The Problem and its background Introduction Many would agree if I say that social media has been a great part of our everyday life. From the time that we go to sleep, up until we wake up in the morning. Because of this, social media has created a negative effect on human health over the recent years. Most especially on young teenagers. As social media has started taking an important role in the daily lives of many young teenagers, it also comes with a downfall. The most well-known social media platform is known as Facebook, which had an average of 329.65 million users in India alone. That proves that the role of social media has been consistent and well-received in many countries. As Erik Qualman said: “The power of social media is it forces necessary change.” Like what Erik Qualman said, such power and impact forces humans to have necessary changes, and those changes come with great negative effects. Knowing teenagers stubbornness and they’re lack in good judgment, they tend to become irresponsible when it comes to social media. Having depression, anxiety and mental health are just a few of the common illnesses that the youth are experiencing right now. A lot of people are suiciding or hurting themselves due to being bashed or bullied through social media platforms. And these are just a few of the negative effects of mishandling social media. Out there, a lot of parents are running out of options on how to discipline their children. Social media also faces many different types of problems on its own. Among this problems are identity theft, scams, and cyber-bullying that has been plaguing the social media platforms for a long time. On a lighter side, social media helped us to do things easier, especially during. this pandemic. Especially when comparing on how we communicate back then, there is no doubt that social media had truly played an important role in the way people communicate right now in this period of pandemic. As social media made it easier for people to communicate, through the use of its platforms. While social media was flourishing in this period of pandemic, just as when it started, there are still risks that are accompanying it. According to the World Health Organization (WHO): “ Technology advancements and social media create opportunities to keep people safe, informed and connected. However, the same tools also enable and amplify the current infodemic that continues to undermine the global response and jeopardizes measures to control the pandemic.” Seeing relatives abroad, gathering information, and learning new things may seem to be not that bad on the surface, but, the fact that not all the information that are gathered on social media are all true and valid informations far makes up for why social media can be tool that puts its users' lives at a certain risk. Such information is also a basis for false information to be spread. In which has started to take a trend for the worst. Facts had stated that fake news travels much more faster compared to real news. As false news can spread faster through circular reporting, where one source publishes misinformation that is picked up by another source, who cites the original source as evidence that the information is accurate and credible. This continues on as other news outlets report the misinformation and perpetuate the cycle. While considering fake news sources as a problem of using social media, there are still other problems that are of utmost concern for social media users. And cyber-bullying being one of the most well known issues concerning social media. In fact, social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and Youtube has been the most popular social media platforms that many people who suffer cyber-bullying use. Cyber-bullying grew to a point where even major networks like GMA 7 advocated to us to “Think before we click”. Making that phrase as the most commonly used by activist that wanted to stop the spread of cyberbullying. Through the continuous development of technology and social media, cyber-bullying only got worse and worse due to the increasing means in which cyber-bullying could occur. Aside from the fake news and the cyber-bullying that social media users dealt with, there is a far worse predicament that social media users had to face. And that is the threat of identity theft that has been running rampant know that humans had attained cryptocurrency that has taken a trend during this pandemic. The identity theft on social media platforms has been a huge threat for people that use online banking or cryptocurrency. Now that our technology has advanced to a state where even online banking has started to take a trend, the problem of identity theft has grown even more so back then. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC): “Identity fraud incidents increased around 45% in 2020, incurring huge financial losses for American citizens. In 2021, this trend continued with Americans suffering a total of 56 billion dollars in losses, according to the Javelin Strategy.” Us humans dependence towards social media platforms has now taken its toll on us. Even more so now that there is a pandemic happening around the world. So know we’ll take on the many different negative effects of social media over the human health of the young teenagers. Body If asked anyone whether they prefer to be alone or not, most of us would probably say no, as We humans are known for being social creatures. We were never meant to be alone as it is almost second to us to be with our fellow humans, whether we like it or not. And just through that social media came in handy. Being socially linked to others can ease stress, anxiety, and depression in Which social media has earned us a point. On the contrary, missing sturdy social connections can severely affect your intellectual and emotional fitness. In today’s world, lots of us depend upon social media structures like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, and Instagram to discover and connect with all of our friends. And while all of us benefited from them , it is still crucial to keep in mind that social media can by no means be a substitute for real-life human interactions. Social media keeps us from having much more interaction with our surroundings, causing us the lack of experience of interacting with peoples that surrounds us. As Frances Dalomba (LICSW, 2022) wrote: “Multitasking has become a common theme in our lives. It’s a wonder how we manage it all. We depend on our smartphones for work, school, our personal and social lives. When was the last time you left home without your phone and kept on going? The internet has become a significant part of our daily lives. So too has social media. And it is having an impact on today’s teens.” In this time of pandemic, it is really no wonder how we still managed to keep going in our daily lives. Social media has helped us take on the hurdle of being physically far apart from each other and it also gave us the opportunities to make an income. In fact, social media itself isn’t the problem, rather, it is on how we people use social media, that it became a problem. Just the fact that people take advantage of social media as a means to take advantage of others is enough to testify how the people, the users of social media itself took advantage of it and made it into something that has become a threat to society. Social media is addicting. As it let’s us to further expand our circle of friends and horizons, but, it also consumes the time where we should just go out and communicate with friends that we can be with. Social media cuts the time for us to enjoy with your actual friends or even family causing your relationship with them to be fragile. The most noticeable reason why social has always been addicting was the fear of missing out on social media trends. You see, people are social creatures, they will do anything just to get along with everyone. Having a friend you can talk to, or having someone you have the same interests with is something that most people wanted to achieve. And social media took advantage of that. In Order for us to use it. It generates features that we wanted, like video calls, a friend system where you can befriend even people abroad, and most importantly the feature that lets us to post what we want. And in those features came the problem. As social media and technology advances, people were becoming more and more aware of what is the importance of them. And on the other hand, people have started to take notice of their appearances. Social media sites provide tools that allow people to earn others’ approval for their appearance and the possibility to compare themselves to others. And that associates with people having body image concerns, causing them to self deprecate themselves. And while others have enough friends to comfort them and value themselves up again. Others just aren’t that social enough, causing them to self deprecate themselves even more. Much worst those people tend to suffer the most from depression, anxiety, and behavioral problems. Here’s another problem associated with social media. It is already well known that social media is addicting as it has many features. And now it is exactly because it too addicting that it became a problem. As people now tend to spend more time on social media rather than in real life, it also causes people to lack sleep. You see, sleep is an important aspect of our everyday life and as Danielle Pacheco (SleepFoundation,2022): “Sleep is an essential function that allows your body and mind to recharge, leaving you refreshed and alert when you wake up. Healthy sleep also helps the body remain healthy and stave off diseases. Without enough sleep, the brain cannot function properly. This can impair your ability to concentrate, think clearly, and process memories.” Most adults require between seven and nine hours of nightly sleep. Children and teenagers need substantially more sleep, particularly if they are younger than five years of age. And with social media, those hours of sleep have been taken away. It is estimated that most people use social media most of the time before they go to sleep, causing they’re sleep to be affected though it doesn't have much of an impact outside. It had a huge impact on our mental health. Studies show that the lack of sleep can lead to a higher risk for certain diseases and medical conditions. These include obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and poor mental health resulting in an early death. Another problem associated with social media on the mental health of the young teenagers is that teenagers that use social media tend to develop attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). According to Dr. Francis Collins (NIH, 2018): “The rise of smartphones, tablets, and other mobile technologies has put digital media, quite literally, at the fingertips of today’s youth. Most teens now have ready access to a smartphone, with about half spending the majority of their waking hours texting, checking social media sites, watching videos, or otherwise engaged online.So, what does this increased access to digital media, along with the instant gratification that it provide a mean for teens’ health and wellbeing? In a twoyear study of more than 2,500 high school students in Los Angeles, NIH-funded researchers found that those who consumed the most digital media were also the most likely to develop symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).” By spending more time on social media than with friends in real life. Many of your offline social interactions have been replaced by using social media. Even when you're out with friends, you feel compelled to check social media on a regular basis, frequently motivated by the fear that others are having more fun than you. On social media, making negative comparisons to others. You have a low sense of self worth or a negative body image. You might even have problematic eating patterns. Distractions at school or at work. You're under pressure to post new stuff about yourself on a regular basis, to receive comments or likes on your postings, and to answer to friends' posts immediately and passionately. There isn't enough time in the day for self-reflection. You spend every spare moment on social media, leaving little or no time to focus on who you are, what you think, or why you act the way you do the things that help you grow as a person. Social media has been Eating your entire personality, constantly seeking the attention of others just to satisfy yourself. Risking one's safety in order to obtain likes, shares, or favorable feedback on social media. You engage yourself in harmful pranks, upload humiliating contents, cyberbullying others just to satisfy yourself, or to use your phone while driving in potentially hazardous situations. Social media has been taken advantage of by us people more so than we have imagined. Slowly social media has taken its roots on us that we can’t stop using it for a minute. All while those that are being excluded from social media are being pressured to the point where they develop mental Disorders that are slowly taking away they’re personality and lives. Just the fact that social media has come a long way in changing our lives is proof enough that the power that technology possesses can be far more lethal to us humans than we had imagined. The influence of social media over the world has reached a state where social media alone could generate a typical stereotype to a point where racial and ethnic groups has been struggling to keep up with how social media has affected their lives. Countless studies demonstrate that these media continue to reproduce ethnic and racial stereotypes, with often harmful effects. And that these stereotypes are completely biased and are only showcasing the minority of their roles giving the public a narrower viewpoint on each groups causing them to be overlooked by many. Another effect of social media stereotyping is mostly found on teenagers. As soon as the kids begun to use social media, the larger the influence it will have on their mental health. This statement is particularly true for women. As while teen males are more likely to act aggressively physically, females are more likely to act aggressively in relationships by excluding others and making nasty statements. Such harmful interactions are more likely to occur as a result of social media. Jacqueline Sperling (McLean) made an example out of this stating that: “A seventh grader whose best friend chooses a new best friend and posts pictures of the pair at the movies or on a weekend trip. “Twenty years ago, the girl may have been excluded from her best friend’s activities, but she may not have known about it unless she was told explicitly,” Jacqueline Sperling’s statement is showcasing that while there are many enjoyable features and benefits that can be used on social media, there are also consequences on those features and benefits that can cause harm to the people that surround us. And just as we had stated earlier that people are social creatures. The feeling that people get on being left out on a friends post made it that social media became harmful for their mental health. You see, as those people that are being left out started to feel anxiety, that feeling of anxiety only grows stronger day by day causing Them depression and other mental health problems. And social media being the root cause for the anxiety and depression that they felt. Recommendation As now that social media has been a huge part of our daily lives, it became no wonder that we had started to rely on it more and more over the years. And while it is true that social media have been of great help to us, it came at a cost where many lives are affected. And in that, many issues had started to arise. Staying connected with friends and family from afar is what social media makes us capable of, but through time, it cost us real life interactions with them. There are even times when the people that we interact with over social media may even be bad people, and yet, we don’t even know of it. You see, the problem in social media is that we tend to overuse it, that it came where it started to cause harm over us. And the only thing that we can do in order for us to stop overusing social media is to set up a boundary in which we cannot overdo. We must learn on how to control ourselves not to overdo Something like social media. We must set up a boundary in order for us to stop ourselves from overdoing it and losing focus on real life interactions. And, another problem that we face in social media is that, it made us to be more conscious over Our appearance rather than letting ourselves be. And that escalated to a point where people have started to value a person's worth over they’re appearance alone. Which then led to people having body image concerns due to the harassment that they received. How can we overcome this issue? While harassment over social media has been running rampant over the years. The answer over it was actually very simple. And that answer is simply to just stop the harassment and bullying that has taken over social media. Because only when the harassment and bullying have stopped will people start to appreciate themselves again because there won’t be anything that are taking they’re self esteems down anymore. All these years, social media has become a huge help to us. And even after all the negative Effects that it brought to us, it is simply just us humans taking advantage of something that had the power to forever change our lives. If only we handled social media in a positive way where there are no longer any issues that are of significant concerns for our lives will we be able to overcome our problems a lot more Easier and convenient. The problem that had arisen over social media platforms are the aftermaths of our negligence over the fact that, all of the actions that we take can affect the lives of many that are surrounding us. Risking our own safety in order to obtain likes, shares, or favorable feedback on social media. Engaging in harmful pranks, uploading humiliating content, cyberbullying others, and even using our phone to expose not just ourselves but also others to potentially hazardous situations. We can no longer object that we are the main reasons why social media has became not just a problem, but rather a huge threat to our society. The increase in our abusive behavior over social media had impacted the way people that use social media live. If only we managed to set a boundary sooner rather than later on using social media, maybe the social media that we knew now may have been different. Our actions over social media had been the reason why social media has become what it is now. And it is our responsibilities as the people’s involved to solve and put an end to the problems that we ourselves have caused. Bibliography - https://www.lifespan.org/lifespan-living/social-media-good-bad-andugly?fbclid=IwAR2l0Za5U2_3DVoEHhewP1kGEV3b_eW6sAxYqKsAkpTJdGmse nHzgzqHVNk - https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mental-illness/symptoms-causes/syc20374968?fbclid=IwAR24Ky3svZ4JATAwHB5DhwKQ0QmJn4o1D3FSJCPUZEHh swNAEGoImDSar58#:~:text=Overview,eating%20disorders%20and%20addictive%2 0behaviors - https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/servicesandsupport/types-of-mentalhealth-issues-andillnesses?fbclid=IwAR2eWB1tXJTOvLvMhV5whRzrSJ6qeBjg8zlQrD8Jon1Dlm6Z werp8HC_jYo - https://www.sleepstation.org.uk/articles/sleep-tips/socialmedia/?fbclid=IwAR1Q1TQzm-XFx0Z9h3oqBKPsEYDh_gePTqZqys9ByR2o5qdZzMtnSoZIs#:~:text=Summary,feeling%20unrefreshed%20the%20next%20day - https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/it-or-not-social-medias-affecting-yourmental-health?fbclid=IwAR0JcFiR5p4PRHoqg4YAoNVwBJMCtiaYfOsv3ddzuajQilDlvcFxCiCA1o - https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2018/07/24/study-associates-frequent-digital-media-usein-teens-with-adhdsymptoms/?fbclid=IwAR0LE3dJSYVtvrMVw57yepTwmu_2C_JYyjyLMvIfrkbMy_RQSb1nux1ZrU#:~:text=In%20a%20two%2Dyear%20study,(ADH D)%20%5B2%5D - https://medium.com/social-media-stories/designing-to-stop-cyberbullying-currentsolutions-f78d2fada84f - https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affectsteenagers/#:~:text=Some%20experts%20worry%20that%20teens,more%20misunders tandings%20and%20hurt%20feelings - https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/08/mentalillness#:~:text=WASHINGTON%E2%80%94When%20it%20comes%20to,by%20th e%20American%20Psychological%20Association - https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/it-or-not-social-medias-affecting-yourmentalhealth#:~:text=When%20people%20look%20online%20and,loss%2C%20and%20po or%20academic%20performance https://l.messenger.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Flink.springer.com%2Freferencew orkentry%2F10.1007%2F978-981-13-0242-8_261&h=AT2Sw8Hi91SFUZ5FIYhL7zM4KcfDYs3zPfvLeVw9N6qfo6O1UNpHnkthlP99CR4Ej_czQfRFIwaVYPqkqBu99E36IxJjexiaBkswRWHLsq9wO rQr5AXo5RRCd3xdMzhGlJ7MA - https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/social-media-and-mental-health.htm
