Why Social media Has Taken a big toll on Teens Mental Health.

                    A teenage girl on her phone using social media and the emotions she gets from it.
 

  

In today's world with technology evolving and becoming a big part of society's lives it has made some positive effects on certain areas of health but not mental health. Social media has affected the youth more than any other age group. 

According to Mayo Clinic "A study of more than 6,500 12 to 15 years old's in the U.S. found that those who spent more than three hours a day using social media might be at heightened risk for mental health problems. Another 2019 study of more than 12,000 13 to 16 years old in England found that using social media more than three times a day predicted poor mental health and well-being in teens." This tells us due to the number of time teens spend on social media has affected or has become a concern for many teens. which is scary because it could increase the mental health of teens across the world.

This is a big crisis for America and for the future of our next generation of adults. Society must take action not just for the sake of the next generation but for their future as well. because this can affect how society acts and handles our government and our way of life and even our health status. With the right amount of research society and looking into it more in-depth people can make teens less depressed and can somewhat make their mental health a little better.

In a case study that I found in an article from a website called Majalla "Another story Majalla recorded was of a 17-year-old boy, who turned his what's app into a storage room for his classmate's pictures with indecent videos. His family described to us how Rami would lure girls to send their pictures and then threaten them before asking for more. His father told Majalla that his son become a criminal at a young age. I wanted to tell his story as a kind of awareness to all parents emphasizing to need to monitor their children's accounts. the internet is killing our children. I cannot describe the disappointment when I received a call from officials informing me my son is threatening girls." 

This is one example of why parents should really monitor or maybe pay more attention to what really goes on on teens' phones because it could be some more sinister than they would expect their child to do. Social media has a big effect on how teens act whether it affects some type of healthy aspect of the teen or just the way their mind is 

  

An academic journal found in the library database talks about how which gender is more affected by social media intake than the other gender. It says " Identifying correlates of adolescents' mental health issues become urgent as rates of depression, self-harm, and suicide attempts rose sharply among U.S. and U.K adolescents after 2012, especially among girls. Another example from the journal is "Girls may be more likely to seek feedback on social media. Girls also spend more time carefully crafting their online image and soliciting help from their friends in doing so, possibly as a result of girls self objectifying more."

This is sad because it's true for example Instagram has influencers most of them young women who look up to have a certain body type and it makes young girls feel uncomfortable and unsatisfied with their bodies which can cause eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. Kylie Jenner is a prime suspect for one of those problems because of her body and the way her face looks girls feel like she is what beauty is supposed to be even though kylie Jenner has just had work done and she is not what true beauty is. 

Social media can also take an effect on teen's everyday life for example their everyday routine or even how they socialize with other people. An article from child mind says "Teens are masters at keeping themselves occupied in the hours after school until way past their bedtime." Teens are always on their phones later and don't get any sleep which makes it hard for young people to focus. from experience, it really can affect a lot in what you do whether it's homework or sleep it has a way of sneaking up on you and like a leech draining you of energy you be able to function during the day.

There are ways of helping your mental health and way of life of example in an article from help guide list ways of helping your mental health caused by social media. 

" 1. reduce time online". In order to do that you have to limit your data usage and it would help to maybe put a time limit on the apps you use. Another thing you could do is take a break and maybe read a book or even start a hobby to get you off of social media for a good amount of time.

" 2. change your focus". for this I recommend studying for a while give your eyes a rest or doing something that is not so straining

"3.  spend more time with offline friends" this is a big one especially if you want to have a social life outside of being online because people can either not really be who they say they are and you could either get cat fished or kidnaped that why its better be make friends from either clubs, school or spots.

overall parents needs to take action and see how there children are dealing with social media and how it effecting them mentally whether its bullying, there school and normal life or social experience whatever it is it effecting them and it needs to be looked into more then they think for our future and there future.