Social Media, the Cause for Ruined Mental Health of Teens.

Recent research by Pew Research Centre shows that access to a smartphone for teens is now 95% which previously was 73%. There has been a gigantic rise in the usage of Social Media by Teens and Tweens as well. With a gigantic rise, there has been a rise in suicide, harassment,

cyber-bullying, self-hate, depression, etc. Statistics show that 90% of teens (13-17) have used social media once in their lifetime. Online conversation has become a primary option for the GEN-Z. You might say " What is wrong with that? ". Well, the point where social media gets unrighteous is when we come as the " product ", especially the teenagers who visit social media to find musketeers, and connect with them but in turn social media in most cases turns heinous for them. Numerous studies have linked depression to social media usage. Not only depression but various Mental Health issues manipulate teens. This article focuses on whether the usage of social media has links with the ruined Mental Health of teens or not. It also puts emphasis on how social media puts teens into a rabbit hole which then seems like a drug, to which teens are addicted. Many teens use social media because they think it is a tool but- it is not a tool. It is not just to have conversations with friends, it is also there to make use of you as a product and make you stick to it.

Mental Health Issues Like Depression, Insomnia, and Anxiety is more common in Teens with Social Media.

Why is it that our parents were unaware of anxiety at our age? The answer to this question does interconnect with Social Media usage. During that time, hardly any teen had a phone of their

own. So, it was not possible to have access to Social Media. According to a survey taken in 2017, almost 88% of teens participating in it, had some sort of cell phone. I do not want to misconstrue Social Media, for sure it has also been found that Teens using Social Media are found to have more skills. But, that does not mean that Social Media has not torn away the Social Fabric of Human beings or it has been spreading positivity. Each year, a plethora of teens commit suicide either because of abuse, loneliness, bullying, or harassment which they most of the time face online. Bullying in person does not induce many rates of Suicide than bullying online such as cyber-bullying: which has more rates of Suicide. Self-murder has come to alternate the most common cause of death in teens. Social Media apps like Instagram have such content on them that it makes self-hate upsurge in teens. It is filled with unrealistic standards of beauty that make the teens feel inferior. The workers on Social Media apps know that the content is not good for your Mental Health yet because of those algorithms, these types of content are more omnipresent. When a teen sees an image of someone portraying happiness or portraying a so-called perfect body, they often question themselves "What is wrong with me? ", " Why am I so weird? ". When in actuality, nothing is wrong with them, just some influencers are setting unrealistic norms of beauty to gain followers. There are people pretending to be happy. This does lead to depression since a teen keeps on thinking why his/her life is not happy. When a notification pops on the mobile screen, Dopamine, a neurotransmitter produced in our brain, starts working and gives teens short-term happiness. Dopamine makes us feel as if we got a reward, maybe likes or comments. When hateful comments are received, teens start to take out flaws out of themselves and get more depressed. When teens receive fewer likes, they start comparing themselves. Many teenagers search " self-harm " on YouTube and other Social Media Apps, I do not say it, statistics have shown it. Teens click a heap of pictures to post on Instagram, and that is actually a disorder, " Selfitis ", which often leads to narcissism. It then leads to a difficulty, they cannot post their photo without a filter for they are afraid of what others will think. That is how Social Media kills our Mental Health, if not used properly.

Is Social Media Really for Making Friends or Is it the Cause of our Loneliness?

Social Media apps advertise themselves as apps that will eradicate loneliness but how is it possible when Social Media itself isolates you from the real world? The cause of Depression also links to Loneliness. We need to understand that loneliness is not solitude, it is not okay. The usage of Instagram pumps the feeling of loneliness, which is why the teens get disconnected from the real world. They take birth in a virtual world, where they only care about how many likes they got, who tagged them and primarily what the virtual world thinks of them. It is not their fault, fault lies in the roots of our Social Media. Their business models are developed in such a way that they do not care whether the content you receive is malicious or not, what they care about is your usage of their apps, for you are their product. Likes and comments are short-term. Teens do not realize this because this business model affects their minds and it makes them fall into the rabbit hole. The techniques of these Business Models, use a profuse amount of designs to make your stay there, they keep track of what you like, what you are obsessed with, and all the content which will make you engage in Social Media more and more. Often, teens are affected by Phantom Vibration Syndrome. It is that they feel the vibration of notifications when in reality there are no notifications. Does that not sum up loneliness, it does imply that you are so lonely that you are just waiting for a notification desperately. The content might be harmful to teens but that is how the algorithms work, they take your data and induce your engagement on their apps.

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The Mindless Scrolling and its Hazards.

On average, the daily pickups of Mobile Phones are 2,500. The daily usage is seven hours. The most used Social Media app being, Tik Tok. The algorithms are very vicious to our minds. The same is the case with reels, shorts, etc. The mindless scrolling on these apps leads to the release of excessive Dopamine. Excessive Dopamine leads to stress, gambling, ADHD, and anxiety. It also leads to addiction because of Social Media being handy and constantly when a new video comes to our feed, Dopamine makes us feel like it was a reward. Insomnia is also linked to it, teens keep on scrolling through the videos, and with each new video Dopamine is released and one of its symptoms is Insomnia. These are simply business models that have used psychological methods to trap teens in their rabbit holes. It is not that the workers at Tik Tok are not conscious of the addiction. They are familiar with it and it is designed in that very way to make you addicted to it. It is a gradual process and then you become a fully social mediatic person. The algorithms also make your opinion one-sided. Suppose, you liked a leftist ideology post and then your feed will be filled with leftist ideology and that might lead to Social Media dominating over you.

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Do Teens Need to Completely Block All Social Media in this Technological Era?

This article is not to condemn teens but to remind them that they are being trapped in a rabbit hole that harms their Mental Health. I am a teen, who does struggle with Social Media Addiction. The things I listed above are the story of me and many other teens who do not realize that they are being trapped unless and until they leave Social Media. Well, in this age Social Media plays a crucial role. From our classes to conversations, everything lies on Social Media. This Article, I do not want to tell you to completely leave Social Media, it is because it has become a vital thing. This article purely highlights how you need to limit your screen time and enjoy other things as well. Less Social Media can lead to less stress. Whenever you feel like Social Media is draining your energy, " delete " it for a while and come back when your Mental Health is stable. It is easy to say " stop the usage of social media ", I have faced that personally. I recently left Social Media since it was draining my energy and my Mental Health was at a very poor level. I did not want Social Media to control how I live, and I did not want to be obliged to send a Snapchat Streak within 24 hours, so I left it. It took several months and it took courage. For people like me who have FOMO, it is difficult for them to leave Social Media. It is difficult for a teen to miss out on something, we too desire to do what others talk about. But, that is not how Life works. We need to be the change. It is time for us to limit screen time and start things that are productive and will help us in the long run. It is a process, a gradual process that will for sure take time. For sure, you will have the urge to download the Social Media app. It is okay to have those feelings. You can start by doing a small step. Just turn off the notifications and try to lessen your pickup time. If it does not work, try questioning yourself " Why am I using Social Media? ", if your mind arises with a response that you smell like is the response that addresses

your utmost demand to use Social Media also then use it but set a time limit, as it is a must. If you have that same reason to mindlessly scroll, then try to delete the app. If you can control yourself, you can just take a hiatus. Not everyone can beat the algorithms of Social Media apps. That is why you need to cure your addiction first.

Is Truth Portrayed on Social Media? Can We Demand To See the Truth?

This article was to relate Social Media with Depression and our Mental Health. There is a plethora of proof that Social Media does harm our Mental Health. It can be you or it can be me or it can be some other teen. We need to get back our rotten Social Fabric. We need to contact our friends not via the Internet but via real life. Talking to your friend online is a lot different from how it is offline. The offline mode has a lot of emotions. It is in our hands, we can try not to be addicts and do what is necessary for us. It is not compulsory for us to upload every moment of our life, some moments are lived at that very moment. What Social Media does, is that it makes us live in either our past or our future. We are not in the present. It is okay to post your Birthday pictures, some moments can be posted on Social Media: if you feel like it. It is okay to contact your friend who you cannot meet, so you can just check in on them. The motive of Social Media was not to spread negativity, it started with positivity. The makers thought we could share our loved moments and which we did but it turned into a disastrous thing. We need to understand that we can ask Social Media to work to eradicate negativity. It does not do that, we see fake

news, disinformation with narrative and agenda, and propaganda. But, as users, we have the right to demand for good. The business models of their apps can work on the profit of the user, cannot they?

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