Derran Cobb is a fourth-year journalism major and writes “DC’s Thoughts” for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper.

In 1997, the world changed forever. Widely considered to be the first social media platform, Six Degrees was launched and allowed users to connect with their friends easier than ever before. Although shut down in 2000, it laid the groundwork for the future. 

Websites and apps introduced in the 2000s and 2010s would revolutionize the industry with the rise of Friendster (2002), MySpace (2003), LinkedIn (2003), Facebook (2004), YouTube (2005) and Twitter, now known as X (2006). 

Instagram (2010) and Snapchat (2011) would follow soon after. TikTok was introduced in 2014 as Musical.ly and became what we know it today in 2018. 

MySpace and Facebook would make creating profiles, sharing updates and interests, and communicating with friends available with just a few clicks. They both quickly gained popularity among teens and college students, garnering 115 million users by 2008. LinkedIn made finding jobs and communicating with employers simpler, changing the workforce. 

With Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, real-time updates to our personal lives were made more accessible, shaping a generation of minds. 

My generation — Generation Z, which includes anyone born between 1997 and 2012 — is the first in history to have spent their entire lives with easy access to devices connected to the internet, from mobile devices to school and personal computers. 

While there are many pros to these platforms and apps, such as accessing world news as it happens or talking to friends and family across the country within seconds, the negatives often outweigh the positives. 

The new, technological world we live in has created a fractured perception of reality. Envy, jealousy and a negative self-image have become the norm.

People post themselves going out to a party, restaurant, vacation, spending time with a significant other, etc. Not everyone who posts takes it into consideration, but a lot of these aspects of life are posted to social media with the goal of impressing one’s following. 

This has led to the phenomena of comparison, commonly referred to as “the thief of joy.” You cannot be happy with yourself if you are constantly comparing your life to someone else's. 

For example, someone can save and save until they’re finally able to purchase a car or an apartment. Then, they look on TikTok or Instagram and see someone with a newer, better car or a bigger house. Now, they feel like all the hard work and time they’ve put in to get what they have is insufficient compared to the other person. 

However, this is a two-way street. 

Even though someone posts a picture that makes it seem like they have made it in life, they most likely don’t feel that way. They are posting something to escape their own reality and give their followers a different idea of what they’re going through. 

Social media posts are often just a glimpse into a fraction of how someone really lives, not the whole image. 

For example, someone could be struggling financially in real life, but judging by their Instagram profile, you’d believe they are living comfortably. A couple could be struggling in their relationship and on the verge of a breakup, but on TikTok, they are seen as ‘couple goals’.

I think this mindset that we as a generation have perpetuated has truly warped our sense of what’s real and what’s not. We aren’t too far along though, and it is still possible for us to break out of it.

From a young age, I’ve heard of cyberbullying from news sources, parents and teachers. I had the mindset of ‘just close the app’, thinking it was just that easy to escape online torment. However, as I have gotten older it’s become clear that it’s not that simple. 

When there are so many apps and the capability of creating multiple accounts to harass people over and over, it’s hard to escape the internet. According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, one in four middle and high school students report having been cyberbullied within the last month. 

Cyberbullying can take many forms, according to the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. This can include embarrassing or hurtful comments and photographs being posted online or sent to the victim. 

This has greatly influenced a hateful culture in our generation, because although often it’s not taken seriously (or even meant to be), you never know what the other person, the victim, is feeling. Roughly 15 percent of adolescents report being cyberbullied, and 14 percent have made a serious suicide attempt.

Both a comparison mindset and the hateful messages that have spawned from heavy use of social media has directly correlated to worsening mental health conditions of this generation. 

The 2023 U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on social media and youth mental health found that adolescents who spent more than three hours per day on social media faced double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes including symptoms of depression and anxiety. 

Yet according to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory, 58 percent of adolescents feel that social media helps them feel more accepted, 67 percent feel like they have people who can support them through tough times, 71 percent feel like they have a place to show their creative side, and 80 percent more connected to what’s going on in their friends’ lives.

Social media has granted us ease of access to a supporting community of like-minded people all over the world. Like never before, we are able to connect with someone who shares an interest of ours or has gone through the same struggles and find solace in that relationship. 

Studies show that limits on the use of social media have resulted in mental health benefits for young adults and adults. The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory found that limiting social media use to 30 minutes daily over three weeks led to significant improvements in depression.

Look, I’m someone who uses social media regularly both leisurely and professionally. But, while social media is a useful, fun and often beneficial thing we use daily, it’s important to recognize the downfalls and understand how to escape them.

Contact Derran Cobb via email at derrancobb@gmail.com or on X @Derran_cobb.

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