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I think it’s time for social media vicarious living to be classified as treasonous, for the unmeasurable harm it is causing to the mental health of struggling folks.
The deceptive nature of social media content has given basis for a world so pure and glamorous that a boy from Soweto met his untimely death, owing to the pressure that took a toll on him.
Being from a poor background, where his single mother was unemployed, he felt ostracised and, ultimately, took his own life.
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News of this teenager’s suicide was shared with me by his elder brother, with whom I have been friends for more than 20 years.
According to research by Paediatric Mental Health, a research institution for mental health, social media is a double-edged sword for today’s teens.
The institution cites that, with the rise of suicide among the youth, many assume social media is partly to blame. However, research reveals a more nuanced picture. While intensive social media use may increase mental health risks for some teens, it does not directly cause suicide.
When the teenager’s brother relayed his grief to me, he painted a picture of a young man who aspired to wear the latest designer clothing to boost his self-image and thus be accepted by his peers.
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His friends, who did not buy their expensive clothes for themselves, but relied on their middle-income parents, forced a sense of ghetto ostentatious behaviour. The incident resonated with me for the fact that social media content can create mental health vulnerability, even among grown-ups.
It should be impressed upon teenagers that social media is a tool for connecting with others; and for picking up educational and career opportunities, as sometimes happens.
But a well-grounded teenager, aware of the pitfalls of social media, will treat it with a necessary measure of cynicism. Not all that is on social media is even real. There are so many people faking lifestyles they don’t even live.
