A 7th Grader’s Perspective on Social Media
Gianna Marques-Ozuniga (7)
Your eyes sting at the bright white light that projects off of your phone as you take a quick glance at the time on the corner of your screen. Despite the realization that you have been mindlessly scrolling through your feed, you take a deep breath and whisper to yourself, “One more video.” You think this, even though seeing all the pretty girls on your mobile makes you absolutely SICK! Have you ever thought that maybe something you posted made someone feel that way? The very filtered, edited, unrealistic pictures can look very deceiving, and even cause very unhealthy thoughts in one’s brain. Excessive social media use leads to anxiety and depression.
To begin with, social media is the main source of bullying nowadays. According to Slabeeber.org, “In January, 2016, 16 year old David Molak took his life because of cyberbullying online.” He was constantly receiving insulting comments and messages from his fellow classmates and peers. Unfortunately, nowadays, everything is remote. Instead of having a bully just at school, your bullies follow you even when you’re in the comfort of your own home. On September 1, 2017 David’s Law was passed in the state of Texas. This law brought awareness and built new policies surrounding cyberbullying in schools. Even though this great law was passed in the lone star state, some states don’t have anything like this. As a result, 59% of teens in the US alone sadly lose their lives to cyberbullying.
In addition, seeing heavily edited pictures makes people insecure. Social media has created the illusion that skin should be perfectly clear, facial hair on women doesn’t exist etc. Studies have shown that 90% of women today use filters or other editing tools on their photographs. On the flip side, the girls seeing those filters or photo editing have created a poor body image for themselves, thus rising depression and anxiety rates as high as 2.4 million are now present from ages 12-17!
In conclusion, social media is a blessing as well as it is a curse. It’s the main source of bullying and is also the source of jealousy. If you or someone you know is suffering with anxiety or depression go to https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline or healthcentral.com. Always remember, things will get better.