Social Media is Addicting Our Youth!
Throughout the world social media has spread like rapid fire. Starting in the 1970’s when the first program began developing (PLATO). Thinking back to this time people would yet realize what a harm it would be too so many growing young adults. Back when social media first started it was all about people being able to share content quickly, efficiently and in real-time. Now these companies are more focussed on selling our data to advertisement companies to gain more money for themselves, not worrying about the well-being of the everyday people. How can this be allowed?! As the obsession over social media grows along with many suicides, depression, and anxiety rates, so does the income of the company. It’s a vicious cycle and one that needs to be broken.
Being a teenager at this crazy time of buying data and tech addictions it’s quite easy to realize when friends around me are addicted to their device. Looking at their phones sends a rush of dopamine into the brain creating this addictive behavior. This addictive behavior fueled by the dopamine rush has been shown to cause addictions to drugs like cocaine, MDMA, and nicotine. The release of this dopamine factor through likes, retweets, and comments etc. companies have the perfect way to get us addicted. Through this post I will reveal just how extreme this addiction is and just how rhetoric has allowed for change.
An Early Start
Kids now a days have the world at their fingertips, starting as toddlers more and more children have been allowed access into the tech world. At such a young age children don’t realize how much of a problem it truly is. As these children get older their relationship with social media and the tech industry only grows making them susceptible to its many downfalls. The big one depression. Now you might say, how hard is it to shake yourself from social media really? Especially with its down falls. Well thats where it gets tricky. According to an addiction resource center “95% of teens have smartphones or access to one”. This is an extremely high number but one that make total sense as the tech industries only rise through it all.
Recently, I watched the social dilemma which came out onto Netflix September of last year (2020). This movie really opened my eyes to the situation that has been going on around us for way too long. Yet there was one line that has stuck to me that said we don’t let our children use phones/social media. That is where it hit me. This issue is way bigger than I had thought, this is no small issue that can be pushed to the side. We had been blinded by these tech companies to now be leaked the nasty truth!
Seeing how big tech companies and officials want everyone but themselves to use cellular devices lets dig into why they don’t use them. There are many reason for this including brain damage, poor problem solving, neglect, and higher risks of depression/suicide . There have been studies done that show actual damage in the brain. (neutral passages) These passages have been seen in those of alcoholics and drug addicts. Crazy right? How has nothing been done to control these companies who continue to harm our youth.
The Truth Behind it All
Meet Katanu Mbevi, she is known for a Ted x Talk she did back in January of 2020. In this video Mbevi discusses the unintended consequences social media can do to our youth. Mbevi beings with a concerned tone as she starts the talk with just how powerful spending 2+ hours on social media is. She describes it as “having an everlasting effect” whether noticed on not. She points out that social media can be used to grow and better ourselves into future thinkers but in the past decade or so the opposite has been happening; social media has been destroying us. She describes that the worst part is us not even realizing this destruction, which is a key aspect in making it so harmful.
Katanu Mbevi introduces us to three stressors she believes is caused by social media. Mbevi warns that without keeping a close eye to these small growing issues they soon can turn into extreme mental health problems. The first stressor she marks is insecurity. Social media gives us the perfect platform to compare “perfect” lives, but that just it no one is perfect, no one is showing their true selves making insecurity skyrocket in teenagers. The second stressor is what she calls “social currency” the reason it’s called currency is because likes, shares, and comments are a teens way of showing value to a post. The more likes, comments etc. the more one feels accepted and worthy, we tie the way we look at ourselves into the amount of “popularity” a post gets. Pretty sad if you ask me. Yet I have to found myself there.
The third stressor Mbevi goes over is FOMO (fear of missing out), something that teens like myself feel feel every so often. She describes FOMO as something that is thrown around easily…until we no longer have access to social media. When this happens the light hearted FOMO turns into a full blown “social anxiety attack with extreme withdraw symptoms” in some cases. This should be a huge indicator that social media and tech companies have way too much power over our lives and well-being.
Learn-Change-Grow
Katanu Mbevi is just one of the many teenagers who are enacting change by talking about this silent addiction. The video is on Youtube and has received 1.1 thousand views and counting bringing insight and change for the future. This issue of social media addicting our youth is not one that will go away over night or even in a few years. People such as Mbevi will still need to expand and spread insight, yet the revolution has started and I believe our teens (our future) will break the addiction, no longer allowing tech companies to rule our lives.