Today social media is taking the world by storm; people all around the world, no matter what age group, use it. As a society we need to focus on ourselves rather than spending endless amounts of time on our phones. The growth of social media in the past decade is directly linked to anxiety and depression. I don’t think that mental health and social media are talked about enough and it is a prominent problem for our generation. I have personally been affected by spending too much time on social media and I know that many other people have too. People isolate themselves by spending so much time on social media and obsess over what other people are doing. Social media causes people to compare themselves to others which leads to less life satisfaction. People only post the positive aspects of their life which causes unrealistic views of others lives. The portrayal of others’ lifestyles and how they look on instagram is different than in real life. If everyone put their phones down and stopped looking at what others were doing we would all have higher self esteem. Another reason social media has negative effects on mental health is because it causes sleep deprivation. Sleep is essential to our bodies and not having enough sleep will affect your mental health. I used to spend hours on end scrolling through my phone when I should have been resting. Even when I put my phone down my brain would be so stimulated from the hours I spent on it that I would have trouble falling asleep. Some of the ways I have learned to take a break from social media is turning off my notifications and setting time limits. Since then, I have been more productive and get a lot more sleep. It is essential to take social media breaks for emotional well being and focusing on yourself. Mental health issues cannot be neglected and are essential to your quality of life.