Social media has been so prevalent in society. Kids, teens, and adults have been subjected to advertisements for various products and companies. All of this information is new to the human race and mind. With teenagers having to deal with school, making college decisions, and being fed every possible world tragedy and cat video it gets a lot for the brain to handle. A study by the National Institute of Health stated, “Up to 95% of youth ages 13–17 report using a social media platform, with more than a third saying they use social media “almost constantly.” As a teen myself I believe this number could even be higher because almost every single teen I talk to has social media and constantly uses platforms such as Instagram or TikTok in class during instructional time.

Social media allows students to compare their lives to those around them. They compare the best of someone’s public life to the worst of their private life and say they aren’t good enough. Depression and anxiety disorders have never been higher in the youth. The Center for Disease Control conducted a study and found, “Globally, 1 in 7 10-19-year-olds experiences a mental disorder”. Social media has opened a gateway for all students to take on the world’s problems literally with lightspeed information travel. On top of everything students have to worry about one false post about the world ending could set a child’s nervous system into a state of panic and stress.

Some believe a change needs to be done but with every addiction, it’s not going to be easy. Limiting or even taking all social media out of kids’ lives will be beneficial in limiting the amount of stress and anxiety that is already so high and prevalent.