Social media are driving youngsters to have a low sense of self-worth and be dissatisfied with their appearances, according to a study published by London-based mental health charity stem4 on Jan. 3.
“Social media is definitely negatively affecting me. As young people, we constantly compare ourselves to good-looking people online. On sites like TikTok, the only people you see are gorgeous due to the algorithms and that makes us feel really bad about ourselves,” said a young person who was quoted in the study (pdf).
The study, which surveyed 1,024 youngsters aged between 12 and 21 in the UK, found that 97 percent of them were on social media, spending an average of 3.65 hours a day on smartphone apps, such as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Youtube, and WhatsApp….