Pearl Spurlock

Professor Hughes

English Composition II

23 March 2020

Literature Review

In a world that only recently found itself drowned in an endless sea of online content,

current teenagers are often seen as the authority on using social media apps like Snapchat,

Youtube, and Instagram. They are the pioneers and the addicts. They know the unwritten rules,

the etiquette of likes and comments and follows. They know what filters are cool and where to

find the cool filters. They know not to open a Snap too quickly. They know the difference

between a main and a spam. They know when to post to get the most likes and which laughing

emojis are cool and which ones are cringey. It’s impossible not to question how all this might be

affecting them, to wonder what is behind the selfies and dance videos and food photos. How

does social media affect teen behavior?

In gathering my sources, the concerns for teen mental health were consistent. They

describe the effects social media can have on body image and confidence, as well as the

unhealthy obsessions teenagers can develop to these apps. U.S. News and World Report writes:

“Young people who spend more than 3 hours a day on social media are susceptible to

depression, anxiety and other illnesses and are more likely to internalize bad feelings about

themselves, according to the study produced by Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of

Public Health.” The Harvard Graduate School of Education notes that these effects are often

more prevalent in girls.

 Every source addresses the ways social media can be problematic for adolescents. Where

some of them differ is in the severity of the situation. While The New York Times stresses

suicide rates and self harm issues in correlation with social media use, Mayo Clinic is more

diplomatic. They discuss the flaws, but also acknowledge the silver linings to social media

usage, saying, “the platforms can expose teens to current events, allow them to interact across

geographic barriers and teach them about a variety of subjects, including healthy behaviors.

Social media that's humorous or distracting or provides a meaningful connection to peers and a

wide social network might even help teens avoid depression.”

It seems that some of the misconceptions about the common teen is a lack of awareness

and empathy, an idea that teens have reached such a numbing level of information consumption

that they are essentially robotic. “When I was growing up,” a well-meaning forty-something

might chuckle, “we actually talked to each other.” The problem with that statement is that many

teens are actually talking to each other so often and in such variety that they find themselves

enamored of their phones because of it. One person could potentially engage in multiple

conversations on multiple platforms with multiple people. To a bystander, this overwhelming

feat of socializing would look like the typical zoned-out youngster. However, between the texts

and DMs and Snaps and Chats and tags and emails and FaceTime calls and and comment replies,

it’s a small miracle they’re able to get much of anything done.

The problem with all of this phone use (aside from sore eyes) is that kids often don’t

possess the perspective of their adult counterparts to process the actual gravity of social media

content—that is to say, not the be-all, end-all they might feel when consumed with the online

world. The New York Times article quotes a pediatrics professor on this issue: “Teens are really

driven by their peers, really rewarded by peer interactions,” Dr. Radovic said. “They’re
exploring their identity, being creative, and sharing things that they’ve done, but it’s difficult for

them to filter out the negative,” she said, and even more so when they are already vulnerable.”

Many of the studies stress this same concept— that it is not so much the social media, but the age

that kids are discovering it that’s the problem. U.S. News and World Report writes: “Kira E.

Riehm, the paper's lead author and researcher at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, says

social media use ‘has exploded in the past few decades among adolescents.’" But it comes at a

hazardous time, she says, because "adolescence is a time where a lot of mental health problems

have their onsets.”

The source that I found most telling of these issues was the Netflix documentary Social

Animals. While reading about the effects of apps like Instagram is informative, following the

three young people on their very different journeys with the app is more telling of social media’s

grasp on adolescent lives and what, for them, is at stake. One of the people featured is Emma

Crockett, an average girl whose high school experience with Instagram led to an eventual suicide

attempt. Her story is all the more powerful for her close physical proximity to us (she was a

student at Springboro High School). She describes her obsession with validation from her peers

and the cyberbullying she endured.

On the flip side, Emma’s cohorts on the show had more positive experiences with

Instagram, as their goal was to grow a following and make a career out of it, which they were

successful in, despite some setbacks.

While Social Animals is more about personal experience with social media, I included

the other articles because they offer statistics from studies and expert opinion. I stayed away

from sources like parenting blogs, since I knew opinions were likely to be biased. Mayo Clinic

offered firsthand medical information, while the other sources quoted experts on the topic.
Harvard discussed some of the ways social media puts an unhealthy grip on adolescents, such as

seeing posts about events they weren’t invited to, having to look a certain way, and a desire to

get likes and comments.

In addition, I included a source discussing Camilla Cabello’s past racist Tumblr posts. I

used this source to point out a common example of how what you say on social media can haunt

you. I also included a source for a graphic about how drastically teen social media use has

increased over the years.

 Works Cited

“3 Interesting Stats About Teens' Use of Social Media.” Marketing Charts, 2 Oct. 2018,

www.marketingcharts.com/demographics-and-audiences/teens-and-younger-105750.

Class, Perri. “When Social Media Is Really Problematic For Adolescents.” The New York Times,

3 July 2019.

Green, Johnathan I, director. Social Animals. Netflix, 2019.

Morris, Seren. “What Did Camila Cabello Say in the Racist Tumblr Posts That Have Recently

Resurfaced?” Newsweek, Newsweek, 19 Dec. 2019, www.newsweek.com/what-

did-camila-cabello-say-tumblr-posts-1478192.

Shafer, Leah. “Social Media and Teen Anxiety.” Harvard Graduate School of Education, Usable

Knowledge, www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/17/12/social-media-and-teen-anxiety.

“Teens and Social Media Use: What's the Impact?” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical

Education and Research, 21 Dec. 2019, www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/tween-and-

teen-health/in-depth/teens-and-social-media-use/art-20474437.

Williams, Joseph P. “Social Media Use May Increase Teens Risk of Mental Health Issues.” U.S.

News & World Report, 12 Sept. 2019, www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-

communities/articles/2019-09-12/social-media-use-may-increase-teens-risk-of-mental-

health-issues.