One word explaining my topic:

Depression or Envy.

Paragraphs for article:

Social media has become extremely popular in the past ten years.
Bebo/Facebook in the past.
Now Snapchat/Instagram.
These apps used by many, especially young people.
However, evil side to social media.
Known for being addictive, and causes anxiety/depression.
Cyber bullying is a big problem.
Lots of people use social media in Ireland.
Popularity of Social Media.
Marie Boran – “The smartphone has played a large part in the rise of social media: widespread internet access and the affordability and portability of the smartphone have pushed use of social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.”

Social Media known for causing anxiety, depression, or even suicide.
Poster on thejournal.ie – “Anxiety is the new disease of our times. It’s very very scary.”
Alan White – “People feel they can never live up to the unrealistic expectations created online and they feel they constantly have to keep up by posting newer and better images.”
Addiction is never good.
Marie Boran – “Our brains are trained over time to keep coming back for the “reward” of replies, likes, share and retweets.”
Facebook releasing blog post about how Social Media has a negative influence on people’s mental health.
Cyber bullying causes depression and suicide.
Nicole Fox Fenlon is an example.
Suicide rate higher for men than women.
Ciarán Austin – “Men tend to use more violent or final methods to attempt suicide or harm themselves. They also tend to have less support structures around them, and are less inclined to “ask for help””.

Young people use social media a lot more than the older generation.
Asked a few of my friends questions regarding social media and mental health.
Billy Haran – “I would much rather people not know who I am and I not know them before having met them”.
Shane Dowling – “What makes social media so addictive is its popularity.”
Adam Bourke – ” Being away from it causes me stress, as it’s like you’re removed from whatever’s going on in the world”
Social Media use by 19-24 year olds causes an increased rate of anxiety, depression and poor sleep, according to the UK’s Royal Society for Public Health.

ReachOut Ireland have been given insight of what affects young people.
43% of people selected social media as a source of stress. Over 8,000 people took part in the surveys that have been released in the past two years.
CybersafeIreland created an annual report in 2017, with statistics.
Example: 70% of 8 – 13 year olds are using social media..
The majority of teachers (62%) are dealing with online safety incidences in the classroom with 35% dealing with between 2 and 5 incidences in the last year.
Social media use increased for both genders, but use by girls 15 years and older has tripled between 2002-2014, according to the WHO (World Health Organisation)

~~Suicide rate higher for men than women.~~
Ciarán Austin – “Men tend to use more violent or final methods to attempt suicide or harm themselves. They also tend to have less support structures around them, and are less inclined to “ask for help””.

Social media has affected my mental health at times.
Snapchat/Instagram are the biggest culprit.
Makes me envy people.
Puts you in a low mood if you “don’t get enough likes on a photo”.
Seeing hateful comments on the internet can hurt, or just seeing someone who has a different opinion than me but expresses it in a poor way.
However, after using social media for so many years, there is some good to it.
Keeping in touch with past friends.
People giving you entertainment with funny videos and posts on apps such as Facebook and Twitter.
Making a fake Instagram account (a finsta) was something I do not regret.
Keeping on top of the daily news around the world.

Helps you get to know people all around the world.
Excellent if you want to become a journalist! (That’s the dream)
Marie Boran – “Social media has connected people around the world in so many positive ways…those who live in isolated areas can feel like part of a community”
Poster on thejournal.ie – “I use social media to stay in contact with my Australian extended family and friends. Without social media I wouldn’t be in contact with many of them at all. So social media is good for my mental health.”
Want to find an answer to something.
Watch episodes of your favourite TV shows on Facebook so you can keep up to date. Walking Dead, this one is for you.
Having a polite discussion with someone that has the same interests as you.

Alan White – “Teaching young people how to manage social media correctly and to help them avoid having their identities wrapped up in the false world that is social media.”
The Irish Government recently launched “Be Safe Online”, a campaign to highlight ways to help you stay safe online.
Alex Argue – “I try to turn my 3G off so I don’t get any notifications so that means I won’t be on my phone as much”.
It’s hard to find a way to reduce your use on social media. We are all different.
Billy Haran – “I’ve completely cut down on my social media”.
From the start of this article, I talked about depression. Now that we are at the end of the article, is there hope?
Social media can be extremely awful, and after pointing out the negative things about it, will I still use it?
The answer is, absolutely.