Social media? More like mental media

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Teens reliance on social media has had a negative effect on mental health with lowering of self-esteem, cyber bullying, obsessions with social media and being unable to communicate in person.

The constant want for 100+ likes on Instagram, spending hours editing one selfie for it to be perfect, checking every five seconds for how many people commented heart eyes on your perfect selfie.This is the reality for teenagers in 2018.

Social media can have its benefits, but using it too much can make teens unhappy and can lower teens self-esteem.

According to Huffington Post, 60 percent of people using social media reported it has impacted their self-esteem in a negative way.

88 percent of teens have seen someone be mean or cruel to another person on a social media networking site. According to the statistic the majority of the time the trolls were teenage girls who feel bad about themselves.

In some twisted way making fun of others and tearing others down makes them feel better about themselves.

Seeing horrible comments on your post can have a huge affect on your self- esteem.
Self esteem is very delicate meaning it can be lowered by the smallest comments.

Not only does social media damage your self-esteem, it can affect people’s abilities to interact in person.
According to a parenting website, social media can prevent the development of some social and direct communication skills.

Teenagers don’t have to face the fear of talking to strangers when talking to someone on Snapchat or DM-ing someone on Instagram.

You may be very bold on social media but in person people are usually not as bold.

You may be nervous to talk to someone new, but it’s even more nerve racking talking to them in person.
Having social media as a social bumper is completely horrible for growth of social skills.

Just interacting with people on social media can make someone feel lonely. As humans we need human interaction or we could spiral into a depression.

Many teenagers struggle with anxiety, whether it is social, general, or a panic disorder, social media can just make anxiety a whole lot worse.

Researchers have looked at general anxiety provoked by social media, characterized by feelings of restlessness worry, trouble sleeping and concentrating.

A study published in the Journal Computers and Human Behaviour found that people who report using seven or more social media platforms were more than three times as likely as people using 0-2 platforms to have high levels of general anxiety symptoms.

While yes I do enjoy being on social media, if we keep our habits up, it could severely affect our mental health.

After all wouldn’t you enjoy being disconnected for a few days?