As most people know, social media can be detrimental to everyone’s health, especially young people. Young people are the most impressionable audience, and whether they realize it or not, it is affecting their everyday lives.

Apps like TikTok, Instagram and Twitter are, in my opinion, the most detrimental.

A good amount of these apps, like TikTok, started off as children’s apps. It was an app to express children’s interests and creativity, as well as a safe place to interact with their favorite influencers and idols.

But as time has progressed, TikTok only changed for the worse.

According to Business of Apps, TikTok became the fastest growing app for American teens by 60%.

What started off as an app that was safe, for kids and something parents didn’t have to worry about taking a turn for the worst.

Nowadays, TikTok promotes things like eating disorders, has sexual content on their app and have bad implications that are promoted to children every day.

The worst part, I think, is that TikTok has self-curated posts that accommodate your likings. So, they are getting to you by your interests.

Another horrible thing about this is that several content creators on this app have been exposed for being predators to their fanbase.

This app is sick and vile. People of color spreading awareness will be blocked for breaking community guidelines, but a person that is a predator will still be able to uphold their platform. It’s ridiculous.

Instagram is better, but not by much.

On Instagram, you’ll see pictures of people and you’d probably think, “Oh how innocent!” But, to contradict that, Instagram is not at all innocent.

There are thousands of accounts that create unrealistic standards for people.

But also, these accounts typically have a target audience for young, impressionable and insecure teens who have not found themselves yet.

Preying on teens as a way to get your monthly rent is never okay.

Grown men and women are also using photoshop and presenting unrealistic standards.

This can mess with their self-esteem for so many years in the future, and they’ll push themselves to make unrealistic changes to themselves in order to feel “pretty” or “handsome”.

It’s sick and twisted quite honestly but it gets even worse with Twitter. 

Every single age group is on that platform. From middle schoolers to tweens, millennials to boomers. They have it all.

Twitter, in short, is a way for people to easily cyberbully people.

Whether those people are teens, famous or just some politicians.

With all of the conflict that these apps contribute, and their audiences being mostly teens, it really brings to light that teens face so many things on social media that can be detrimental to their mental health.

According to smartsocial.com, in 2019, 41% of kids ages eight to 12, had smartphones. This probably means that they have at least one of these social media apps.

It makes no sense to expose children of such a young age to that type of content.

As a teen, solutions for yourself could include; getting into a hobby to distract yourself from social media, blocking out or filtering negative content, and giving yourself limited time on social media.

For parents, I would suggest monitoring what your children are doing on social media, setting them to a few hours of screen time on certain social media apps, promoting healthy behavior on social media and taking their phones at least an hour before bed.

It’s hard to adjust to a lifestyle that doesn’t include social media, but it’s very worth it.