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Lourdes Sanchez

Professor Millstein

ENG 114B

April 09, 2018

Social Media’s Effect on Teenager’s Health

Everywhere you go, there is always someone on their phone looking through their

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other social media application. It has become something

extremely normal in today’s society, it’s starting to trend. Teenagers all around the world are

becoming addicted to using social media applications. Consequently, social media is starting to

have a negative impact on teenager’s mental health. Social media is causing these youths to have

low self-esteem, harsh self-comparison, and internet addiction. These three factors can have a

tremendous damaging impact on their mental health and well-being.

Most adolescents nowadays are more concerned about their physical appearances than

they are worried about anything else. Teens, especially females, always strive to look like the

models and influencers that they see on social media. It is one of the main platforms where

people post images of themselves looking flawless, specifically those who are considered “social

media famous”. People who are “social media famous” are those who have a high social status

and a huge number of followers on the internet. Many of these internet celebrities are praised

because of their amazing physical characteristics that they show off online. However, the

majority of these well-known users get their “perfect” body shapes by surgery and extreme

dieting. Teens may feel discouraged when they see this because they are too young for plastic

surgery and extreme dieting is very unhealthy.

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This can have a downward influence on teens because they are striving for these amazing

unrealistic body shape appearances that they see on the internet but are then disappointed when

they realize it is out of their reach. According to the article, “An intervention for the negative

influence of media on body esteem” it reads, “Research has shown that media exposure to

unattainable physical perfection is detrimental to people, especially women…”. This means that

body image is important to an individual and it can either affect them positively or negatively.

However, this problem seems to be having a negative impact because some teens may grow up

thinking that they are not good enough because they do not look like what they see on the

internet. This can further on lead teens to think that they are not attractive as other people and it

could eventually turn into harmful comparisons of themselves to other people.

Young adults are considered to be in a developmental stage where they compare different

aspects of themselves among one another. Social media plays a huge role in social comparisons

among teens because they tend to compare their personal life with the lives of successful online

users. At often times, these teens will get this idea in their head that people who post happy

adventurous pictures are living a good and stress-free life. However, this might not be true

because in some cases people who post as if they are having the time of their life are posting to

give the impression as if they are when in fact are not. In other cases, adolescents compare their

themselves to those users who are well-liked on the internet. Social media celebrities live their

life to the fullest because they are greatly paid just for being popular on the internet. This leads

teens to believe that these users are perfect and are living the perfect life because they are

admired by so many other people.

These social comparisons can cause teens to feel depressed and worthless because they

believe that they are not at the same high level as those from social media. In the article,
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“Adolescents' differential responses to social media browsing: Exploring causes and

consequences for intervention” author Emily Weinstein mentions, “Among adolescents, the

capacity for social comparison facilitates more realistic though also more negative self-

appraisals.” This means that teens are likely to compare themselves with other individuals

making them feel as if they are not capable of thriving. The social media platform is causing

these youths to have a self-evaluation of themselves that only highlights the negative parts of

their life. Overall, social media continues to be a necessity in these teenager’s life, so much that

it often leads to addiction.

One of the most common addictions found in teenager’s today is the use of social media.

They can spend endless amounts of hours on their electronics scrolling through all their social

media accounts. This impacts teens because they are slowly losing interest in the outside world,

their world has revolved around their social media and it is affecting their life. They may lose

their sleep, appetite, and time because they are on the internet for hours. An average person

needs at least 7-8 hours of sleep to function properly. If teens start to lose sleep because they are

up scrolling through their medias, they are most likely to show poor performances at school,

work, or home. Eating and consuming the right nutrition is an important factor for the human

body to operate. Youth who are more interested in staying on the internet rather than eating may

have problems later with their health. These aspects can all contribute to a worse issue which is

damage to the brain. According to the article, “Are our teens hooked? Social media addiction”

Sharon Blumberg states, “Recent studies have demonstrated there are physical changes in the

brains of adolescents suffering from what could be termed an Internet or online gaming addition.

Evidence also shows that Internet addiction could impact dopamine receptors in the brain.” Not

only are teenager’s becoming physically affected, they are also becoming mentally impacted.
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This addiction also leads teens to lose social interactions and relationships with people

whom they are closely bonded to. Many youths have started a habit of staying on their phones

when they go out with their friends or family. They tend to be more focused on the internet

rather than have a conversation with the people who are in front of them. I have witnessed young

couples who are out eating, maybe on a date and are staring straight into their phones and not

once look up from their phones to see how their significant other is doing. The less time that is

spent with human interaction, the more likely an addiction problem could prevail. (Blumberg)

Social interactions are important because it is how people emotionally express themselves to

each other and how they can connect, without it people would become robots.

Some people may argue that social media does not have a negative impact on teens

mental health. They believe that social media is necessary for teens to learn and explore. In the

article, “Teens and Tech: What the Research Says” writer Kathyrn Zickuhr says, “social media is

an important, and growing, part of teens' digital experiences.” This may be true because

adolescents develop from their learning and exploring experiences. However, many young adults

start to develop with negative issues because of what they explore and experience on social

media. According to the article “The Effects of Social Media on Adolescent Health and Well-

Being” by Taylor Argo and Lisa Lowery, they state, “There are reports that SM can lead to

depression, envy, decreased self-esteem and risky behavior”. This means that social media is

affecting a teenager’s mental health, in a negative way, which can also lead to more serious

issues later in their life.

There are many simple ways to prevent social media from becoming a mental health

issue in an adolescent’s life. One of the ways that can prevent social media from negatively

affecting teenager’s lives is to limit the time they spend on social media. Instead of staying stuck
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on their phones for hours looking through their applications all day, they can go out and spend

time with their loved ones in the real world. These young adults are known to be full of energy,

they can use this energy to join a sport, club, or some other activity in their community. Another

way that can stop this from becoming a bigger problem would be to make parents aware on how

dangerous spending hours on social media can be for their teens health. Schools and other

community programs should start to alert adolescents and their parents on the negative effects of

social media. There should be a mandatory rule enforced by social media, that prohibits teens

from going on from one to two days out of the whole week to reduce the time they waste on their

phone applications.

To conclude, social media can have a negative impact on teen’s health because it causes

low self-esteem, harsh self-comparisons, and internet addictions. These young adults must learn

to live in the moment rather than live on their social media applications. Teens must realize that

no one’s life is perfect, even if it may seem like it on the internet. Therefore, they should

embrace themselves and should not feel the need to get approval from people on the internet.

Lastly, these adolescents should go out and explore the real world.
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Works Cited

Argo, Taylor, and Lisa Lowery. “The Effects of Social Media on Adolescent Health and Well-

Being.” Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 60, no. 2, 2017,

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.10.331.

Blumberg, Sharon. "Are our teens hooked? Social media addiction." Voice of Youth Advocates,

Feb. 2013, p. 528+. General

OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A342468227/ITOF?u=csunorthridge&sid=I

TOF&xid=05fef4d4. Accessed 6 Apr. 2018

Haas, Cheryl J., et al. "An intervention for the negative influence of media on body

esteem." College Student Journal, vol. 46, no. 2, 2012, p. 405+. Expanded Academic

ASAP, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A297135958/EAIM?u=csunorthridge&sid=E

AIM&xid=f517990f. Accessed 6 Apr. 2018.

Weinstein, Emily. “Adolescents' Differential Responses to Social Media Browsing: Exploring

Causes and Consequences for Intervention.” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 76,

2017, pp. 396–405., doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.07.038.

Zickuhr, Kathryn. “Teens and Tech: What the Research Says.” Young Adult Library Services,

American Library Association, 1 Jan. 2014, www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-

358057367/teens-and-tech-what-the-research-says.