Daneliz Portes
Sara Vinciguerra
Eng160
3/24/2023

Social Media

Technology has changed a lot within our lives. Social media can sometimes have an influence on our personal lives. Although many people have a fear of change it doesn’t mean that these new things are necessarily bad. Social media is very beneficial because of how many people you can interact with, it can broaden one’s horizon. But we can’t ignore its negative effects it has definitely effected the self esteems and views of teenagers, there’s no way to check the age of consumers on the internet.

There are many arguments that can be made about how social media can cause depression or just a decline in mental health, but everyone is different. In Ellis’ TED talk about technology, he mentions how although social media can have an impact on someone it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a direct cause to depression, “Correlation does not equal causation. So, for example I can feel depressed and go on social media because I’m feeling low, or I could look on social media and go look at how fun my friend’s lives are. And that makes me feel depressed” (Ellis Davis, 3:59). Depression can be caused by anything within a person’s life. Just because someone is on their phone often doesn’t mean it is the only cause for the changes within their mental health. People live their lives very differently and don’t use technology the same way
everyone else does.

Everyone’s relationship with technology is different. Some are dependent on it while others are not. Depending on the ages of consumers is could lead to negative effects, “Another study, just published in JAMA Psychiatry, showed a suicide bump among 10- to 19-year-olds (both boys and girls, but a larger increase in girls) at the time of the release of the Netflix series
“13 Reasons Why”; the study shows association, not causation, but raises the question of “media contagion” (Klass Perri, Paragraph 4.) Younger audiences are more likely to be influenced by things online. Although social media may not affect adults to this degree, social media is a way for the entire world to connect with each other. There is no way for people from different age groups to know the age of everyone they interact with online. A conversation on twitter between two adults can easily be read by a young teenager and there’s no way to stop that.

Social media has been implemented into everyone’s lives and changes their perception of
everyday things. In the article “Is Social Media Threatening Teens’ Mental Health and Well Being?” Marie “They are looking at these sites through a negative lens of, “I’m never going to be as good as these people.” That mindset puts them at risk of increasing depression and isolation, and these are all factors that can contribute to feelings of suicide, especially when bullying gets added to the mix.” (Marie Anne, Paragraph 4) Everyone on this planet lives different lives and some may be more fortunate to others when it comes to vanity. That is what leads to impressionable being more reliant on social media for validation but end up worsening their mental health because of jealousy and self-comparisons.

The world has so many different people that react to new things within their own way. Society is constantly changing and that includes modern technology. This is something that would be impossible to stop. Everything has its pros and cons whether one weighs over the other.

 

 

Work Cited

Albano, Anne Marie. “Is Social Media Threatening Teens’ Mental Health and WellBeing?” Columbia University Irving Medical Center, 20 May 2021,
www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/social-media-threatening-teens-mental-health-and-wellbeing.
Ellis, David. “Is Technology Really Ruining Your Life?” David Ellis: Is Technology Really
Ruining Your Life? | TED Talk, 12 July 2018,

Klass, Perri, MD. “When Social Media Is Really Problematic for Adolescents.” The New York
Times, 23 Sept. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/well/family/when-social-media-isreally-problematic-for-adolescents.html.