It has now been over a year since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, and the mental toll it has taken on teenagers has become very apparent. With social media use on the rise and schooling online, it is not hard to understand why teenagers feel “robbed” of their time. Everything that makes adults miss their teenage years was taken away by the pandemic, leaving teenagers feeling disappointed with the past year.

A lucky few of these teenagers will find productive uses of their time, but the majority were vastly underprepared for what was to come. Social media usage skyrocketed as teenagers found themselves with no other means to interact with others, and along with that came the heightened negatives associated with social media use. For instance, upon logging into Instagram, teenagers are faced with edited images that portray others living the “perfect” life, which causes comparison and makes those viewing the photos feel inferior. On the other hand, the person who posted the photo will be anxiously checking their notifications to ensure that they receive enough likes and comments to satisfy themselves. Not getting the desired number of interactions on a post can discourage someone from engaging in social media, and make them feel as if no one likes them. Logically, everyone knows that these are simply numbers on a screen, but society has placed so much value on these insignificant numbers that they cause teenagers extreme mental distress.

Tiktok is no better than Instagram, teenagers view video after video about traumatic topics such as eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and countless other mental illnesses. The tiktoks about these topics often glorify them and cause teenagers to self diagnose or chase after this mental illness. The creators of the videos often do not provide a “trigger warning,” or a warning about the video’s contents. These warnings serve as a cautionary message to those who would be negatively affected by watching the video. Sadly, there are many people who do not feel that trigger warnings are necessary and when coupled with the sheer volume of these types of videos, teenagers are being fed media that fuels mental illnesses. On top of that, Tiktok’s algorithm causes a person to see many videos of the same nature, so if a person starts seeing videos which cause them emotional distress, chances are that there are many more of the same type of video coming up.

Online school is very emotionally draining as well, both on teachers and students, because it prevents many vital face-to-face interactions which make school so enjoyable. Regular, in-person school is a place where students can engage with friends and classmates while expanding their knowledge on subjects they choose to learn about. Conversely, online school is often sitting in front of a screen for hours each day, just listening to a teacher speak. The teacher is not motivated to teach because of how draining it is to speak to a screen for an hour each class, and the students are not motivated to listen because of how boring it is to stare at a screen for an hour each class. One solution was breakout rooms, where students are put into a “room” together and can speak to each other, but all this only resulted in additional anxiety for students who do not like speaking up. Even for those who do try to speak, it is often met with silence and blank screens. When students turn their cameras on, the teacher cannot see anyone anyways on Zoom while presenting, so students have no incentive to turn on their cameras. Instead, most spend the time on their phones, further heightening the social media issue mentioned above.

A person’s teenage years are meant to be when they can explore interests and find themselves before they move onto the next chapter of their life as an adult. The pandemic has taken away more than an entire year of these already limited years, and left teenagers with more mental trauma than before due to results of the pandemic such as online school and decreased time spent on hobbies. In time, this pandemic will become mere words in a history book, and it is important that its impacts are studied as well as the event itself.