Imagine you are stuck under water in the ocean. The current is pulling you down.  Every movement you make, every attempt to return to the surface fails. You keep sinking deeper and deeper, losing more and more air. You frantically look around for someone, something to help, but you are all alone in the water. You feel panic and dread sinking in. You feel there is no way out of the water.  There is not enough air in your lungs, you feel the tightening in your chest as you realize that there’s nothing left except death. This feeling of drowning is what someone with depression and anxiety feels. They feel they are sinking more with every day and despite their attempts, they cannot return to the surface, continuing this agonizing cycle until they cannot bear it anymore. In the same way that that we can teach swimming (life skills), put in place lifeguards (safeguards), and place flags where it is not safe to swim in the water (raise awareness), we can fix this unprecedented epidemic of depression and anxiety among young people. While there is no single solution for depression and anxiety, as the specific causes differ for everyone, there are many actions that both adults, especially parents, and young people themselves can take to limit the risk of and to fix these mental health issues. The causes include a lack of interpersonal interactions, the overuse of social media, an increase in coffee and energy drink consumption, and the lack of quality sleep. By addressing these causes, we can provide life skills, safeguards, and raise awareness so we can save lives from being lost or traumatized through depression and anxiety.

One of the major causes of depression and anxiety is isolation. While you have introverts and extroverts, all people need some level of social interaction. When we are isolated, we yearn for others and are left feeling like we’re alone in the middle of an ocean. When we stop interacting with others for a long period of time, our social skills regress and we feel anxious about interacting again. The COVID–19 pandemic forced everyone to suddenly refrain from interpersonal interactions for more than a year, leading to many young people feeling isolated and anxious when the lock down was over. Young people were suddenly forced to isolate themselves during a time in their life when social development is more important than ever, as those who are in adolescence, 10-24 years old, need to interact with their peers for social development. This lack of interaction left young people with lower levels of trust.  Without regular interaction, the people they once knew felt unfamiliar, like they were strangers, and there were limited opportunities to build and maintain new relationships. Depression and anxiety sprouted from this as support networks for many people were shattered. Also, these feelings led to an increase in anxiety among young people due to the expectation to suddenly return to interacting with others in person after the pandemic and to actively engage in conversations that they may not have had during the lock down. This anxiety causes many to avoid conversations and social situations and creates a cycle of continuing anxiety and avoidance. For many young people who were in elementary and middle school during the lockdown, they did not develop the social skills one would typically learn during this time in their lives. Without these life skills, young people may continue to feel anxious about interacting with others.  As those excluding from social activities are at increased risk of depression and anxiety, promoting social inclusion is an effective strategy for preventing and fixing depression and anxiety among young people. As for those who already have depression, even having eight minutes to talk to someone about how they are feeling can ease their burden. One potential solution could be to create groups focused on various topics ranging from academic topics like biology to hobby-based topics like anime and videogames where young people can interact with one another about their interests. Through engaging with others with similar interests, young people may feel more connected to them, and friendships can sprout more easily. Participating in these groups helps young people develop necessary social skills that they did not learn or have the opportunity to practice due to the pandemic, as well as developing social connections. Everyone has their own level of social interaction that is normal for them so friends and family of young people should look for signs of social withdrawal or uncharacteristic negative reflections. Tools can be used to help facilitate social interactions and decrease anxiety such as YouTube videos and books about how to act in social situations.

Social media use is another major cause of depression and anxiety. According to Leah Shafer, writer and editor for Harvard Graduate School for Education, “many of the pressures teenagers feel from social media are actually consistent with developmentally normal concerns around social standing and self-expression” (Shafer). However, using social media gives young people unrealistic expectations of what humans should look like because of the excessive use of filters and photo editing by influencers to make themselves more appealing, and this unrealistic expectation makes young people feel worse about themselves. When young people scroll through social media, they see thousands of pictures posted by others where it seems like everyone else has a much better life than them, but the posts are only showing the best parts of their lives and the posts are sometimes staged or described to sound better than the actual experience. Seeing these posts, young people feel they are inferior, and this alone can spark symptoms of depression amongst young people. In addition to this, when young people feel that they don’t look good or that they have a challenging situation, talking about themselves makes them feel anxious because they fear that others may think they are inferior, and this may cause them to shy away from conversations, further increasing their anxiety and depression. Despite enhanced educational efforts to raise awareness around the risks of social media, many young people still feel worse about themselves. When one scrolls through social media, their brain releases dopamine, the “feel-good” neurotransmitter, and the individual wants to continue scrolling. As they continue scrolling and they continue seeing pictures of everyone living a seemingly better life than them, they disregard the logic of how these pictures are made and get lost in the feeling of being sad. Despite the desire of some young people to refrain from using social media, peer pressure and the increasing relevance of social media may coerce them into using it. While social media is a major cause of depression and anxiety, excessive use of electronic devices also contributes. Using electronic devices such as phones, computers, and iPads frequently harms the retina and can disrupt your sleep schedule, leading to impaired memory the next day and can increase the risk of depression.  Instead of banning the use of electronics, parents should actively engage their children in activities they enjoy. By engaging in activities that don’t involve the use of electronic devices and refraining from using light emitting devices before sleeping, young people can improve the quality of their sleep and can engage more with others, significantly reducing the risk of depression.  Social media makes individuals feel worse about their lives, increasing both depression and anxiety levels. Many people are unable to stop because of the dopamine being emitted as they use social media. Some ways to fix this problem is to make young people engage in activities not involving electronic devices.

Dietary habits, such as caffeine consumption, can also impact depression and anxiety.  The consumption of caffeine through coffee and energy drinks has become more common amongst young people, even at ages as young as 11. My sixth-grade brother shared that many of his peers consume coffee and caffeinated energy drinks. Caffeine, despite its normalized usage, is a drug which should be consumed in moderation at any age.  Studies on caffeine intake show that “Approximately 73% of children consumed caffeine on a given day” (Branum, Rossen, & Schoendorf). Many young people today drink coffee and energy drinks without consideration of the effects that it is having on their emotional well-being. The mind is like a seesaw, it wants to keep the highs and lows of emotions in equilibrium. When caffeine is introduced to this system, the seesaw becomes unbalanced and, while the highs make you feel greater, the lows make you feel drastically worse. There is a direct relationship between weekly caffeine intake and anxiety and depression which means that the more caffeine you take, the more likely you are to be depressed and anxious. Caffeine is one of the most prominent causes of poor sleep. Caffeine stops you from sleeping. This lack of sleep from caffeine is a direct cause of depression and anxiety as young people struggle to keep up with daily events.

There is a direct link between the above causes (isolation, electronics and caffeine), and poor sleep, which makes it one of the most influential causes of depression and anxiety. According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), “less than 2 out of 10 teens report getting the NSF’s recommended 8-10 hours of sleep on both school days and weekends” (Thensf). While a lack of sleep is often recognized as a problem, little is done to fix it, with many young people simply accepting the fact that they aren’t sleeping enough and not changing their sleeping habits. Insomnia is a major cause of psychological distress and depression as it prevents one from sleeping, a process which repairs and restores the brain, making sleep an essential process to maintain mental wellness. A lack of sleep can impact your mood, making it harder to have positive social interactions. While a lack of sleep is certainly an issue, the poor quality of sleep can also cause an increased risk of depression and anxiety. Some ways to improve sleep are avoiding the use of light emitting devices before sleeping, limiting caffeine intake, taking time to decompress from the day’s activities, following a consistent sleep schedule, and sleeping in a dark room. Parents can act as safeguards and look out for signs of over or under sleeping, stepping to help if needed.

According to Nikki Graf and Juliana Menasce Horowitz, researchers at Pew Research Center, “seven-in-ten teens today see them [anxiety and depression] as major problems among their peers” (Horowitz & Graf).  There are many causes of depression and anxiety, including social isolation, excessive social media and electronics usage, poor dietary choices, and poor sleep.   Tailored solutions should be utilized to fix these causes.  Solutions include providing young people with essential life skills, including learning to how to engage socially and develop a social support network, limit time on electronic devices, make healthy dietary choices, including limiting caffeine consumption, and implementing a regular calming sleep routine.  Family and friends provide important safeguards by engaging in social activities, encouraging healthy dietary choices, and listening and looking for signs of social withdrawal, uncharacteristic negative reflections, and sleeping too much or too little.  While there have been efforts to raise awareness of social media risks, more awareness is needed to emphasize the importance of social networks, quality sleep, and diet on mental health.  By addressing the causes of depression and anxiety, we can provide life skills, safeguards, and raise awareness to fix the unprecedented epidemic of depression and anxiety among young people.

Work Cited:

Branum, A. M., Rossen, L. M., & Schoendorf, K. C. (2014). Trends in caffeine intake among US children and adolescents. Pediatrics, 133(3), 386–393. doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-2877

Cara Murez, & Cara Murez. (2023, October 23). Short sleepers may be at higher risk for depression. Healthday-en. healthday.com/health-news/sleep-disorder/short-sleepers-may-be-at-higher-risk-for-depression

Horowitz, J., & Graf, N. (2024, April 14). Most U.S. teens see anxiety and depression as a major problem among their peers. Pew Research Center. pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/02/20/most-u-s-teens-see-anxiety-and-depression-as-a-major-problem-among-their-peers/

Shafer, L. (2017, December 15). Social media and teen anxiety. Harvard Graduate School of Education. gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/17/12/social-media-and-teen-anxiety

Thensf. (2024, May 10). What To Know about Teens and Sleep. National Sleep Foundation. thensf.org/what-to-know-about-teens-and-sleep/