Gen Z and Gen Alpha Interviews, Winter 2021

Our adolescent interviewees consistently expressed conflicting attitudes surrounding social media content and the role it plays in their lives. A year after the release of “The Social Dilemma,” it seems that more and more young people are discussing the harm that social media can yield on their lives and American society. On the one hand, social media can prove to be a helpful distraction from some of the more troubling aspects of life in a pandemic — TikTok videos reign supreme — but these platforms also contain copious amounts of competing information that young people experience some difficulty sorting through. Sometimes this includes harmful conspiracy theories, as Ivan, 17, points out.

These interviews also demonstrate some of the ways that social media can impact the mental health of young people, particularly teen girls. As Maya, 15, shared, “People usually talk behind each other’s backs about their Instagram posts, and a couple of times other students have anonymously made accounts aimed toward posting unwanted pictures or things about other students in the class.” Madison, 18, also spoke about some of the “toxicity” lurking in the comments on apps like Instagram and TikTok. In spite of this, our interviewees still find themselves scrolling through content for hours each day, often finding positive posts in their feeds alongside the more troublesome content. Mia, 15, shared about interacting with videos on YouTube that promote positive mental health, which have seemingly become more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic.