The Student Room Group

teenage mental health

how come adults blame social media for teenagers mental health???
brooooo school and parents put so much preassure and they dont undertand (lol just making a point)
Original post by broimconfused
how come adults blame social media for teenagers mental health???


Social media does have a massive impact on mental health.
Reply 3
Girls getting eating disorders and and overly applying makeup wasn't nearly as common before social media; it's all about appearances now. That being said, parent/teacher pressure also plays a massive role. At the sixth form I go to, the girls side lower school is one of the top 3 schools in the county academically, but there is a huge presence of eating disorders and depression. I think social media has exacerbated already-existing issues.
Original post by broimconfused
how come adults blame social media for teenagers mental health???


I think it is a generational issue. Some older people have the view that when something happens, you try to resolve it and move on. Those days people faced many challenges and kept going. Now, it seems our generation is unable to persevere with resilience.

When I was at school, we had loads of work to do. We complained but still did it. Now, it seems school kids lack basic resilience, some seem to quit before even trying.

I think this attitude is dangerous and we are not as weak as we are being told.
I don't even get how social media is impacting people's mental health. Us school kids can get on with it and we do already.

We just talk about mh more, a good thing.
(edited 4 years ago)
Reply 6
Although I dislike social media a lot (which is very uncommon for my age) it isn't the sole cause for poor mental health, despite what many parents, teachers and news outlets say. To put it bluntly, I am not exactly in peak mental health conditions right now, and that is mostly the fault of school and definitely not social media, because I don't use it.
Reply 7
In my opinion they don't believe that it existed in their day, when social media did not exist. They've simply made a link between the presence of social media and the increasing number of teenagers (and primary school students) suffering from mental health conditions.
In reality, its a much bigger and more complex picture than that.
Don't get me wrong, certain things on social media can add to it, but at the same time there are things that can help (I know for sure that there are a number of users on this forum that feel better when they get support here).

I guess the biggest thing to remember is that mental health conditions existed when adults were growing up, it was just not talked about anywhere near as much as it is today.
Original post by broimconfused
brooooo school and parents put so much preassure and they dont undertand (lol just making a point)


Original post by broimconfused
how come adults blame social media for teenagers mental health???
true. it does play a big part i guess
Original post by ArabLlama
Social media does have a massive impact on mental health.
social media is very stereotypical, and i look and models and women people say u have to be like, but then you also have to think about what those women are going through to actually become the way they are. for instance you could smile at the camera but have anxienty, depression etc. i know social media is basically a newspaper for young people but you HAVE TO BE your OWN person, not what others want u to be.
Original post by idk01
Girls getting eating disorders and and overly applying makeup wasn't nearly as common before social media; it's all about appearances now. That being said, parent/teacher pressure also plays a massive role. At the sixth form I go to, the girls side lower school is one of the top 3 schools in the county academically, but there is a huge presence of eating disorders and depression. I think social media has exacerbated already-existing issues.
yes exactly.
Original post by Obolinda
I don't even get how social media is impacting people's mental health. Us school kids can get on with it and we do already.

We just talk about mh more, a good thing.
Reply 11
I think you picked up on something really important there. On social media, we get an image frozen in time, whereas, when speaking to someone in person there's an emotional connection and get to see what they're really like, thus breaking down the barrier of 'oh my god she's so amazing I want to look like her'. If fans got to see their idols in person, I feel that they'd want to be them much less as they're just a normal human being with their own problems.
Original post by broimconfused
social media is very stereotypical, and i look and models and women people say u have to be like, but then you also have to think about what those women are going through to actually become the way they are. for instance you could smile at the camera but have anxienty, depression etc. i know social media is basically a newspaper for young people but you HAVE TO BE your OWN person, not what others want u to be.
Reply 12
I hope you know that support is always available if you need it.
Original post by The Mogg
Although I dislike social media a lot (which is very uncommon for my age) it isn't the sole cause for poor mental health, despite what many parents, teachers and news outlets say. To put it bluntly, I am not exactly in peak mental health conditions right now, and that is mostly the fault of school and definitely not social media, because I don't use it.
Pressures of exams, wanting to straight A*s pressures on social media with other teenagers already getting A*s
more prevalance of unemployed people
not wanting to join the dole queue and wanting a future.
school pressures from teachers - you must get straight A*s if you won't feel good enough
positive instagram posts making teenagers feel like they are failure that they are not good enough
friends - arguments, on social media, who slept with such and such
pressures to be thin, perfect, have lots of energy
parents wanting their daughter or son to get into Oxbridge
perfectism
3/4 subjects at a-level, not having enough hours in the day
exactly. everyday tones of people post on social media and are presented as 'standards' for young girls and boys.
i dont know why, but whenever people talk about social media and stereotypical body images and the way u look they always refer to girls, and to be honest i know alot of boys who suffer with metal health because they want to look a certain way, although they dont express their emotions much, the way they act and develop over time shows that they want to look a certain way because thats how 'society' likes or wants it. which is annoying because we're growing up liek this but were all different and should be proud of who we are.
Original post by idk01
I think you picked up on something really important there. On social media, we get an image frozen in time, whereas, when speaking to someone in person there's an emotional connection and get to see what they're really like, thus breaking down the barrier of 'oh my god she's so amazing I want to look like her'. If fans got to see their idols in person, I feel that they'd want to be them much less as they're just a normal human being with their own problems.
It depends which platforms and how you use it. Insta and snap chat are cool, but can cause depression when seeing other people doing better than you are. On the other hand there are text based sm’s, such as facebook, twitter, and tumblr, which are less damaging in that regard but can potentially hurt someone with racism/sexism.discriminatory views/etc. And then there’s skype, FaceTime, WhatsApp, and discord. These, as far as i am aware, are completely safe. That being said, social media is not nearly the largest contributing factor to teenage mental health issues, most of that comes from human interaction and expectations.
I think social media can have a negative impact on young people's mental health but a lot of the time people just don't want to look at the bigger issue. It's easier to blame something tangible than to look deeper at what is actually causing such a huge increase in mental illness. There's a lot of pressure on kids today coming from them at every angle - school, parents, peers, the internet - teens are having to grow up in a world where they're expected to be perfect but that's just not realistic. Of course there has been a lot more discourse surrounding mental health in the past 10 or so years so it may seem like it's more prevalent when in reality it's just being talked about more. Mental illness has always existed, people are just more open about it.
(edited 4 years ago)
Also teenager they have also the biological stuff going on as being regular teenager for example hormones, brain changes, bodily changes and also upbringing and family life. Some teenagers also have other and bigger interests beyond school, their futures like some teenagers are looking after sick parents, brothers sisters, their chronic illnesses (if they have one) and also some have hobbies/interests that could impact on their life, like ballet, gymnastics, art, music etc all these could play huge role in development of mental health issues and rather be the relief the place they go unwind it could be building their stress levels, especially during exam season, performances.. I am sure every we’ve all been in that position where we have burned candles and both ends a few times.. tried to do my many all nighters, gone to dance practice, full day of college, school and taken far too many caffeine pills or taken far too many nootropics

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