Teenagers, Depression, Social Media and the Pandemic
An Investigation
Depression is something that I don't think that even today we take seriously enough. Not only can it lead a person to hurt themselves, but it can also lead to afflictions such as: cancer, heart attacks, stroke and many more - all with serious consequences. Depression is something that is known to take over your life and, as I have researched, makes it almost impossible to function in the worst of times. During this pandemic, depression in teenagers has been on the rise. This is not really a steady rise but instead, it seems to be a spike with more teenagers than ever seeking out mental health help.
Many parents are blaming this on the lack of routine in their children's lives. But what if it was this very routine that they had that got them depressed in the first place? Take away the routine and they no longer know how to function on a daily basis. Take away the routine and because the routine has no down-time for hobbies and self-interests being pursued, the child gets bored and sits there on social media. This is exactly what has happened. It is the parents of teenagers who have done this to them through applying pressure to routines that they have forgotten that the child requires some coaching in how to pursue self interests and passions. Let me give you an anecdote:
Anecdote:
When I was a little girl at school, I had a different club after school every single day. But, on the weekends, I was allowed to pursue my own interests and because of the fact my parents had nurtured my love of the arts through putting me through drama clubs and qualifications, my parents had also nurtured my love for music when I was a toddler by getting me a piano teacher that would look after me on Saturdays until I was sixteen. There was a lot going on and most of it was to my own interest. My parents were able to recognise my passions and put me in to clubs accordingly.
I feel like nowadays parents are not really recognising the things that their children are interested in and putting it off as laziness when in reality it is boredom. This boredom causes the child to spend a very long time scrolling on social media. At the end of the day we have to admit, that is what social media is addictive for - simply scrolling through pages of material.
Scrolling through pages of material in which everyone is showing the highlights of their lives can have a profound impact on the mind if the mind is not stimulated in anything else. Let's take a look at how that works in terms of how the child feels:
- Feelings of inadequacy - exacerbated by the fact that they are observing rather than doing
- Depression through repeated observation of similar topics that collate to create a false image of what life is 'meant' to look like
- Worthlessness through seeing others with brands, monetary gain and doing very little work but gaining many material things and experiences that the teenager themselves thinks they will never have
- Feelings of inadequacy as they think that they do not measure up to the image of perfection portrayed on the application
What can you do to help your teenager/friend/family member experiencing these problems?
Convince them to find a hobby that does not include the internet. Hobbies such as learning a new language, musical instrument, sport, art etc. all include having to do something away from social media first
Then convince them to put these things on social media for other people to look at and make them proud of having their work out there. Or, you can arrange for them to start selling whatever they are making/join a team of some kind etc. Make them proud of learning something new for themselves
Show them that the inadequacy of social media presentation is a fallacy and that everyone is simply showing the best highlights of their lives when in reality, these are heavily curated images done for the sole purpose of gaining 'likes' - which are, in themselves, pretty meaningless. Tell them that instead of this, they should be trying to make friends with people of common interests, or network with other people online because that will help them so much more in the future.
About the Creator
Annie Kapur
200K+ Reads on Vocal.
English Lecturer
🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)
🎓Film & Writing (M.A)
🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd) (QTS)
📍Birmingham, UK
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