The suicide and depression in children have skyrocketed as technology has evolved, and statistics show that it is only going to get worse.

1. Viviana Zaragoza
English 102 - 07
Professor Sumstad
Commentary Essay
October 10, 2020
The Mental Health Impact Social Media has on Youth
The impact social media has on youths mental health has been rapidly increasing
throughout the years as technology itself evolves. More and more children are going into social
media at younger ages than we have ever seen before. Causing them to be exposed to
mature/sensitive content that could physically and physiologically affect them due to them being
too young for the media. Therefore, them not knowing how to process what they see online. To
minimize the amount of children impacted there should be more restrictions on who gets to view
specific content. As in age restrictions as to who gets to see sensitive content regardless of
warnings before video/picture plays. But not just limit what kids can see; but also minimizing the
amount of hate speech being targeted to people. Also, shaping the way women and men are
viewed in society which would be something on the more difficult side because views on gender
have been implemented to us since the beginning of time. The purpose in doing these actions
would be to try to lower the death rate of children. As well as controlling cyberbullying and
decreasing hate on children within each other. But also to boost their self esteem as to how they
view themselves and others in society. This issue has gone on for too long for there to be little to
no change in our methods on controlling it. Children should feel safe in an environment that is
for everyone to share.

2. The suicide and harm rates in youth have drastically increased throughout the years, due
to how they are influenced online as well as traumatic things they have viewed on the web that
has stuck to them. “Jacqueline Nesi, the author of “The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental
Health,” states “From 2007 to 2017 youth aged 10-24 increasing in suicide deaths 56%...Youth is
influenced by what they see online, whether it is the good or the bad.” which shows that
adolescents follow what everyone else is doing.” This goes to show that adolescents follow what
everyone else is doing. They are easily influenced by the media. If they continue to view the
same type of material they will normalize it and want to do it as well. As technology expands, so
does the amount of children that use it. Kids from the age of 10 should not be thinking about how
to harm themselves; the only way they would be thinking of this is if they have seen it elsewhere,
hence social media. An article by the name of “Teens and social media use: What's the impact?”
written by multiple authors stated, “Because of teens' impulsive natures, experts suggest that
teens who post content on social media are at risk of sharing intimate photos or highly personal
stories... Teens often create posts without considering these consequences or privacy concerns.”
Adolescents often lean towards what other people are doing and their brain does not process
what is right or wrong the same way as adults. They do not view the consequences as well as
those whose brains are fully developed causing them to make mistakes that will affect their life
forever. We can prevent the suicide death rates from getting any higher by focusing on the users
instead of the ones who are posting it. The approach sounds crazy but it could work. “Those who
post graphic things on the web are often made through fake accounts and once reported their
account gets paused or taken down. However most of them just go and create a new one causing
no change to occur.” By focusing on what daily users view we can limit the amount of exposure
to unwanted content.

3. When it comes to social media many people love to hide behind the screen and bash on
others. We say things that come to us easily through a screen, but many do not really realize how
hurtful those words can become when it is not just one person saying it. Kids experience this
type of hate speech all the time. Article “How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers” by author
Rachel Ehmke believes that, “The other big danger that comes from kids communicating more
indirectly is that it has gotten easier to be cruel. “Kids text all sorts of things that you would
never in a million years contemplate saying to anyone’s face,” says Dr. Donna Wick.” ​Many do
not reach out to others to ask for help when they are being targeted and due to staying quiet they
end up keeping it to themselves for many reasons. Keeping all of what they are going through
bottled up, children that are experiencing this can develop depression or suicidal thoughts. Nesi
states that “​Cybervictimization, or the experience of being a victim of bullying by peers online,
has been consistently found to be associated with higher rates of self-harm and suicidal
behavior.” ​Those who experience cyberbullying whether it is from friends at school or strangers
online can begin to feel anxiety out in public, causing it to be a problem not just in the media but
out in the real world. The University of Nevada put out an article stating that “​20% of people
who have at least one social media account feel they have to check them at least once every three
hours to avoid feeling anxious.” ​Even though children could be having a normal talk in public
their mentality could be to what they are used to receiving in social media causing them to
become distant from others as a way of feeling safe. To fix this issue we can create reminders on
the app letting them know how much time they have been on instagram, snapchat, etc as a way
of distancing themselves from social media and acknowledging how much time they have been
on it. But for the bullying that happens, what we can do would be to emphasize to children that

4. they have the option to report a user or block because sometimes they do forget they even have
those options.
What the media has always portrayed in younger men and women has always been
criticized by society. Girls and boys are influenced to look a certain way, whether it is what they
wear or what size they are in clothes. The media might not even say being skinny is better but
they do implement it by having ads be what their normal population does not look like or being
realistic. These kids believe that is how they are supposed to look so they change themselves to
look that way. If they can’t they do not feel comfortable in their body, causing mental and
physical health issues. “Higher levels of online social comparison are associated with depressive
symptoms in youth.” When kids try to look like what the media has put out for them to be, they
develop mental disorders caused by the excessive amount of idealization they have on their
bodies. “May heighten disordered eating and body image concerns.” Adolescents want to reach
that standard that society has put onto them and they do this by starving themselves and not
eating right. This can lead to illnesses caused by themselves. Disordered eating can lead to
physical health issues in addition to their mental health causing this to be a big issue for minors
whose health defenses are low. And those with depression can lead to suicidal thoughts causing
self harm on themselves or those around them. This problem of the ideal gender body figure has
been an issue for as long as we can remember, but what we need to do to fix it is have more
variation of color and sized women sponsored in ads showing that we all come in different
shapes and sizes for younger women to not be discouraged by all the same shapes they are used
to seeing.
The problem that needs to be addressed is the rate of adolescents developing mental
health issues and drastically increasing. More and more children will continue to be exposed to

5. this bad side of the media while technology grows as well. A change must occur for this to stop.
While yes there have been small tweaks made to minimize the amount of sensitive content
younger viewers can see, the ongoing rate of suicides due to media has not stopped or slowed
down. We need to hold those who post graphic content promoting self harm accountable, not just
taking their video down or deleting their account. They will eventually make a new one. Instead,
those who have posted content like that in the past should be monitored here and there. But not
just that would cut it, what the media allows advertisements to promote should be monitored as
well. They are the ones influencing children to look or dress a certain way and there should be
restrictions. If we do this we can slowly start to fix what was once broken in children.

6. Bibliography
“Teens and Social Media Use: What's the Impact?” ​Mayo Clinic​, Mayo Foundation for Medical
Education and Research, 21 Dec. 2019,
www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/tween-and-teen-health/in-depth/teens-and-social-me
dia-use/art-20474437.
The website has authors that work together to find research and post into one article. They tell
the readers the good about social media and the bad it being the main topic of the article and
ways you can protect your children. The authors believe that social media impacts their sleep,
distracts them and have shown that three hours a day of media can heighten mental health
impacts. But they are not saying youth can not use the media but for parents to allow their kids
to know the dangers/risk factors to it and how they can protect themselves and others.
“Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health.” ​University of Nevada, Reno​, 30 Dec. 2019,
onlinedegrees.unr.edu/online-master-of-public-health/impact-of-social-media-on-youth-me
ntal-health/.
This site is an online university that talks about youth getting to the point where they use social
media so much it becomes an addiction. With the addiction causing children to forget how to
function with real life people outside of their screens, causing them to lose touch with family.
They also use a lot of percentages as to how many kids are cyberbullied, stalked, have seen
explicit images, and more.
Rachel Ehmke is managing editor at the Child Mind Institute. “How Using Social Media Affects
Teenagers.” ​Child Mind Institute​, 16 June 2020,
childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/.
Author Rachel Ehmke states that as younger children begin to enter social media they
start growing this amount of hate towards one another through online. They feel like
they are able to tell someone these horrible things because there will be no actions for
their consequences due to it all being through online. This becoming oppressed children
oppressing other children.