The term ‘born in the wrong generation’ was initially used in television shows mainly for the sake of a character enjoying the music from a particular era. But nowadays, it is more often used to depict the troubles a teenager deals with in this generation, especially with social media.

Based on a report from Stanford University, Generation (Gen) Z is the first generation to enter the world without any recognition of a time before the internet. From birth, our lives were consumed by technology gathered from the internet, and now, it is the only thing many of us do to relax ourselves. 

Social media is a type of technology that gives you your own platform online, to share your friends, your hobbies, your sadness, and your growth throughout your life. All the good of social media is great, but that isn’t all it does.

Social media has many downfalls that many teenagers now face. It is awfully draining to not just students, but to parents, teachers, family, and friends watching the people you love get consumed by the life you only see the brightest parts of. 

Things like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat are what we use most. We talk to our friends,  post funny videos, or even just sit there for hours looking at others’ posts, it all just becomes a cycle. TikTok especially has altered our patience, our listening, and even our concentration.

I, for one, can barely watch a minute video without getting antsy or bored, imagine us trying to watch movies. We are so stuck on these 10-second laughs TikTok embedded into our brains as normal that we find it bewildering to have to sit through something longer.

It is truly wounding to watch and develop. 

We also face the issue that many teenagers deal with, mental illness due to the effects of social media.

This problem of comparison is as far back as when television first began, but it has become dramatically worse with the use of social media.

Many of us watch videos all day and are stuck on an algorithm of just fake-looking models with the job of being social media’s most attractive people, but how reliable can that be?

With the use of PhotoShop, plastic surgery, makeup, and even FaceTune to morph your pictures to make you look different than you appear, we begin to develop a stereotype that we all need to look like this, even when a very rare amount of people actually do.

This unrealistic lifestyle we all see on a daily basis by influencers is why our generation’s level of mental illness is so high. 

We all face these issues one way or another, it becomes inevitable. But when your days start with your phone checking your Snapchat and end with you scrolling on TikTok until your eyes are glued shut, you are getting addicted to social media and that is nearly impossible to break.

So my advice is to stop it before it gets too difficult to fix.