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Institute, R. E. is managing editor at the C. M. (2023, August 10). How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers. Child Mind Institute. https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/#

MHA. (n.d.). Social Media and Youth Mental Health. Mental Health America. https://mhanational.org/back-to-school/social-media-and-youth-mental-health

Miller, C. (2022, December 19). Does Social Media Cause Depression? Child Mind Institute; Child Mind Institute. https://childmind.org/article/is-social-media-use-causing-depression/

Riehm, K. E., Feder, K. A., Tormohlen, K. N., Crum, R. M., Young, A. S., Green, K. M., Pacek, L. R., La Flair, L. N., & Mojtabai, R. (2019). Associations between Time Spent Using Social Media and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems among US Youth. JAMA Psychiatry, 76(12), 1266–1273. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.2325

Vogels, E. A., Gelles-Watnick, R., & Massarat, N. (2022, August 10). Teens, social media and technology 2022. PEW Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/

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In our opinion, youths using their smartphones wisely and correctly can significantly decrease the chances of them getting mental health issues. A few benefits for youths using social media are feeling less lonely, provides as an escape, following positive content, and more. (MHA, n.d.).

But if youths use social media excessively and use it the wrong way, it can affect their mental heath negatively, such as getting low self esteem, depression, sleep deprivation and more.

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Research shows that 60 percent of adolescents uses social media before going to bed, as a result, they receive less sleep than those who don't. Blue light from electronic screens affects the sleeping quality, on top of that, checking social media is not necessarily a relaxing activity. Scrolling on social media can easily end up causing stress (Miller, 2022)

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Some experts believe that the use social media does not directly cause depression in youth, they see the rise in depression as evidence that the connections social media users form electronically are less emotionally satisfying, leaving them feeling socially isolated. (Miller, 2022)

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Teenagers and young adults spend a lot of time online and on social media. They are able to view each other's postings, photos, videos, and more. Since they are highly sensitive, they easily become depressed when they see negative comments and little likes. Many people in today's world tend to follow the majority thoughts had caused losing on discrimination ability. For an example, when most of the comments feels a girl is ugly, the following comments would be the similar. The persona who were been criticized will doubt on themselves and get depressed by cyberbully. (Institute, 2023)

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Teenagers will compare themselves with others in social media, regarding their looks or lifestyle. Constant comparison online will lead to low self esteem. (Institute, 2023)

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In this technological generation, social media usage is extremely prevalent and common among the youth.

Users often only share the glamourous side of things, and that causes a false impression that their life is perfect. Youths, in their stage of life where they can be easily influenced, tend to think they are far left behind in terms of achievements.

According to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, 97% of American teens use social media, with 70% using it daily. The most popular social media platforms among teens include YouTube, Instagram, and Tiktok. (Vogels et al., 2022).

Not only that, study has shown that youths who use social media more than 3.5 hours a day face double the risk of having mental health issues. (Riehm et al., 2019) Some of the reasons to why this happen is due to cyberbullying, social comparison, addiction and such.

Thus, in this padlet, we will discusses about the impact of social media on youths mental health.