Written by: Bryan Kim
Artwork by: Alex Lee
As humanity has continued to make advancements and industrialize, we have been able to experience the increased convenience that comes alongside technology: efficient mass production of goods; easy organization of ideas and goods. Such conveniences have enabled economic growth, which thereby has allowed the development of more efficient and effective technology; this has created a loop that has sparked an ongoing industrialization for decades. However, another convenience of technology has become the root of a society full of censorship, objectification, and, most importantly, self-deprecation: communication in the form of social media.
What Exactly Is the Problem?
The number of social media users is higher than ever before, with 4.48 billion active users in 2021 (a 116.43% increase from the 2.07 billion active users in 2015) who spend an average of 2 hours and 24 minutes on social media every day (Dean). Alongside the growth of social media platforms, however, are growing concerns surrounding the negative effects of social media on users’ mental health. According to the American Psychological Association, the rate of adolescents reporting symptoms of major depression in a given year increased by 52% from 2005 to 2017. What is even more alarming, is that child suicide rates in America have increased by up to 150% since social media became available on mobile phones (Clark). In other words, as the accessibility and usage of social media have gone up, so have the rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts within adolescents.
How and Why Is This the Case?
Social media mostly involves people uploading pictures about themselves, which show their lives to other users. The main problem that people fail to realize is that these numerous posts are often fake depictions of users, whether it be their body shape, wealth, or overall social stature; over 90% of adolescents in the world, who own at least one social media account, are looking at these manipulated and fake posts every day–that is 1.08 billion adolescent users and counting (Coppes).
Constant exposure to these manipulated posts results in people generalizing the lives depicted in social media to the overall population; this causes people to feel depression, anxiety, helplessness, and dissatisfaction with their own lives. Even worse, some even go on to carelessly spend money that they don’t have in order to make themselves “fit in” with the typical standard of life that people seem to share online; the reality is that the majority of people cannot afford the lavish designer clothes, million-dollar mansions, or sports cars that users claim to own, and by spending money that they don’t have, people are digging their own hole. In addition, the presence of figures, such as followers and like counts, motivates people to evaluate each other’s posts, or, in other words, each other’s quality of life or appearance.
The culmination of all of these factors has led to the development of a judgemental and materialistic society in which people have grown to judge each other for their appearance, social status, and extrinsic-qualities, which are constantly manipulated with the power of technology through applications such as photoshop; people have become blind to what is actually important: self-betterment and appreciating people for who they are with their deficiencies.
What Can We Do?
While it is unrealistic to expect people to change their behavior on social media, it is necessary for people to raise awareness about the reality behind social media in order to minimize its harmful effects on its users’ mental health. Yet, it is worth noting that the more people become aware of the fake reality social media posts depict, the more people will realize the unnecessity of going out of their way to distort their actual life to fit the norm; this can place humanity on the right track towards a less-judgmental society that accepts people for who they are.
Inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwksMt9mE6Y&t=388s
Works Cited
Clark, Maria. “40 Frightening Social Media and Mental Health Statistics.” Etactics, Etactics | Revenue Cycle Software, 9 Dec. 2020, etactics.com/blog/social-media-and-mental-health-statistics.
Dean, Brian. “Social Network Usage & Growth Statistics: How Many People Use Social Media in 2021? (65 Statistics).” Backlinko, 10 Oct. 2021, backlinko.com/social-media-users.
Coppes J. Max. “Teens and Social Media: When Is It Too Much?” University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, med.unr.edu/news/archive/2019/coppes-teens-and-social-media.
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