If you deleted all of your social media apps right now, how different would your personality be? Social media is shaping our interests, how we talk, and our relationship with ourselves. Without social media, we would be completely different people, with different friends, hobbies, and thoughts. Without even knowing it, large companies are controlling who we are.
To start, apps like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat have algorithms that feed you the information they think you want in order to keep winning your attention. These algorithms go to great lengths to accomplish this, showing you ideas introducing self-harm, violence, bad body image, and other potentially harmful things. According to UCLA Health, depression rates in youth have increased by up to 52% between 2005 and 2017. While no single cause is to be blamed for this, the increase in depression rates significantly overlaps with the use of social media in younger age groups.
“The more I use social media, the more I compare myself to others and feel less confident,” said sophomore James White.
Furthermore, social media doesn’t just affect the way we think; it affects the way we act. Mass Social Media-Induced Illnesses (MSMI) is when thousands of people are exposed to the same habits and behaviors and start to pick them up. There have been multiple cases and studies on MSMI, and many times, the root cause is social media. In 2019, around the time the COVID-19 pandemic was starting and teens’ screen times were skyrocketing, there was a noticeable increase in tic-like acts from teenagers, especially from apps like TikTok. Doctors began saying they saw clusters of people experiencing movements and vocalizations after watching these actions repeatedly on social media. This shows how powerful seeing something on social media repeatedly can be, not just in forming opinions, but also in changing how you act.
Another big example of social media shaping your personality is how it changed your identity. Influencers online want you to see them at their best. Your feed shows you successful people living “perfect” lives with “perfect” bodies. Influencers and the algorithm hide the truth from you to show you the best version of others. This can change your view of yourself, often making you feel behind or worse than others. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2024, 43% of US adults experienced anxiety, up from just 32% in 2022. This has been linked to the increase in social media use.
“Whenever I use social media, I see people lifting heavier weights than me, and it makes me feel very behind and like I should be doing more than I am right now,” Said Sophomore Maxwell Cantagallo.” It makes me feel pressured and gives me anxiety.”
Social media is also changing personalities by shortening your attention span. Apps like TikTok and Instagram take your attention quickly by showing you short clips that make you react. Over time, this can make it harder to focus on stuff that takes a longer amount of time, like watching movies or reading. It can also make it harder to pay attention in class and affect how effectively students learn.
Ultimately, social media is influencing our everyday lives and changing how we act as people. To stop social media from changing us, we can limit how much time we spend on it and stop ourselves from watching certain things. Social media is useful and fun to use, but we need to be careful and make sure we use it smartly.
“I believe social media was created to connect us with others in an easier and more positive manner, it gives us an outlet to see one’s life in aspects we don’t usually get to see,” said senior Kaiya Wrigley.
