Social media affects our mental health

Social media can affect your mental health, especially for teenagers. I think that the people who are most affected by this are younger people. I have interviewed three people and I asked them what they thought of it.

The first person I asked was Aurora Peraza, an eighth grader. Peraza said,  “well I think social media is both really helpful and really bad. People these days use it to release their feelings, talk to friends, or just post what they do in life. I also think social media can be very dangerous because of the underaged kids but for parents too. People tend to make fake accounts. With that being said they can lure people and manipulate them.” I totally agree with Peraza: there are many ways it can be dangerous. I also think that sometimes you can gain trust with absolute strangers without knowing anything about them.

I also asked Sophia Olivares what she thought about this topic and Olivares said, “Social media is a terrible [thing] given to people of our generation. Seeing other people consistently on an app is a great and massive toll on us, only because we expect so much of ourselves when in comparison to others. People like to post their ideas, others follow along and such, but it’s not always the brightest idea. Apps such as Tiktok, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. have made this generation anxious, afraid, and depressed to open up to a new idea because WE’RE AFRAID of what OTHERS THINK of us. It’s not the developers fault: Obviously their goal is for you to keep scrolling and waste your time on such a simple thing but only because that’s what gain them money. They develop the app with the conscious question of “How can I get someone to use their finger and keep scrolling.” You know its like you’re in a trance just being able to scroll through  for hours on end. I’m usually on social media all day, when I rise till I fall back asleep.” She had a great point about what she wrote. I totally also agree with her when she said that we are afraid to know what others think of us.

The last person I spoke with was Julie Andrade and her opinion on this was “I think that social media has a big impact on mental health. At times I feel like it isn’t a good thing, mainly because of all the negative things that can be said on here, [though] if you land on the right side of social media it can be something that makes us happy, you know? I have been on social media for a long time and I’m always on these different apps and I noticed how much it can affect me, alone. Most of the time I notice that many people go on social media because all of us feel comfortable talking to each other. We are complete strangers to each other, but most of us understand what we have gone through …social media is kind of like a safe place for some people.” Andrade’s opinion on this also makes a great point.

In conclusion, this is how social media affects people such as teens. A way we can fix this is by going outside and getting some fresh air or going for a walk. Another way is by setting a specific amount of time you use your social media.

I think that all three of the people interviewed all had good points in their own way. It’s good that some people still know about the down side of social media and the good side and that they know to set boundaries with it. With what I have said so far, you should try one of these things to avoid letting it negatively affect your mental health.