We live in a world where social media influences just about every choice we make. The content we constantly consume through social media has heavily affected how we interact with people, the clothes we buy, and how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. For high school students especially, platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram have strongly grasped our generation, subconsciously filling our minds with fake news, advertisements, and constant opinions.
Shallow and empty relationships stem from teenagers’ constant use of social media. Although I do have a lot of strong, fulfilling, deep friendships in my life, forming meaningful relationships is much more challenging in this day and age. As a society, we need deeper, face-to-face conversations and experiences without taking photos or videos; instead, we should feel present in the moment. Often, I fall victim to the trap of trying to capture memories for social media, and as a result, I miss out on the beauty of the memory altogether. We need to start feeling our relationships more and worry less about how followers on social media will perceive them.
Although social media can be helpful and productive, it is also the biggest thief of time. Safiya Sloan (11) states, “While we scroll for hours, there are so many other things we could be doing with our time.” How many books could we read, what skills could we learn, and what hobbies could we acquire in the many hours we often waste on our cell phones? We are wasting hours and hours of our day searching for feeling and validation in an intangible pixelated world within our screens.
Social media additionally pushes out a false narrative that you need to change and that you are not enough as you are. Although this is never explicitly said in a single video or post, it is disguised in the constant advertising of a new lip balm you just need to have, what you need to say to get a boyfriend, that outfit you need to be wearing this fall, how to stand out in college applications, how this leave-in conditioner will save your life, the perfect morning routine you need for productivity, and more. Social media demands that we balance being perfect yet flawed, smart but relatable, witty yet kind, outgoing but still soft-spoken, and always confident but never arrogant. It is exhausting to base one’s identity on the content made on social media, and it truly affects the lives of most teenagers.
While social media can be useful, it also burdens our generation. Whether it be in friendships, productivity, or identity, the present constant digital connection threatens our happiness and peace. As teenagers, we must learn to balance social media with the real world instead of letting it consume us.
