Social Media and Adolescent Mental Health - An Essay
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Abstract
The simple truth is on our watch we have destroyed the planet that our youth will inherit, through brutal dictatorships, wars, and inaction on climate change causing fire, flood, drought and famine and a small greedy wealthy class that owns almost everything while the rest struggle. And while social media can cause cyber-bullying and suicide, violence against women and girls, depression and anxiety, it may also through its endless hype and distraction be attempting to deliberately blind young people to what is happening, particularly the obscene distribution of wealth. This is a double edged sword. There may even be reason for having concern about those youth not showing signs of anxiety and depression. They may have just given up while those adversely affected are still fighting for their life and have some hope yet. This paper looks at the mental health issues of adolescents using social media and at what some governments (Australia, India, UK and the US) are doing about it. Keywords: adolescents, social media, mental health, suicide, depression, anxiety, cyber-bullying, violence