the rapid growth and expansion of social media have brought struggles and concerns, especially for teens and younger people. Their still-developing minds make them even more susceptible to the negative impacts of the addictive use of social media. Social media causes and encourages mental health struggles, cyberbullying, and inhibiting social development among its younger users with the more exposure they get to social media. There are ways to help curb the negative effects of social media with many different solutions. Solutions include limiting access based on a child's age, setting clear boundaries on when social media can be used, and fostering open communication between a parent and their children who use social media. Additionally, on a larger scale, governments can use regulations to help discourage social media use in younger people. Institutions can also use their power in order to teach people to maintain a healthy relationship with social media and show them ways that they are able to accomplish that goal. Social media is harmful to younger children, even if it might bring some positives of communication with it. The negatives greatly outweigh the positives in arguments for children using social media, and using strategies parents and governments can help solve the problem of mental health and social media use.
