So…social media, huh? They don’t seem that bad to you?A study has been made recently in which teens were asked in what way they think social media platforms influence their lives, and guess what, 81% of them believe that media have a positive effect on their lives. Which to some may seem normal but others may have a different view on the topic.Being on social media can be seen like gambling; you can be lucky and get the positive effect or you can be unlucky and have the negative effect, but in both cases you may get addicted to it.Some people may get more negativity online and others may get more positivity. Either way, it has an unconscious effect on us, we may not know it but it influences us in many ways, starting with our mood (if we get enough likes we feel better than if nobody comments on our posts) to the way we look at some situations (with so many articles and opinions we can form our own opinions and share them).It is hard to say if social media platforms are good or not. They are good for getting new information and learning about the topics that you are interested in but the bad side is the addictive behaviour when using them too much. Striving for likes, comments and opinions on one hand and trying to achieve standards that aren’t real on the other, may lead to depression, anxiety and other mental disorders.It raises a question: are social media platforms associated with mental health?Social media have become immensely popular, and in recent years mental disorders among teens or young adults have become more common. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are related. In 2016, around 44.7 million adults aged 18 and up had a mental illness in the US. Young adults aged 18-25 had the highest percentage of any mental illnesses at 22.1% compared to adults aged 26-49 at 21.1% and aged 50 and older at 14.5%.“Facebook depression” is a concern resulting from children’s use of social media. Let me just simply explain what Facebook depression is. It is a depression that develops when teens and even preteens spend time on social media sites and then begin to show classic symptoms of depression due to the intensity of the online world. Friend tallies, status updates, and pictures of others having a good time… it all has an effect on the teen.For well-adjusted kids, however, social media can have the opposite effect, boosting their already positive feelings about themselves.How can this be?Well-adjusted children put only their best attributes forward and share only that. They choose what to reveal about themselves and filter their negative characteristics. They are able to show only their positive side of self. In response, their friends’ feedback, comments, and posts tend to be positive.For less adjusted children, constantly reading about the so- called success of their Facebook “friends” can make them feel worse than in real life. The positive spin that popular kids put on Facebook ends up widening the disconnect between how less adjusted or unpopular kids view others and how they view themselves.We don’t necessarily see the effect social media have on us but our friends and family might. The so called facebook depression doesn’t relate just to facebook. Other popular apps nowadays are instagram, snapchat, twitter, pinterest, etc.To conclude, social media platforms have positive and negative effects on us and people mostly share only the good parts of their lives when online that’s why it is important not to compare ourselves to others, especially when online.