Suicide, self-harm, depression, and anxiety are more prevalent in American teens in recent times. American teens are undergoing somewhat of a metamorphosis hence invoking more suicide numbers.
This article has multiple mentions of suicide and self-ham. Reader discretion is advised.
The amount of youth on social media has skyrocketed. A study done in 2018 shows that 97% of people between the ages of 13-18 are on social media and 45% are online constantly. Studies find that the over usage of social media makes youth insecure. They see people living life and get, in a sense, jealous. This triggers an insecurity factor and insecurity causes more stress and anxiety. More info here.
In the early 2010’s there was a noticeable decline in mental health among teens. With the covid outbreak in 2020, there was more usage on social media. Now there is a decline in mental health in teenagers, now more than ever.
Background
The rise of technology and mobile phones and social media started in the early 2000s. It was started in 2003 by MySpace. It was then followed by Face Book in 2004 then Twitter in 2006 and then Instagram in 2010. There was a change in the way the world worked when these platforms were introduced. There was a study conducted in 2007 amongst people the ages of 18-85, and the results show that mental disorders were at 20% and anxiety were at 14.4%. If interested in the whole report click here. In 2021, that percentage has gone up by almost 3 percent. This isn’t counting the amount of undiagnosed depression and anxiety disorders.
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But the number of teens committing suicide as a result of depression is a huge issue. Suicide was the second leading cause of death of ages 15-24 in the U.S and 20% of High School students reported suicidal thoughts An unlucky 9% tried acting on those thoughts. 11% of young adults also reported having serious suicidal thoughts. For more detailed information this website has some useful things. The website is meant as a guide to the mental health journey. It isn’t directly for social media usage and what not but it is very informational.
The numbers among this age group are in direct correlation with social media and technology usage. All the social media platforms were emerging and growing as people that are now young adults were kids. Now, the youth today have those social media platforms in a more developed form.
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Change
How do we change and break this dangerous cycle? It starts with limiting social media usage for example: putting a time limit on TikTok. Or limiting how long screen time is for example: having a designated time in the day to read, spend time with family and friends, and/or doing a hobby that doesn’t involve a screen.
Encourage friends to do the same. Encourage them to set goals for themselves and live a more healthy lifestyle.
Of course there are more factors than social media and there can be a combination of factors contributing to depression but there are still a lot of cases where social media is making them more depressed. Social media is designed to make sure that the user doesn’t put it down. So much so that many states are suing social media platforms. But this hook that social media creates, destroys children’s mental health and is putting them in a vulnerable emotional state.
Help
If going through something like suicidal thoughts, self harming thoughts, or anything that involves harm to ones self there are resources that are free. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline number is 988 and the National Substance/Mental Health Hotline is (800) 662-4357.
On a smaller scale, the Utah number for Suicide Prevention/Mental Health Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. Additionally the SafeUt App is a very helpful resource.
Don’t be afraid to call if you find yourself in a type of situation of which you put your own wellbeing at risk. Don’t be afraid to call and reach out to them if a friend or loved one is experiencing serious suicidal thought.
Conclusion
It’s not terrible to have social media but it is the usage of social media that starts to become dangerous. Evaluate personal usage and identify that problem. The many cases of children being victim to manipulation, insecurities, and/or depression due to their social media usage is heartbreaking. The time for change is long overdue and it rests on our shoulders.
Teens have an increased risk of anxiety and depression when on social media. This is because they can get cyber-bullied. This can lead to them getting false expectations about their body and life. Additionally they can get incorrect information and opinions, and they can hear or see things such as violence, suicide, and drug use. The impact of all of these things becomes bigger the more teens use social media. Because all of these things can make a teen feel anxious and depressed, these things can lead to homework not getting done, causing a decrease in school grades, as well as a loss of friendships due to teens being distant, and teens overall feeling disappointed in themselves. If teens get false expectations about their bodies and lives, they get a low self-esteem and could stop eating. Which is extremely unhealthy, especially since teens are still growing. If teens get incorrect information and opinions they could start to think that some bad things are okay. This has an increased risk of happening if they see things like violence, suicide, and drug use. If teens are getting false expectations about their body and life, as well as getting incorrect information, teens can start leaving their homework incomplete, and start doing significantly worse in school. They can also start distancing themselves from their friends and even their family. All of this can just make everything worse, causing them to go on social media even more. Which will make all of the effects worse, which leads them to use more social media in a vicious cycle.
