Social Media’s Role in Depression

Depression is shown to be on the rise among young adults and teens. This health disorder is very common, and recently has become more common. With teens being occupied with sports, school work, and social media, it becomes difficult for them to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This then leads to a lack of sleep which is one of the causes of depression.

According to the National Public Radio, “They found the rate of individuals reporting symptoms consistent with major depression over the past year increased 52 percent in teens and 63 percent in young adults over a decade. Girls were more vulnerable than boys.” In society today, universities expect a lot from high school students and the competition increases every year. This puts more pressure on the students and causes more to take difficult classes. There are those who are capable of handling the workload; however, some are not able to handle it and they begin to stress out about it all. All of these factors contribute to depression. There are different levels of depression, some are medically diagnosed with it, and others are not due to the lack of severity. However, the less severe form of depression does still impact the way a person is acting in their daily life.

Playing sports on a regular basis can boost physical and mental health, for some serious high-school athletes—many who train year-round and might need an athletic scholarship to afford college tuition—sports can be a key contributor to depression and anxiety.

There are solutions to prevent or help depression from happening; in our school, there are counselors such as Mrs. Zides and Mrs. Bovee who are here to help students by giving them different methods to solve their problems. Students can make appointments to speak with these counselors or request that their teachers complete a counseling referral form on their behalf.