Social media, whether we realize it or not, is a big part of our everyday lives. It tends to be the first thing we open when picking up our phones or when we are bored when we have free time. While it can make us feel better in certain situations, it has more of a negative impact than we might think.
Social media, or phones in general, are very distracting not just for students, but everyone. The urge to scroll can pull you from doing work, hobbies or going to social events. Even if we don’t mean to, in our free time we tend to gravitate towards being on our phones.
“I think that it does distract teenagers from school work, but it’s not just about the phone,” said junior Olia Golinei. “If somebody does not want to do their schoolwork or socialize, they will find other things that they can do instead in order to distract themselves from important stuff.”
Not only is social media a distraction in our everyday lives, it can also become an addiction.
“Many aspects of social media are designed to be addicting to the user,” said AP Psychology teacher Lauren Coleman. “It causes the release of dopamine in the brain, the same neurotransmitter that is released is related to other addictive behaviors and even feelings of love and infatuation.”
Many negative effects can come from being online too much, especially for teenagers. Photos and videos can easily be altered or staged and can cause younger consumers to compare their lives to what they see online. This can create strong senses of jealousy and insecurity among the youth.
“Social media creates a comparison culture easily accessed at our fingertips which oftentimes correlates to higher levels of depression and anxiety in users,” said Coleman.
Social media can negatively impact students in many ways. It can make people withdraw socially, cause a drop in grades and harm their mental health. Knowing how addicting and harmful it can be, limiting time scrolling or finding hands-on activities to work on when you have free time can improve your social life, work ethic as well as mental health.
