According to a Xomphu.com article titled, “How long does a teenager spend on social media?,” the average teenager spends around 5 to 7 and a half hours a day, on social media. If you think the school day is long, averaging about 6 and a half hours, you are spending all of that seemingly endless “free time” on various forms of social media and more! Social media plays a major role for our generation, as we use it for many different purposes- to talk with our friends, to get filled in on the latest trends, gossip, and to stay informed about our society.

This is not to say that social media doesn’t have its positives. Without a doubt, social media helps us stay connected with others, and even inspires us to try new things. In this way, social media is positive, however, spending so much time on it brings its negatives to the surface. One negative that social media brings forward is jealousy. Seeing someone always posting about the fun things they are doing, and how many people they are hanging out with, may ignite feelings of jealousy, as you may start comparing your life to their life- which you see online. This may lead to feelings of insecurity. However, it is important to keep in mind that what you see online is only a piece of someone’s real life. While someone’s life may seem perfect through social media, that same person may be looking at other peoples’ lives with jealousy in their hearts.

It is important to stay in touch with each other, so that we can all learn and grow, but there must be a balance. The balance is necessary to stay more aware and in touch with how you feel. The feelings that arise after consuming so much media, could really show you how much the abundance of social media is unhealthy for you. Through media, we also tend to compare not just our lives, but our appearance to others, which can only have a negative effect. Be mindful of how much media you consume, and the next time you see something that doesn’t make you feel so good, put your phone down and break the cycle!