As of 2025, more than 90% of teens aged 13-17 use social media, with over a third of them saying that they use social media almost constantly. Social media is undeniably a daily ritual for many. I believe that social media should not be nearly as big of a part of teenagers’ lives as it is, and that it has more cons than pros.
I received my first phone on my thirteenth birthday. Since then, I have been able to decide for myself what I use my phone for, including social media. For a while, I did not get many social media apps on my phone. The main reason most of us get a phone is to have a communication tool, simply a way to text and call friends and family.
As time passed, I became more familiar with what apps I could get on my phone. The more I heard, the more I wondered why people would want to download social media. It seems like news comes out every few days about the harm of social media. So far, I still have not gotten almost any social media apps, but even so, it is not like I have completely avoided it. YouTube is very often a go-to form of entertainment whenever I am bored at home or school.
On the surface, everyone should want social media. It is a seemingly endless amount of content that is catered to one’s personal interests and hobbies. However, there are many reasons why people should avoid it. Social media was made to be as addictive as possible. “Social media platforms drive surges of dopamine to the brain to keep consumers coming back over and over again. The shares, likes and comments on these platforms trigger the brain’s reward center, resulting in a high similar to the one people feel when gambling or using drugs,” said Nancy DeAngelis, a certified registered nurse practitioner and Director of Behavioral Health at Jefferson Health – Abington.
It boils down to the fact that social media companies have an ultimate money-making goal. To do so, they keep people on their platforms as much and as long as possible in order to get more views on their hosted advertisements. Strategies purposely used to keep people online for as much time as possible include endless scrolling content, having a personalized feed, content interaction and receiving notifications.
In addition, social media can cause serious mental health problems. Because people can choose what and when they post, their audience only sees what a creator wants them to see, often only at their best. It can be easy to compare oneself to them and feel disappointed or discouraged, when in reality, it is not fair to compare in the first place.
Pew Research Center reports that nearly half of teens say they have experienced cyberbullying online, and social media is the primary platform. With the barrier of their screen in front of them, many people are willing to say much more hurtful and damaging things online than they would in person. Both unhealthy comparison and cyberbullying are on the rise on social media. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2024, 48% of teens said that social media has an overall negative effect on people their age, a rise from 32% in 2022.
Many people would argue that social media’s ability to connect to people, learn new things and stay in touch with friends and family make it worth it. While those things can definitely be true, most are easily accomplished without social media, avoiding the negative effects that come with it. Even the things that social media is good for do not demand the time that most people spend on it every day.
Social media has its place, but it should not be used to the extent it is in many people’s lives today. When deciding if one should use social media or not, they should take into account not only its benefits but its drawbacks as addictive and undermining mental health.