Student, Referee, and Entrepreneur

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Logan Mascarenhas  • Peerlist

Throughout adolescence, the human brain undergoes structural changes. These structural changes vastly impact teens’ social and emotional intelligence, and how they interrelate their behaviour and thoughts. It has been proven that teens’ brains have high plasticity and their cognitive development and function are heavily influenced and shaped by their environment. This includes social media. Social Media is extremely prevalent among teens and 95% of teens use social media. A study by Pew Research showed that “teen girls are more likely than boys to use TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat; teen boys [are] more likely to use Twitch, Reddit and YouTube; and Black teens are especially drawn to TikTok compared with other groups.” All of these platforms negatively impact both attention span and memory retention, but also brain chemistry and emotional stimuli. Additionally, there is a correlation between social media usage and mental health issues, including increased “anxiety, depression, loneliness, and body worries”.