Until 2012, I had no phone. A few times I take my auntie's phone to play games, no social media, and I only surf the Internet when I want to do my assignments. One thing I still remember about being an Adolescent was the time I dedicated to studying toward achieving my career. Access to news and social contents that distract youths now was not much of a buzz, let's say we were focused. Whatever we wanted to learn then was either from a book, or friends, and relationships then were more physical than the online dating we see now.
Use of mobile phones became rampant from 2013, and the first social platform I joined was 2go. It was much fun, but then, it introduced me to my first online dating, and I still remember how distracted I became. I stayed online almost 24/7 and dedicated my time to it, giving less time to things I used to do. Whenever I don't have access to the Internet or light, I become frustrated and depressed. But that's not the major concern, I'll be discussing how social media has affected the mental health of adolescents in this age. It has its impact and damage.
Image generated using Gemini AI
Some of the things social media has provided are access to information, sharing of contents, airing advice, tutorials of different forms, and all that's required without censorship is a mobile phone. Yes, you own a mobile phone and you can listen to different ideologies both good and bad, destructive and constructive. Social media is a place where you're either fed with wrong ideologies or positive thoughts and these gradually affect your reasoning- you become what you hear or see daily.
A friend of mine went mad some years ago when he got access to a link that led him to a site where he eventually started to deny the existence of God. He started to focus on making wealth, I don't know if he made the money, but I was told he went mad. Adolescents now are intimidated with displays of wealth and wrong ideologies, making them focus on what matters less in the name of showing off. Some people had taken social media to be a place of competition, wanting to be like another or better than someone. It's no longer about us, but society, and this is affecting the mental health of the youths. Let me round up by saying, social media has exposed a lot of adolescents to a world they're not prepared for, and it cost them their mental well-being.