Spoiled Communication
Social Media’s Bad Affliction On Mental Health
With the advent of the internet many new platforms have been able to grow. Some platforms such as Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, and Youtube have aided with the progression of working and learning, allowing for a period of worldwide efficiency the world has never seen before.
Now a question that couldn’t be answered for decades can be answered within a millisecond. But with the good, the bad inevitably makes its way in. Due to the never-before-seen communication technology that the internet has allowed, the rise of social media has become an increasingly controversial topic.
Social media’s controversy has stemmed from the concern over the mental well-being of youth. As previously stated, the creation of the internet has allowed for the efficiency of communication technology to be at an all time high. So, social media has allowed for more undesirable effects to take root and do harm.
Mental health has become a growing concern in america as the rate of suicide for 10-24 year olds has increased by almost 60% between 2007 and 2018. Social media has undoubtedly added to this as high standards run rampant through social media and are pushed onto users which perpetuates the idea that they are not enough.
Furthermore, in a recent whistleblower case from Instagram’s data engineer, reports of Instagram’s influence over the well being of (moreso) teenage girls has been disheartening with 17% of teenage girls saying that their eating disorders worsened after using Instagram and a total of 45% of teens saying that they felt overwhelmed with the amount of drama they see on social media platforms like Instagram.
This cycle of mentally-draining media continues to trap users as users constantly feel pressured to follow and post content that fits the impossible standard instilled into the minds of already emotionally vulnerable teens. So, although social networking has allowed for the development of community rich highways, it has also allowed for the forging of gateways into declined mental health.
