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Research shows that exposure to technology has affected the growth and development of toddlers. Preschool years are considered crucial as it is in this stage where these children gather new social and cognitive skills quickly. However, the adolescent stage is also as important and should be given the same amount of attention. Teenagers use social media with greater frequency and longer duration than toddlers. The intensive use of social media by teenagers resulted in negative consequences such as the increased feelings of anxiety, depression, loneliness, lowered self-esteem, a lack of real-time communication, increased threat to online predators, and decreased productivity among students.
Due to the continuous surge of social media use, research studies have been focusing on its use on the health of the user. A particular study by Pantic et al. (92) has found out that the intensive use of social media networking is associated with the risk of developing depression. The increase in the frequency of social media usage is strongly correlated with their user’s mental health. This claim is further supported by Twenge and Campbell’s (279) study wherein teenagers aging between 14 to 17 years old have a two-fold increased risk for developing depression, anxiety, or be attended by a health provider for mental health. These users are exposed to screen for more than seven hours a day, leading to a lowered psychological well-being and poor emotional regulation. Teenagers who are considered high users often have difficulty staying calm, over disagreeing, and hard to understand. Surveys conducted also indicate that teenagers who devote their time to social media are more likely to experience issues relating to their mental health. This often results when real-time interaction is substituted by social media, thus decreasing the quality time spent on building and establishing peer relationships (Twenge & Campbell).
One factor that can explain the link between social media and mental health issues is social comparison. Due to the increase in teenagers’ duration on their gadgets, they also allocate their time in the observation of others’ lives and images posted by their peers and other individuals. This would lead to continuous comparison, thus, damaging the body image, self-esteem, and confidence of an individual. Furthermore, this could lead to mental health concerns, such as depression and anxiety. Depressive symptoms are linked with a social comparison done online, which significantly affects girls (Vogel, Rose, Roberts, & Eckles).
Another notable impact of social media use is the lack of real-time communication. Increased screen time of teenagers reduces face-to-face interactions. Due to the lack of real-time interaction, teenagers would have difficulty in relating to other people and meeting their needs in person. Over time, this would also reflect in the social negotiation skills of that teenager when engaging in romantic relationship employment. Social isolation can stem out from this scenario. In addition to verbal communication, writte...