Written by Ana Ortega, Class of ’25

The combination of social media and peer pressure could be very concerning to the mental health of those who spend lots of time on social media. Social Media is a very resourceful tool but also does have negative effects.

 Social media can sometimes affect mental health, like causing anxiety or FOMO (fear of missing out) because people might compare their lives to the highlight reels they see on the internet. It can also lead to feelings of loneliness or depression if someone spends too much time scrolling and not enough interacting in the real world. Plus, the pressure to get likes and followers can be really stressful. 

Comparing your life to an influencer could make you want to have their lives and pressure yourself to rush to get there. When we see celebrities or influencers on their social media channels engaging in certain behaviors or making certain choices, it can make us feel like we should do the same to fit in or be accepted by our peers. It can be tough to resist that pressure sometimes. Wanting to gain popularity because it just looks so nice on the Internet could also affect our mental health. 

We could feel peer pressured to have a certain body image that we see so often on social media. Social Media shows the good side of people’s lives, and what they choose to put out in the public. Overthinking it over analyzing your own body image is just going to cause insecurities and negative thoughts.

Social Media also being an online form of communication could benefit and also have negative effects. People may take advantage of being behind the screen to cyber bully, online abuse, and even scam people from around the world. 

Everybody has their own opinion and freedom of speech but when it comes to social media, people tend to send hatred messages in long paragraphs. Being behind a screen and not able to have face-to-face conversation with a person will lead to you feeling comfortable sharing negative comments. 

In conclusion, social media and peer pressure can have many negative effects. Social Media does have multi ways of communication but the younger audience may use it differently. Feeling peer pressured because of a simple social media post has been very normalized lately.