Recently, mental health has become more recognized as an illness and taken seriously compared to years past. As society continues to change, along with new technology, our minds have learned to adapt with it.
According to the World Health Association, many factors determine mental health outcomes. The more risk teens are exposed to, the greater the impact on their mental health. A factor that can contribute to stress is increased access and use of technology.
“I think that mental health issues have increased more over the years,” freshman Carissa Lozano says. “Yes, there is more awareness about it, but there are also more reasons why students may have these issues today.”
The World Health Organization has projected that mental disorders will increase from nearly 12% of all diseases worldwide to almost 15% by April of 2020.
According to HoganBruen, founder of District Anxiety Center, there are lot of potential stressors that can contribute to why mental disorders are so high.
Expectations now are higher than they were many years ago. Due to social media, society has many high standards that students are expected to meet such as social and physical appearance.
According to the World Health Association, media influence and gender norms can show the difference between a teenagers live reality and their perceptions or aspirations for the future.
“Right now the whole world is at our fingertips, no further away than the television screen, and I believe our view of everything is heightened by our easy access to all this information” ACHS Special Education teacher Robin Hart said.
Whether the issue has developed more because of technology or not, there is much more awareness about mental health than there used to be.
