Social Media Does More Harm Than Good

• Alicia Lin, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2022

When was the last time you went on social media?
When was the last time you went onto YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok?
Was it 3 days ago? 3 hours ago? 3 minutes ago? Or even 3 seconds ago?
Even if it was just a moment ago, that’s normal. Humans are highly sociable creatures and we feel better when we are connected. Social media helps people find social support during rough times. One study found that 93% of adults that use Facebook connect with family and friends.
However, there are always two sides to a story.
Ashley Lovelace was an American social media star with over 500K followers at the age of 16. Unfortunately, on January the 21st, 2019, Ashley Lovelace committed suicide due to cyberbullying and depression. It was later revealed that someone named Tyler Edmonds was responsible for the death of Ashley Lovelace. He revealed that he’s the reason for her death and that he enjoys bullying people online. He changed his Instagram bio to: “Yo roaches mad about Ashley get over it and yes I’m the reason why she gone. I love to bully and can’t wait to bully more.”
Kids get sucked into the world of social media and get pressured to create new and better content. The blackout trend, for example, challenges you to hold your breath until you faint. This has already killed four children under the age of 12 years. These are kids who have not even reached high school yet or have just started.
Because of social media, this is the second biggest cause of death in children.
According to a study in 2020 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the rate of suicides for pediatric patients who used social media rose to 57.4% from 2007 to 2018. And in several different studies, it has been shown that teenagers and young adults would get a 13-66% higher rate of reported depression. This is due to FOMO, also known as ‘Fear Of Missing Out ‘, which is linked to intensive social media usage, leads to lower mood and life satisfaction.
Now some of you may think that it’s their own fault. But really, it’s not. People are drawn to social media because that’s where they can find their friends. This chain started somewhere. Somewhere that all lead to the companies doing. And yet, what have they done to make sure that things like this don’t happen again?
They take a toll on our mental and physical health and lower one’s self-esteem. It takes us away from what is important in our life. It takes us away from Reality. If you had a close friend and you’ve seen their wellbeing deteriorating, you would do something about this, wouldn’t you?
Social media does more harm than good. And we must understand that to secure a better future for everyone. Because it is our responsibility to make a change.