Humans are naturally very social and rely on communicating with others to be successful and healthy. Being social and communicating with others is very beneficial for relieving stress, depression, and loneliness. Social media is an easy way to become social but, at what point does the easy access to social media become a risk to your mental health? 

Psychologists believe that about 5 to 10 percent of Americans are addicted to social media today. Social media addiction is the root to many negative experiences such as FOMO(fear of missing out), isolation, depression, and cyberbullying. For the average person social media is used to connect with others but, what if you have no one to talk to? High school senior, Brandon Stumpf, uses social media frequently to talk to friends from school and check up on friends he hasn’t talked to in awhile. When asked if he ever meets new people on social media he responded, “I don’t remember ever meeting anyone on social media, I only talk to people I already know.” The problem with social media especially with children is that if you fail to meet people in the real world and you fail to meet people online your real life social skills can be severely damaged. Brandon was able to build real life relationships and used social media to continue to build them rather than trying to find friends online. 

Although social media can be beneficial it is important to notice if you are spending too much time building relationships online than offline. Joey Poust, a senior at Pennridge, said that just “deleting the apps” and “turning off your phone” are good ways to limit your social media use before it becomes out of hand and simple tasks like these can go a long way in benefiting your mental health.