Beware ladies and gentlemen, social media is taking over. It is hard to think of a single person who does not engage in social media consistently. For many, it has become an addiction, and a widely unhealthy one. What was meant to be fun apps and websites has turned into something having direct effects on teenage mental health, most being negative.

According to a 2019 survey done by “Common Sense Media,” teens average between five to seven and a half hours a day on social media, precious time that could be spent doing other, more productive things. Social media is definitely not all bad, but the question ahead of us is: does the bad outweigh the good?

North Atlanta’s high school students are among these “addicted” teens. Out of North Atlanta’s thousands of students, nearly all of them have lives consumed with these social media services, many blind to the negative side of it all. For instance, sophomore Alexandra Kazamias is among these teenagers. “It’s hard to stay away from it. Everybody uses it, and it’s become our primary way of communicating, and at the same time can so easily affect a person’s mental health,” Kazamias says.

Social media is a highlight reel. People have to view everyone else’s seemingly perfect lives, which creates insecurity and unrealistic social standards. However, social media is not all bad, and former North Atlanta student Priscilla Wallace is someone who sees both sides, positive and negative of the social media world. After having moved to Portugal last year, Wallace takes advantage of social media and how she can talk to all of her friends conveniently. However, only seeing the lives of her friends online can be easily upsetting. “I love being able to see and talk to my friends when I am so far away from them, but social media glamorizes everything, and seeing people’s “perfect” lives makes every other person feel unsatisfied with their own,” Wallace says.

It wouldn’t hurt for teens to simply take a break, and spend more time learning to enjoy and love themselves as they are, rather than trying to live up to social standards that are impossible to live up to. So come on Dubs, take a break, realize that nothing on social media is as perfect as it seems, and turn social media life from a negative one, to a positive one.