Essay Sample on Mental Health and Social Media

We have recently observed an alarming increase in anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses lately. Younger people, in particular, are facing this challenge with increasing frequency. Many blame the growth of social media for it. Social media is often associated with the expectations of a “perfect” life or body. But is it social media that is the problem? Or has the problem always existed?

When we talk about mental illness in modern society, we are most likely also talking about young adults, which is related to the study, showing the uprise of mental health in the youth section. The study shows that 75% of mental illnesses start before the age of 24.  Another study from England shows that Out of the young adults in the UK, 45% have experienced stress at some point in their lives, 46% have experienced anxiety, and 39% have experienced depression. The figures for adults are much lower.  which shows that the rise in mental illness is real. This has led to many different opinions as to why this is, but mainly social media is blamed.

Social media gives us an unrealistic idea of our lives, which can lead us to unrealistic hopes. Through it, we learn more and more about each other and the society around the world. That is what makes us compare our society and our life with that of a celebrity. As we learn we also understand better, and our parents often give unrealistic praise. Now that we know, what unrealistic is, we seem to be more afraid of failure and rejection . This puts pressure on us because we haven’t learned to deal emotionally with rejection and failure. We don’t learn how to manage our time, combat stress, or take care of our feelings. According to one survey 60% of first-year college students, feel emotionally unprepared for college. 

Some experts believe that the upswing is not quite right compared to the past. They believe that young people today are better at expressing their feelings.  We have paid a lot more attention to the problem, both in school and online. We have discovered more about mental health and give it almost the same importance as our physical health. Again, we can see that social media is helping with this. Social media shows a person’s life and opinions. So, we can help each other out and express ourselves anonymously, which makes it easier to get help.

On the other hand, social media can also help us hide from mental illness. About 33% of young people feel uncomfortable talking about it.  We seem to forget that what we post on social media is just the outside. We choose what our Instagram looks like when we post only the best pictures. This can give the impression that someone’s living the dream life while they are not doing well mentally. This exactly is what happened to Maddy Holleran. She portrayed her life as “perfect” on social media, but in reality, it was ruled by depression and eventually led to suicide.  It is not just social media that helps us hide. Electronics in general is a way for us to escape from reality. If we feel uncomfortable or bored, we simply reach for our phone, tablet, or computer . This causes us to run away from our problems.

So, we can see the consequences of social media, depending on how we use it. We can use it as an escape route, but we can also use it to be more open. It’s about finding the right path in social media, which can be very difficult. This is mainly because social media is very new to everyone. The older generation can’t teach us. The only way to learn the online space is to discover it for ourselves. It can be very hard for parents to not know how to teach their children. Especially when it comes to applying too much or too little pressure.  Sometimes exposure is the best way to overcome our fears, but we also need guidance, nudging, and practice, to face our fears more confidently. 

In summary, from what’s been said so far, we can conclude that mental illness is an emerging factor in the youth department. But not as much as we might think. We often blame social media for it. When in fact it’s much more likely that social media is bringing the real truth to light. This demonstrates that social media has made it easier to talk about the taboo. However, we still see many feel uncomfortable about opening, even though acceptance of the issue has increased. The acceptance gives it more and more attention on social media, but it still has a long way to go before it gets the attention it needs in our society to solve the problem.