3rd essay ENG102 WP2 FINAL 3000 words essay
Student 1
Student 2
Professor Menge
ENG 102-1012
13 November 2019
The Negative Effects of Social Media on Adolescents
Social media is an evolving platform that is on the rise in the twenty first century, and so are many issues that come with it as well. Problems such as mental illnesses and social stigma that are formed from social media are growing as well. Ranging from teenagers to young adults alike, social media has been an integral part of the teenage society. Although there may be factors that support the benefits to using social media, there are more factors that support the cons to social media. These issues cause many negative effects to the minds of the teens who use platforms based on social media. Social media is a negative influence on young adult minds due to the fact that it causes mental health disorders, influences unhealthy body image mindsets, and it sets up false standards for teens to live up to.
Primarily, social media is a negative influence on a teenager’s brain because it causes mental disorders and worsens mental disorders in teens who already possess mental disorders. One of the many forms of mental disorders is body dysmorphia. Body dysmorphia as defined by a Health Education Journal, “a preoccupation with the appearance of a certain part of the body” (Health Education). Body dysmorphia is basically an obsession of how a teen portrays themselves to be disproportionate, usually focusing on how unattractive a certain part of their body is. Many teens who use social media begin to develop this mental disorder especially on apps such as Instagram and Facebook with the stigma of comparing themselves to others on appearance and criticizing their own body due to it. This is evident in the article by Joshua Hendrickse and company, “These results suggest that Instagram use (as operationalized herein) could be potentially harmful to individuals who find themselves constantly engaging in comparisons with others” (Hendrickse 98). Social media platforms such as Instagram are a huge influence on how users compare themselves to one another and could potentially harm them. The harm that social media can cause on a young adult can be devastating resulting in eating disorders, a type of mental disorder. An article written by Richard Perloff states, “Young women with perfectionist dispositional tendencies (Crowther and Williams 2011), are highly dissatisfied with their bodies, and suffer from bulimia nervosa should be especially inclined to spend time on pro-mia sites” (Perloff 370). Teens that already possess the traits of having body dysmorphia are the ones that tend to aggravate their symptoms and mental disorders by also going to websites that promote eating disorders. This is a problem considering that the teens are harming their bodies by listening to what these social media websites are telling them to do in order to achieve a better body. Social media can also make mental disorders such as depression worsen in adolescent minds as well. An example of that is in the article by D. Marengo and company, “A recent survey conducted in the UK among young people aged 14-24 found social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, to have a detrimental effect on many health-related psychological outcomes including sleep problems, anxiety, and depression” (Marengo 64). This shows that even in other countries, the teenage to young adult demographic experiences depression from highly visual social media apps. Social media is the leading cause of many teens suffering from mental health disorders and it is clearly a negative influence on teenagers from all walks of life.
In addition, social media is an obstructive influence on a young adult’s mind due to the fact that it causes unhealthy body image mindsets. In a study done by Richard A. Leit and company, they state that, “This study suggests that exposure to muscular male figures in advertisements produces measurable body dissatisfaction in men, as reflected in an increased difference between the level of muscularity that they perceive themselves to have and the level they would ideally like” (Leit et al 337). Social media advertisements cause these college men to believe that the images of other men are what they should be comparing themselves to and this comparison doesn’t help their mindset to appreciate their own bodies. The stigma of trying to achieve the high level of masculinity, also known as toxic masculinity is what drives teens to have low self esteem on their own bodies and tend to have unhealthy mindsets that make them try to strive to achieve the unattainable bodies that the social media ads put out for them. This is also prominent in females as well, they tend to seek gratification by trying to seek out positive feedback from others when they post pictures on image based social media platforms, which is shown in the study done by Ilyssa Salomon and Christia Spears Brown, their peer reviewed study states, “Due to the high value Westernized culture places on girls’ physical appearance, early adolescent girls may seek out opportunities to receive positive feedback on their appearances by posting pictures more often than boys” (Salomon and Brown 553). This shows that there is a belief that is created from the use of posting social media pictures to teens trying to gain positive reactions from their peers when posting pictures of themselves and brings a mindset for teens to think that they need good feedback from others in order to feel good about their own bodies. Salomon and Brown also wrote that
early adolescents who reported using social media for 4 or more hours a week, and reported posting more types of selfies, photos of themselves, and asking people to rate them on social media, had higher levels of body surveillance than adolescents who spent less time on social media and posted fewer photos of themselves. Body surveillance, in turn, predicted body shame, as individuals with higher levels of body surveillance felt worse about their bodies than others. (Salomon and Brown 553)
This shows that teens tend to rely on social media for their source of self worth and it should not be their first source of self worth, considering it causes them to think more negatively about their bodies. This also shows that social media causes teens to view their own bodies constantly and survey themselves to see how they look to other people, due to their seeking of feedback on the platform. This leads to them worrying about their own appearance and also tend to shame their own bodies with the constant need of feedback in their minds as well. Social media is a negative influence on teens because of all the toxic mindsets it sways teens to create.
Furthermore, social media is a toxic influence to the teenage and young adult community because it sets up impossible imagery and societal expectations that teenagers have to live up to. An example of this is the male ideal that society has, this is described in the peer reviewed journal by Richard A. Leit and company
these observations suggest that the cultural ideal of hypermesomorphy may be just as dangerous to men as is the anorexic ideal to women. This ideal may be especially dangerous because some male images in the media may not even be attainable without drugs such as anabolic steroids. (Leit et al 334)
This shows that men have a societal ideal that they have to attain to hypermesomorphy, a super masculine version of a normal man, which is a dangerous ideal to live up to considering it is only attainable through the use of steroids which is a dangerous drug to abuse. Social media sets up these ideals and spreads them to men who seek to achieve a better body and is the main cause of influence for this rise of dangerous ideals. The societal standards are not only limited to men as it also extends to women as well. This is evident in the peer reviewed journal by Richard Perloff, he states, “Internalization of thin-idealized female beauty is a key element in a culturally stereotyped standard of beauty that is ubiquitously communicated in contemporary media throughout Westernized societies (Levine and Chapman 2011)” (Perloff 364). This shows that women have to live up to the societal standard of thin body ideals and it is a stereotypical standard of beauty, this can lead to them internalizing these ideals and make it their own ideals which can lead to dangerous mindsets. Perloff also states, “As a result of traditional gender role socialization processes, girls and women learn to self-objectify, internalizing societal emphases on attending to outward appearance rather than inner qualities” (Perloff 364). This shows that women start to have a mindset of objectifying themselves and making themselves think that they are an object that have to look good for other people and not themselves,which isn’t healthy for their self esteem and confidence. Social media is a detrimental influence on teenagers because it sets up impossible stereotypes and body ideals that men and women have to live up to.
The other side may argue that teenagers are able to utilize social media as a form of positive expression for themselves as it is beneficial for their mental health. The peer reviewed journal by Hyunjin Seo and others states, “Research suggests that the majority of teens have generally positive interactions online and find a sense of social inclusion through sharing information with peers in the digital sphere” (Seo et al. 885). This shows that research has been done on teens and the outcomes are mostly good when it comes to their use of social media with other people and find themselves included within a social circle. This also shows that teens have a healthy connection with other teens and other peers alike on the platforms provided by social media and that is positive for their mental health in the long run. Hyunjin and the other researchers also wrote, “Based on an online survey of US young adults, Correa et al. (2010) found that extraversion and openness to experiences were positively associated with social media use” (Seo et al. 885). This shows that teenagers are able to express their inner personalities and communicate with many other peers through the use of social media, and generally the feedback is positive with how they are able to do so. Social media serves as a positive influence on a teen’s likeliness to show more of an open and extraverted side to themselves due to social media and it can really serve as a positive role for their social life outside of social media. For example the definition of social anxiety disorder by the New England Journal of Medicine states, “Social anxiety disorder is characterized by an intense fear of social situations in which the person may be scrutinized by others” (Leichsenring and Leweke 2255). The use of social media can certainly help with that fear of social situations because it provides the means of communicating with others for people and help them to express their extraversion positively. Social media is a positive influence on a teens mental health because it provides the necessary means for the teen to build positive social connections. Although social media may be a positive form for communication within the teenage community, it can still be a negative platform that can be accessed for people with mental health problems. Such is proven in the case in the peer reviewed case report by Nithin Krishna and others, “We report the case of a young man diagnosed with schizophrenia who presented with stalking behaviors that may have been caused by problematic use or participation in social media networks” (Krishna et al. 576.e1). This shows that negative behaviors such as stalking can be stemmed from the use of social media and communication with others. Social media can be an influence on a young adult’s mind to do negative things such as harass others outside of social media. Nithin and the other researchers also wrote, “He had been communicating with Ms. A through FB for 2 1/2 years. During this time, he left more than 50 voicemail messages daily and loitered at her school and house” (Krishna et al. 576.e1). This shows that the young man who harassed Ms. A was originally communicating through Facebook with her and used this form of communication to find out ways to harass her. This is evident in “The Role of Social Media Networks in Psychotic Disorders: a Case Report” by Krishna and others, “He interpreted her general posted updates as evidence of her “love” for him, requested a real-world relationship with her, and began to pursue her via phone and in person” (Krishna et al. 576.e2). This shows that this man used social media to find out information about the person he seeks to harass and uses the platform negatively to provide him with the necessary information to find out where Ms. A lives. Social media can provide a positive communication platform for many people to interact with one another, however it can be abused negatively to serve people to “communicate” with others and harass them.
There are many negatives to the teenage community and their use of social media. Especially with the adolescent age is still an age of growth and gaining of knowledge for them, the negative stigma that social media feeds into their minds are clearly unhealthy for teens and young adults alike. Although there may be facts that help out the pros to social media use, the many other negatives can still be found within the realm of positive use. Social media is a toxic media to teens and young adults due to the fact that it causes and or worsens mental disorders, promotes poor body image mindsets, and it builds up a societal ideal that teens believe they must follow and live up to.
Work Cited
“Body Dysmorphia.” Health Education, vol. 111, no. 2, 2011, doi:10.1108/he.2011.142111bag.001.
Hendrickse, Joshua, et al. “Instagram and College Women's Body Image: Investigating the Roles of Appearance-Related Comparisons and Intrasexual Competition.” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 74, 2017, pp. 92–100.
Krishna, Nithin, et al. “The Role of Social Media Networks in Psychotic Disorders: a Case Report.” General Hospital Psychiatry, vol. 35, no. 5, 2013, pp. 576.e1–576.e2.
Leichsenring, Falk, et al. “Social Anxiety Disorder.” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 376, no. 23, 2017, pp. 2255–2264.
Leit, Richard A., et al. “The Media's Representation of the Ideal Male Body: A Cause for Muscle Dysmorphia?” International Journal of Eating Disorders, vol. 31, no. 3, 2002, pp. 334–338.
Marengo, D, et al. “Highly-Visual Social Media and Internalizing Symptoms in Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Body Image Concerns.” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 82, 2018, pp. 63–69.
Perloff, Richard. “Social Media Effects on Young Women’s Body Image Concerns: Theoretical Perspectives and an Agenda for Research.” Sex Roles, vol. 71, no. 11-12, 2014, pp. 363–377.
Salomon, Ilyssa, and Christia Spears Brown. “The Selfie Generation: Examining the Relationship Between Social Media Use and Early Adolescent Body Image.” The Journal of Early Adolescence, vol. 39, no. 4, 2019, pp. 539–560.
Seo, Hyunjin, et al. “Teens’ Social Media Use and Collective Action.” New Media & Society, vol. 16, no. 6, 2014, pp. 883–902.