No longer simply a cliché, society is truly connected 24/7. Social media has become a ubiquitous entity, seamlessly integrated into almost every aspect of daily life. Online applications like Instagram and SnapChat offer users a free and accessible way to stay up to date on current trends, share moments, and follow friends and celebrities. Growing rapidly at a global rate of 10% per year, despite all that social media offers, there are just as many concerns that these platforms bring, particularly for their young and impressionable users. According to the Pew Research Center, 78% of 18- to 24-year-olds use Snapchat, while 71% use Instagram and 68% use Facebook. This demographic considers social media “fundamental to their daily experience” (Stern, 2017). This transformation of social media from a part of life to a lifestyle in the lives of teenagers has a negative impact on their mental health. Depression, anxiety and low self-esteem are some of the problems that plague social media users as they try to portray a perfect image online. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Human beings possess an innate drive to compare themselves to others. This drive plays numerous roles, such as satisfying affiliation needs, evaluating oneself, making decisions, being encouraged, and regulating emotions. Upward social comparison occurs when you compare yourself to superior peers who have positive traits. Although upward social comparison can be helpful when it inspires people to take on the characteristics of those they look up to, it often causes people to feel inadequate, have low self-esteem, and have negative affect (Marsh & Parker, 1984 ). Intimate access to the lives of a plethora of social media peers means that young people on social media are predominantly engaged in upward social comparison, even unconsciously, often without the means to achieve the same level of status as those who are trying to emulate. obsession with perfection is not a new phenomenon. Before the advent of social media, magazines and print media had long been criticized for peddling unrealistic standards of success and beauty. However, these perfectionist images were openly acknowledged to be just that: retouched, airbrushed and Photoshopped models to achieve a mere semblance of reality. However, with barriers to entry virtually non-existent on social media, the impossible standards are no longer set by celebrities and models, but by colleagues, classmates and friends. With impossible standards now set much closer to home, young people on social media must now carefully curate what they share on these platforms, forming an online highlight with which to conform and compete with expectations set by peers. Susanna Stern in the Journal of Mass Communication, notes that “participation in social media is accompanied by new pressures on adolescents to self-inquiry and self-presentation, to stay in constant contact, to compare themselves socially, and to validate others while seeking validation for themselves . . These pressures impact adolescents' self-esteem, levels of depression and anxiety, and the quality of relationships” (Stern, 2017). A recent study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine also highlighted that young people who visit social media fifty-eight times a week are nine times more likely to feel socially isolated anddepressed. While this number may seem high, it is only eight times a day. This need to be constantly connected and validated increases the amount of time spent on social media platforms, in turn increasing the negative effects in a vicious cycle that becomes exhausting to maintain. Attempting to maintain the idealized outward appearance projected on social media becomes a daily struggle for adolescents who unconsciously seek validation on social media. Dr. Wick, clinical psychologist at Child Mind Institute reports increased feelings of depression and frustration in young people regarding the disconnect between their reality and who they pretend to be on social media. “If you practice being a false self eight hours a day, it becomes harder to accept the less-than-perfect being that you truly are.” (Jacobson, 2019) This struggle to sustain an online persona has been coined “Duck syndrome” by researchers at Stanford University. The term refers to the way a duck appears to glide effortlessly across a pond while beneath the surface its feet struggle frantically and invisibly to stay afloat. The negative effects of social media are further compounded by pre-existing negative self-images or thoughts, which exacerbate them. destructive emotions. Young people struggling with insecurity read their peers' online posts more deeply, fixating on what they feel they're missing. “Children see social media through the lens of their own lives,” says Dr. Emmanuel PhD, “if they have trouble staying on top of things or suffer from low self-esteem, they are more likely to interpret images of peers as having fun as confirms that they are doing worse than their friends." While numerous studies have shown a correlation between social media use and depression, anxiety, social isolation and lower self-esteem, a recent study from the University of Pennsylvania further demonstrated causality Changing the time spent on social media actually has measurable effects on mental health, published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, showed that young people who actively limited their use of social media over the course of the study. felt significantly better afterwards, reporting a reduction in depression and loneliness, especially in those who initially had higher levels of anxiety. depression. “The bottom line,” said study author Melissa G. Hunt, “is that using less social media than you normally would leads to a significant decrease in both depression and loneliness.” These effects are especially pronounced for people who were more depressed when they entered the study.' The prevalence of social media also offers an additional and more accessible avenue for those who engage in harmful behavior online. Increased use of social media platforms has also been linked to increased levels of youth cyberbullying. The results of a study conducted at the University of Athens found that school-age children in Europe were more likely to be subjected to cyberbullying, such as “aggressive and threatening messages, social exclusion, spreading rumors and sharing private information, inappropriate or humiliating” if they used social networking sites more than 2 hours a week. Furthermore, 60% of young people aged 13 to 18 who use social media reported that it had a negative impact on their self-esteem. Social media has also exacerbated and increased pre-existing online problems such as “slut shaming” and labeling. These types of problems are increasingly prevalent as young people, especially young women, try to emulate other users of, 103, 193– 210.