Who should be the teacher? Educating adolescents on social media.

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In 2023, the social media industry saw an estimated 4.9 billion contributors globally. Last year, the social media app market accumulated $49 billion in revenue, with an expected growth of 26 percent from now until 2030. 

The industry serves as a fundamental tool for marketing today, with sponsorships and advertisements littering every page and interrupting videos across every platform. Influencers either subtly or explicitly present themselves using products and services to their audience, stating that these items are “game-changers”, “life-savers”, or any other flattering appraisal in-between. Adults who are more inclined to see through these advertising tactics are more aware of their underlying motives. 

But what about children and teenagers?

According to a 2022 study conducted by the Pew Research Center, 97 percent of teens in the U.S. use the internet. Teenagers are constantly exposed to these advertisements and influencers, following their thoughts and beliefs and looking up to them as role models. Social media is ingrained in our society today and influences how people carry themselves, what trends they follow, and who they listen to. 

“Teenage brains have more synaptic connections than adult ones, which makes them highly impressionable,” said Frances E Jensen in an interview with The Guardian. Jensen is a University of Pennsylvania neurologist and author of “The Teenage Brain”, a book centered around the research of adolescents and their thought processes. In the case of social media, Jensen mentioned how apps such as Instagram and TikTok have a considerable effect on the attention of adolescents. 

“The teenage brain is hungry for stimulation. But there is an unprecedented amount of it in today’s world, maybe more than ever. Because teenagers lack access to their frontal lobes, using their judgment to say: “I’ve had enough” or “I need to stop and do something else” is still a weakness for them.” 

Social media algorithms are built to provide constant entertainment, thus creating an endless stream of content to scroll through all catered toward the user. Without the capacity to acknowledge the amount of time spent on these apps, teenagers can become completely engrossed in online influencers for hours at a time unless parents intervene. While some content is innocent enough, others can be used to push dangerous or harmful ideas that can negatively impact the minds of young teens. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that 46 percent of adolescents claimed social media made them feel worse, with children who spent more than three hours a day on these sites having a higher risk of developing mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. According to the National Library of Medicine, “Smartphone and social media use among teenagers are associated with an increase in mental distress, self-harming behaviors, and suicidality.” 

As adolescents begin to shape their identity, the videos they watch online and the people they follow serve as guidelines in shaping how they perceive themselves and the world around them. Of course, it is important to acknowledge that teenagers come from a variety of different backgrounds and family environments. Not every teenager reacts to social media the same way. However, in general they are more susceptible to the content they watch online. 

While teenagers develop and grow, a priority of their parents and role models should be ensuring that the content they view is supporting their mental health rather than negatively impacting it. Paying closer attention to what teenagers are watching online is just one step of many, but it serves as a positive starting point. Setting restrictions on how often teenagers use the internet and making them aware of how platforms such as TikTok and Instagram operate can also help. Teenagers should be able to set boundaries and have their own privacy, but parents need to take time to talk with their children about the content they have access to. 

By taking an educational approach about the effects of social media, parents can inform their children of the dangers online while also allowing them to have their own privacy. Social media will only continue to play a large role in how people communicate, but learning about its negative consequences from a younger age can lower the chances of it causing harm.