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      • Adderall Guide | Side Effects
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      • Is bipolar disorder genetic and triggered later on?
      • Is cognitive therapy effective for bipolar disorder?
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      • 10 Warning Signs of Teenage Mental Illness
      • Munchausen Syndrome
      • How Does Social Media Affect Teenagers’ Mental Health?
      • Oppositional Defiant Disorder
      • Spotting Types of Depression in Children
      • Teen Suicide
      • Top Tips For Parents
      • Video Game Therapy for ADHD
      • What is a Residential Mental Health Facility for Teenagers Like
      • Why Is Mental Health on the Rise Amongst Teenagers?
    • Is Social Media Ruining Our Self-Esteem? 
    • Mental Health Guide
      • COVID Counseling to Battle Mental Health Issues
      • Guide to Anxiety Medication
      • Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder
      • High Functioning Depression | Signs | Symptoms
      • How Can We Prevent Mental Illness in Youth?
      • How Do You Help Someone with Avoidant Personality?
      • How Does Online Counseling Work for Mental Health?
      • How Can a Mental Health Counselor Help
      • Mental Breakdown
      • Schizoid Personality Disorder
      • Postpartum Depression
      • Types of Mood Disorders
      • The Toll of Grief and How to Cope with It
      • What are The Major Affective Disorders?
      • What Cognitive Psychology Teaches Us About How We Think
      • What Is Clinical Mental Health Counseling
      • What are mental health symptoms you should never ignore?
      • What is Bipolar II Disorder? Symptoms and Treatment
      • What is the Difference Between Manic and Hypomanic?
      • What is schizoaffective disorder?
      • Is seasonal affective disorder (SAD) a mental illness?
      • What is substance induced mood disorder?
      • Is Depression a Permanent Mental Disorder?
      • What is the prognosis for Major Depressive Disorder?
    • Marriage Counseling | Benefits
    • Pandemic Related Issues
      • COVID Counseling to Battle Mental Health Issues
      • Work Stress Post-Pandemic
      • Shocking Growth of Anxiety During the Pandemic
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      • How to deal with toxic relationship?
      • How does a toxic relationship affect your mental health?
      • What is gaslighting in a relationship?
      • What is the best way to help a partner who has trust issues?
      • What’s the best way to work out relationship problems?
      • 10 ways to improve communication in relationships
    • Spirituality in Addiction Treatment  
    • Therapy
      • Can I See a Psychiatrist Without a Referral?
      • DBT Therapy for Adolescents
      • DCBT- Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
      • Deep Brain Stimulation to Treat OCD
      • Do I Need a Referral to See a Therapist?
      • Family Therapy: Definition, Types, Techniques, and Efficacy
      • How Can Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) Help Mental Disorders?
      • EMDR Therapy for Mental Health Conditions
      • Psychiatrist vs. Psychologist
      • Is Therapy Covered by Health Insurance?
      • Psychodynamic Therapy vs CBT
      • Psychotherapy
      • SMART Recovery
      • What Can Psychologists Treat
      • What is Group Therapy
      • What is Internal Family Systems Therapy
      • What Is the Role of the Counselor in Family Therapy
      • What Is Psychoanalysis
    • Trauma Bonding With Intimate Partner Violence
    • Teen Mental Health
      • Can a Minor Go to Therapy Without Parents Permission?
      • Teen Co-Occurring Disorders
      • What are the signs of depression in adolescents?
      • warning signs of suicide in adolescents
      • Mental Health Benefits of Exercise in Teens
      • How is the pandemic affecting mental health in teenagers?
    • Types of Disorder
      • Anti-Social Personality Disorder
      • Autism Spectrum Disorder
      • Avoidant Personality Disorder
      • Bipolar Disorder Symptoms | Causes | Diagnosis
      • Diagnosing and Treating an Adjustment Disorder
      • Histrionic Personality Disorder
      • Intermittent Explosive Disorder
      • Paranoid Personality Disorder
    • Veterans Guide
      • Functional Medicine for Military
      • Service Dogs Help Veterans with PTSD
    • Process Addiction
      • Gambling addiction
      • How do you know if you have an addictive personality?
      • What is Impulse-Control Disorder?
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How Does Social Media Affect Teenagers' Mental Health?

Why and how does social media affect teenagers? Read on to learn about teenagers’ mental health, symptoms, and the effects of social media.

Teenagers and Social Media

Every human, including teens, is naturally social. With the increase in social media influence, there’s a tendency for excessive use. In teenagers, high use of social media can result in depression, isolation, and anxiety.

Social Media: How Does it Influence People?

Even with the seemingly adverse effects of social media, there are various examples of the positive impact of social media. For instance, it helps in building long-distance relationships with people.

Young adults are highly prone to experiencing various teenage mental health effects of social media, especially without adequate supervision. Keep reading to answer the question, “how does social media affect teenagers?”

How Does Social Media Affect Teenagers' Mental Health?

Social media proves to be a big part of many teenagers’ lives. According to a 2018 survey by Pew Research Center, 45 % of 13- to 17-year-old teenagers are constantly online. 97% of these teenagers also use social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.1 



Social media and mental health are connected. High use of social media can negatively affect teenagers by distracting them, disrupting their sleep patterns, and exposing them to bullying.



According to a 2019 study involving over 6,500 12 to 15-year-old individuals, those who spent more time on social media were at a higher risk of teenage mental health problems. Another study among teens found that using social media thrice daily or more showed poor mental well-being.

How Does Social Media Affect the Teenage Brain?

Social media can affect the teenage brain by providing feel-good chemicals from entertaining content or activity online. Most teens may also utilize social media to escape and cope with underlying teenage mental health challenges. Hence, spending too much time on any social media platform can distract them from physical relationships.

How Does Social Media Cause Low Self-Esteem in Adolescents?

Research shows that social media and mental health relate. Excessive use may lead to low self-esteem in young adults. This statistic majorly applies to ladies between the ages of 10 and 14. Teenagers tend to become less aware of themselves and their identity and begin to compare themselves. These comparisons may include clothes, interests, grades, and overall appearances.

Do Social Media Apps Cause Body Image Issues in Teenage Girls?

Social media and mental health relate as social media apps can cause body image issues in teenage girls. Statistics show that girls often use photo editing applications to edit their pictures before sharing them on social media. These girls may also exhibit more significant eating concerns.

Symptoms of Social Media Anxiety Disorder

A social media anxiety disorder may cause stress and anxiety due to the inability to access social media. This anxiety is often due to the fear of missing out (FOMO).

Individuals who experience FOMO try to check their social media accounts for the most recent activity. FOMO relates to lower mood and life satisfaction.2 

Cognitive Psychology Explores Our Mental Processes

Also, Cognitive perspective explores our mental processes. It helps show us how our mind works. By doing studies that follow our reactions to certain stimuli, we can see what parts of the brain do specific things. Tracking brain activity based on our responses to external stimuli helps us further identify areas of the brain that cause specific daily functions. This can also help a lot with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and learning disability treatment.3 

Indicators of Social Media Anxiety Disorder

Here are some of the significant symptoms of social media anxiety disorder to note:
  • Spending more than six hours each day using social media
  • Lying about the amount of time spent on social media
  • Withdrawing from family and friends
  • Failing in attempts to cut back on social media use
  • Neglecting or losing interest in school, work, and favorite activities
  • Experiencing severe nervousness, anxiety, or withdrawal symptoms when unable to check social media
  • Having an overwhelming desire to share on social media feeds

Health Conditions Tied to Young People's Use of Social Media

social media and mental health   
Excessive use of social media can affect one’s physical and mental well-being. Social media effects on teen stress are usually very noticeable in their everyday lives. Some of the teen social health conditions tied to social media use include:

Mental Health

Teenagers and other young people tend to experience evident effects of social media on their overall mental well-being. Social media effects on teen stress may include loneliness, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts in extreme cases.

Depression

There’s a relationship between social media and depression. Reports show that young adults who spend more time on social media platforms were shown to experience significant levels of depression. Most teenagers feel isolated because social media interactions may be less emotionally satisfying.3 

Anxiety

Apart from the relationship between social media and depression, teens also develop anxiety. Due to the fear of missing out, teenagers often develop anxiety symptoms. Most teens get anxious because they don’t want to miss out on social group interactions or social media popularity.

Sleep Deprivation

Excessive use of social media typically causes teenagers to use their phones around bedtime. This effect leads to bad sleep patterns, which affects productivity.

Envy

Most teenagers envy other teens on social media because they want something those individuals possess. It could be related to their body structure, dress style, or overall popularity.

Communication Issues

Social interaction online is different from physical interaction. For this reason, teenagers who don’t develop their physical communication skills may have challenges relating to others in real life.4 

What Are The Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media Platforms?

There are various effects of social media on teenagers’ lives, without a doubt. Unfortunately, the negative effects of social media may seem to outweigh the positive.

Positive Effects of Social Media Platforms

Here are some of the significant positive effects of social media:

  • Staying in touch with friends and family when face to face interactions are not possible
  • Safety updates can be shared on school social media sites during emergencies
  • Many groups share events on social media, like clubs, sports, music, and other organizations
  • Teens can connect with other like-minded people through shared hobbies and interests
  • Kids can share healthy coping skills and learn positive behaviors from others
  • Online substance abuse and mental health treatment can help kids who struggle to find support

Negative Effects of Social Media

Some of the negatives of social media use include:
  • Social comparisons can impact your teen’s self-esteem
  • Social media can “hijack” your teen’s brain
  • Teens might use social media excessively to escape or cope with underlying mental health conditions
  • Distracts your teen from developing real-life relationships
  • Leaves your child vulnerable to cyberbullying, disturbing content, or sexual predators

Tips and Resources for Teens and Children

To overcome excessive use of social media platforms and its effects, it’s helpful to:
  • Set limits on the time spent on social media
  • Be aware of how using social media makes you feel
  • Avoid falling into the negativity trap (always feel positive about yourself)
  • Remember that what you see on social media isn’t real

Tips and Resources for Parents

Helping your teens use social media appropriately isn’t so challenging. Here are some helpful tips to follow:

  • Keep tabs on how your children feel when using social media
  • Monitor children’s social messages to ensure they aren’t harmful
  • Set and enforce guidelines for children’s social media use
  • Be a stellar example of appropriate social media use

Resources

  1. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/
  2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.02.014
  3. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2167702617723376
  4. https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/how-social-media-affected-communication/

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