platforms and the continuous spread of social
networks, the types of social media have increased
significantly, and the flood of information, excessive
netizens and frequent interaction behaviors have
greatly increased the time and energy costs of the
public to obtain information and maintain social
relationships, and "are prone to negative emotions
and avoidance behaviors" (Yang, 2024). Self-esteem
is often studied as a mediating variable, and there is a
significant relationship between an individual's self-
esteem level and many aspects of adolescent
development (Cao, 2024). Specifically, individuals
with high neurotic personality are prone to mood
fluctuations, anxiety, and irritability, which will cause
individuals to be extremely uncertain about the
external environment and sensitive to external
information, which in turn will cause individuals to
have a huge fear of missing out when using social
networks, so that they frequently consult and log on
to social networking sites, and eventually evolve into
problematic social network use behaviors
(Zhang,2024)This may be because while the network
provides opportunities for the integration and
coordination of the internal state and the external
environment, it also increases the difficulty of self-
integration (Qu & Ni, 2020)
For parents, teenagers' use of mobile phones
should be reasonably controlled, reasonable screen
time limits should be set, and their psychological state
should be guided to accompany them as they grow up.
and encourage them to socialize offline and socialize
with friends. Similarly, they should maintain open
communication with teens about their social media
usage to help identify potential risks such as
cyberbullying or privacy breaches. Parents should set
an example by demonstrating healthy online habits
and teaching teens how to balance online and offline
life to ensure that social media does not interfere with
learning, sleep and relationships.
For educators, it is up to them to help teenagers
develop proper mobile phone habits, such as giving
lectures. Educators can incorporate healthy mobile
habits into their curricula to teach teens how to use
social media safely and responsibly. Educators should
help students identify false information, encourage
critical thinking, and develop healthy online
behaviors. At the same time, educators should pay
attention to the psychological state of students, detect
anxiety or stress caused by social media in time, and
provide support.
For social media platforms, it is recommended to
strengthen content moderation to reduce the impact of
negative information, provide more mental health
support features, crack down on bad information, and
encourage high-quality creators. Provide stricter
privacy protection settings for teens, and develop
parental monitoring tools to help parents understand
their children's usage. In addition, social media
platforms can introduce a reminder function to
encourage moderate use. Platforms should also
provide educational resources to help teens learn
about cybersecurity, and set up easy reporting
channels to ensure they can get help quickly.
In the course of the study, there may be the
following shortcomings. The first is sample bias, this
study mainly focuses on adolescents in the age group
of 15-17 years, and the data for other age groups are
relatively small, so the research sample may lack a
certain representativeness, resulting in the conclusion
that it cannot be generalized to a wider group.
To avoid this problem, researchers should ensure
that the sample is diverse and random, covering
variables such as different backgrounds, ages, and
genders, to improve the generalizability of results.
In the future, the above measures can effectively
reduce the shortcomings in the research and improve
the scientificity and credibility of the research.
6 CONCLUSION
Using a survey of 61 participants, this study
investigated the effects of social media on teenagers
between the ages of 12 and 19. The findings indicated
that social media is important, especially for people
between the ages of 15 and 17, who utilise it for social
contact and pleasure. However, it also causes anxiety;
according to around 60% of respondents, social
media information makes them uneasy. Sleep and
emotional stability are impacted by frequent use,
particularly in women. Despite these drawbacks,
some teenagers are growing more conscious and
making an effort to use social media less. This
emphasises how important it is to get help creating
safe internet practices.
This study offers suggestions for reducing the
detrimental effects of youths' excessive usage of
social media. Limiting screen time, promoting offline
socialising, and modelling responsible digital
behaviour are all things that parents should do.
Teachers may encourage students to use social media
responsibly, incorporate digital literacy into their
curricula, and assist students' mental health. Social
media companies ought to strengthen privacy
safeguards, provide mental health resources, and
improve content control.
The majority of the study's participants were