Every day, every hour, and every minute. Someone on social media is comparing themselves to what they see as the “new trend” celebrities are making or the “standards” set for people of all ages. People are changing themselves for 1 more like on Instagram or 2 more followers on TikTok. Some call social media a “Toxic Mirror” and others call it “Therapy.”  An article published on June 17, 2023,  in the New York Times, entitled “ Everyone Says Social Media is Bad For Teens,” argues that “About 20% of teenagers say that social media harms their day.” However, they still go on their socials to keep up with all the new trending things, because they don’t want to miss out on the latest trends or standards. The main focus for teenagers is how they present themselves. There are 4 main things about how social media affects teenagers and why. The four are, how social media has changed over the last few decades, how and why teenagers keep going back to it, what people can do to help themselves get off their socials, and how socials impact how teenagers view themselves. 

People may ask if social media impacts how most teenagers look at themselves, about 31% of teens say that they look at themselves differently because of social media.  An article entitled “ Social Media And Self Doubt” published by Child Mind Institute on June 9th,2023, informs that “ Social media can be fun, exciting and even helpful. But for some teens, all those pictures can fuel self-doubt”. This is true for many teenagers across the US and even the world. It’s an instinct to get jealous of what a friend might be doing or a vacation someone might be taking. We start to see it on our Instagram feed and start to think about how we can be like that person and why that isn't us.  This is one of the hardest things to get off of, says Child Mind Institute. People get sucked into the lies that are being posted on social media. Many teenagers say that social media is their whole life, their life revolves around their little phone and the apps on it. Those apps can be the most harmful things that a teenager can look at on their phones. The article “ The State of Girls Mental Health And Self Confidence” published by Education Week published on November 9, 2023, states that “ A survey of more than 17,500 girls in 5th to 12th grade found themselves having their confidence drop in the past 6 years because of their social media”. It has dropped year by year for not only girls but boys as well. An article posted by the Mental Health Foundation, entitled “ How Does Body Image Affect Children” posted on August 2nd, 2022, states that 26% of boys look at themselves badly or in a negative way because of the things that they are exposed to on social media.

Teenagers now at this age often go to their phones for the help they need. According to an article on September 9, 2023, in ABC News entitled “What Being Called A Young Mental Health Crisis, Is Social Media Facing Its Moment?” announces that “After two decades of radically changing the way we interact with others, social media may be at its turning point, experts study whether excessive use may have an impact on your mental health.” Exposure to everything on social media isn't always as good as some might think, especially for minds still growing and developing. Experts say that most people get social media at the age of 12, and over 50% of kids in the US have it right now. This causes many issues to the young mind like having negative thoughts, depression,  anxiety, and mental health problems. Teenagers feed themselves with what they see in their feed not thinking about what that may cause for them and their health. 

We as people look at our phones about 90 times a day, and even though that seems like a lot, it is true. According to the Pew Research Center, an article entitled “ Teens, Social Media and Technology 2023” reports that the most used social media apps for US teenagers from ages 13-17 are the following, TikTok (63%), Snapchat (60%), and Instagram (59%). These apps have pictures and videos that teenagers stare at wondering how they can be like the influencer on the other side of the screen. This can cause severe damage to the human brain from mental health problems, to physical changes, often resulting in not liking your body image or your features. An article from the New York Times entitled “ Instagram Makes Teens Hate Themselves” informs us that Instagram “bakes” standards into our heads that aren't realistic for a growing body and mind. While being exposed to photoshopped and edited pictures, teenagers find that they can’t get off of social media because they get too invested in the videos and pictures being uploaded every second. They just can’t step away from the different views on life, and how you should be living it. 

The New York Times wrote an article entitled “ 9 Ways To Reset Your Relationship With Social Media” It states that we often go onto Snapchat or Instagram to post our thoughts or pictures of what we did this weekend so that people know that they're being social and to show off their life.  Emma Lembke joined Instagram at the age of 12. She found herself on it for hours a day resulting in bad thoughts about herself and others, Lembke was scrolling for hours just because she wanted to see other people's posts and the things that she couldn’t have or get. She says that she found a solution soon enough and it changed the way she used her social media. Lembke states that she used a journal to put her thoughts into and that's where she would talk about her day to “show it off”. Her screen time went down many hours and her mental state got so much better, Lembke says. She went from hours on end mindlessly scrolling, to hours journaling in a notebook. Even something just as simple as putting a note by your bed or on your mirror to remind yourself that what people post isn’t always as real as it seems. 

In conclusion, teenagers face many problems concerning social media and its harmful impacts. Using it for popularity or to compare themselves to someone they see on the other side of the screen. Everyone can use social media in many ways, but everyone can also use their mind and knowledge to redirect themselves. When someone grabs their phone to text or post something to their profile, think one more time if it will affect someone else and how they think about themselves. Scrolling for hours on social media doesn’t affect how we positively feel about ourselves, but rather in a harmful way. The percentage of teenagers looking at themselves in a harmful way can affect their lifestyle and mental health fast. I talked about how social media affects how we look at ourselves, exposure to social media, the percentages for the most used social media, and how to reset your life with how you use social media. Don’t let social media suck us into the unrealistic standards that it has set.