Examining The Dangerous Influence of Social Media on Youth

No longer simply a cliché, society is truly connected 24/7. Social media has become an omnipresent entity, integrated seamlessly into nearly every facet of everyday life. Online applications such as Instagram and SnapChat offer a free, accessible way for users to stay up to date with current trends, share moments and follow friends and celebrities. Rapidly growing at a global rate of ten percent a year, for all that social media affords, there are an equal number of concerns these platforms bring, specifically for their impressionable youth users. According to the Pew Research Center, 78% of 18-24-year-olds use Snapchat, while 71% use Instagram, and 68% use Facebook. This demographic considers social media to be “fundamental to their everyday experience” (Stern, 2017). This transformation of social media from a part of life, to a way of life in teen’s lives, negatively impacts their mental health. Depression, anxiety and lowered self-esteem are a few of the issues affecting social media users as they attempt to portray a perfect image online.

Human beings contain an innate drive to compare themselves with others. This drive fulfills numerous roles, such as satisfying affiliation needs, evaluating the self, making decisions, being encouraged and regulating emotions. 

Upward social comparison occurs when comparing oneself to superior peers who have positive traits. Although upward social comparison can be beneficial when it inspires people to take on the characteristics of those they look up to, it often causes people to feel inadequate, have poorer self-esteem and negative affect (Marsh & Parker, 1984). The intimate access to the lives of a plethora of social media peers means that youth on social media are predominantly engaged in upward social comparison, even subconsciously, often without the means to attain the same level of status as those they are trying to emulate.

Societal obsession with perfection is not a new phenomenon. Prior to the rise of social media, magazines and print media were long critiqued for disseminating unrealistic standards of success and beauty. However these perfectionistic images were openly acknowledged that they were just that - models who have been retouched, airbrushed and Photoshopped to a mere semblance of reality. However with the practically non-existent barriers of entry on social media, the impossible standards are no longer set by celebrities and models, but by peers, classmates and friends.

With impossible standards now set much closer to home, youth on social media must now carefully curate what they share on these platforms, forming an online highlight reel with which to conform and compete with the expectations set by peers. Susanna Stern in the Journal of Mass Communication, notes that “social media participation is accompanied by new pressures on teenagers to self-survey and self-present, to stay in constant contact, to socially compare, and to validate others while seeking validation for oneself. These pressures impacts teenagers’ self-esteem, depression and anxiety levels, and relationship quality” (Stern, 2017). A recent study in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine further identified that youth who visit social media fifty-eight times a week, are nine times more likely to feel socially isolated and depressed. While this number may seem high, that’s only eight times a day. This need to be constantly connected and validated increases the amount of time spent on social media platforms, in turn increasing the negative affects in a vicious cycle which becomes exhausting to maintain.

Attempting to preserve the idealized outward appearance projected on social media becomes a daily struggle for teens subconsciously seeking validation on social media. Dr. Wick, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute reports increased feelings of depression and frustration in youth surrounding the disconnect between their reality and who they pretend to be on social media. “If you practice being a false self eight hours a day, it gets harder to accept the less-than-perfect being you really are.” (Jacobson, 2019) This struggle to uphold an online persona has been coined “Duck Syndrome” by Stanford University researchers. The term refers to the way a duck appears to glide effortlessly across a pond while below the surface its feet are frantically, invisibly struggling to stay afloat.

The negative effects of social media are further compounded by preexisting negative self-images or thoughts, exacerbating these destructive emotions. Youth struggling with self-doubt read more deeply into their peers online posts, fixating on what they feel they are lacking. “Kids view social media through the lens of their own lives,” says Dr. Emmanuel PhD, “if they’re struggling to stay on top of things or suffering from low self-esteem, they’re more likely to interpret images of peers having fun as confirmation that they’re doing badly compared to their friends.” 

While numerous studies have demonstrated a correlation between social media use and depression, anxiety, social isolation and lower self-esteem, a recent study by the University of Pennsylvania has further proven causation. Modifying the time spent on social media actually has measurable effects on mental health. The study, published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, showed that youth who actively limited their social media use over the course of the study, felt significantly better after, reporting reduced depression and loneliness, especially in those who initially had higher levels of depression. 'The bottom line,' said study author Melissa G. Hunt, 'is using less social media than you normally would leads to significant decreases in both depression and loneliness. These effects are particularly pronounced for folks who were more depressed when they came into the study.' 

The prevalence of social media also offers an additional, more accessible avenue for those engaging in malicious behaviour online. Increased use of social media platforms has also been linked to increased levels of youth cyber bullying. Findings from a study at the University of Athens, found that school children in Europe were more likely to be subjected to cyber bullying, such as “aggressive and threatening messages, social exclusion, spreading rumours and sharing private, inappropriate or humiliating information,” if they used social network sites for more than 2 hours a week. Additionally, 60% of those 13-18 using social media reported that it has impacted their self-esteem in a negative way. 

Social media has also exacerbated and increased pre-existing online issues such as “slut shaming” and labelling. These types of issues are increasingly prevalent as youth, primarily young women, try and emulate other social media users and have drastic real-world consequences. As Wendy Hui Kyong Chun and Sarah Friedland explain in their article Habits of Leaking: Of Sluts and Network Cards, “once you’ve exposed yourself as a slut — as a consenting spectacle, as shameless — you deserve no protection, no privacy. You can be re-exposed or shamed over and over again, especially as an example of a bad or stupid user.” Due the built in sharing functions of many social media platforms, the posts which intimate these accusations are often hard to remove and may spread incredibly quickly. A severe example of the consequences this form of cyber bullying can be seen in the 2012 case of Amanda Todd who took her own life following being labeled and the subject of ongoing harassment on social media. While issues such as these are not a direct result of social media, the access to these platforms and the increasing amount of personal information published on them in the chase for validation act as enablers for hateful acts.

While social media can be a useful asset, offering a vast array of networking possibilities and access to information, the key appears to be moderation. Youth who are increasingly active on social media risk over exposure and upward social comparison which can have a negative effect on their mental health – especially if they have prior issues with social isolation or depression. The chase for validation and the desire to conform to societal expectations of perfection online, can also subject these youth to new forms of relentless cyber bullying with consequences offline, in the real world. Monitoring and limiting the time spent on social media applications is crucial in maintaining mental health.

References

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