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The community I'm focusing on is teenagers, a group I'm a part of. Specifically teens in the U.S. as this is the country I live in. The U.S. is a very unique place for children as most children have access to technology and the internet, leading to most teenagers being on social media. Social media provides teenagers with a way to instantly interact with almost anyone, any time. It allows them access to nearly anything they anything they could imagine. This has no doubt effected the social structure of teen life, but in what ways?

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Social media severely effects teenagers negatively, leading to mental illness, adverse interactions, and poor self esteem.

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In a survey by Common Sense Media, 50% of teens admitted they feel addicted to social media. This report was released in 2016, nearly 8 years ago, since than social media has become more advanced and addicting. In a 2023 poll by Gallup, it was reported that teenagers spend on average 4.8 hours a day on their phone. That may not sound like much, but over the course of a year that adds up to 73 days on their phone!

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The internet is a vast and underregulated network of nearly anything you can think of. This causes teenagers to often be exposed to cyberbullying, sexual predators, and dangerous misleading content. A study by Thorn.org reported that 40% of minors have been approached by predators and asked for nude photos. The National Health Institute stated that teens who are victims of cyberbullying are 4 times more likely to think of or attempt suicide.

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Due to the personal nature of social media, many teens will only post the good parts of their lives. Seeing this endless stream of people showing off how good they look and how great their lives are leads to an inflated view of what the average teen is like, leading to teens being very self conscience. In a advisory by the U.S. Surgeon General it was reported that "Social media may perpetuate body dissatisfaction, disordered eating behaviors, social comparison, and low self-esteem, especially among adolescent girls. To further back this up they also stated that 46% feel worse about their bodies due to social media.

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My solution to this problem is a multi-faceted one. First off, politicians must pass legislation to give not just teens, but kids of all ages safe internet acsess. This would be cost a fair amount of money to do, but I'm sure whatever it costs is like a 1/1000th of the military budget. Secondly, technology companies and websites must also adhere to stricter policy, and provide child/teen safety features. Lastly, we must raise awareness about the issues with social media among children and their families. This would not just encourage parents to better care about their kids internet usage, but it would influence governments and companies to invest in better child internet care.

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This is a short video that talks about social media addiction and how most people don't even realize it takes away from their lives. It's shot very artistically with beautiful backgrounds that contrast with him staring at his phone.

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This a graph I made using Excel, and some data statista.com. The data went from 2004-2021, but I extrapolated it to the year 2035. The data looked at the percent of children who have experienced a significant depressive period in their life.

Some areas of note include the early 2020's this is when depression rates rose drastically, with 1/10 boys being depressed, and 1/5 girls. If my extrapolations are correct, than by 2035 more than 1/2 girls will have experienced depression, and about a quarter of men will as well.