Once a person has food, water, and shelter the next necessity is social interaction, which is why social media is so addictive. Social media usage needs to be monitored. People are using social media to feel included but instead social media is causing loneliness and depression amongst teens.    

The amount of people using social media has drastically increased especially in the United States. “In the United States today, you’re statistically more likely to use social media than not — by a lot. Approximately 77% of all Americans have a social media profile of some kind” (“The FOMO…” 1).

Many people in the world overuse social media and that is why it needs to be monitored or limited in some way. Many health problems have arose as a result of the overuse of social media. Some health issues are an increase in the depression rates of teens and many teens also experience loneliness as a result of social media overuse (“The FOMO…” 2).

Social media is intended to make people feel included but instead it has lead to teens being isolated and feeling alone. A large amount of teens struggle with in-person conversations being so used to texting or snapchatting each other. Some teens care more about the amount of followers they have on their instagram than their friends in real life.

Depression rates have increased with the rise in popularity of social media amongst teens. “A 2017 study of over half a million eighth through 12th graders found that the number exhibiting high levels of depressive symptoms increased by 33 percent between 2010 and 2015. In the same period, the suicide rate for girls in that age group increased by 65 percent” (Miller 1).

Social media needs to be monitor and limited to prevent depression and loneliness. Parents can help prevent other use of social media by monitoring their children’s amount of time on each, and the social media companies need to make time restrictions to solve the problem of teens overusing social media.