How Social Media is Ruining The Future OfYour Child.
In the digital age we live in, where the average American checks their phone around 352 times a day, it can be hard to avoid using our phones. However, spending too much time on our phones, especially at a young age, has the capability to increase chances of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and immature social skills. As a teenager who was born the year Facebook was introduced to the world and who was raised alongside the emergence of social media, I have seen the way its popularization has affected the world from the perspective of a kid. When kids and teenagers become addicted to social media, they put their physical and mental health, real life connection, and social development at great risk.
In fourth grade, I remember watching one girl in my class get an iphone 6 for her birthday. She brought it to school and everyone surrounded her at recess to gape at the size of the phone and what it could do. It was rare though, for a kid to have a phone at that time, and nobody felt the need to conform at the age of 8. In sixth grade however, most of my friends were gifted iPhones, and soon enough the minority became the kids who didn’t have phones.
The same process happened with Instagram and Snapchat, where a few kids had it in sixth grade, but almost everyone had it by eighth grade. My parents gave me a flip phone instead, so I found myself separated from the majority of those involved in social media. I noticed that my friends who downloaded Instagram and Snapchat earlier cared much more about their image and how they presented themselves on social media, which I first thought was strange because we didn’t even know these people in real life. Gaining followers became a competition, specifically between girls in my grade, and many of them became very conscious of what their body looked like. When a child or teen engages with their phone and gets used to feeling the positive effects like comments or likes on a post, stepping away from their phone is hard. “When the cell phone isn’t there, teens experience anger or irritability, difficulty concentrating, repeated focus on not having the device, restlessness, sleep problems and craving of the device, such that it interferes with ability to complete things like schoolwork, job-related activities, and daily living activities such as showering” (“Addiction to Electronic”). Phones become a cycle, where teens use their phones to avoid missing out and experience the negative mental and physical effects, and return to their phone in case the next interaction will provide them with dopamine.
Now a senior in high school, where phones and social media take up a big part of my life, I notice the difference between my friends who got social media much younger and the ones who got it relatively later. I would say we are all addicted to our phones, but some more or less than others. Those who got platforms like Snapchat earlier use it much more often and it takes up a huge chunk of their screen time. I have found that because I never used Snapchat until I became aware of its harmful effects, it’s not a part of my daily habit. The design of social platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, Tiktok, and Twitter are intended to increase usage and draw on the brain’s need for the interactions it receives on those applications.
“Cognitive neuroscientists have shown that rewarding social stimuli — laughing faces, positive recognition by our peers, messages from loved ones — activate the same dopaminergic reward pathways. Smartphones have provided us with a virtually unlimited supply of social stimuli, both positive and negative. Every notification, whether it’s a text message, a “like” on Instagram, or a Facebook notification, has the potential to be a positive social stimulus and dopamine influx” (Haynes and Clements).
Unfortunately, advertisers and companies take advantage of the way brain’s work in order to gain revenue and leave phone users wanting more.
Im sad to say that most people I know my age use their phone each day for hours and hours on end. Teenagers now are more anxious, depressed, and stressed and the modern lifestyle is a main factor for it. That lifestyle is the overuse of phones and less exercise, technology-free time, and less time outside. Teens are way more anxious in social or uncomfortable situations than they should be, because phones have taken away the in person exchanges and social development that is necessary. The value of face-to-face interaction is lost with social media and kids become less used to physical social settings, which can strain relationships. “When we are talking to someone and look at our watch or our phone, we are telling them that something has come to our attention that is more important than they are, and you are essentially rejecting them” (“Addiction to Electronic Devices”). Not only does it lead to an increase in harassment, but something meant to promote online relationships, leads to a damage in the actual offline ones.
While kids can use social media to indulge in interests and further pursue them, as well as connect with people they otherwise might not be able to, becoming addicted to certain platforms can be detrimental to their growth. It is important for wellbeing and habit development that children are not allowed to excessively use social media and phone applications. It can be hard to avoid, but parents and kids themselves preventing the harmful effects before they have a true impact on one’s life can save them from increased chances of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and immature social skills.
Works Cited
“Addiction to Electronic Devices.” Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, edited by Rachel Dawkins, 4 Jan. 2021, www.hopkinsallchildrens.org/ACH-News/General-News/Addiction-to-Electronic-Devices. Accessed 12 Jan. 2023.
Elhai, Jon D., et al. “Problematic Smartphone Use: A Conceptual Overview and Systematic Review of Relations with Anxiety and Depression Psychopathology.” Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 207, Jan. 2017, pp. 251–59, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2016.08.030. Accessed 12 Jan. 2023.
Fersko, Henry. “Is Social Media Bad for Teens’ Mental Health?” Unicef, 9 Oct. 2018, www.unicef.org/stories/social-media-bad-teens-mental-health. Accessed 12 Jan. 2023.
Haynes, Trevor, and Rebecca Clements. Weblog post. Harvard University: Science in the News, Harvard University, 1 May 2018, sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/dopamine-smartphones-battle-time/. Accessed Jan. 2023.
Huang, Qiuping, et al. “Smartphone Use and Sleep Quality in Chinese College Students: A Preliminary Study.” Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 11, 6 May 2020, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00352. Accessed 12 Jan. 2023.
Wacks, Yehuda, and Aviv M. Weinstein. “Excessive Smartphone Use Is Associated with Health Problems in Adolescents and Young Adults.” Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 12, 28 May 2021. Frontiers, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.669042. Accessed 12 Jan. 2023.
