Social Media and Why It's such a big problem in teens' mental health. 

                                 a girl happy on one side and on the other side she is sad

 Social media has attributed so much to mental health by affecting the way teens sleep, personal appearance, less real social interaction and so much more in regular teens' lives. It doesn't just affect teens in America but teens in other countries for example from a source titled Smartphones, social media use, and youth mental health According to this Journal " impatient hospital admissions of children and adolescents for mental health reasons increased substantially across Canada between 2007 and 2014, while admissions for other medical conditions in this age group decreased by 14%. Between 2009 and 2014 admissions to the hospital for intentional self-harm increased by 110% in Canadian girls." this is all because of social media if it has this much of an impact on young girls and other teens which makes the social media world look like fools and idiots. 

There are two reasons for self-harm one is either the personal appearance that girls see on social media or cyber bullying teens put up with online for example a source called frontiers says "A recent survey by the pew research center found that 59% of U.S teens have experienced cyberbullying highlighting a considerable rise in cyberbullying in the past several years." see look at that 59 percent out of the 100 percent of teens in the world exposed to social media. that seems like a pretty big percentage and cyberbullying is one of the biggest attributes of mental health and that's why it's studied a little bit more than other topics within mental health vs social media discussion. 

Now, this topic plays a big part in gender and body image most of the time its girls that are affected the most by social media for example from a source called boys and girls club of America "much of the information focused specifically on the effects of Instagram on young women. in a thorough investigation of documents the wall street journal found march 2020  slide presentation posted on Facebook internal message board which read that 32% of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their body, Instagram made them feel worse... comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves." 

See this is why women in America don't treat themselves with more respect this is a big concern, especially for young women of the future who will be brainwashed into thinking a woman is supposed these girls would do this I think we all have done this on social media to kind of understand where girls come from wanting to change their facial appearance. overall still doesn't give social media a pass it to look like a plastic Barbie doll Kardashian or one of those Instagram models. Another example from the source is just quoted boys and girls club "80% of girls say they downloaded a filter or used an app to change the way they look in photos by the time they're 13 years old." From experience, I can see whys still sad that women can't love themselves because of social media and its hold on their minds

Another source called the British psychological society opinion said "Although body image concerns are not mental health conditions in themselves, they can be a risk factor for mental health problems such as poorer quality of life, psychological distress, and unhealthy behaviors including eating disorders." I agree with this statement 100% because even though body image is its own category for health concerns it still can affect mental health in some way.

Social media has also affected the way teens go through every day like like for example their routines or social life and the way they sleep. A source called mayo clinic said, " A 2016 study of more than 450 teens found that greater social media use nighttime social media use and emotional investment in social media -such as feeling upset when prevented from logging on were each linked with worse sleep quality and higher levels of anxiety and depression". this is one reason why parents need to monitor their children and with this happening teens will sleep in which leads to sleeping in and missing school, it can also make them not do their work or just go on will there everyday lives.

Now parents have to think about how can I help their teen's mental health and relieve stress and depression. 

 

well according to fifth street counseling  here are some steps to help teens with mental health 

"How to protect your mental health"

1. "spend less time online" in my opinion a way you can do this is by cutting your screen time maybe putting a time limit or just taking a break in the day and focusing on something else.

2. "use social media intentionally" For this, you shouldn't use it if you are bored use it with intention so then you won't get caught up in something you don't want to.

3. " connect with more friends offline" even though social media may be ok to make friends online its way better to make friends outside of the media world plus is way better for your mental health 

overall parents need to look into this more and take action and look into what their children are doing on social media because you never know your child could be suffering from depression or anxiety or they could be socially awkward and it could be making the mental health skyrocket. we need to make a difference not for our future but for our children's future.