Social Media's Impact

 The Impact of Social Media

This week I took a look at two articles under the "Negative" category of social media. The first article I read was, "This is Your Brain on Social Media" and the second article I read was, "Digital Self-Harm: What to do When Kids Cyberbully Themselves". Both of these articles explained the negative impact that social media has on students' mental health.

In the first article, I was not really surprised by any of the information that was provided. The article provided statistics about suicide rates increasing and that many females feel hopeless based off of a survey taken in 2021. Keneisha Sinclair-McBride, an attending psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Boston Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, states, "“It’s very obvious that so much of what’s happening for the average teen is they’re living so much of their lives in the digital world on social media, and so much of this is connected and impacting their mental health … and how they feel about stuff" (Kane, 2023). This shows the true impact that social media has on the lives of children. My middle schoolers are always concerned about other students' opinions of them. I can only imagine how it is online outside of the school environment.

The second article I read was even more concerning than the first. This article explained that kids create fake social media accounts and BULLY THEMSELVES online. This was completely shocking to me and I couldn't help but wonder why kids would do such a thing. Apparently, the reason why students bully themselves online with fake accounts is so that they can get sympathy responses from their peers. Kids are blatantly doing this to see if others will defend them online. They are testing their friendships to see what their friends really think of them. It is crazy to think that cyberbullying has come to this extreme where kids are even willing to do it to themselves to see what the responses will be. Being a kid in this day and age must be really challenging and I honestly feel for the kids that have to go through this. I know that social media has its benefits, but honestly to what extent is it even worth the mental hardships that a lot of children have to endure every single day. 

I am not even sure if it is possible, but I hope for the day that social media is used only in a positive light. Where children do not feel the need to post negative things about themselves just so that they can see a reaction and feel a little bit of love from their peers. I hope that one day there won't be a list of "negative" social media articles to read and that social media is used a tool for positivity that everyone can experience. Like I said, I am unsure if it is even possible, but I can hope and dream of it. The world would be a much better place and many students would then be able to focus on other things, such as academics, instead of what others have to say about them online. 

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