With social media being a more significant channel by which teenagers in high school engage and communicate (not to mention document their own lives), this new, overwhelming platform is an addition to an already extensive creative social environment replete with too much control and expectation for vulnerable minds trying to make sense of an increasingly challenging—and often harmful—world.
The psychosocial consequences are enormous, and without the social meditative opportunity—and subsequent intervention—that exists, they are more vulnerable than ever to tragic, harmful mental health consequences. The most significant social media influence over student well-being is the expectation of perfection.
When students believe they must share a “get-ready-with-me selfie,” a staged version of candid life, and a professionally edited highlights reel on Instagram, they fabricate that identity and receive feedback as reinforcement. It’s just as difficult to compare and contrast with their glammed-up peers. Instead, many succumb to feelings of inadequacy and depressive episodes that result from hating who they are. This is compounded by low self-esteem transforming into feelings that they’re not good enough because everyone else is so put together.
“Social media can negatively impact our overall well-being by fueling anxiety, depression, loneliness and FOMO (fear of missing out). These issues are especially prevalent in teens and young adults. Social media is here to stay and will continue to evolve and become more invasive. If you’re spending a lot of time on social media and feeling sadness, dissatisfaction, frustration, or loneliness, it may be time to re-examine your relationship with your online presence,” a study done on the mental health impact by UC Davis Health said.
Another of social media’s roles in society has redefined bullying as cyberbullying. Where bullying occurs within school boundaries—or at least, it used to—cyberbullying extends beyond a geographical location and penetrates a person’s entire existence. For someone to be bullied online means that even a person’s home—which should be a haven—does not exist as a refuge. Social media gives power to those who seek to harm others because they can hide behind an avatar, crafting malicious posts and comments that cut to the core of insecurities plaguing young minds. Students are bullied when they go online; students have no choice but to suffer psychological consequences; this fosters depression, thoughts of suicide, and other escapist activities.
According to a study by the Australian Human Rights Commission, “Cyberbullying can be detrimental to a person’s mental and physical health. Victims can experience significant social isolation and feel unsafe. It can lead to emotional and physical harm, loss of self-esteem, feelings of shame and anxiety, concentration, and learning difficulties. Incidents of young people committing suicide have also occurred.”
Students face numerous challenges regarding social media use, which affects their daily lives. Social media usage significantly impacts emotional well-being by potentially fostering unrealistic body image and success expectations. The constant exposure to idealized lifestyles can lead to anxiety and depression as individuals compare their lives unfavorably to filtered social media posts. The pressure to maintain a perfect online persona often results in hidden struggles with mental health, causing students to feel isolated and powerless.
Another crucial aspect is the impact on academic performance. Students face frequent distractions when using social media because they might spend all day browsing content instead of completing their schoolwork. Thus, the diversion leads to low motivation and disorganization, and students experience stress as deadlines draw nearer.
The daily obligation to keep up with friends and trends sidetracks students from their academic responsibilities and creates more anxiety when their grades suffer. Social media distorts both relationship dynamics and societal expectations. Students prefer digital communication, making them forget the value of direct human interaction. Students develop poor connection skills because they fail to understand the meaning of in-person communication through text and emoji messages.
Students experience heightened anxiety about missing out (FOMO) because they feel compelled to participate in every social event; they become anxious when they think they have been excluded. Social media continues to evolve as a digital force that produces diverse effects on high school student lives. Social media serves as both a tool to unite people and an instrument of separation and damage. Social media-related mental health problems show a rising trend among teenagers, so experts now understand the serious role these platforms play in this crisis.
Social platform challenges require parents, educators, and students to maintain open discussions. Implementing better usage guidelines, designated limits, and support for non-digital activities should reduce these problems.
In the end, the effect of social media on high school students cannot be overstated; it is a double-edged sword that, if left unchecked, can bring mental health to a massive decline. It is desirably expected that by striving to meet these challenges, there is a bright future for a generation that learns to navigate the online world more nimbly and much more healthily, fully safeguarding their mental health amidst the benefits of being connected.
