More Than Memes Social Media to Cope with Mental Health
hello
my name is jadell brown and 11th grader
at brooklyn lab charter school and i
will be talking about the unique
approaches teenagers use to cope with
mental health
generation z is known for being creative
and socially progressive
generation z is also known for doing
really stupid things
like biting tide pods for fun or coming
up with weird phrases like
it’s okay boomer or this is not it
but we are also outspoken knowledgeable
and we know when to speak out for
injustice
it is also well known that gen z has
significantly
higher rates of depression and mental
illness
the music art and dance on social media
are effective ways teenagers use to cope
with their mental health struggles
now when thinking about beauty everyone
has their own preferences
and types of what they consider to be
beautiful but to what extent
can we criticize others for not fitting
those standards
society today creates an illusion that
sets standards on what a person should
look like
to be considered beautiful or how they
should act and certain expectations they
should live up to
and the amount of education they need to
make something of themselves
adults also play a part in teenage
mental health because a lot of parents
stress
teens out and often criticize them
whether they mean to or not
no matter how much of a strong facade we
put on teenagers are still kids and
words still reach deep
my generation feels these pressures
acutely and they worsen or can even
cause mental health problems in teens
social pressure can impact how a person
feels about themselves and can make them
question their worth
judgment can also lead to social anxiety
seeing as the fear of being stared at or
being criticized can mess up someone’s
confidence and mindset
everyone is different and if we can’t
see that there’s definitely something
wrong with the way we perceive things
teenagers face a lot of pressure from
beauty standards and often listen to
music to ease their mind
or find a path to loving themselves one
way my generation has learned to cope
with this social pressure is with music
and specifically by listening to the
affirming and loving music of bts
the korean pop group known
internationally bts is one of those
musical coping mechanisms
as people often listen to their music to
find love and gain
motivation to keep going when faced with
hardships
one of bts albums love yourself answer
talks a lot about accepting yourself and
all your flaws and finding a way through
that feeling of never-ending darkness
all of their albums send listeners a
deeper message that normally focus on
finding one’s true self
or facing their insecurities and
anxieties head-on
bts doesn’t just make music they create
songs that connect to their fans and
tell a story
despite the language barrier bts and
their fans have a really strong
connection
as quoted from their amazing leader kim
mongoon no one is born ugly were just
born in a judgmental society
second teenagers are stressed from the
tons of schoolwork being given
in online school i’ve known i’ve been
there
due to the safety measures that have
been implemented students had to switch
to online school and school itself was
already hard before
so imagine remote learning now students
have to sit
hours and hours on zoom calls every day
which creates a depressing mood because
no one wants to sit at home
learning remote learning can make people
lose the motivation
and energy to keep up and over time the
stress will get to them
and school will be nothing but a
depressing force of habit
teens have made remarks saying how
school doesn’t even feel like learning
anymore
it’s just doing assignments and getting
a grade this kind of environment can
create a negative mindset of mental
health
especially for teenagers as now is the
time we’re now trying to find ourselves
and developing as a person
often teenagers use tick-tock as a way
to distract themselves from schoolwork
social media has good aspects that allow
teenagers to connect with each other
and help tick-tock is a really good way
for teenagers to share creative ideas
like artwork
which can ease the mind art has been
known to help with anxiety it’s a great
way to relieve emotions and express
feelings and social media is a crucial
outlet that lets teens share their
artwork with each other
therapy can come in many different forms
as everyone has different way of dealing
with mental illness
and one of those is art which is a very
effective way
throughout tick tock i have seen many
teenagers expressing themselves through
art
as a way to express their opinions and
belief i once saw a girl draw on her
wall
i’m not that creative but it did look
nice
2020 has been a year full of tragedy
kofi 19 being one of those major issues
when lockdown first started many teams
were excited to get away from school
myself included but as time went on it
started to get really boring
and people started facing more struggles
with anxiety and depression
as everyone was stuck home doing nothing
half the time
it gave people more time to think about
themselves and sometimes those thoughts
weren’t always positive
being locked inside caused a lot of
stress and emotional exhaustion
which impacted mental health in order to
cope with these struggles
teenagers often use dance as a way to
ease anxiety and improve their mood
dance was used to create a confidence
booster and can allow many people to
express themselves
it can build self-esteem and
communication skills
many teens sometimes record their dance
journey from when they first started to
present
to show their improvement and those
results improved emotionally and
physically
now to all you teens out there i know
you at least been hit once with the
you’re just a kid what would you know
but when it’s time to take care of a
sibling or do a heavy task
that’s when parents start saying you’re
not a baby anymore act your age
it’s time to grow up talk about
contradictions
they only want us to act our age when
it’s in their best interest
but as soon as we voice our beliefs and
goals against them that’s when they tell
us to know our place as children and
we’re not grown enough to understand the
world yet
as parents you should take time to speak
to your children and ask them about
their worries and problems
because though it may seem as if they’re
okay they can be suffering alone in
silence
don’t belittle their ideas just because
you think it’s immature
try to see things from their perspective
and understand why it is they do the
things
we do there is no such thing as bad
children or disappointing children
they’re just kids who need a little more
guidance to them it may seem as if we
don’t have problems but we are facing
our own inner demons because at the end
of the day we’re all still human
i hope you were able to learn more about
the insight of teenage mind from this
ted talk