I don't believe it's the tech companies fault necessarily - but social media definitely plays a big role in my view.
It is extremely easy to get sucked into groups that perpetuate racial/sexist-related hate, self-loathing and suicide, unhealthy self image/comparison to others, endless doom-saying and bad news, etc.
Those can have a huge impact on someone when they're young. (Frankly, they have a huge impact on everyone else, too)
Is it such a bad thing that they compare themselves to their peers?
In 2018 "obesity prevalence was [...] 21.2% among 12- to 19-year-olds." [1] according to the CDC. That's one out of 5 being obese, not just overweight. And it has more than tripled since the 70's [2]. I have to wonder if it's related. A lot of teenagers are bombarded with images of their peers' perfectly healthy bodies that, quite simply, won't match what they see in the mirror. The solution? Ban mirrors.
Of course obesity is a massive problem in the US. That's undeniable. There is, of course, the opposite side of this where some people become anorexic which is well-documented. (Less common, of course, but still important)
But there are other issues of self image too, like wealth and success, beauty, etc.
Spending all day seeing nothing but seemingly "perfect" individuals with "perfect" lives (even if a lot of it is fabricated) can do a lot of harm, in my view.
It is extremely easy to get sucked into groups that perpetuate racial/sexist-related hate, self-loathing and suicide, unhealthy self image/comparison to others, endless doom-saying and bad news, etc.
Those can have a huge impact on someone when they're young. (Frankly, they have a huge impact on everyone else, too)