Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and other social media platforms are great ways to communicate with your friends and family. These platforms are a great way to keep yourself entertained and also to see what goes around the world or what is happening in the place you live. However, it also tends to take a toll on people who are constantly using them. Most of us nowadays rely on these platforms: the more we use them, the more we get attached. Some people don’t even realize that they are slowly getting attached to social media, that they can’t see themselves the same anymore, and that they are slowly starting to hate themselves.

Studies have shown that over 15% of adolescents have reported constant symptoms of depression since they have increased their screen time. Recently, around the world, we have seen younger generations use technology and social media the most because it creates a view of reality that isn’t true.

Young teenage girls have a higher chance of getting affected by what they see online than boys their age. This is because social media offers a huge amount of clothing, brands, shopping, etc, and it also shows what it called the “beauty standard.” The official definition of the beauty standard is “Individual qualifications women are expected to meet in order to embody the “feminine beauty ideal” and thus, succeed personally and professionally.” All over the internet, there are models, celebrities, and influencers that these young girls can view and these young girls see the so-called beauty standard on these women. Some girls can get either jealous or upset about the “perfect” body these women have and it makes them want to have the same thing because they think that they aren’t perfect or pretty.

The same body issues that happen to women can also happen to men. Men are affected by what they see on either the internet or on TV and it also has them wanting to reach impossible standards to look like the person they see. Studies have shown that both males and females have gone so far as to starve themselves to get thin, it also says that they are males who get injured during workouts in the gym because they want to get muscles or get into shape. In 2015, about 3 million teens ranging from 12 to 17 had depressive episodes, 30% were females and 20% were males.

6.3 million teens have anxiety, and experts agree that young people, especially boys, are the ones who usually don’t talk about anxiety and depression to anyone around them. Social media may give people happiness and help them to feel better but it can also create a world of isolation and self-hate. A recent study says that 25% of teenagers have said to experienced cyberbullying on either their cellphones or on the Internet. Cyberbullying isn’t just the typical hate comments, and hurtful messages, it can also be getting an image of someone else in an attempt to ruin their lives in horrible ways.

Try to stay off the internet as much as you can, be present, and be with the people you love and care about. The internet isn’t going away, and it never will. You can sacrifice some time to be away from beauty standards and perfections, and take a break every now and then from the internet.