In the age of technology, social media is nearly inescapable for young people. It offers the most convenient way to connect with friends, meet others with shared interests, and stay informed about current events.
The question is: how does this constant use of various social platforms affect young people’s mental health?
The way individuals use digital platforms has drastically changed since the rise of social media in the early 2000s.
As of 2024, the average teen’s screen time exceeded seven hours (not including time spent on online schoolwork), presenting a two-hour increase from 2015 and a four-hour increase since 2000, as reported by The Daily Mail and Exploding Topics.
This increase in screen usage has resulted in several detrimental consequences for young people, particularly students.
Mark Connolly, a Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, outlines some of these consequences in the article, “Benefits and Drawbacks of Social Media in Education.”
According to Connolly, “Students who use social networking tools might incur significant hidden cognitive costs. Some researchers have linked heavy Internet use with greater impulsivity, less patience, reduced tenacity, and weaker critical thinking skills.”
These claims of diminished cognitive abilities due to social media use are not only supported by professionals; teachers and students at Lakeview have also noticed these adverse effects and behaviors.
“In reality, when you’re overconsuming [social media], it affects you and kind of dumbs you down,” says senior David Harper.
“When TikTok was supposed to get banned, everybody was complaining about it, and while it would’ve sucked, life wouldn’t end; you’d still be able to wake up every morning,” Harper added.
A dependence on social media is common at Lakeview. In a recent survey, 72.9 percent of students reported being satisfied with their current average screen time, even though the average reported time was between four and seven hours per day.
This statistic reveals yet another drawback of social media. With school taking up seven hours of a student’s day, sleep ideally taking up eight hours, sports occupying two, and homework claiming three, only four hours of free time are left, which is often filled with hanging out with friends, engaging in hobbies, and participating in other extracurricular activities.
However, since the average teen’s screen time exceeds seven hours, it’s inevitable that one or more of these essential activities will be deprived of time. The most common casualty? Sleep.
According to Nationwide Children’s, the average teen only sleeps seven hours per night, which falls short of the recommended 8-9 hours.
This lack of sleep is often attributed to screen usage, as short-wave blue light emitted from phone screens reduces melatonin production.
This reduced production is detrimental for teens specifically, as the natural production of melatonin in teenagers is already typically on a delayed schedule.
As Heidi Moawad from Neurology Live writes, “In the teenage years, the hormonal response to the 24-hour daily light/dark exposure that influences circadian rhythm is altered, making adolescents physiologically yearn to stay awake later at night and to remain asleep later in the day.”