This essay was submitted to the 2026 Lumiere Scholars Essay Award, receiving a $750 scholarship to their research program.

Vibrating Rectangles And Potatoes

How Modern Internet-Based Social Media Affects Adolescent Emotional and Social Development

At 1:37a.m., the glow of a phone screen is the only light in the room. A teenager lies under the covers, thumb scrolling endlessly. The house is silent, but the mind is loud. For most adolescents, this ritual is like brushing their teeth. Social media once promised teenagers connection; instead, it has become a tether tying emotion to the volatility of a vibrating rectangle. This portal to the world of modern internet-based social media has transformed the landscape of adolescence. Globally, scholars and mental health professional have raised concerns that these complex networks bring new experiences but also challenges to current adolescent emotional and social development. Depersonalisation, isolation, cyberbullying, and even the alteration of adolescent brain sensitivity to punishment and reward, are only a few issues, which did not exist for prior generations. Simultaneously, social media offers unprecedented connectivity and a creative outlet for young people. After defining adolescents, their social and emotional development, and what social media networks are now considered modern, the global multifaceted consequences will be explored.

Researchers define social media as “Internet-based channels that allow users to opportunistically interact and selectively self-present” [1] to both narrow and public audiences. However, modern internet-based social media refers solely to platforms allowing adolescents to create public profiles, traverse networks, and communicate through the exchange of content within those networks. Therefore, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Facebook are all considered modern because a large proportion of teenagers worldwide, use these platforms daily [2]. The World Health Organisation defines adolescence as the stage between “ages 10 and 19”, the “period of development marked by rapid physical, cognitive and psychosocial growth” shaping how individuals “think and feel” [3]. ‘Digital natives’ is the name given to modern day young people, as they are the first generation to experience all 9 years of their adolescence amidst the ubiquity of smartphone and social media use, bringing stark changes to developmental stages. Psychologists Trentacosta and Izard define emotional development as “the emergence of the experience, expression, understanding, and regulation of emotions” [4] developing alongside social and neural growth. Changes in self-awareness, empathy, and resilience are skills which adolescents acquire as they mature. However, the age and progression of these aspects of emotional development are heavily influenced by one’s social environment, and therefore, online platforms. Social development is the process by which young people learn their role in society, understand interpersonal communication, and maintain healthy relationships. Sociologist Song explains social development as “forming norms, controlling behaviour, and learning to integrate into wider society” [5]. In adolescence, this is marked by identity formation, navigating friendships, and preparing for adult responsibilities (voting, working, and household tasks).

Social media contributes positively to adolescent emotional development through strengthening peer connections and providing a space for self-expression. A Pew Research Center survey discovered that 74% of teenagers feel more connected to their peers through social media use[6]. Additionally, social media gives young people a sense of connection, helping them feel part of a community of likeminded people. For marginalised adolescents, like LGBTQ+ youth or those with rare disorders, online spaces provide support, resources, and reduce isolation. Studies and real-life examples support that adolescents engaged in positive online interactions have lower stress and increased self-esteem. Emotional expression is also encouraged: adolescents can post photographs, art, and videos to share feelings and receive support. Used safely, this encourages emotional growth, giving adolescents space to explore and express their identity.

Social media is stigmatised as damaging because adolescents are viewed as its victims; despite their being its driving force. Platforms thrive on adolescent engagement: scrolling, sharing, and posting generate the audience, data, and revenue, however, consistent use has been linked to depression, anxiety, and suicide. A study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that 25.9% of adolescents with 4+ hours of daily screen use reported depression symptoms, compared to 9.5% with under 4 hours,  following the same pattern for anxiety symptoms (27.1% vs 12.3%) [7]. The mechanism behind this is social comparison. Adolescent scrollers are exposed to unrealistic, curated portrayals of both influencers and peers, fueling feelings of inadequacy. The sheer volume of content available for consumption is another major issue. Adolescents are not exposed to one peer or influencer but hundreds at once – vacations, parties and perfect bodies all in one feed. This overload creates the feeling that everyone else is happier, prettier, and more successful [8]. Constant validation through ‘likes’ ties self-worth to shifting external judgment, worsening emotional instability [9]. Overall, social media’s influence on adolescent emotional development is multifaceted; it fosters growth by providing community, support, and creative outlets while also creating pressures that deteriorate emotional health.

Social development is encouraged by social media as it deepens peer interactions, broadens horizons, and sparks community engagement, promoting cultural competency. For many teenagers it is a tool for extending connections beyond their immediate environment. Unlike before, adolescents can interact with peers continuously, contacting them at any time of day or night, deepening and maintaining friendships. According to Frontiers in Public Health 66% of teenagers stayed connected through social media during the Covid-19 pandemic [10].  This contact helps develop skills essential for adult relationships, such as conflict resolution, collaboration, and compromise [11]. Furthermore, social media has the power to broaden cultural horizons by exposing adolescents to diverse perspectives and practices, fostering cultural education, and acceptance. Researchers suggest this is forming a generation with more developed global citizenship [12]. Social media functions as a 21st-century Speakers’ Corner, where anyone can “debate, advocate and broadcast their perspectives to a global audience” [13]. Therefore, adolescents rely on it to shape their identity and world, by sparking community efforts cultivating leadership. Adolescents use platforms to raise awareness and organise events, bringing people together. Collective responsibility strengthens adolescent bonds, showing positive use enhances social development by actively contributing to society.

Despite these benefits, social media hinders adolescent socialisation replacing face-to-face interaction with silent phone use, limiting real-world communication skill development and fostering misinterpretation of written messages. During the pandemic, more than 40% used social media as compensation for the lack of face-to-face contact [14]. Expectedly, once they were able to go outside again, in-person communication became difficult. Physical masks off, the rapid increase in social media usage had formed a new, different type of mask. Connection felt safer online, yet in person it now seemed awkward, tedious and unfamiliar. Picture this: teenagers sitting around a table. Not in conversation, but in silence. Heads bowed, each absorbed in a vibrating rectangle. You would say they are “together”, yet not truly communicating; forming an alarming societal paradox, physically proximate but socially detached. This is problematic because psychologists have long emphasised the importance of verbal and non-verbal forms of communication. Paralinguistic cues like eye contact, intonation, pauses, and touch convey meaning behind words. Online communication erases these features, causing misinterpretations. A 2005 study found that text-based communication increased interpersonal conflict between adolescents because they misunderstood ambiguous statements [15].  Development theorists in 2025 stress that adolescents progress socially through “direct experiences – trying, failing, negotiating, and adapting” [16]. A reaction emoji is never the same as seeing tears in real life, nor is a simple “like” equivalent to eye-to-eye encouragement. Social media has coaxed youths into inauthentic connection and artificial interactions, spiralling into a pandemic with masks of their own making; preventing them from building real-world connections. Once protective, now restrictive, the mask has become harder to breathe through. When President Trump threatened to ban TikTok in America, it was, for adolescents, a potato famine—a sudden loss of what sustains social connectivity.

Yet, an Oxford study suggested social media’s impact on adolescent life is exaggerated. Time online accounts for only 0.4% of differences in mental health—comparable to the effects of “eating potatoes” [17]. Its impact seems imperceptible, like a potato you cannot see once swallowed. Imperceptibility does not mean irrelevance. This 0.4% is what fuels teenage depersonalisation, isolation, and incorrect biopsychological development: predictable consequences of such stimulating networks. Giving a teenager unrestricted access to social media is like handing them wine and cigarettes. A single glass of wine never harmed anyone, nor did eating a potato, but in excess both are destructive. It is not one like, scroll, or comment that reshapes development, but the relentless loop. Anticipating social reward on these platforms’ triggers dopamine releases, intensifying compulsive checking through amplifying sensitivity in adolescent brain reward circuits [18]. Adolescents are not passive communicators in social media’s operation; they are soldiers fighting the battle of their own maintenance. The provocative comparison to eating potatoes shows social media is not the singularly destructive force of adolescent development, but the unpalpable catalyst, gradually distorting adolescent identity construction.

Adolescent emotional and social development is affected by social media both beneficially and detrimentally. Screen-based communication creates distance, diminishes fears of judgement, and encourages self-expression; yet in close relationships, it leads to harmful misunderstandings. Whilst social media supports adolescent evolution by strengthening peer connections and fostering cultural awareness, its excessive use is linked to depression, anxiety, and inauthenticity. So, switching off the vibrating rectangle makes the mind more peaceful, less loud. It is 1.38am, total darkness.

[1] Carr, Caleb T., and Rebecca A. Hayes. “Social Media: Defining, Developing, and Divining.” Atlantic Journal of Communication, vol. 23, no. 1, 2015, pp. 46-65. Taylor & Francis, doi:10.1080/15456870.2015.972282.

[2] Pew Research Center. Teens, Social Media and Mental Health. By Michelle Faverio, Monica Anderson, and Eugenie Park, Pew Research Center, Apr. 2025

[3] World Health Organization. “Adolescent Health.”World Health Organization, WHO, https://www.who.int/health-topics/adolescent-health#tab=tab_1. Accessed 13 Sept. 2025.

[4] Izard, Carroll E., and Christopher J. Trentacosta. “Emotional Development.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/science/emotional-development. Accessed 13 Sept. 2025

[5] Song, Manman. “A Review of Factors Affecting Adolescent Social Development.” Journal of Psychology & Behavior Research, vol. 7, no. 1, 2025, p. 39. Scholink Inc. DOI:10.22158/jpbr.v7n1p39. Accessed 13 Sept. 2025.

[6] Mendez-Padilla, Briana. “Teens More Acutely Aware of Social Media’s Impact on Mental Health.” K-12 Dive, 28 May 2025, www.k12dive.com/news/teen-recognition-social-media-mental-health-impacts-growing/749074/

[7] Zablotsky, Benjamin, et al. “Associations Between Screen Time Use and Health Outcomes Among US Teenagers.”Preventing Chronic Disease, vol. 22, no. E38, 10 July 2025, https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2025/24_0537.htm. Accessed 13 Sept. 2025

[8]Social Media and Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 19 Feb. 2025, https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/youth-mental-health/social-media/index.html. Accessed 13 Sept. 2025.

[9] Lee, Hae Yeon, Jeremy P. Jamieson, Harry T. Reis, Christopher G. Beevers, Robert A. Josephs, Michael C. Mullarkey, Joseph O’Brien, and David S. Yeager. “Getting Fewer ‘Likes’ Than Others on Social Media Elicits Emotional Distress Among Victimized Adolescents.” Child Development, vol. 91, no. 6, 2020, pp. 2141-2159. PubMed Central, PMC7722198.

[10] Marciano, Laura, Michelle Ostroumova, Peter Johannes Schulz, and Anne-Linda Camerini. “Digital Media Use and Adolescents’ Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Frontiers in Public Health, vol. 9, Article 793868, 1 Feb. 2022, doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.793868.

[11] Trifan, Teodora A., et al. “The Dimensionality of the Conflict Resolution Styles.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 15, 2024, Article 1233279, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1233279.

[12] Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen. “The Psychology of Globalization.” American Psychologist, vol. 57, no. 10, 2002, pp. 774-783. American Psychological Association, doi:10.1037/0003-066X.57.10.774. Accessed 13 Sept. 2025

[13] “The Speakers’ Corner.” The Royal Parks, The Royal Parks Charity, https://www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/hyde-park/speakers-corner. Accessed 13 Sept. 2025.

[14] Marciano, Laura, Michelle Ostroumova, Peter Johannes Schulz, and Anne-Linda Camerini. “Digital Media Use and Adolescents’ Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Frontiers in Public Health, vol. 9, Article 793868, 1 Feb. 2022, doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.793868.

[15] Marciano, Laura, Michelle Ostroumova, Peter Johannes Schulz, and Anne-Linda Camerini. “Digital Media Use and Adolescents’ Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Frontiers in Public Health, vol. 9, Article 793868, 1 Feb. 2022, doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.793868.

[16] Song, Manman. “A Review of Factors Affecting Adolescent Social Development.” Journal of Psychology & Behavior Research, vol. 7, no. 1, 2025, pp. 39-52. Scholink Inc. Accessed 13 Sept. 2025.

[17] Gonzalez, Robbie. “Screens Might Be as Bad for Mental Health as … Potatoes.” WIRED, 14 Jan. 2019, www.wired.com/story/screens-might-be-as-bad-for-mental-health-as-potatoes/.

[18] Maza, Maria T., et al. “Association of Habitual Checking Behaviors on Social Media With Longitudinal Functional Brain Development.” JAMA Pediatrics, vol. 177, no. 2, 2023, pp. 160-167. JAMA Network, doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.4924