Why this 17-year-old decided to delete TikTok and Instagram | Latest Tech News

The youngsters usually are not alright — and they understand it.

It looks like Americans can’t agree on something today, but if there’s one factor Gen Z is in lockstep about, it’s this: Social media has robbed them of their time, their happiness and their wellbeing.

Hallie Zilberman, a junior at Aspen High School in Aspen, Colorado, feels it. And she knew she couldn’t be the only one.

So the 17-year-old surveyed 1,084 other teenage women from around the US, asking about their mental health, to verify her suspicion that growing up online has devastated her era.

Hallie Zilberman, 17, surveyed 1,084 other teenage women from around the US, asking about their mental health, to verify her suspicion that growing up online has devastated her era. Courtesy of Hallie Zilberman

About 6 in 10 agreed that they really feel overwhelmed every day, have daily anxiety and really feel strain to be excellent. 

She also discovered that about half — 48.6% — of the surveyed women have thought about self-harm in the past six months.

“That was really upsetting for me, because that’s basically 50% of girls in my classes, 50% of the girls at the cafeteria at lunch,” Zilberman said.

Zilberman, who is a junior at a high college in Aspen, Colorado, discovered that about half — 48.6% — of the ladies she surveyed have thought about self-harm in the past six months. Courtesy of Hallie Zilberman

“I’ve seen self harm scars on people’s wrists,” she added. “I’ve heard friends talking about their mental health problems that are so hidden … nobody would have known about it. It just shows how many people are hiding what’s going on in their life.”

And she has a wake-up call for dad and mom: “There’s a 50% chance that that’s your kid right now.”

That’s definitely the case for the mothers and dads who have been attending and conserving vigil outdoors a landmark trial now wrapping up in Los Angeles, where a 20-year-old California woman, recognized as KGM, is suing Meta and Google, alleging their platforms had been intentionally designed to addict kids. (TikTok and Snapchat already settled in the case.)

Victoria Hinks’ daughter Alexandra — recognized as Owl — took her own life in 2024, at age 16, and her mother blames social media’s affect. Courtesy of Victoria Hanks

One of them, Victoria Hinks, talked to me just lately about her daughter Alexandra, who was 16 when she took her own life in August 2024.

“When I look through her phone as her 1773863904, I see all the stuff that was being served up really just normalizing depression and glamorizing suicide,” Hinks, from Marin County, California, said. “The ‘skeleton bride diet,’ and these creepy, very anorexic-looking girls, it affected her self-esteem for sure … ”

Zilberman said she and her friends are very conscious of social media’s detrimental impacts on them.

“The amount of people I’ve heard say, ‘I hate TikTok,’ but then never delete it is scary,” she told me.

According to Victoria Hinks, her daughter Owl’s notion of actuality was formed by the not possible magnificence requirements she noticed on social media. Courtesy of Victoria Hanks

The teen deleted TikTok and Instagram from her cellphone just lately and hopes to inspire her mates to do the same — which isn’t straightforward given, as the KGM trial is all about, how dependent youngsters may be on their cellphone and social media apps. (The firms have denied all wrongdoing.)

But, Zilberman said, “I think kids who want to change their lives can make it happen. I think teenagers have agency.”

I like her optimism. There’s been a large grassroots motion to inform youngsters, dad and mom and lecturers about the risks of growing up online. But it often slips into a fatalism that tells youngsters that they’re helpless puppets at the whim of Big Tech.

New apps constructed by younger people pop up every day with new, modern methods to restrict screen time. Adults need to encourage this. Shutterstock

That kind of rhetoric is nearly an excuse to give up themselves to the algorithms.

It’s time for society to empower younger people to unplug. Whether it’s dad and mom staving off social media or colleges implementing cellphone bans on campus, we need to help youngsters help themselves.

There are phone-free events in New York City. Young males are combating against porn and creating apps to help others kick their dependancy. New apps constructed by younger people pop up every day with new, modern methods to restrict screen time.

Zilberman reviews that her life “has been infinitely better” since unplugging.

“I’ve been more efficient with my work. I have more time to spend with family and friends. I’ve actually been looking at the world around me,” she said. “I keep telling people your life will get better.”

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