The Effects of Social Media on Adolescent Health and Well-Being

This essay discusses the negative effects of social media on adolescent health and well-being, including cyberbullying and sleep deprivation. It also explores the positive effects of social media and suggests ways to reduce the negative impact.

Running head: ENGLISH ESSAY
English Essay
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ENGLISH ESSAY
Stage 1: List of References ( 6 References)
Argo, T. and Lowery, L. 2017. The Effects of Social Media on Adolescent Health and Well-
Being. [online] Available at:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X16307273?via%3Dihub#!
[Accessed 13 Feb. 2018].
Keyes, K.M., Maslowsky, J., Hamilton, A. and Schulenberg, J., 2015. The great sleep recession:
changes in sleep duration among US adolescents, 1991–2012. Pediatrics, 135(3), pp.460-468.
[online] Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at :
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4338325/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2018]
Knowles, M., Lee, S., O'Riordan, M. and Lazebnik, R. (2014). Risk of Social Media for Teens in
an Urban Setting Global Pediatric Health - Megan Knowles, Sara Hirschfeld Lee, MaryAnn
O’Riordan, Rina Lazebnik, 2014. [online] Journals.sagepub.com. Available at:
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2333794X14561656 [Accessed 13 Feb. 2018].
Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., Smith, A. and Zickuhr, K. (2010). Social Media & Mobile Internet Use
among Teens and Young Adults. Millennials. [online] Eric.ed.gov. Available at:
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED525056 [Accessed 13 Feb. 2018].
Parent, J., Sanders, W. and Forehand, R., 2016. Youth screen time and behavioral health
problems: The role of sleep duration and disturbances. Journal of developmental and behavioral
pediatrics: JDBP, 37(4), p.277. [online] Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4851593/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2018].

2ENGLISH ESSAY
Royant-Parola S, e. 2018. [The use of social media modifies teenagers' sleep-related behavior]. -
PubMed - NCBI. [online] Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28602529 [Accessed 10 Feb. 2018].
Yonker, L.M., Zan, S., Scirica, C.V., Jethwani, K. and Kinane, T.B., 2015. “Friending” teens:
systematic review of social media in adolescent and young adult health care. Journal of medical
Internet research, 17(1). Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4376201/
[Accessed 13 Feb. 2018].
Step 2: Source Evaluation
Topic: The average teenager spends more time on social media than asleep.
Bibliographic details
of sources used in
this section
Brief evaluation of
source
Relevant ideas from
source for this essay
section (in own
words)
How do these ideas
strengthen your
argument?
Royant-Parola S, e.
2018. [The use of social
media modifies
teenagers' sleep-related
behavior]. - PubMed -
NCBI.
NCBI or National
Center for
Biotechnology
Information is a reliable
source of information.
The article discusses the
effects of sleep related
problems in teenagers
and its link with use of
social media and it has
 Sleeping
behavior of the
teenagers has
changed over
30 years.
 The seep
depravation
has been
linked with
The article is
completely relevant to
the topic as it explores
the relation between use
of social media and
sleeping patterns of the
teenagers

3ENGLISH ESSAY
been published recently
thus it is a reliable
source.
excessive use
of social
media by the
teenagers
Argo, T. and Lowery, L.
2017. The Effects of
Social Media on
Adolescent Health and
Well-Being.
This source has been
taken from
Journal for adolescent
health it is a reliable
source and this source is
relatively recent as it
has been published in
2017.
 The adolescent
sleep pattern
has declined
over a period
of 20 years.
 People needs
to be made
aware about
the relation
between
adequate sleep
and health
The article explains the
ways social media affect
the health and well-
being of the adolescents.
In addition, it will
support the main topic.
Knowles, M., Lee, S.,
O'Riordan, M. and
Lazebnik, R.
(2014). Risk of Social
Media for Teens in an
Urban Setting Global
Pediatric Health -
Megan Knowles, Sara
This article has been
published as a part of
Global Pediatric Health
and has been published
by sage journals and
contains relatively
recent data from the
year 2014 thus it is
 The number of
adolescents
using social
media is
growing
exponentially.
 Although
The source provides
data on the use of social
media by the teenagers
on various media
platform and thus it
related to the topic.

4ENGLISH ESSAY
Hirschfeld Lee,
MaryAnn O’Riordan,
Rina Lazebnik
relevant and
trustworthy.
social media
has certain
benefits it has
several
negative
health effects
as well.
 The teenagers
are shifting
from the
supervision of
their parents
and seeking
approval from
their peers
Lenhart, A., Purcell,
K., Smith, A. and
Zickuhr, K.
(2010). Social Media
& Mobile Internet Use
among Teens and
Young Adults.
Millennials.
The source belongs to
a government site thus
the informations are
credible. The only
downside of the article
is that it dates back to
2010 and thus the data
is a bit old.
The use of social
media and blogging
was already popular
between the adults and
recently the online
activities of the teens
has also increased to a
huge extent, they are
actively participating
The article is relevant
as it records the data
related to the progress
of social media and
mobile use among the
teens as well the young
adults.

5ENGLISH ESSAY
in blogging.
Stage 3: Essay Outline
1-Introduction:
On an average daily, the teens almost spend over 9 hours to browse through their media profiles
and they are deprived of proper amount of sleep resulting in several mental and physical health
complications. According to a survey it has been found that the thirteen year old teens check
their social media profiles for over a hundred times in a day, this obviously decreases the hours
of their sleeping and has negative effects on health.
2-Thesis statement: This essay will argue that the social media use of the teenagers should be
kept under check to prevent them from having certain health complications.
3-Main body:
1st paragraph
Topic sentence – One of the chief negative cause of social media is cyber- bullying. Cyber
bullying negatively affects the health of the teenagers.
Supporting points: The effects of cyber bullying are as follows:
 The self-esteem of the adolescents decreases when they are bullied in the social media
(Knowles et al.2014).
 While being bullied in the virtual world the teenagers withdraw from the real world,
away from their family and friends (Knowles et al.2014).

6ENGLISH ESSAY
 The psychological effects can include, depression, irritability, insomnia, being afraid to
communicate with others (Parent, Sanders and Forehand 2016).
Concluding sentence: Thus, social media can be detrimental to the health of the teenagers.
2nd paragraph
Topic sentence: The excessive use of social media has proved to affect the teenagers negatively.
Supporting points:
 A considerable amount of teenagers goes to school feeling tired and ultimately this sleep
deprivation has negative effects on their well-being (Yonker et al. 2015).
 The teenagers sleep with their mobile phones by their side at night, they fear of missing
out on things that are happening in their social life (Yonker et al. 2015).
Concluding sentence: Due to such behavior of the adolescents, their health is deteriorating
rapidly and at the same time, their academic performance is hampered.
3rd Paragraph
Topic sentence: There are some good effects of the use of social media as well. Social media
can be used for educational purposes; it can also be used to convey an important message in
the society.
Supporting points: the arguments supporting the positive causes of social media are:
 There are many site in the internet, which can be used for educational purpose, there are
various you tube channels, pages in Facebook that are dedicated to teaching the teenagers
new things (Keyes et al. 2015)

7ENGLISH ESSAY
 Internet also teach the youth new skills and provide new ways to earn money (Argo and
Lowery 2017)..
 Facebook, twitter and other social media site can be used to convey important messages
in the society (Argo and Lowery 2017).
Concluding sentence: Thus to some extent internet and social media affects the teenagers
positively as well.
4th Paragraph
Although there are some positive effects of social media, using the social sites excessively can
reduce the positive effects and result in several psychological as well as physical issues. The
following steps can help in reducing the negative effects:
 The parents should regularly monitor the social media or internet usage of their children
(Lenhart et al. 2010).
 The children should be made aware of the health risks, which are related to the constant
use of social media and not getting adequate sleep (Lenhart et al. 2010).
 Awareness campaigns should be arranged in the schools so the teenagers understand the
importance of taking care of their health (Royant 2018).
 The teenagers should be encouraged to take part in healthier options rather than spending
more than half of their day in browsing through social media platforms (Royant 2018).

8ENGLISH ESSAY
To conclude, it can be said that the teenagers nowadays have become excessively
involved in social media and it is adversely affecting their health this practice should be
immediately rectified by taking necessary actions.
Synthesized Summary
Main Body Paragraph Number 4
Main Point: Increase in the use of social media by the Teenagers
There has been ample of research done on the topic of teenagers and their use of social media. Lenhart el
al.(2010)says that since 2006, blogging has become popular among the teens and as it was already
popular among the adults the usage has doubled. This report documents the findings of the usage of social
media and blogging among young adults as well as the adults above the age of 30. The survey contains
data from June 26 and September 24, 2009 in which the research findings on 800 adolescents between
ages 12 and 17 has been documented. The more recent data comprises of the research data from August
18 to September 14 2009.
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) (2018) change of
sleeping patterns in the teenagers has been observed for the past 30 years there has been decrease in the
total time of sleep and quite an increase in the number of teenagers who suffers from sleep deprivation.
Sleep deprivation causes obesity it has been proved in the research, it also results in poor performance at
school and mood related disorders. These changes have been connected with the increased use of various
electronic gadgets, mobile phones, Internet and social media.

9ENGLISH ESSAY