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Alexandra Dubuc

Professor Dean Leonard

English 1201.509

21 July 2019

The Risks of Scrolling Too Far: Effects of Social Media on Teens and Young Adults

One of the worst things that can happen to a teen is a dead phone battery. While

some generations grew up watching the Moon Landing or the Berlin Wall, the current

generation that consists of people born 1990s-mid 2000s, iGen, can watch anything

from The Bachelor to documentaries about conspiracy theories or unsolved crimes.

These teens and young adults have shown to be the smartest generation so far

because of all of this access to internet as they were/are growing up. Not only can they

fix a frozen screen, but they also know more about world issues unlike any other

previous generation has been able to, an example of how tech savvy they are and how

accessible technology has made communication. This generation is also one of the

safest generations because they are not as interested in rebellious and illegal behavior

like as much as previous generations (Cornish) since they are consuming so much of

their time invested in social media and surfing the web. However, all good things come

with a cost and since research about technology is still growing, many risks are still

unknown but the ones that are known are very alarming. Technology has fueled social

media addictions among the generation, Gen Z, also known as iGen, as well as in older

adults. Addiction to social media can cause mental problems and decrease someones

quality of life if not regulated and used correctly, these risks are not advertised to

consumers and tech companies should consider implementing changes.

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Technology has allowed the human race to accomplish incredible feats, such as

navigating urban cities and making sure your 500 closest friends see your new haircut,

but it has also affected humans in a negative way. The addiction to social media is

causing people to experience depression and lower their satisfaction of life as a result of

constant comparison to other people through checking social media platforms such as

Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, etc. Teens and young adults are the most affected as

they grew up with this technology and are the most involved on the internet, specifically

on social media, after all not many of them can remember life without modern

technology. With this addiction, comes increased mental illness problems such as

anxiety and depression as people are spending more time with their social media

connections as oppose to real life social connections and relationships and this is

preventing them from allowing of natural mental development.

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Figure 1: Results released from CBS, a governmental institution. (2018) Displays the

increase in negative effects social media has on different aspects of young adults.

In an article released by CBC Radio, Jean Twenge who is a psychology

professor, states that teens are more at risk of tech addiction because of the stage of

their brain development. Twenge says, “[The teen years are] a developmental stage

when [teens are] just so concerned with fitting in and social status and popularity, so the

phone becomes even more attractive under those circumstances.” This creates further

problems because as the teenage years are when young people feel the need to gain

popularity and fit in among their peers and receive acceptance from their peers. Now

through social media, measuring the level of acceptance is easy since most social

media platforms display the number of likes or retweets, also making it almost too easy

to compare with others. It can be difficult for a teen to feel satisfied with one’s self

because young people are constantly comparing themselves to others on social media.

These factors are contributing to the increase of mental issues as people are constantly

trying to prove themselves in the digital world and not spending enough time and effort

being present in the real world and failing to engage in real life experiences. In the same

article, Clive Thompson, technology journalist, explains reason for concern that young

people have been thrown into the internet world and are unknowingly being sucked in

by big tech corporations such as Facebook and Twitter who have specifically designed

their products to maximize the capture of the user’s attention. The accessibly and ease

of social media makes it difficult to disconnect for some people, not allowing them to

enjoy real life. The combination of bright, visually appealing graphics and the idea of
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trying to get the most likes are the reason people have become addicted to their

screens and also experience mental issues. When smartphones became popular,

people started to experience more loneliness, depression and suicidal thoughts

(Twenge) and were not able to put their phones down because they are designed to be

addictive with their bright colors and graphics and how they trigger satisfaction with the

notification of likes on social media.

With social media addictions, it has created a prime distraction for teens, taking

up valuable time that they could spend sleeping or eating. In an article released by the

Child Mind Institute, a contributing factor to the lack of mental well-being in teens is that

they are not getting enough sleep to allow for their brain to rest and repair themselves.

Lack of sleep amplifies the negative feeling associated with technology, specifically

social media use. These negative aspects of technology include anxiety, depression

and cyber-bullying. According to Lauren Sherman, Digital Media researcher, the risk of

depression increases by twenty-seven percent for individuals that are heavy users of

social media. This number is only expected to rise as it increased by fifty percent for

girls and twenty-one percent for boys between 2012-2015. Part of the reason social

media is so popular is that “[social media] has been shown to affect the reward centers

that are so active in teen brains. An imaging study has shown that these regions are

activated when participants viewed images with a lot of ‘Likes’.” (qtd. in Child Mind

Institute) These statistics are going to continue to get worse as young people become

more and more addicted to their phones, and spending more time on social media. Not

only are the addictions to social media affecting how young people feel about
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themselves mentally, it is resulting in malnourished and sleep deprived groups of people

that are expected to be leaders of the world eventually as CEOs, bosses and inventors.

At a glance, social media platforms such as Instagram may seem harmless ways

to connect with peers and long-distance friends and family, but there are some hidden

dangers that are not talked about enough that people need to be aware of. These

platforms create distractions for young people and everyone because it can keep

people awake as oppose to going to bed for hours, which leads to sleep deprivation,

which causes productivity and health issues. These social media platforms can also

create distractions during the day as people check their phones multiple times a day,

diverting their attention from what they were doing before. This can become problematic

for students because social media can get them easily distracted from schoolwork,

making it take longer to complete an assignment in which they need to stay up later to

meet deadlines, contributing to the sleep deprivation. A sleep deprived student

experiences difficulty focusing and stay focus from long periods of time, making them

easily distracted and more likely to spend time on social media. This continues the

unhealthy cycle that is all too familiar to college and high school students of lack of

sleep, staying up late, distractions and social media. Not only does sleep deprivation

lead to lower test scores, but according to Lynne Peeples, a science and medical writer

for NBC News, technology has also led to lower score because of how distracting, yet

crucial they have become in today’s society.

The connection social media and technology brings to people can make it that

much harder to disconnect in order to truly enjoy the moment. The use of technology

has provided people with constant distractions as they feel the need to check on things
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constantly and reply instantly. In an article published by UVA Today, Jane Kelly

discusses an experiment that tested how people, college aged individuals were used for

this study, felt when their phone was taken away at dinner or if they could use it. The

results are not surprising, as individuals that did not have access to their phones were

reported to have enjoyed there dinner more than the individuals that could use their

phones. A similar experiment was conducted at a science museum where parents were

asked to either minimize or maximum their phone usage. Afterwards, the parents that

minimized their phone usage felt more socially connected with their children (Kelly).

Even though some people were not able to check their phone during the dinner or

during their trip to the museum, the people that contacted them survived, even though

they did not get an immediate response. Anything that happened on social media, was

still there for them to view. The world did not end. This is proof that they people have an

unnecessary urge to check they phone constantly, even though a delayed response is

okay too. Obviously in some circumstances an immediate response is necessary but

disconnecting from a phone is important part of mental well-being. If someone is

concerned that they will miss an actual important message, they could inform people to

not contact them unless it is an emergency for X amount of time or only allow certain

contacts to show as notifications. Disconnecting is a necessary action to help with

phone addiction and can improve someone’s mental health by thinking clearer and

being more aware of their surrounds and themselves. The studies were conducted to

make people aware of what they could be missing out on by simply putting their phone

away. The studies also show that tech addictions can occur in people of various ages,

not just teens and can affect people all around them, even their own children.
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The differences between phone or no phone and how people enjoyed their time

raises concern as teens that are addicted now, they might be missing out on much more

than a picture of an insta-worthy brunch spread. While being connection to the rest of

the world digitally may seem more pleasing to GenZ, they may come to regret not

putting down their phone and being present in the moment. The studies mentioned in

the publication from UVA Today, brings attention to the fact that people are missing out

on making memories and need to make it a priority to have memorable experiences and

not just take a picture or post about it. Most people from the older generations have

many stories about when they were young or what they would do during the summer,

but when Gen Z grows up and tries to tell stories, it will probably consist of “I saw this

thing online,” which is must less interesting and also very sad that when people think

back on their lives, they only remember scrolling through social media. Simple things

such as putting your phone in another room during dinner or talking with friends can

help make someone be more present in the moment and take a break from being

tethered to the digital world. These breaks allow someone to have the chance to

develop real-life mental, social and emotional skills and make them feel more content

with their life.

There is something to be said about social media decreasing the quality of life,

as they are creating distractions for people and preventing them from enjoying real life

but there are some positive aspects of social media as a matter of fact. These phones

and technology devices capture the user’s attention, preventing them from spending

time with people in real life but if that is controlled, they can be beneficial.

Communication is a key aspect of any relationship and technology and social media
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make that easy in modern society. In a study that looked at how college-aged people

felt about social media and how they used it, it was concluded that “[Chapman

University] can see that social media users do not feel unsatisfied with their

interpersonal relationships, but instead feel that the accessibility of social media can be

used to improve relationship satisfaction with more frequent interaction.” This study

focused on how social media affected relationships, face-to-face and online, and the

results concluded that technology can improve or worse a relationship, depending on

how it is used and the people themselves and their actions. Social media is a great tool

for communication between people with its easy accessibility and how convenient

platforms make it. Since face-to-face communication is not always possible, especially

since it seems everyone has crazy schedules these days, social media allows people to

stay connected when 15-20 years ago, you have to just wait until the next time they

meet up. With the convenience of technology and social media today, people are able

to maintain relationships with people until they are able to meet up again.

This conclusion can be good or bad depending on the situation because social

media platforms can serve as a mediator in tough encounters. With this mediator people

now longer have to deal with the emotional challenges in person and does not allow

them to develop as much emotional because the mediator acts as a buffer for their

emotions. Which does a good job at depicting that social media, just like many things in

life, must be used in moderation in be of benefitable use.

Technology now-a-days makes remembering dates and phone numbers very

easy for humans because these devices do the remembering for us, but this

dependency on phones is negatively affecting human’s brains and affecting people’s

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trust. According to an article released by NBC News, people have become so

dependent on their phones that humans are less likely to ask strangers to help since

they would rather look it up on their phones instead, because they do not trust strangers

like humans used to. This trust problem is present on various age ranges as people and

will likely continue as people continue to be addicted to their phones. Since brains are

still developing in adolescence, teens that trust their phones more than people are

missing out on people skills and emotional skills. The lack of these skills and other brain

development has been shown to eventually cause mental problems, such as anxiety

and depression (Peeples). The trust problem that has developed can negatively affect

relationships in the workplace as someone may not trust someone else simply because

they do not share the same race or heritage. According to Nicholas Carr, a technology

author that was referenced in Peeples, these trust problems are feared to divide society

because, researchers are worried that with so much information available to people,

people will only believe information that supports their beliefs and moral. Tech addicts

that rely on their phones for information may experience trust issues and based on a

study by the National Institutes of Health, may also experience more difficulty with short

term memory and problem solving. Since humans are relying on technology to

remember simple things or use it as an alternative to real-life social interaction,

someone that is attached to their phone may find it harder to think for long period of

time, remember things or think deeply. This can create problems since they rely on

something else to think for them, they will not be as able to come up with they own,

original ideas.
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While social media is negative affecting tech addicts, there have been some

efforts put into action to help people with their addictions. According to Joe Bubar in an

article published by Scholastic, China has begun using treatment centers where,

“teenagers at the facilities wear camouflage uniforms and have to perform military-style

drills. The boot camps, which mostly cut teens off from internet access entirely, have

drawn sharp criticism for what many see as overly harsh treatment.” (Bubar) While this

is a very extreme way to go about the tech addiction problem, it is a serious problem

that needs more attention than is currently receives. Bubar continues in the article to

mention that a treatment center in Washington is helping teens and adults, some of

which have had to drop out of school and have become malnourished because they

have become addicted to video games and/or the internet, to come clean and reach a

healthier lifestyle. The people that attend these treatment centers are looking for help

because they have tried to control their internet addiction but were unsuccessful. These

people had begun to be mentally, emotionally, and physically affected by their

development of addiction to various forms of the internet, such as social media and

video games. People that do not get help in these treatment centers or similar, may

experience productive problems as well which could lead to financial troubles and

stress. Some social media platforms have started to develop tools to help with the tech

addictions such as allowing the user to see how much time they spend on an app on a

daily basis. Companies such as Facebook now allow users to mute notifications for

certain periods of time which is a good step in helping the addiction problems, however

features such as this are not widely advertised (Booth). Common Sense Media is an

organization that is trying to help children in the virtual world and help teach them
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proper ways to use the internet and prevent addiction. The knowledge and information

an organization like Common Sense Media releases is crucial in educating people

about the risks of social media addictions and ways to help prevent and reduce the

affects.

Technology and social media are great tools and have made the world a smaller

place with the ability for instant communication and sharing of information, but these

great tools also have negative sides that are affecting teens and young adults in ways

that are not very obvious at a quick glance. Adolescence is the time that the brain is

developing emotional skills and people skills along with self-control; but with social

media, teens are experiencing more loneliness and depression because they are not

applying these skills in real life experiences and instead are become addicted to their

screens and fueling their desires of getting ‘likes’ on their latest post or seeing what

someone just posted. The accessibility of technology and social media makes it even

more difficult for young people to have enough self-control to pulling oneself away from

a screen and take a much-needed break. Spending too much time sucked into a screen

has led to problems in people’s quality of life and their mental health. These negative

attributes of technology and social media are present in teens along with in adults and

are affecting peoples’ well-being. Too much time spent on social media, if not properly

regulated or balanced with real-life experiences can lead to anxiety, depression and

suicidal-related incidents. These risks can become much more dangerous than perhaps

a bee sting from spending time enjoying the outdoors with friends. The risks associated

with spending a lot of time staring at a screen and scrolling are not widely publicized,

making many people unaware of the consequences of their habits, however, this could
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be changed through tech companies implementing regulations to make their products

less addictive.

Works Cited

Booth, Callum. “Facebook and Instagram officially announce new tools to fight social

media addiction.” The Next Web, 1 Aug. 2018.

https://thenextweb.com/facebook/2018/08/01/social-media-addiction-facebook-

instagram/

Bubar, Joe. “Are You Hooked on Your Phone? Your smartphone--and the games and

apps on it--are designed to grab and hold your attention. But what effect is all

that screen time having on you?” Upfront Scholastic, 12 Mar. 2018, pp. 6-9.

https://upfront.scholastic.com/issues/2017-18/031218/are-you-addicted-to-your-

phone.html#1200L.

CBC Radio. “What are smartphones doing to young people?” CBC. 19 Nov. 2017

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/the-sunday-edition-november-19-

2017-1.4406916/what-are-smartphones-doing-to-young-people-1.4406942.

CBS. “More and more young adults addicted to social media” CBS. 18 May 2018

https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/news/2018/20/more-and-more-young-adults-addicted-to-

social-media

Cornish, Audie. “How Smartphones Are Making Kids Unhappy.” NPR. 7 Aug. 2017

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/08/07/542016165/how-

smartphones-are-making-kids-unhappy.

Kelly, Jane. “The Troubling Side Effects of Smartphones.” UVAToday, 2 Aug. 2018,

https://news.virginia.edu/content/troubling-side-effects-smartphones.
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Peeples, Lynne. “Can’t put down the phone? How smartphones are changing our brains

– and lives.” NBCnews. 14 Dec. 2018.

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/surprising-ways-smartphones-affect-

our-brains-our-lives-ncna947566.

Porter, Kathryn, et al. “Effects of Social Media Use on Relationship Satisfaction”

Chapman University Communication Studies Undergraduate Research Journal.

Vol 2, no 1, 2012

http://journals.chapman.edu/ojs/index.php/mc/article/view/340/735.

Twenge, Jean and L.E. Sherman. “Smartphones and Social Media. ” Child Mind

Insitute. 2017 https://childmind.org/report/2017-childrens-mental-health-

report/smartphones-social-media/.