Do you realize that there is an increasing number of teens who are depressed? According to the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health by the Pews Research Center, 3.2 million of 12 to 17-year-old U.S. teens claimed themselves to have experienced one or more major depressive episodes in the past year. This is an impressive number in comparison to the 2 million in 2007. In this modern era, there are other factors that did not exist before, such as addiction to social media and spreading of misinformation on the internet. Especially with the outbreak of the pandemic, social media is playing a bigger role in people’s lives than ever before, for the internet is the only way to connect to the outer world while being trapped indoors. Although some might think social media helps lower the rate of teen depression because the platforms create a safe space for discussions about the patients’ true feelings. By examining the issue of teen depression, it is clear that social media is a contributing factor to the spread of this issue, particularly due to the accumulation of peer influence and the special setting of the pandemic.

One of the reasons that social media causes the spread of teen depression is peer influence. According to Mayo Clinic’s Patient Care & Health information, risk factors of teen depression include “having issues that negatively impact self-esteem, such as obesity, peer problems, long-term bullying or academic problems” (Mayo Clinic 1). Low self-esteem will not only result in an increasing rate of depression, but also other negative issues including anxiety, insomnia, and increasing rate of depression, according to the University of Texas at Austin’s Counseling and Mental Health Center. Those show that low self-esteem and depression are related factors that one will cause each other: while low self-esteem can result in issues such as depression and insomnia, those issues can also cause low self-esteem. In real-life cases, peer pressure has a huge chance of causing low self-esteem, or even depression, for those pressures usually came from bullying and bad academic performances. For instance, one might be laughed at for getting a lower grade on a test, or one might lose confidence because he/she is a victim of cyberbullying. Additionally, social media makes it easier to spread words and images that would cause depression since there is a perfect person in almost every field someone can think of, such as someone with a perfect body shape. Plus, as a student, there is basically no chance of escaping from the environment, making it inevitable to be affected by the mood, resulting in tragedy for the family when mental health issues such as depression take place. In addition to low self-esteem, the behaviors of people around you will also lead to changes in your behaviors, positively and negatively. For example, studies have shown that “the most important social influences promoting smoking were friends and peers” (Brigham 1). This indicates that besides the pressure that your peers put on you, their behaviors will also impact your behaviors. However, inappropriate behaviors will also lead to depression, which is “more common in smokers than in non-smokers,” according to the CDC. Those reflect the potential harm that could be brought by interacting with a toxic group for a long period of time. Peer influence, as a result, is a major factor in why social media could spread teen depression.

Social media also contributed to depression, especially during this time of the pandemic. Teenagers, as a special age in human life, “are characterized by prevalent depression and anxiety and are at a high risk of suicidality, and the pandemic has elevated these risks” (Zhang, Liu, Li, and Chung 1). Teenagers are supposed to be the group of people who are energetic, but they are also sensitive. Therefore, with the pandemic rendering their ability to have fun outside to be restricted––the number of times meeting friends was reduced, more conversation was behind the screen, not able to talk to different people, and could only speak with people in the house—-, plus being the high-risk group, there is an increasing rate of depression for teenagers during the pandemic. Especially, social media has virtually become the only form of communication with others during quarantine, making it really easy to modify teens’ behaviors. “For example, one parent was concerned about posts or forums that encourage self-harm behaviors (eg, cutting), which aligns with her daughter’s concerns—who had a history of intentional self-harm” (Biernesser, Montano, Miller, and Radovic 1). This reflects how powerful discussions on social media can be. Self-harm behaviors are considered to be symptoms of severe depression, so it wouldn’t be intuitively considered as an easily-influenced behavior. However, during the days that social media is the only medium to connect with the outer world, this cause-and-effect relationship is very likely to take place. Social media, being put in the specific time of the pandemic, is a really predominant factor of the increasing depression rate among teenagers.

Exceptionally during the pandemic, peer influence and other factors on social media is being increasingly significant in contributing to the worsening teen depression rate. What if all teenagers become depressed? How would their symptoms affect the generation of the society? Would society still be able to function properly if the entire generation becomes depressed? The effects would be irreversible if those actually happen. That being the case, teenagers’ mental health should be prioritized, and society should maximize the amount of support given to them.

Works Cited

Biernesser, Candice, et al. "Social Media Use and Monitoring for Adolescents With Depression and Implications for the COVID-19 Pandemic: Qualitative Study of Parent and Child Perspectives." JMC Pediatrics and Parenting, vol. 3, no. 2, 12 Aug. 2020, pediatrics.jmir.org/2020/2/e21644/. Accessed 3 May 2022.

Brigham, Janet. "Personality Traits of Teen Smokers." Smoking, edited by Laura K. Egendorf, San Diego, CA, Greenhaven Press, 2000. Teen Decisions. Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010179206/OVIC?u=powa9245&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=cc63e656. Accessed 3 May 2022. Originally published in Dying to Quit: Why We Smoke and How We Stop, n.d.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 4 Feb. 2022, www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/quit-smoking/guide/depression-and-smoking.html. Accessed 3 May 2022.

Mayo Clinic Staff. "Mayo Clinic." Teen Depression, 5 June 2021, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/teen-depression/symptoms-causes/syc-20350985. Accessed 21 Apr. 2022.

Pew Research Center. 12 July 2019, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/12/a-growing-number-of-american-teenagers-particularly-girls-are-facing-depression/. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.

The University of Texas at Austin Counseling and Mental Health Center. www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/quit-smoking/guide/depression-and-smoking.html. Accessed 3 May 2022.

Zhang, Saijun, et al. "Teens' Social Media Engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Time Series Examination of Posting and Emotion on Reddit." Int J Environ Res Public Health, vol. 18, no. 19, Oct. 2021, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8507823/. Accessed 3 May 2022.