Social Media's Negative Effects on Teenage Girls' Mental Health
Emmerson Finnigan
The Role of Social Media
My Social Justice topic is Social Media's Negative Effects on Teenage Girls’ Mental Health. Within this topic, I will explore what is causing this to happen, and who is benefitting from this happening. What is Social Media you might ask? Social media is online technology that allows the sharing of ideas, thoughts, and information, including text, tiktoks, posts, etc. Social media plays a big role in many people's lives, especially in teenage girls' lives.
Why is this happening?
The negative side to social media: cyberbullying, body image, self-worth, etc. Social media sites often share images of individuals with what appear to be perfect looks and body shapes; these individuals often use filters and other photo-editing tools to improve their appearance. This results in women having low self-esteem and feeling unfulfilled due to unrealistic beauty standards.
Who benefits?
Although social media has lots of benefits and positive things there are also people who suffer from stuff that happens online and that is where the negativity of social media comes from. One of the main things that benefits is Social Media such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, etc., the more people that use these apps, the more money they make and the more popular they get. Another place that benefits is businesses, businesses that are online and produce their products online make a lot of money from how many people shop online, or hear about their business from online sources.
Who suffers?
On the other hand, multiple people suffer from social media being a highly based thing in this world. Those people are Teenage Girls. They are falling into a depression and some are committing suicide or hurting themselves. Another one is their families. Nobody wants to see their sister or daughter depressed and having suicidal thoughts. And lastly their friends. Imagine losing a friend because of bullying or body image, etc.