Opinion: Harmful Effects of Social Media

Social media significantly influences the lives of teens, and many teens depend on their social media throughout their day. There are plenty of unrealistic standards kids and teens see through their screens on two of the main social media platforms: Tiktok and Instagram. Overall, I think social media is a damaging concept for society, especially teens.

Right when I get home the first thing I do is go to my room and go on my phone. No matter what my personal screen time is, usually around five hours, my friends have even higher screen times. I don’t know when, but social media has taken over my life. However, so many people think that only the younger generation is always on social media, but my own parents aare engrossed with TikTok and are engrossed in TikTok as well.

I can’t even imagine the effect social media has on influencers that make money off of it. Their jobs are the make videos on TikTok with friends, and those videos better do well or it wasn’t a good day.

However the main problem isn’t even the social media apps, it is what everyone learns from them. There were a number of times when I saw a TikTok and it was a misuse of information, and what they said was exaggerated or sometimes even a lie. Also, social media has plenty of unrealistic expectations that no one can meet. From my standpoint as a girl, all I see are girls with glass skin (clear skin that contain no blemishes), perfect hourglass bodies, and living their best life looking the happiest.

Not only are there unrealistic expectations, but social media is also a harmful place for other reasons. Cyberbullying is a huge issue that so many people go through. Cyberbullying could even be as small as you posting a video on TikTok and someone in your comments hating on the way you look, your home environment they see in the background of your video, etc. On Snapchat especially, there has always been a widespread of embarrassing or inappropriate photos or texts that were posted on people’s stories.

Social media at school takes up a lot of time during classes. In every class whenever I look around I see students concentrated on their phones, mainly TikTok, not paying attention to the teacher talking.

Racism is built into social media platforms. According to the American Phycological Association, algorithms can often have centuries of racist policy and discrimination encoded. Social media can become an incubator, providing community and training that fuel racist hate.”

Social media may seem fine because as teens we use it every day, but it takes a toll on both your mental and physical health and should be limited for kids under a certain age.