Social Media and Mental Health

 As a Gen Z I am forced to question how the use of social media has affected my own mental health and to ask myself what I can do to help prevent the negative aspects in my son's life.

Growing up as a Digital Native of social media, my mom created me a Myspace at the age of 8 and a Facebook at the age of 11. Continued by Pinterest, Tumblr, Vine, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTock (I am sure I am missing a few). Each of these platforms allowed me to sit and wonder of all of the ways that I could be better. I remember waking up in the morning and checking Pinterest for the newest fashion trends and wishing that I had that one pink skirt that kept popping up. Or seeing that Ashley's family was going on vacations every summer and wondering why my family couldn't afford to do things like other families. Or seeing that my friends were hanging out without me and questioning why I wasn't invited out. In my own personal beliefs, social media has negatively affected my mental health by changing how I look at myself, how I view others, and how I view the world.

This is why: 

Social media is used by 5.24 billion people globally with the daily average use at 2 hours and 21 minutes and on 6.8 platforms a month, but why are we so addicted to social media? 

Social Media uses dopamine to keep its audience hooked. Dopamine being the addiction drug, keeps us viewers continuing the scroll. The easy access, speedy reward, flashing colorful lights, intriguing alerts, and endless quantity feed our brains. Not to mention, the algorithm that creates our feeds to keep us intrigued and keep us in the doom scroll. 

In social media users that use over 3 hours a day, the risk of having anxiety or depression doubles. With the risks of social media being: anxiety, depression, low self esteem, the fear of missing out(FOMO), cyberbullying, addiction to technology, normalizing high-risk behaviors, social isolation, reduced/disrupted levels of sleep, and reduced physical activity, there's no wonder why this is negatively affecting our mental health. To take just one of these risks/symptoms into your everyday life can cause so much more harm than good.

When you get home from school or work, what is the first thing you do? 

If I am being honest, I open Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook to see what others are doing or did with their day. As innocent as that may seem, there are still targeted ads that I see that are telling me how to lose weight, or how to get healthy groceries delivered to my door. My first thought is, hmmm maybe I do need to lose weight, causing me to have low self esteem and body dysmorphia. Or I see ways to developmentally help my baby, and I sit there and wonder if I did enough with him today or if he is getting enough stimulation throughout the day and immediately start to feel mom guilt. 

To safely use social media we must follow an extensive set of guidelines, these being: setting time limits, unfollowing accounts that negatively impact our thoughts, build connections offline, reminding ourselves and our children that social media is not real life, turn on privacy settings, and prevent social media until your child is at a later age (if possible). 

I have had so many friends that have talked about how their parents don't believe in mental health, when really I question if the worries that we have today bear a different kind of weight than those of the older generations because of social media (Silent, Baby Boomers, Generation X).  

Social media may be looked at as a way to build connections and keep in touch with relatives and friends, but a simple phone call or text is better worth your time and energy. With the effects of social media being so drastic I would like to protect my family from social media and encourage others to do so as well.

Works Cited

Bounds, Dawn. “Social Media’s Impact on Our Mental Health and Tips to Use It Safely.” UC Davis Health, 10 May 2024, health.ucdavis.edu/blog/cultivating-health/social-medias-impact-our-mental-health-and-tips-to-use-it-safely/2024/05.

Casey, Annie E. “Effects of Social Media on Mental Health.” The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 12 Dec. 2024, www.aecf.org/blog/effects-of-social-media-on-mental-health.

CBS New York. “How Social Media Impacts Your Mental Health.” Www.youtube.com, 29 Apr. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahoXtDuc3QY.

Katella, Kathy. “How Social Media Affects Your Teen’s Mental Health: A Parent’s Guide.” Yale Medicine, Yale Medicine, 17 June 2024, www.yalemedicine.org/news/social-media-teen-mental-health-a-parents-guide.

Mayo Clinic Staff. “Teens and Social Media Use: What’s the Impact?” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 18 Jan. 2024, www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/tween-and-teen-health/in-depth/teens-and-social-media-use/art-20474437.

Minamitani, Kenta. “Social Media Addiction and Mental Health: The Growing Concern for Youth Well-Being.” Stanford Law School, Stanford University, 20 May 2024, law.stanford.edu/2024/05/20/social-media-addiction-and-mental-health-the-growing-concern-for-youth-well-being/.

Singh, Shubham. “Social Media Users — How Many People Use Social Media in 2022.” Demand Sage, 15 Apr. 2025, www.demandsage.com/social-media-users/.

Image from Pexels.com, by Dalila Dalprat, https://www.pexels.com/photo/sitting-woman-using-smartphone-with-hearts-and-smartphone-icons-2055500/