The digital landscape has caused an immense load of increased pressure on teenagers today, and to some extent, it’s certainly understandable. We were born into such a time, filled with snapchat stories and facebook status’. How couldn’t we be obsessed with such amazing technology? It allows us to know about events on the other side of the world within seconds, it can transport and receive data, communicate with others and.... seriously damage the self-esteem and self-worth of young people today

Does social media really affect one’s health? You may wonder “how could an online platform hurt me?” “how is it possible to become physically and emotionally unhealthy from simply using social media?” Well according to numerous studies, it’s very possible, and it’s slowly taking over our younger generation.

A new research has shown us that teenagers who regularly engage with social media, especially at night, could potentially be damaging their sleep, increasing their risk of depression and anxiety. Teenagers have spoken about the pressures they constantly feel to make themselves available 24/7. In middle and high schools, teens have become so emotionally invested in their social media’s, that one-fifth of students have admitted to waking in the middle of the night to check their notifications, in fear of missing out on something important. The drastic decrease in school causes the teens to be constantly tired and unaware. They obviously will not have to ability to function accordingly during school hours, and all their after school time will be spent (once again) on social media and catching up on the sleep they missed out on the previous night. This time takes away from the time teens should be spending enjoying themselves. This age (13-19) is supposed to be the prime of one’s life, but how do we enjoy ourselves the way we should be when these little electronic devices are constantly at our fingertips? The lack of time that teens are receiving, being spent doing things they would really like to, can potentially lead to deprivation of joy and depression.  It may be argued that social media, in fact, can enhance the joy of teens, by giving them a platform to communicate and share ideas, somewhere to express their opinions. This may be true to some extent, nevertheless, living their entire life through a screen will bring their happiness to a halt, and their entire world will become fully consumed by their social lives, rather than their real one.

A separate study, done by the National Citizen Service, showed that girls would rather seek out approval and comfort online, rather than with parents, or a close parental figure. Consequently, they will value the opinion of someone they don’t know online, rather than someone who truly cares for and about them. This can cause them to feel the loss in their self-worth because a face behind a screen doesn’t necessarily “approve” of them.

The most worrying factor is that all these studies keep showing up, and presenting us with these statistics that demonstrate that the mental health of teenagers, is on a thin line. We know this and we need to act upon it before it’s too late. Social media can be an extremely useful landscape for sharing and receiving information, however, we, as a generation, need to control and evaluate the way that we use it so that it does not spiral out of hand, and eventually take over us.