Social media has been around for years and for the most part has been useful as far as serving the purpose of helping others communicate from a distance and sharing information with each other through the internet. Although social media has various amounts of beneficial factors in today’s society, a plethora of people are oblivious to the fact that social media and technology comes with negative dangers. These damaging factors that are brought about in teenagers and adolescents are caused when they overuse social networking sights and technology. Social media and technology can be very detrimental on the overall/ well-being of teenagers and adolescents. This includes teenagers and adolescents’ social, physical, mental, and physiological health as well as an increase in aggression patterns and sexual behavior. These effects are merely because a lot of teenagers’ and adolescents’ self-esteem are lessened in regards to body image dissatisfactions as well as mental degradation taking place when social media and technology is used extensively.

Social media networks such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. are used to give people an inside look on each other’s lives through pictures and videos. Although this helps people to communicate with their friends and families, some people are negatively impacted by this because of self-image awareness that some of these pictures may cause on social media networking sites. In most cases, people say that celebrities seen on TV and social media inspire teenagers to a certain extent. Chhandita Chakravarty says in her article “11 Positive and Negative Influences of Media on Teenagers” that, “Teenagers look up to celebrities, and when a celebrity tells them to stay off drugs, they just might listen.” This tends to different from the more popular opinion of social media having an adverse effect on teens. In the article titled “Media Influence and Body Dissatisfaction in Young Women”, Walter Vandereycken states that, “Perhaps this reflects an interactional cycle: worship of a celebrity with an idealized body shape may lead to poor body image (and/or low self-esteem), and body dissatisfaction may create a stronger interest in celebrities because of their admired physical appearance.”. Due to this “interactional cycle”, “girls between 14 and 17 years of age were found to show a relationship between increased body consciousness and the worship of a celebrity whose figure they admired” (Vanderecycken). Because of the “ideal” body images depicted on social media sites and television of celebrities and models, teenage girls’ self-esteem is more likely to decrease due to body dissatisfaction caused by poor body image. Also, the chances of teenage girls obtaining eating disorders increases dramatically due to the fact that they want to gain the body that they see depicted on social media. To obtain the ideal body images that they see on social media, teenage girls around the ages 14 and 17 take desperate measures and gain eating disorders such as bulimia (an eating disorder in which they dramatically overeat which is usually followed by depression, purging, self-induced vomiting, and fasting) so that they can obtain the ideal figure like the ones shown on social media and television. On the other hand, it is stated that, “Anorexia and bulimia are a fall out of this body image crisis. And this is not limited just to the girls. Even boys are made to feel ‘less’ manly unless they fit the image popularized by media.” (Chakravarty).

Additionally, in the article “The Impact of Media Exposure on Males’ Body Image” by Daniel Agliata and Stacey Tantleff-Dunn, there was an experiment conducted where 158 males were exposed to television advertisements that either depicted men with the ideal body image or neutral images in between television segments. From this experiment, the “results indicated that participants exposed to ideal image advertisements became significantly more depressed and had higher levels of muscle dissatisfaction than those exposed to neutral ads.” The depression and muscle dissatisfaction mentioned has to do with the lowered self-esteem from the ideal body images that are portrayed in the television advertisements conducted in the experiment. They become more self-aware and conscious of their body when the advertisements are played on the television, and when the ideal body type was depicted in front of them, they started to feel more insecure and ashamed of their body which causes them to attempt to change their physical appearance due to lowered self-esteem. Lisa M. Cookingham and Ginny L. Ryan mentioned in their article “Impact of Social Media on the Sexual and Social Wellness of Adolescents”, it was stated that “If a ‘post’ or a ‘pic’ doesn't garner enough comments, the adolescent is encouraged to ‘share’ it to make it more newsworthy.” When they don’t get the amount of attention that someone else may get on their post or picture, the teenagers’ and adolescents’ self-esteem is lessened to a certain degree. This therefore has a negative, detrimental effect on the males’ physique due to eating disorders that they have obtained from trying to get the ideal body image shown on social media/technology.

In addition to social media and technology negatively impacting teen’s self-esteem and physical well-being, social media/technology also plays a major role in effecting teen’s mental health. “How Technology is Changing the Way Children Think and Focus” by Jim Taylor conveys the message that through the excessive use of technology and social media, it can therefore negatively impact teens’ attentiveness in a classroom setting. Taylor states that, “Technology conditions the brain to pay attention to information very differently than reading.” If teenagers overly invest their time their time in technology, this cause their attentiveness to be effected negatively, which can have detrimental effects on academic progress for college students. Also in another article called “The Effects of Technology on College Life” by T.J. Dye shows that technology can have negative effects on the physical and mental aspects of a teenager’s life. Throughout the article, Dye focuses on the effects that technology in the classroom has on teenagers & the negative attributes that are attained through it, such as increasing the student’s willingness and ability to cheat & copy instead of being able to pay attention and learn the material that is given during class. Additionally, it is stated that, “Teens who watch too much television have lower scores in exams. Also, such teens are not good readers as they spend more time in front of the television. A study reveals that individuals with high degree scores watch less television in their childhood and teenage. Another study reveals that different media affects school work differently.” (Chakravarty). Also, that social media increases stress among students and lowers self-esteem causing them to lose their attentiveness in the classroom. This therefore negatively impacts the teenager’s mental well-being. 

Along with this, social media and technology can also have a detrimental effect on the aggressive behavior of teens as well as sexual behavior, which could ultimately turn to teenagers falling victim to substance abuse. Many researches have directly connected to the sexual behavior depicted on television and social media networks to increased sexual behavior amongst teens and adolescents. Although this is around the time that teenagers start to exploit their sexual nature, it is said that “…the amount of sex in media today can make a teenager confused. Sex without responsibility – that seems to be the message being beamed at teenagers. This can lead to irresponsible sexual behavior and unwanted pregnancies.” According to the article “Health Effects of Media on Children and Adolescents”, “Longitudinal studies now exist that have linked heavy exposure to sexual content in mainstream media with more rapid progression of sexual activity, earlier coital behavior, greater risk for and unplanned pregnancy, and sexually transmitted disease.” (Strasburger, Victo, Jordan, Donnerstein). According to the article “Older And Newer Media: Patterns Of Use And Effects On Adolescents' Health And Well-Being”, “Two longitudinal surveys illustrate the kinds of findings of the hundreds of empirical studies linking exposure to violent content with aggressive outcomes that have accumulated in the past half-century.” In one of these surveys, they found that “aggressive behaviors in adulthood (20–22 years old) were predicted by childhood (6–10 years old) exposure to violent television content” and the other survey states that adulthood aggression “was associated with the amount of television viewing, which likely included violent content, in adolescence and young adulthood.’” (Johnson, Cohen, Smailes, Kasen & Brook, 2002). Also, in the article “Impact of Social Media on the Sexual & Social Wellness of Adolescents”, it is stated that “Studies show it is common for adolescents to self-report high-risk sexual behavior on personal SNS profiles, with references to sex displayed on 24% of profiles reviewed”. Additionally, Cookingham and Ryan state that “Many adolescents display limited self-regulation and judgment skills that are not yet fully mature, which lead to risky behaviors, especially on SNSs”. Due to this, aggressive sexual behavior is increasing rapidly on social networking sites because teenagers’ and adolescents are trying to fit in & when they don’t get the attention that they feel like they deserve Also, this article mentioned that “One survey found that 20% of adolescents between 13-19 years old have sent or posted a nude or semi-nude photo or video of themselves to another adolescent” (Cookingham). In addition to this, Cookingham and Ryan found that “In a more recent longitudinal study, the authors reported that 28% of their subjects had received a ‘sext’ and 57% had been asked to send a ‘sext.’ More disconcerting was the finding that male and female adolescents who engaged in sexting were more likely to have had sex, and that sexting was associated with high-risk sexual behaviors in females (this association was not seen in males).” Morever, it was said that, “We are now beginning to see that social media may be increasing these risky sexual behaviors and decreasing the overall social and sexual wellness in adolescents.” Statistics have shown that “adolescents have been vulnerable to negative outcomes from poor sexual choices. Adolescents are the highest risk group for contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and nearly 3 million adolescents are infected annually. Several common practices contribute to this high risk of contracting an STI, including: concurrent sexual partners, multiple sexual partners, and lack of consistent condom use.” (Cookingham & Ryan). These surveys and studies directly correlate and convey many of the negative effects on teenagers’ and adolescents’ sexual and social well-being that occur when teenagers and adolescents use technology and social media networks extensively.

On top of social media negatively impacting teenagers’ physical and mental wellness, social media can also assist in deteriorating their social wellness. In the non-text-based source “Connected, but alone?” given by Sherry Turkle in a TED Talk, she capitalizes on technology saying that text messages are good but “too many of them can be a problem.” What is being implied by this is that technology and social media can be useful until it is overused; then it can be detrimental to teenagers’ and adolescents well-being. Investing too much time on social media and technology can negatively impact us socially and physiologically. In the article “Impact of Social Media on the Sexual and Social Wellness of Adolescents” by Lisa M. Cookingham and Ginny L. Ryan, they state that “Social networking sites (SNSs) provide an all too attractive outlet for adolescents during a time in development where self-expression and validation are important, and this expression may translate into risky social behavior.” (Cookingham and Ryan). Contrary to this belief, others may think social media networking websites can improve social wellness. In a contradicting article by Chhandita Chakravarty titled “11 Positive and Negative Influences of Media on Teenagers”, it was stated that “Other benefits include social confidence, heightened literacy in the media, and more social support. Social media diversifies your teen’s social skills, which in turn helps him navigate successfully through modern society.” (Chakravarty). Sadly, this isn’t the case for teenagers on social networking networks. This can cause teenagers to act out negatively in a social manner on social media. Because teenagers and adolescents seek attention and validation from their peers so that they can be popular or fit in on social media outlets, they usually do risky things online so that they may get the attention that they seek from their friends and others who they are interested in. When they don’t get the amount of “likes” and “comments” on their post or picture, they are willing to do things such as post inappropriate and self-revealing pictures of themselves on social media networks so that they can obtain the attention that they desire; whether positive or negative. This causes teenagers to act out negatively in a social manner. Because teens seek attention and validation so that they can be “popular” on social media outlets, they usually do risky things online so that they may get the attention that they seek.

All in all, although social media and technology can have many beneficial factors, they also have detrimental effects as well. Social media and technology can have detrimental, negative effects on sexual behavior by causing teenagers and adolescents to engage in aggressive and irrational sexual behaviors such posting nudes and explicit content on social media networks just for social approval from their friends and family. On top of this, negative impacts are placed on teens and adolescents’ mental overall well-being by causing negative aggression patterns and lowering their self- esteem due to poor body image dissatisfaction. Body image dissatisfaction leads to personal physical problems which conflicts with teenagers and adolescents’ overall physical well-being; thus causing them to obtain eating disorders so that they can achieve the ideal body image that is depicted on social media networks. 
