With the technology we have today, almost every teen has access to social media. Is this a good thing, or does it actually have a horrible effect on our youth? (According to Andri S. Bjornsson an author for The National Institutes of Health) around 2.4 percent of people struggle with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) or known as body dysmorphia. This percent actually doubles in teens with a 4.8 percent with BDD. BDD is a mental health condition in which the person will actually change the perception of their physical appearance. This disorder will focus on your flaws and enhance your perception of your own body. The question I ask you today is: does the internet actually help this condition, or does it damage the person’s self image more than we may think?

With social media overtaking everyone’s lives there are more people with these apps than without them. I want you to think about what you post on these media sites. Most likely you take many photos and filter through ones and say “I don’t like ______”, you will constantly be saying “I don’t like,” until you finally find one that is decent. Why do you choose to do this? Maybe you want to show what you look like at your best. Maybe you choose to filter through you on vacation to show that you have luxury. For some, people you may only post photos of you in your makeup you spent hours on in a brand new outfit. Social media has conditioned us to think that we can’t show our true selves. One trend that has taken over social media is online modeling. Accounts that are made for people to show off these professionally taken photos of them in unrealistic photoshopped images. These standards have become normalized in communities, and I want to prove that these types of posts have been hurting our youth, and even our adults. 

I asked Mr. Krehbiel how he feels about social media. He stated, “I think there is a very strong addiction to social media. After projects that they finish, they jump straight onto their phone. I also believe there is a big correlation between mental health and social media.” Another teacher I asked was Mrs. Currie. Her response was, “ I believe people are too attached to social media because it will give them a false view, and people get really attached to that false view.” These quotes really put in perspective that social media has taken over everyone’s lives. 

Social media is something that is going to be around for a very long time. We cannot change anything about it, but hopefully we can bring attention to the dangers behind what we post. Eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and so many other conditions can happen, or even worsen some conditions. I urge the readers to think about what you post on social media and think about how it affects people who see it. Who are you on social media?

Work cited

Bjornsson, Andri S, et al. “Body Dysmorphic Disorder.” Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, Les Laboratoires Servier, 2010, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181960/.