By Ajmaanie Dort, Kelly Sanchez, and Kymani Hughes

In an era built upon technology, people have become trapped in a superficial world that revolves around gaining followers and likes on social media, fostering an obsession among users to create facades that ascribe to the latest trends and popular activities. 

Frankly, this raving fixation in the media is taking a toll on the mental health of teens.

Although technology can have detrimental effects, its original purpose was to create a more connected, democratic society. Technology indisputably improves the quality of livelihoods; it progresses how people entertain themselves, communicate on a broader spectrum — and even consume all types of media. 

“It keeps us connected. We have all knowledge ever conceived at our fingertips,” said Joseph Perez, a junior engineering student at Miami Lakes Educational Center. 

Online search engines provide the ability to answer, seemingly, all of life’s questions. Meanwhile, internet tutorials and how-to videos can walk users through even the most complicated of subjects.

“If you have a problem [with] anything you can just search up everything. You can find the course for anything. Knowledge is everywhere. You can find communication with anyone,” he continued.

However, the rise of technology has also resulted in harmful repercussions, especially on impressionable young people. The youth demographic is easy to influence, and many social media platforms — like Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram — exploit this by marketing their products towards a younger audience. 

Many teenagers struggle with finding their identity and grow concerned with their image, which is an insecurity that is common throughout adolescence. Kids have a constant desire for validation and attention, good or bad, from the people around them. As social life becomes virtual widespread, social media becomes a powerful gatekeeper for this validation and fifteen-minute-fame that they seek so often. 

“I believe all teenagers are insecure, even if they don’t show it. Many of us are self-conscious about our image and identity, and popularity is a sort of competition,” said TikTok user Ava Nunes. “For somebody who struggles with insecurity, fame acts as a way to gain validation, especially from peers.”

Although social platforms can help people stay in touch, it can become unhealthy for teenagers to rely on social media to cope with their feelings. After all, these exclusively designed apps are addictive. The pressure to fit in makes teenagers lose their individuality by conforming to trends and societal standards.

“I think people want to put [what they think is] the best version of themselves out on social media, and that makes it hard for them to just be themselves and not worry about being trendy or popular,” said Nunes.

   “With that kind of mentality, you’ll lose a sense of who you are and develop [instead] to how you want people to view you. That could be stressful if you’re feeling the need to uphold a certain image that isn’t truly you,” she continued. 

With the power to easily attain fame through the likes of social media, people will do whatever it takes to gain popularity, even if it means hanging out with those who they view to have already obtained that level of stardom.

“Almost everybody at my school knows who I am. People who have never made an effort to talk to me have suddenly taken a liking to me. I definitely have to discern who actually has an interest in me, and who simply wants to be friends with the ‘TikTok Girl’,” Nunes stated.

Social media is a powerful tool for a teenager, but often at the cost of individualism — a phenomenon that can lead to much deeper psychological issues. 

“If you get too attached, you see many people addicted to their phones and barely have any real interaction with people. Despite all the interaction, you could have online it doesn’t compare to that of the real world,” said Perez. 

People tend to form a strong dependency on technology, which significantly reduces their face-to-face social interaction, causing them to partake in risky behavior to gain popularity, and contributes to an increased rate of depression among adolescents.

“It’s really not healthy for anyone’s mental state to look at social media too long, but especially teens because their brain is still developing,” said Carina McNair, known on Tiktok as “lip.sync.queen.”

“They soak everything they see up like a sponge, then compare themselves. And that can really bring down a person’s self-worth,” she continued.

Technology is the century’s most powerful advancement. Despite being the gateway to information and, arguably, the fastest form of communication, social media developed a tight grip on today’s youth, and it is not letting go anytime soon.