40 people die from suicide each second. This number is increasing because of depression and anxiety. Social media is the main cause of depression and anxiety. Furthermore, teens who spend more time on social media are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression.
A rising problem that affects a million people around the world is anxiety and depression.
Depression is a mental disorder that many people get very easily. It is a feeling of sadness and melancholy overwhelm. Depression affects a person mentally and physically such as; their feeling, thinking, and behaving. There are many types of depression, major depressive disorder and persistent depressive disorder are two main ones. If someone has depression they may have sleep disruptions, very little energy, weight loss or gain, emptiness, guilt, and mainly sadness. They also may struggle to concentrate, even with doing very little tasks. People with depression more than likely have anxiety also. Anxiety is a feeling of anxiousness or nervousness.
Some warning signs of anxiety are a racing heart, shortness of breath, muscles tension, sweating, and lack of focus. In order to have anxiety someone must have one of these signs on more often than not for six months. Anxiety also can motivate people to achieve something in their life. Many people are affected by anxiety throughout their everyday life. Depression and anxiety can affect anyone no matter of their race, social background, income level, gender, school, or achievements.
In addition to an increase of depression and anxiety, suicide rates have continued to grow.
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Depression and anxiety lead to suicide. Suicide, depression, and anxiety rates continue to grow. “Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for adolescents aged fifteen to nineteen years, a sad statistic that seems unlikely to change in the face of rising rates of depression among individuals” (Depression). Females are more likely to have suicidal thoughts. Sadly, there are 157,000 people from ages ten to twenty-four who are treated for self-inflicted wounds, and that number is rising everyday. Those who spend five or more hours on social media have a suicide risk factor. Suicide rates are going to keep growing if something isn’t done fast.
The invention of smartphones caused a major increase of anxiety and depression. The depression rate increased in 2012 when smartphones became a ‘thing’ for teens. By 2015 73% of teens has or has access to a smartphone somehow. One and three teens have anxiety out of 10,000 people, and this is because of smartphone use. There are 23% of teens who say they have been cyberbullied or have cyberbullied someone.
Some things on social media that are said are very menacing. There may be a debacle posted on social media making someone feel embarrassed. Parents condone behavior that isn’t acceptable. If someone is on their phone and can’t sleep this leads to little sleep, causing depression. “It’s not too early to think about limiting screen time; let’s hope it’s not too late” (Twenge).
Although time away from people is sometimes good, when teens become to distant, it leads to depression. Teenagers are spending to much time on their phones. They are becoming to distant from everyone and isolating themselves. Spending more than two hours a day on social media makes someone have twice the odds of social isolation than people who spend half an hour per day or less. 92% of teens go on social media, and 24% of them constantly do. This number needs to drop otherwise it will just keep on rising. 59% of parents think their child is addicted to their phone. Not only do parents think their child is addicted, but also 50% of teens say they are actually addicted to their phone. Addiction to phones is a real problem that needs to be addressed.
While teens are on their phones, they see things that make them feel sad. They get into arguments or fights with people making them suicidal. Brian Primack stated, “You may watch all these interactions where it seems like everyone else is connecting. That would lead to feeling excluded. The images of other people’s seemingly perfect vacations, homes and lives, even though those are not likely to represent reality, can make you feel like you are missing out” (Primack). Screen time needs to be limited for almost everyone.
Social media is a major cause of depression and anxiety. Suicide rates keep growing since the invention of social media. Social media has caused teens to become distant. 800,000 people die yearly mainly because of social media usage.
