PHOTO BY S. MONTGOMERY

Originally published January 24, 2023

Social media is something that has become part of our everyday lives but do we know the impact it’s causing on students? Many schools have noticed the effects of social media platforms. The Seattle School District is suing many social media platforms for the mental health crisis going on. Going after social media platforms that are very used by students such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat.

Although social media has many good aspects, social media also encourages cyberbullying because of their age, race, gender, or simply teasing how they look. This type of teasing causes feelings of students being anxious, powerless, and insecure.

Eighth-grader Madilyn Shellhammer talks about some of the positive effects and some negative effects of being on social media.

“You can meet new people, it is also easier for you to contact your friends and family.” Shellhammer said. “[But] a lot of people get addicted, there are [also] negative comments.”

There have been multiple accounts made on social media of certain schools including MBMS, and they make disrespectful comments on other people’s appearances. These accounts are difficult to get taken down and by the time they are taken down, the damage has already been done.

Statistics on the website socialnetworking.procon.org tells how 59% of American teens have been bullied online by spreading fake rumors, physical threats, and offensive name calling.

Rude comments towards others, no matter what it’s about can affect a students mental health.

“I've gotten comments and stuff that aren't very nice,” Shellhammer said.

Seventh-grader Schmon Otis agreed with Shellhammers opinion on social media.

“There is negative stuff out there or like people can say negative things to you. That can really drain your mental health.” Otis said. “Or like really hurt you in certain ways. So yeah, I feel like [social media] can affect you.”

Social media not only affects students' mental health, but it has, and does affect their grades. It causes distractions from our homework when students often go home and take a “small break” which leads to being on their phone all afternoon leaving them with no time for school work.

“I wasn't that heavy on [last year], but this year, like I am, I really like [social media] a lot. And, like my grades have, dropped at least one grade like it went from my A's to B's mostly.” Otis said.

Shellhammer talks about how social media affected her online school learning during 2020 through 2021.

“When we were online [it affected my learning] because I was on my phone during the Zooms a lot of the time,” Shellhammer said.

With the impact of social media towards teens because of students' constant use of it there should be a balance of making enough time for other activities clearing your mind because social media and the people on it can create a toxic and unhealthy environment for the minds of students.