Social media is affecting today’s youth in more ways than you could imagine. 

Impact on self-esteem and stress 

The number of social media being used in today’s time has proven to have an impact on many individuals today. Having the perfect body or just looking a certain way has many self-esteem impacts. 

“Many girls are bombarded with their friends posting the most perfect pictures of themselves, or they’re following posting the most perfect pictures of themselves, or they’re following celebrities and influencers who do a lot of Photoshopping and have makeup and hair teams,” Dr. Alexandra Hamlet, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind institute, says in an article for child mind 

Does it cause stress? 

Social media is possibly a one-way ticket to stress with the many comparisons users deal with. When posting a picture on Instagram or a video on TikTok expecting it to blow up or go viral you constantly check those apps wondering why it’s not getting the same likes or interest as others.  When there is no reason to even care about unimportant things presented on social platforms, users mental state is still changed. People care too much about what and how people think of them but not how they feel about themselves. 

Social Media and Depression 

People who spend their days constantly on social media apps such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and others have been known to have connections with depression. Separating yourself from the real world and analyzing the fake things online causes you to go depression that could have easily been avoided. The less face to face interactions you have, and the constant use of social media has been proven to cause depression. 

“The Twenge study showed that those girls who interact intensely offline as well as through social media don’t show the increase in depressive symptoms that those who interact less in person do.” Says writer Caroline Miller from child mind institution 

The Brain 

The brain can seriously be affected by the all-day use of social media. Social media is linked with memory deflects specifically your transactive memory. This relates to deciding what information is important enough to be stored in your brain and what can be forgotten about.  

A study done by an unknown research group revealed that without the use of social media you don’t remember the full experience you just had. “In one study, the participants were asked to record an experience using their notes or social media, and other groups were asked to simply experience the event without recording it. At the end of the study, those who had recorded or shared the event performed worse and showed more of a memory deficit than those who experienced the event without recording it.” Writer Lizzie Lewis 

 Social media is hurting today’s youth in the present and possibly for the future.