Social Media's Impact on the Youth

By: Reifet Islam '24

In 2023, it was estimated that 4.9 billion people worldwide are using social media, with most users being minors (according to the American Psychological Association). While social media allows teens to connect with others through a virtual platform, potentially promoting healthy socialization and improving teens' social skills, there are many risks involved. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, teenagers who use social media for over three hours a day have double the risk of various mental health problems, like depression and anxiety, due to these risks. Some of the leading risks associated consist of cyberbullying, privacy issues, inappropriate exposure to substances, sexting, and various psychological problems like body dissatisfaction (according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information). Due to the lack of security and weakly enforced safety regulations on social media platforms, teens are exposed to and influenced to follow these negative habits and standards. 

Due to how accessible these social media platforms are, the implemented safety regulations are highly ineffective in protecting the youth. This lack of restriction allows this content to reach teens before it can be taken down. Specifically, this detrimental content can range from drug abuse, self-harm, harm toward others, and various illegal acts. Teens may perceive these acts as “cool” or trendy,” wanting to partake in these actions and adopt these habits so they could be perceived as “cool” themselves. Along with explicitly negative content, there is content that could cause indirect harm. Generally, the body shapes favored in social media are extremely lean, with stress on thinness for women and hypermasculinity for men (OCED). Seeing how these bodies are idealized and worshipped on social media, teens grow to feel dissatisfied with their bodies, resorting to unhealthy eating habits that will eventually develop into eating disorders. They may begin to develop feelings of self-hatred, feeling ashamed that they do not have these hyper-unrealistic bodies. Social media companies can reduce these harms by creating a more secure sign-up for their platforms. Many teenagers lie about their age when creating a social media account, so they are suggested content that is suitable and aimed towards adults. By making sure teenagers are signing up with their actual age, they would be recommended content that is more friendly towards them. Along with this, these platforms can cater to and recommend more opportunities and media that will benefit the youth. Some of these could consist of academic and healthy socialization opportunities. 

From another perspective, parents are partially at fault for the harm presented to their kids on social media. While it is unreasonable and unjust to expect parents to monitor all of their children’s activity on social media, they have been giving their children access to social media too early. In 2023 it was estimated that around 71% of children in the United States get a phone by the age of 10 (research by Child Mind Institute). Assuming that these children decide to follow what is popular with their phones, they will download popular social media apps, like TikTok and Instagram, and be exposed to the harmful content that was previously mentioned. According to Yale Medicine, the youth are more susceptible to the mental detriments of social media when they are in their development stage. Parents have various options to consider when protecting their children from the harms of social media. First, they should determine what is the right age for their children to receive a phone based on their behavior and mental health. To control their social media usage, they can use the parental controls provided by generally all phone manufacturers on their children’s devices and limit the amount of time they spend on social media platforms each day. Along with this, most of these platforms provide an option to create a family account that allows parents to monitor what their children view and access. Finally, parents can personally teach their children how to properly use social media so that they are made aware of the harms themselves. 

Fellow students at our school share this concern like Oscar Orellana ‘24 who remarked, “Social media is a great tool to socialize but it’s important to understand its harms. The plethora of people on apps and sites carries a risk… teenagers should be careful on these sites and ensure they use social media responsibly. It’s imperative to put enjoyment and socialization at the forefront… not to spread negativity.” In this digital age, the youth must be educated on the risks of social media to ensure a beneficial user experience for them.