- One of the documented sources of mental health issues for young people is the overuse of social media.

Studies have shown youth who spend more than three hours a day on social media have a higher chance of experiencing anxiety and depression or suicidal ideation.

Former Detroit public television intern Zion Williams produced this special report on teens and social media as part of the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs Gwen Ifill Legacy Fellow program.

- A lot on social media, we watch other people socializing sometimes and it's almost, I'm like, okay, what am I doing?

- Social media seems to be everywhere in our everyday lives, which brought me to the question: how is it affecting the young people who use it?

To find out, I sat down with my friends, Sophia, Marissa, and Breanne.

So my first question for you guys today is what social media platforms do you all use and how often do you use them?

- I mainly use, Instagram would probably be the one I use the most.

And I use TikTok occasionally.

- Just Instagram.

- I use Instagram and Snapchat, but Instagram is just like an art page.

- Do you feel that social media is detrimental or is it beneficial to your mental health?

- I think it's 100% detrimental to me.

I don't like being on my phone, yet I still find myself on my phone.

I get bored and I turn to social media, and I think it just takes up too much of my time when I wanna be doing other things and I don't make the conscious decision to do something else when it's right in front of me.

- For me, it's very detrimental.

I had to delete TikTok about two years ago because I was getting a lot of panic attacks from just watching the videos.

When you get onto certain sides of social media, it's a lot of people trauma dumping and that was not good.

- [Zion] To gain some more perspective, I spoke with Susan Salhaney, the COO of the Judson Center, a nonprofit organization that provides mental health services in the metro Detroit area.

- Social media really has some positive benefits overall, right?

It keeps us connected with people.

It keeps us in tune with news and information.

We can safely meet new people at times, but there's also a downside to it because that becomes our frame of what can be reality or what a teen may think is reality.

- [Zion] Social media can help people gain awareness of certain topics, but when does that awareness start to sway opinions?

Kevin Fischer, executive director of NAMI Michigan, a mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with mental illnesses, says it's important to challenge your own opinions.

- I ask why.

If I give you my opinion, if I say, for example, racism is bad, racism is a public health crisis, you have every right to say, "Why, Kevin?

"Why do you believe that?

"What are you basing that opinion on?"

- To learn more about the research-based effects of social media, I spoke with Dr. Shama Faheem, chief Medical Officer at Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network.

What effects does social media have on a teenager's mental health that they're developing and growing into the adults that they wanna be?

- Multiple studies, there was a study published in JAMA Psychiatry in 2019 that actually looked at social media usage in thousands of youth and found that youth that were spending more than three hours per day on social media were linked to increased risk of mental health problems, particularly internalizing problems like anxiety, depression, negative self-image, suicidal thoughts.

And this was especially prominent for teenage girls and its impact on self-esteem.

My advice for parents would be to monitor and limiting the child's social media use.

The more you're aware about how your child is interacting on social media, the better you'll be able to address any problems that may subsequently arise.

- My advice to parents, first of all, is to please listen to your children.

If a child is exhibiting behavior that leads you to believe that they might be experiencing a mental health crisis, whether it is depression, you've noticed that they've become more withdrawn, they're not spending time with friends, their quality of their schoolwork is suffering.

Listen to your children, and if you believe they need help, get them help.

Don't let stigma prevent you from getting the help that your child may need.

- It is incredibly addictive 'cause you just want more, you just want to be happy and see those things and get away from the world, but then you get away from it too much.

- [Zion] There's an dependency that comes with social media, and Dr. Faheem shares how that can lead to addictive behavior.

- Between ages 10 to 12, there are changes in the brain going on that makes social rewards, such as compliments, release some neurotransmitter hormones, like happy neurotransmitter hormones like oxytocin or dopamine.

All of that can make our youth extra sensitive to attention, admiration from others.

- I feel like it's kind of like chocolate.

You eat it and you're like, "Oh my God, this is so good."

And then like five minutes later, you kind of feel like, "Ugh."

- [Zion] During our conversation, I asked Marissa, Sophia, and Breanne a more difficult question.

Will social media ever cease to exist?

- One app, one social media platform can die out and another one will probably come and draw people in again.

So I think that cycle would probably be really difficult to break with technological advancements.

It'd probably just have to be a society thing, but is the whole society just gonna decide to do that?

- [Zion] In conclusion, social media is here to stay.

So the bigger question is how do we manage social media in a healthy way?

- We get caught up in watching other people do things, other people's lives, and not being as focused on our own, so I think it's important to do things that make you feel as present as possible.