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The Digital Dilemma: The Psychological Impacts of Social Media on Teenagers

AP Seminar

2025

Word Count: 1319

Social media has become a staple of modern life, especially for teenagers who make up

the largest percentage of users on these digital platforms, according to Lisa Thorell, a professor

of Developmental Psychology in the Clinical Neuroscience Department at Uppsala University,

and her colleagues in the European Adolescent & Child Psychology Journal. A new

classification of mental health conditions aptly called “Social Media Disorders” is being

considered for the next DSM version, which classifies psychological disturbances, because of the

risks posed to underdeveloped brains and skyrocketing teenage depression and suicide rates

(Thorell et al., 2024). Furthermore, Amy Orben, an experimental psychologist at MRC Cognition

and Adolescent Sciences, notes that the link between screens and teenage developmental delays

has become a critical concern for top mental health professionals (Orben, 2020). Although social

media enhances global communication, mental health disorders, reduced social interactions, and

vicious cyberbullying have transformed social media into a precarious place for such

impressionable minds. As social media continues to grow, researchers must examine its impact

on generational well-being, as this reveals how these sites cause teenage isolation and increase

emotional disturbances.

Social media leads to the development of mental health disorders in teenagers. Hui Zhang

(2023), an assistant professor in educational psychology for adolescents, and her colleague Yuan

Tang (2023), a professor of teenage neuroscience at Arizona State University, highlight in the

Journal of Genetic Psychology that social media causes youth to retain less information, have

lower quality sleep, and diminished executive functions (e.g., decision making). Subsequently,

success in academic environments requires energy and vast productive potential, but these

analyses show that social media is linked to decreased student motivation and increased

psychological distress (Huang et al., 2023). Social media revolutionized the modern world, but
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regulation failures have led to a slew of problems, as teens mindlessly scroll for hours and refuse

to limit their screen time. While designed to enhance global connection, social media has

fractured teens’ attention spans and overall recall ability. To complement these findings by

Zhang (2023) and Tang (2023), Christoper Ferguson, an adolescent psychologist at the

University of Florida, explains how lifestyle and cultural comparison increased suicidal and

depressive states among teenagers, particularly from 2009 to 2019. The quest for online

validation with “likes” is preferred over actual socialization, posing serious questions about the

mental health of our youth and how they express themselves (Ferguson, 2021). Social media

disorders usually present with constant begging for online attention, and teens as young as

thirteen have experienced the psychological traumas of social media since current age

restrictions do little to protect their mental health. Ferguson’s insights provide a broader

understanding into how craving social status makes teens overlook the detrimental effects on

their self-esteem. Consequently, this generation compares themselves with millions of other

people all over the internet, making depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideations more common as

social media companies refuse to redirect their efforts at alleviating these symptoms as teens

become unhappy with their own lives.

Social media has reduced positive social interactions among teenagers. Writing in the

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Journal, Dr. Chia-chen Yang, an educational psychologist

working with adolescents on social media usage, describes social media as all the platforms

people use to communicate with each other. For social media, there are negative and positive

social indicators that shape a conversation. Specific positive indicators (such as less

understanding of social cues and rapid speech) suggest frequent social anxiety and loneliness

because of less productive human interaction (Yang et al., 2021). Many social media apps
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replace genuine connections with online substitutes to mimic face-to-face conversations.

Teenagers, as naturally social creatures, suffer from less social connectedness, making them

more closed off and less willing to engage with others, which Scott Caplan, a professor at the

University of Delaware specializing in teenage social behavior, explains is responsible for

hurting teens' psychosocial well-being and reducing their interpersonal skills. Despite being

advertised as social connections hubs, social media creates more disconnection and is linked to

broader issues, including recent rises in antisemitism. Hence, social media has forced teens into

prioritizing attention from strangers over their own friends and family (Caplan, 2007). These

viewpoints argue how social media promotes adolescent loneliness and self-isolation by limiting

understanding of social interactions, which hampers teens' ability to articulate themselves clearly

when solving complex issues. Groundbreaking changes require groundbreaking conversation,

but social media creates an illusion of closeness while amplifying the damaging effects.

While Caplan (2007) and Yang (2021) present valid points about social media’s impact,

Christopher Wegemer, a political scientist encouraging student engagement in local politics,

describes in the Journal of Research on Adolescence that proponents who believe belittle social

media have overlooked a key component of teenage expression. High school students are more

politically active and advocate for meaningful personal causes when they have access to social

media. Despite Covid restrictions, more teens advocated for their political leanings in 2020

through TikTok and Instagram because of a better understanding of each candidate’s position

(Wegemer, 2023). Social media allows teens to successfully spread their message about issues

they believe in, making it a powerful weapon to ensure the government enacts appropriate

changes and responds to these young, radicalized voices. Although Wegemer (2023) suggests

that social media increases teenage civic engagement, Yeon Lee, an assistant professor of
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Developmental Psychology, and Jeremy P. Jamieson, a professor in psychology at Northeastern

University specializing in adolescent stress, dictates that online communities encourage

cyberbullying and harassment. Previous attempts at internet safeguards fail to remove hateful

content from circulating and, once these ideas propagate long enough, teens internalize these

beliefs and weaponize them, creating a ripe environment for social harassment and sweeping

injustice. Teens are usually less rational, so they respond more emotionally to opposing ideas

without the proper context (Lee et al., 2020). Most American teens are egocentric, but social

media exacerbates this problem, as misinformation becomes truth and emotional arguments take

greater precedence over meaningful discussion. Social media promotes hateful content with

certain groups thinking their beliefs are the most righteous. Similar to research conducted by Lee

(2020) and Jameison (2020), Stephanie Fredrick, associate director of UB Alberti for Cyber

Bullying Abuse Prevention, and Dr. Amanda Nickerson, director of the Labertu Center for

Bullying Abuse Prevention, report that social media is crucial for understanding how exposed

users are to dangerous content. Vulnerable teens are forced into a cycle of depression, anger, and

victimhood, making it harder to disconnect from their devices (Fredrick et al., 2022). Social

media has cultivated new pseudo-cultures that cultivate online competition for attention and

followers. Additionally, information online exists forever and abusers utilize revealing posts to

harm their victims, lowering the appeal of social media while allowing others to stir up online

chaos. Thus, it is evident that social media only increases cyberbullying and cyber victimization

for teenagers.

Close examination of social media reveals it diminishes the lives of teens because of new

mental health and depressive disorders, less social connection, and increased cyberbullying. To

potentially combat this trend, Candice Odgers, an adolescent developmental psychologist, and
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Michaeline Jensen, an associate clinical psychology professor for youth development, explain

how limiting screen time is effective at mitigating these “social media disorders”. Apps like

Instagram already require users to be at least thirteen years old, but wider adoption of these

practices allows researchers to tackle the root cause of this issue while focusing on more detailed

solutions. These restrictive measures have their limitations, but they get society one step closer to

having healthy and happy teens (Odgers & Jensen, 2020). This presents a feasible way for

companies to enforce stricter restrictions on their platforms to shield younger audiences from

harmful content, making it easier for teens to adapt to this technological world. As the 21st

century progresses, social media plays a crucial role in connecting people all over the world, but

it is the appropriate management of social media’s development that affects how teens behave

online and their involvement with global issues.

References

Caplan, S. E. (2007). Relations among loneliness, social anxiety, and problematic Internet use.

Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 10(2), 234–242. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2006.9963

Ferguson, C. J. (2021). Links between screen use and depressive symptoms in adolescents over

16 years: Is there evidence for increased harm? Developmental Science, 24(1), 1–10.

https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13008

Fredrick, S. S., Nickerson, A. B., & Livingston, J. A. (2022). Adolescent Social Media Use:

Pitfalls and Promises in Relation to Cybervictimization, Friend Support, and Depressive

Symptoms. Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 51(2), 361–376.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01561-6

Huang, J., Zhao, Y., Tang, Y., & Zhang, H. (2023). Neuroticism and Adolescent Problematic

Mobile Social Media Use: A Moderated Mediation Model. Journal of Genetic

Psychology, 184(5), 372–383. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2023.2209885

Lee, H. Y., Jamieson, J. P., Reis, H. T., Beevers, C. G., Josephs, R. A., Mullarkey, M. C.,

O’Brien, J. M., & Yeager, D. S. (2020). Getting Fewer “Likes” Than Others on Social

Media Elicits Emotional Distress Among Victimized Adolescents. Child Development,

91(6), 2141–2159. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13422

Odgers, C. L., & Jensen, M. R. (2020). Annual Research Review: Adolescent mental health in

the digital age: facts, fears, and future directions. Journal of Child Psychology, 61(3),

336–348. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13190

Orben, A. (2020). Teenagers, screens and social media: a narrative review of reviews and key

studies. Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology, 55(4), 407–414.

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Thorell, L. B., Burén, J., Ström Wiman, J., Sandberg, D., & Nutley, S. B. (2024). Longitudinal

associations between digital media use and ADHD symptoms in children and

adolescents: a systematic literature review. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry,

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Wegemer, C. M. (2023). Similarities between friends on service, activism, and awareness of

inequities in an adolescent social network. Journal of Research on Adolescence

(Wiley-Blackwell), 33(4), 1458–1464. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12880

Yang, C., Holden, S. M., & Ariati, J. (2021). Social Media and Psychological Well-Being Among

Youth: The Multidimensional Model of Social Media Use. Clinical Child & Family

Psychology Review, 24(3), 631–650. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-021-00359-z