Is Social Media Threatening Teens' Mental Health

Running head: IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON YOUNGSTERS’ HEALTH
Impact of Social Media on Youngsters’ Health
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IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON YOUNGSTERS’ HEALTH
1
Introduction
The issue of social media use and adverse health related outcome have become in
recent times around the different countries of the world. The scenario of Canada is not at all
different from them and thus, a huge amount of people are now addicted to social media
nowadays. However, the youth population of the country has been affected mostly due to this
addiction to social media. The main problem associated with the addiction to social media on
youths is associated with the onset of mental health problems among them (Nauert, 2020).
In this essay, the enhanced effect of social media use among the youths is discussed
and along with this an existing policy on the health disparities and its barriers are also
discussed.
Discussion
In Canada, it is estimated that almost 10 to 20 per cent of the Canadian youths are
affected by the problem of mental health disorder and it is reported that almost 5 per cent of
the male and 12 per cent of female youths under the age group of 12 to 19 year have the
problem of depressive disorder (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2020). As per the report
of Nauert (2020) it is stated that the excessive use of social media among the Canadian
youths causes various problems such as self-harm behaviours, suicidal tendencies, sleep
disturbances and these problems are associated with the onset of mental health illness among
the youths. In Canada, 1 out of 5 children needs mental health support and suicide is the
leading cause of deaths among the 15-24 year old Canadian youths (Canadian Mental Health
Association, 2020).
While discussing the health promotion strategy for the mental health condition for the
youths in Canada, it can be stated that the Health Promotion and Prevention Unit at the