Today, social media is more popular than it has ever been before.  Personally, I have witnessed how social media usage has increased over three generations.  For example, my grandma did not have a cell phone or a computer growing up.  And today, the only forms of technology in her house are a television with a few channels along with a house phone.  Next, when my parents grew up they did not have cell phones, and never stayed inside to play an electronic game or watch television – they were always playing outside.  For my generation, we were introduced to cell phones in elementary school and middle school, and watching television is a common pastime.  As time continues, I see that today people have become obsessed with their cell phones and other electronic devices.  The amount of time we spend on these devices is only increasing and reaching kids at a young age as it is becoming more popular. 

While these social media sites can be used for entertainment and research, not all of the outcomes of its usage are positive.  For children and teens who are constantly on these sites, most of the results are actually negative.  Social media is slowly taking over their lives resulting in “internet addiction”, in which users are constantly invested in technology instead of being present and interactive with others in-person.  This affects their relationships, and for children, they do not learn how to interact socially.  The over usage of social media can also affect the happiness of children and teens in a few ways.  For example, “Facebook depression” is when people compare their lives to those they see on the internet and care too much about what their followers think, resulting in users being less satisfied with their own lives.  In addition, there have been many incidents of cyberbullying, resulting in depression and sometimes even suicide.  Lastly, one cause of ADHD in children is the over usage of social media and technology.  Between internet addiction, “Facebook depression”, cyberbullying, and ADHD, too much social media has many negative effects, especially for children and teens. 

To begin, one of the main negative outcomes from the over usage of social media is internet addiction.  Even though the term “addiction” might sound a bit alarming, internet addiction is promoted in our daily lives without us even realizing.  For example, it is common to see people who are spending time together locked in on their phones instead of interacting.  Furthermore, people impulsively check their phones throughout the day, and even children have meltdowns if their parents take away their electronic devices.  According to the article titled, “Is Internet Addiction a Real Thing?” Marc Potenza, a psychiatrist at Yale and the director of the school’s Program for Research on Impulsivity and Impulse Control Disorders, has been treating addiction for more than two decades.  At the beginning of his career, he mainly focused on addiction in the form of substance abuse, which is what people normally think of when we think of addictions – things such as alcohol or drugs.  However, people starting coming to Potenza with a different type of addiction: internet addiction.  This type of addiction is classified as a behavioral addiction, rather than a substance addiction.  In studying these types of behavioral addictions, Potenza found that there are similarities between substance and behavioral addictions.  Similar to a substance addiction, behaviors such as constantly checking your phone activate dopamine, the pleasure center of the brain.  Also, behavioral and substance addictions are characterized by an inability to control how much you engage in an activity, even when you are aware of the negative consequences.  In addition, both come with urges and cravings (Konnikova).  Therefore, people who have internet addiction have the urge and constantly feel the need to check their phones throughout the day.

People with internet addiction isolate themselves because they choose to be on their phones rather than interacting with people around them.  This is where relationships suffer.  For instance at work, relationships get formed before meetings when colleagues discuss how their weekends were, and learn about each other through conversations.  Learning and understanding people through deep conversations cannot be done when colleagues are using their phones or constantly checking their emails rather than talking to each other.  These texts messages cannot replace the in-person interactions (Turkle).  I think the majority of teenagers do have internet addiction without realizing it.  From reading the research done by Potenza, I believe that internet addiction is something that should be taken just as seriously as other behavioral addictions such as gambling and trichotillomania.

Constantly going on social media has more negative side effects besides not being present to those around you.  Another outcome from the over usage of social media is called “Facebook Depression”.  This is when people spend too much time on social media and only care about their followers’ opinions.  For example, when their posts receive positive feedback, they feel reassured.  However, if they post a picture and it does not receive enough positive feedback, they feel bad about themselves (Ramasubbu).  Another factor that contributes to “Facebook Depression” is the constant social comparison that results from social media.  Social comparison is the human desire to be more like the people you compare yourself to.  From these social media sites, with the click of a button people see the lives of their peers.  Often, they try to make their lives look extravagant to the world through captivating photos and in viewing the lives of celebrities.  This leads to the viewers being unsatisfied with their life in comparison, and depression can result (Tanney).  

Another reason why the over usage of social media is bad for children and teens is because of cyberbullying.  Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using electronic technology such as cell phones, computers, and tablets along with social media sites, text messages, chat, and websites.  Cyberbullying can happen 24/7 and reach a kid even when he or she is alone.  In addition, cyberbullying messages and images can be posted anonymously and distributed quickly to a very wide audience through certain social media sites (Aspa).  With the recent increase of technology, cyberbullying has become a common way for kids and teens to bully others while hiding behind a screen.  This results in depression and countless numbers of suicides in recent years.  

One example of a cyberbullying case that led to a suicide is a boy named Tyler Clementi.  According to the CBS article, “Tyler Clementi: A Call to Act on Cyberbullying,” the summer after his high school graduation, Tyler had just come out to his family and friends and was learning to embrace being a gay man.  In August of 2010, Tyler began studying at Rutgers University where he played violin at the institution’s high level orchestra.  Within weeks, Tyler became the victim of a horrible act of cyberbullying.  One night, Tyler asked his dorm mate, Dharun Ravi, to leave the room because he had a date.  Ravi agreed, however behind Tyler’s back was setting up a webcam facing Tyler’s bed.  Then Ravi left, seeking to humiliate Tyler later that night.  The camera captured Tyler in an intimate act as Ravi invited other students to view it online.  Tyler discovered what Ravi had done when he went on Twitter and learned he had become a topic of ridicule.  Several days later, Tyler Clementi ended his life by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.  He was eighteen years old.

In addition to the over usage of social media leading to internet addiction, depression, and cyberbullying, another negative affect from it could possibly be ADHD.  ADHD has been on the rise the past few years, and the constant usage of smartphones and social media could be one of the main causes.  To see if these claims were true, a journalist named Caitlin Dewey and colleagues recruited 221 millennials, not particularly diagnosed with ADHD, to participate in a two-week study.  These people were separated into two groups.  The first group was instructed to put their phones on “do-not-disturb”, keep it out of reach, and overall minimize the usage as much as possible.  On the other hand, the second group was told to keep their phones alert and nearby to use whenever possible.  In the second week of this experiment, the two groups were told to switch roles – the group who couldn’t use their phones before were now able to use it as much as possible, and vice versa.  After the two weeks, the participants had to fill out a survey determining how frequently they felt symptoms of ADHD throughout the two weeks.  Symptoms include forgetting to do certain things, not being able to listen or pay attention without getting distracted, fidgeting, interrupting others, and other common symptoms of ADHD (Dewey).  

Overall, the results of the experiment were clear – people who constantly had their phones nearby and therefore were constantly interrupted experienced more symptoms of ADHD (Dewey).  Since ADHD is a neurodevelopment disorder, these findings do not prove that smartphones cause ADHD.  However, the distraction of smartphones is definitely a factor in causing symptoms of ADHD.  

Given that people are now given devices that give them instant gratification, and they are constantly invested in a screen rather than being present to those around them, I think it makes perfect sense why they would be fidgety without a phone or have short attention spans as a result.  Especially for children, these ADHD symptoms that result from constant phone usage is terrible for their brain development.  Because their brains are not fully developed yet, acquiring these short attention spans and other symptoms of ADHD can potentially wire their brains like that permanently from a young age.  Personally, I know people with ADHD, and I have witnessed that the area they struggle the most with is focusing in school.  Therefore, children who suffer from ADHD symptoms receive lower grades than children who are able to focus in school.  In addition, being hyperactive and not being able to focus can also affect children’s behaviors.  Being exposed to this abundance of technology and social media is clearly harmful because it is something that can impair the development of a child’s brain and make them perform worse in school.

Although there are clearly numerous reasons why the usage of social media can be bad for children and teenagers, there are some positives to it which is why people continue to use it.  The article, titled, “The Upside of Selfies: Social Media Isn’t All Bad for Kids,” discusses the many positive outcomes of social media.  One of the main positive attributes is that social media can be a creative outlet for children and teens who want to express themselves.  In addition, social media can make children and teens feel more confident from the positive comments that friends leave on their pictures, and can improve children and teens friendships.  The article also mentioned that social media can be a cry for help if someone is feeling isolated or alone – they can post about it so people are able to reach out to help them. 

However, although some of these positive attributes may apply to people who use social media in moderation, when people use it excessively, they don’t experience these positive outcomes.  For example, while they are happy when friends comment on their photos, when they don’t receive that reassurance on certain posts, they feel terrible about themselves.  Furthermore, other studies show that from social media, kids’ daily lives are negatively affected in all aspects – relationships with their families, school, and personal confidence (Mastroianni).  Overall, while there are some positive aspects of social media, when people use it excessively, the negative attributes trump the positive ones.

Since there are so many issues that arise from using social media too much - why do parents keep giving their children access to this technology?  Well, parents are faced with a dilemma when deciding to give their children access to cell phones and social media.  The dilemma is that if you don’t allow your children to use digital technologies, they are left out because everyone else has them.  However, if you allow your children to have access, you must cope with possible consequences that arise from it (Ribbel).  This dilemma normally results in parents giving their children the electronic device.

 Furthermore, I think there are many ways to ensure that people, especially children, do not become addicted to their phones, leading to an array of issues in the future.  For example, from a young age if parents restrict their children’s phone usage, for example, enforcing that they put them away for family dinners, while they have friends over, during homework, and before bed at night, they will not become attached to it.  For adults, it is suggested that turning your phone on “do-not-disturb” and keeping it far away from you and trying to use it as minimally as possible can increase your attention and productivity throughout the day (Dewey).  These are simple steps that can lower the levels of internet addiction along with depression and ADHD.

In summary, the over usage of social media is affecting the social development and happiness of children and teenagers.  There are many negative effects that result from the usage of social media such as internet addiction, “Facebook depression”, cyberbullying, and ADHD.  These findings should concern us.  As I mentioned earlier, I have noticed that between my grandma, my parents, and my own generation, the amount of time we spend on electronic devices is only increasing.  The current millennial group that is obsessed with smartphones and social media is our future, and if this isn’t put to a stop, we can face even worse problems.  I worry for my generation, but even more for generations after us, like my little sister, who is following in this technological trend.  In the future, everything is going to be different because of this constant usage of social media and technology.  If children are learning to interact only through cell phones and lose the skills of connecting with people personally, then the future is going to be a lot different than the way it is today.  Intrapersonal relationships will be minimal and everyone will only care about their phones and what others think of them through social media.  There will be a lot more technology everywhere, in places like school and work.  In the future people will be more exposed and can get hooked like many of us already have.  This is why we need to become aware of this issue, and take steps to make sure social media does not take over. 
