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| Photo: Jonathan Rados | Unsplash |
According to a survey of Pew Research Center:
22% of youths have access to their favorite social media more than 10 times a day.
75% of them own smartphones, and 25% use them for social media.
54% use their smartphones for texting and
24% use them for instant messaging.
With the limited capacity for self-regulation, youths are in danger when experimenting with social media. There are frequent results of online abusive behaviors such as bullying, online predators, sexting, and so on.
What are the Effects of Social Media on Youth Mental Health?
Studies have shown that the time youths spend on social media results in mainly depression and anxiety. But this doesn't mean that social media is the main problem. This generation values social media so much that it has become their top priority. They are on their phone looking at social media for hours without blinking eyes and not caring about anything like schools, family, and friends.
Do you know what's the most dangerous thing about social media? It's that we only see a virtual side of the person. This means we only see what they want to show us, and we have no idea what's and who's behind that. Now let's see some of the effects of social media on youth mental health:
Impact on Sleep:
Addiction can have a really bad impact on mental health. And this is relevant when it comes to sleep disorders which are because of the high usage of screen time. This can be either blue light from screens affecting the amount of sleep or the behavioral disturbances that make them wake up to check their phone. One should understand that sleep is important for youths in their mental development. And lack of proper sleep can result in mood swings and depression.
Self-esteem:
Sometimes being too active on social media and worrying unnecessarily about posting photos and updating status regularly leads to anxiety. This concern about how others react to what we post on social media can lead youth to doubt their worth. They may start to worry about how they are viewed. And this makes them more self-critical about their physical appearance as well as their life.
Use Life as comparing tool:
Before, social media was only a means of connecting with others, but now it has been used as means of comparison. These have become like a barometer of our comparison with others. This is the common problem of youths who are always on social media wanting to compete against their own friends.
Cyberbullying:
Social media makes it easy to meet new friends but also makes it easy to get aggressive with each other on the other hand. Bullies can use social media anonymity to gain the trust of others at first and bully them later. For instance, one can create a fake profile on social media like Omegle and use that to betray them online later. These activities leave emotional scars and sometimes even lead to suicide too. Cyberbullying doesn't just affect kids, and youths are also the victims of such online abuse.
Isolation:
Social bonding is one of the crucial factors while maintaining mental health. Though social media helps in increasing bonding with people- it also might increase loneliness.
Youths want to interact more through social media platforms which makes them less experienced in face-to-face interactions. And this all lacks interaction and leads to social anxiety, depression issues.
Tips For Parents To Manage Teens Social Media Use
Educate yourself:
Being a parent, it’s really important to get to know yourself with the social media apps which are common among your teens. Try to get close with your teens and know which social media apps they are using frequently and learn about those apps on the internet.
Check your teen’s privacy settings:
Once your teen has created the account on social media, it’s important to stay alert about their privacy settings up to date. Though social media applications are extending their security, they often have to be updated manually by the user.
Set rules for their social media use: