Just an hour a day can take your life away. Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, have bombarded today’s world with news and gossip that are accessible to anyone within seconds. Everyone has become obsessed with gaining self-esteem from likes on posts, or from filters and correctors that expel every single flaw. Although, it is not the likes and feedback that people desire. It is the instant gratification that drives them to various obsessions online. Out of the whole population in the United States, adolescents are mostly effected by the wave of social communication and activity. Their development has been interrupted, which corrupts the progress of skills and personalities that they need to pursue into adulthood. The growth of social media interactions and online communication in today’s society has caused issues in the physiological and emotional development in adolescents that can lead to greater harms in the future of adults. 

Looking back twenty years, the United States was both medically and technologically advanced. Although in the past few years, the progress made in technology has been outrageous. Communication around the world is possible within the blink of an eye. Pictures and videos are constantly being uploaded to new social media platforms, such as Facebook or Twitter. The access to news and the world is at the tips of everyone’s fingertips. Even childhood twenty years ago was significantly different than it is today. No one even thought of the possibility of instant messaging or sharing memories constantly through the internet, nerveless through a phone the size of one hand. The possibilities today are endless in regards to the internet and technology. 

From the outside looking in, a childhood with astonishing gadgets and the ability to text and be in communication with people at all times sounds ideal. From the inside, all of those social media platforms and posts are feeding adolescents with negative messages. They are being given so much information at once, they do not know what to take in (Schacter.) Psychologically, kids are being bombarded with harmful outcomes without their brains even knowing (Valkenburg.) There are also a great deal of issues when it comes to online communication. Bullying, sexting, and many other dangerous corresponding activities online can lead to physiological turmoil, as well as emotional disturbances in adolescents. This is something that adolescents that grew up before the time of social media did not have to deal with. It has become the generation of a “New Childhood” (Grannet.) 

In today’s society, 75% of adolescents have cell phones, which means that over half of kids in the United States have access to online communication and social media as they please (Liu.) Because there are so many, numbers of psychological and emotional disorders are becoming more prominent and an issue. One of the leading adverse outcomes of the vast social media use in adolescents is depression (Bonnetti, Campbell, and Gilmore.) Depression is relevant and has been relevant in teens and adolescents since the beginning of time. Although, the media has greatly increased those numbers in the recent years (Grannet.) 

Later on in one’s childhood, more intimacy is needed for a peaceful state of mind. Adolescents tend to need more love and compassion as they get closer to moving up in their maturity (Bonnetti, Campbell, and Gilmore.) Friendships and relationships outside of the family environment are made for the first time. They look for acceptance and equality to help their anxiety and new found loneliness (Bonnetti, Campbell, and Gilmore.) Because of adolescent’s tendency to be lonely, they are more prone to obtain feelings of depression. Before the age of social media platforms, kids would go out with friends face-to-face. They would learn how to communicate and deal with their insecurities (Bonnetti, Campbell, and Gilmore.) Facebook, and similar platforms, allow kids to get away with learning responsibilities and how to interact with the world around them. Online, people cannot see your flaws, shyness, or any kind of physical attributes (Bonnetti, Campbell, and Gilmore.) There is far less rejection than one might feel with public interactions. 

For a while, adolescents are happy communicating online and they feel needed and wanted. Though when they go to school or an event that requires in person interaction, they discover that they really do not have friends (Liu.) They once again feel that feeling of loneliness inside. Children then go back to their regular online activities and get even more addicted to the attention that they cannot get elsewhere (Liu.) These attributes and activities then lead to depression. Even though depression and loneliness have always been symptoms within adolescents, social media has been able to heighten such feelings to the hilts (Grannet.) 

Since adolescents spend a majority of their time online communicating, they do not learn how to interact with others in public settings.  Their loneliness is adhered to online by the instant gratification of feedback and conversation. Although when it comes to reality, they have to be able to communicate with adults and other kids at school. Adolescents are in a constant stage of “abstract” thinking, which means they always want to be right and know it all (Grannet.) When kids find that they are socially awkward around others, they become embarrassed or shy. Interactions and communication online does not require personal contact with another (Liu.) There is no awkward eye contact or handshake in an instant message. Emotions online are never seen and a majority of the time, emotions are lost in a conversation online. When someone sends a smiley face or a good “Haha” in a message, they do not actually portray those emotions then and there. Those emotions are therefore lost and never truly shown to the person on the other side of the screen (Grannet.) Kids do not learn how to really show emotions to another person because they never have to online. They get in a habit of being relaxed and in their own comfort zone. As one grows up and begins to enter the next stage of their lives, they have to interact with adults and fellow peers. People begin to go on job interviews or interviews with various schools to begin their future elsewhere. With no communication skills or practice, kids growing up today will not be successful later in life (Valkenburg.) Even though a majority of companies today base their work off of the internet and social interactions, one still needs to know the basics of communication. Companies need people with skills and personality. Not someone who knows how to get likes on a post, or how to send an emoji through a text message. People still have ethics and emotions when it comes to the reality of things. Being able to have the skills to relate to people and be relatable back is still very important in today’s world. 

Apart from direct communication, adolescents can also have encounters with depression with the various photos and videos that that see online regarding fellow peers. They obtain feelings such as envy, jealousy, and low self-esteem while scrolling through their feeds. Kids see their friends out online in big crowds of friends that they wish they had or may have been excluded from. This can have a harsh effect on adolescents (Schacter.) The main attribute that teen and adolescents want to feel is that they matter and are included. Social media shows where someone is or is not, which makes kids want to know what is happening and where at every minute of the day (Schacter.) Feelings of exclusion from groups of friends or bullying from photos can result in severe loneliness and feelings of depression. Since it is what seems to be the most vital thing in a teen or adolescent’s life, popularity and friendships will always be first on their mind because of the way the brain develops (Valkenburg.) 

Photos online of celebrities and role models can also cause adolescents to gain feelings of depression. Celebrities and online companies know just how to win over kids and teens in a heartbeat (O’Keffee.) There are hundreds of pictures of women in sexy bikinis and revealing clothing. Kids look at their ideas of “perfect” and think that they need to be just like them to be beautiful (O’Keffee.)  As a teen girl, the last thing you want to be told is that you have curves in the wrong places or that you need to lose weight for a man to like you.  Young boys always see images of fierce and strong men at the gym. They feel the need to be manly and never vulnerable.

 For both young girls and boys, the media feeds them negative and harsh messages without a word. When a young teen looks at images across their feed everyday of beautiful bodies and vacation scenes, they begin to believe in their false realties (Schacter.) When those “realties” never come true, they begin to feel left out or like they are not good enough to obtain such possibilities (Schacter.) Once again, feelings of loneliness and sadness arise and become an issue. Instead of looking online and feeling confident, they look and feel ashamed of themselves or even think thoughts of suicide if issues become extreme (Schacter.) 

Apart from derogatory photos or pictures of unrealistic situations, kids can also become obsessive with posting and taking pictures of themselves, otherwise known as “selfies.” With selfies, kids become obsessed with the way they look and the feedback they get from the social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. They begin to rely on the likes to make them feel wanted and popular (Schacter.) It is not the likes and comments that they are obsessed with. It is the feeling of pride and confidence they get when they see people like their selfies.

 Even though this sounds like a good thing, for a young teen to feel confident, it can be deceiving. Such self-obsession can lead to social and communication issues with others (Schacter.) One can become so obsessed with themselves that they do not see the world around them. They live in their own reality. Although when an adolescent has to interact within society, they will begin to feel a sense of confusion and loss. They begin to realize that they are not on top like they are on social media (Schacter.)  The likes and popularity online do not always carry over into the real world. 

Cyberbullying and sexting are other activities that occur online that can cause depression in kids and teens today. Bullying is a natural part of childhood and growing up (O’Keffee.) Adolescents grow and learn to deal with harsh comments of other kids and eventually, the negative interactions will fade away and become a lesson. Online, bullying is more effective (O’Keffee.)  Someone can destroy another with just a simple click of a button. Pictures, videos, and nasty comments will tear people apart. The worst part is that material on the internet is never really deleted or gone. Someone somewhere is always able to trace back to that event or time. 

Sexting online can also lead to signs of depression and anxiety. Subjects online are typically for older audiences. Although, companies and advertisers know that adolescents and young teens will always interact and look at the material (Grannet.) Kids are taken advantage of in every market online. Since adolescents are vulnerable in their stage of life, they are willing to put themselves out there online. A simple sexual text, they would think nothing of. Because there is no physical or emotional connection in person, kids do not portray their conversations online a reality (Grannet.) 

Kids are also exposed to a much more sexual world online. There are ads, pictures, videos, and articles portraying sex and sexual activities. Children that were born before the millennial never would have been exposed to such things because Instagram Facebook, nor Google existed. The exposure to so much sexuality makes adolescents think that they should do the same and act the same as what they see online (Northenor.) 

The main reason why adolescents are so engrossed and obsessed with online interactions and the social media platforms today is because of one thing. That one thing is brain development (Valkenburg.) During adolescence, brain development is crucial. The three main stages of development during this stage are identity, intimacy, and sexuality. Social media and interactions online hit all three of these stages of development (Valkenburg.) 

Facebook statuses and pictures both give a sense of identity online. Kids can give themselves any identity they please because it does not have to be their true identity. They can be anything that they want to be, which is the part that is appealing to them (Valkenburg.) When it comes to the second stage of development, intimacy, media platforms allow them to feel like they can be open with the person on the other side of the screen. There are no feelings of intimidation or shyness (Valkenburg.) Kids feel the need to talk about intimacy to their peers, but talking online is not a healthy way to do so. It is not true intimacy. Intimacy requires physical contact and emotions. None of which any form of technology can provide one with. Online interactions can make one almost emotionless (Walsh.) 

In the third development level of the brain, sexuality, the kid or young teen craves to know more about the person they are and what feelings they are in need of. They are curious and in need of information (Valkenburg.) Social media can give a kid a sense of what it feels like to be sexual with another or even the ability to witness something of that sort. During this stage of brain development, they are naturally going to be drawn to pictures, articles and advertisements online that express sexual ideas (Valkenburg.) These three stages of brain development in adolescents are the main reason why they are the most effected by today’s media. Just because adolescents and young teens are drawn to the media does not mean that they are attracted for the right reasons. 

Social media has impacted young kids and teens minds and lives in many ways. Some can argue that the media has only brought good views and opportunities to adolescents. They say that it is an advantage for them to see and hear of various opportunities and cultures around them. Although they are missing one key point in their argument. Information about the world, sexuality, identity, and numerous other subjects can already be found without online communication or photos. Books, people, family, traveling, and plenty of experiences can provide adolescents with what they yearn to know. Social media has grown and exploded so quickly that no one has had the chance to question its authority to the fullest. The world had it all even before the times of social media and the internet. Sure, there was still depression and normal health issues, though there was nothing to heighten those issues like there is today. Just an hour a day can really take your life away. 
