Teens' Social Media Use Does Not Raise Risk for Depression

Question

This statement is overexaggerated, while there is evidence that social media can not have effects on mental health, the site that they sourced is their own research company, who say that this topic is debated. There are no clear signs of whether the mental health decline is because of social media itself or because of the lack of face-to-face connection. Regardless, with the rise of social media, there has been a steady decline in adolescent mental health. To state that social media doesn't raise the risk for depression is too general of a statement when there is not enough data to back it up. Some risks for young teens are watching unsolicited violent videos, misinformation, and cyberbullying. All of these very likely cases are something that will have a negative effect on kids' mental health. We can not say for sure that these are key factors for teens with depression but there is starting to be a lot of evidence for it.

Answer 1

This claim is exaggerated/misleading, as the correlation between teen social media use and depression is murky at best. As this APA article explains, there are benefits and risks that come with teen social media use, especially for younger teens. Some of these risks include exposure to harmful content (like misinformation, racism, and hate speech), the promotion of harmful behaviors (like underage drinking, self-harm, and eating disorders), and cyberbullying. All of these are damaging downsides of social media, and right now we can’t say for sure how it affects teens’ mental health.

Comments

I agree with your categorization of this claim as exaggerated/misleading and appreciate your concise summary of the documented risks associated with teen social media use. I found the article you linked to be reliable and informative, as the American Psychological Association (APA) is a trustworthy and medically-informed publication. However, I think your response would have been strengthened by the inclusion of more varied sources, especially supporting your final statement that "right now we can't say for sure how [social media use] affects teens' mental health." I don't doubt the accuracy of this assertion, but I do think a citation might help bolster its reliability.

Answer 2

This is an exaggerated statement. Studies are the only way to figure stuff like this out and you can never fully gauge the population when it comes down to it. There are tons of articles including NBC reporting on how social media in teen life has a huge factor in mental heath and depression. As a student in school I have been told countless times to watch what you do on social media because there are bullies, bad content and other factors that can contribute to mental health crisis' and depression. I believe that since this claim doesn't go for everybody since everybody has different experiences on social media, it is not false but misleading or exaggerated.

Answer 3

This article is exaggerated / misleading. Reason one being that it does not specify what social media platforms were used to determine this answer. Social media can range from your email, to Instagram, to Wikipedia. The chances of getting depression from a source like Tik-Tok or Instagram, are arguably higher than that of G-mail or a Wikipedia page. Another reason this article becomes a little misleading, is the fact that they argue this point of social media not raising risk of depression, "particularly during the covid crisis". But if you look at the years the data was recorded, it says that the researchers recorded the data from the year 2009 through the year 2017. This data was taken 3 years before covid hit, and the article was released when covid was still really new. Therefore, it does not prove the claim of no raised risk of depression through social media during the covid time period.

Answer 4

In this article done by university of Columbia, they state that kids on social media does not increase mental health issues, but it depends on the person and situation they are in. on one hand social media can be used as a positive way for kids to express but also it can come with challenges like cyber bullyng and kids do not know how to handle that. but also covid had a lot to do with depression and social media I think during that time it was easy to get lonely and sad we had no face to face connection and maybe social media helped or even didn't in some cases. since they are so young, parents should be monitoring usage because you don't know what there posting or what their following. I don't think social media is all bad but it depends on the user.