Social Media’s Impact on Teenagers

By Adam Hicks

Stonehill College News Blog Journalist

After spending all night procrastinating, Cole Hallamore, a freshman at Merrimack College, realized it was finally time to start his history paper. 

After spending some time starting the assignment, he decided to take a short break and check social media.

Despite the assignment looming over, Cole, unfortunately, ran out of time to work on the assignment. 

Without understanding what had happened, he stayed on his phone checking Snapchat and Instagram throughout the night and was unable to finish the assignment. 

“I didn’t even mean to do it, it was totally an accident. I planned to just go on for a few minutes as a break from work, but next thing I knew it was too late,” Hallamore said.

“It's sort of happened before, just not like this, but I often find myself losing track of time easily. It’s hard to explain, but once you get on social media, like Instagram, you just get caught in endless swiping,” Hallamore also said.

Students like Cole are not alone. According to a 2015 study from the Pew Research Center, 94 percent of teens who use social media, use it every day. Statistics like these show just how much social media is used by teens on a daily basis.

Also, a study released by Cyber Study in 2019, Social Media Addiction: Its Impact, Mediation, and Intervention attempted to dive deeper into the impact of social media usage. 

The investigation found that there was, in fact, causation between social media addiction and mental health. The results of this first study help us understand that social media consumption affects teenagers and young adults through negative mental health levels.

The investigation also found that a decrease in social media usage among those with an addiction saw an increase in self-esteem. Although only one study, this helps us with understanding the broader impact and the level of impact of social media addiction. 

“So much of a young teenagers life revolves around acceptance, specifically in regards from their peers. Therefore kids will go through great lengths in efforts to try and reach any level of acceptance,” said Dr. Kim Walsh-Childers, a professor at the University of Florida, who works in media and its relationship with teenagers. 

“In the old days, if a student was being bullied, they were able to go home and escape it in the comfort of their homes.  However, these social media platforms now allow the bullying to follow students home into their traditional safe spaces,” Walsh-Childers said. 

“These comments from bullies can also be worse on the internet and social media because a student can hide behind a screen and make comments that they would not in real life.  This animosity is much stronger through online comments because there are no direct, real-time repercussions for what they say,” she said. 

“Overall, research shows that the net harm of social media far outweighs the net gain in teenagers, as they often struggle with mental health as a result,” she said. 

Walsh-Childers also believes the social media platforms should be held accountable. 

“Some of the responsibility to deal with this issue does fall on the social media companies themselves.  They are giving people a massive platform to say whatever they want without any accountability.  We as a society need to hold these companies accountable at least part of the responsibility,” she said. 

This issue has also impacted older students as well. Michael Parr, a senior criminology major at Northeastern University, has felt the repercussions as well. While he doesn't classify himself as being addicted per se, he still feels the negative effects.

“Sometimes I sit on Instagram or Snapchat for hours, without even realizing it,” said Mike 

“I’ve always been pretty motivated academically, so it has never affected me in that area, but it definitely has in other ways. It’s like one big distraction that you don't realize is a distraction.”

In regards to his relationship with mental health and social media, Mike had an interesting experience. 

“I wouldn’t say that Instagram makes me depressed or anything, but it can be hard seeing everyone post the perfect picture. In a sense, no one posts a picture or video of themselves in a poor light, so when you scroll through your timeline, you see everyone at their best,” he said 

However, Mike does view social media in the grand scheme of life. 

“This can make using social media feel a bit ostracizing. In that sense, it can be kind of depressing to use Instagram. So I have to often remind myself that no one lives the perfect life which they pose on social media,” said Mike.

Walsh-Childers also gave some insight into how to fix this issue. 

“The common rhetoric is just to stop using social media altogether.  However, I believe this is nearly impossible, especially with teenagers where it has become an intricate part of their lives.  We all just need to find some sort of balance between the screens and real life.” she said.