Social media has affected students’ lives in both positive and negative ways. It is a way to communicate with friends, family, and peers. But social media has also created a lot of negative things in everyday life. Students have explained that it’s created issues with body image or led to eating disorders. It has caused depression, anxiety, and many other mental illnesses in high school students.

A recent poll on our Instagram account asked the question, “Has social media affected your mental, physical, or emotional health? If it has, was it in a good way or bad?” One student, who has not had the best overall experience with social media responded with, “definitely, not in the best way.” Another student answered, “It has in a good way because it made it to where I can stay in contact with my friends.”

In the article “Social Media’s Impact on Students’ Mental Health Comes Into Focus” from the NEA Today, 95% of teens use a smartphone with 45% saying they have some level of a consistent online presence.  The article further explains that nearly 70% of all teens use Snapchat and Instagram, while 85% can be found on Youtube. As you can see, social media is in almost every student’s life and is engrained in the world we live in today.  It’s hard to stay away from it without feeling like you’re missing out on something.

It has also affected the way students socialize with each other without a device between them. Social media appears to be crippling students when it comes to interacting with one another in person. Students cannot socialize at school in person because they’re so fixated on socializing through social media. This is the problem. Social media is affecting students in everyday life, whether it be in a good or bad way.

For more information about the effects, social media is having on teens visit the Mayo Clinic to learn about its studies on tween and teen social media health.