The Effects of Social Media on Mental Health

Have you ever felt so dismayed, scrolling through your feed, and felt everyone else’s life is much more interesting than yours? Felt like everyone around you had the most picture-perfect lives, and already had their life all figured out? Felt like you weren’t fit enough, social enough, smart enough or just enough? If you have a smartphone, the answer is probably yes. These feelings seem so normal, until they get rooted in us by tiny, subtle increments and become a trap-like fundamental that we cannot seem to escape. Each hour spent on social media shares a close relationship with adolescents’ mental health. “A recent study found that the more social media platforms and adolescent uses, the more likely they are to have symptoms of depression and anxiety, regardless of overall time spent on social media.” One psychology professor at San Diego State Univeristy discovered that teens who spend 5 or more hours a day online were 71% more likely to have at least one risk factor for suicide compared to teens who spent only 1 hour a day online. The risk significantly increases with only two or more hours spent online. According to the American Psychiatric Association, “teens develop depression and begin to exhibit classic symptoms due to the intensity of the online world, when they spend a substantial amount of time on social media.” There has been an increasing parallel- relationship between the usage of social media in recent years, and the rate of mental disorders among adolescents. Young adults aged 18-25 had the highest prevalence of any mental illness at 22.1% compared to adults aged 26-49 at 21.1% and aged 50 and older at 14.5%. 1 in 6 U.S. adolescents aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year. 50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24, which are the predominant ages on social media. Suicide is the second leading cause of death amongst people aged 10 to 34.