Teens believe that going on social media makes them feel good. When their followers like their posts or comment on their posts, they feel loved. They have a sense of belonging. Teens have established a social status based on how many followers they have. In today’s society, social media has given cherished support but has also given people the freedom to be arrogant.

Often times, people’s followers are people they don’t know in real life.

These strangers who follow them sometimes post hate. This means instead of feeling loved and accepted, they feel anxious and self-doubt.

These are some of the many feelings teenagers experience when accessing social media platforms such as Instagram.

Research done by Newport Academy states that teens who have accessed social media tend to feel lonely, depressed, and anxious.

“The adolescents surveyed who spent more time on social media sites were more likely to report mental health issues,” it said.

Parents are worried for their children because their priority is to protect their kids from negative exposure. This might be the case, but many parents are unaware of what their kids are doing while on social media.

Newport Academy said, “a survey of teens found that 70 percent of them are hiding their online behavior from their parents.”

“My 14-year-old son has had trouble with social media due to the fact that he gets harassed and cyberbullied on TikTok. When I confronted him about it, he brushed it off saying that it’s just a joke and not serious. This has been happening for about a month, and it’s gotten to a point where he has no energy to go to school or going out on the weekends. I do everything I can but lately, social media usage has gotten out hand,” Luna Torres said, a single mother of three. She has been living in Santa Ana for 16 years.

Carr eighth grader Daimian Becerra is someone who believes that having a lot of followers is an essential tool for social status.

“I’ve been using social media since I was in sixth grade. I started off with 50 followers at the beginning, but as time went on, I gained 10,000 followers which shocked me. I got a lot of hate because of it. At school, kids were spreading rumors. I ignored it though because I knew they were jealous of my social media status,” he said.

Social media growth not only makes teens feel famous. It also causes them to be self centered and egotistical because they have that idea in their mind that they are better than everyone else.

“Every since my friend got 500 followers on Twitter, she’s been acting like the world revolves around her. She tells me that I exaggerate everything but other kids say otherwise,” Isabella Gonzalo, a sophomore who attends Santa High school, said.

Teens have incorporated social media into their lives as a way to feel that they have worth. Overall, social media is used for many things by teens either for communicating with loved ones, but also a tool used for heinous acts.