24 | JUNE 1 • 2023 

Author’s Note: Parents are more 
concerned than ever about their 
children’s mental health. Studies 
show that social media use has a 
strong effect on our teens’ daily 
emotions and behavior. Rather than 
write yet another article lamenting 
teens’ social media usage, I invited 
my 19-year-old son, Joshua, to 
co-author this Jews in the Digital 
Age column with me to ensure it 
includes perspectives from both a 
parent and a teen. 
P

arents of teens are familiar 
with and use social network 
applications like Facebook 
and Instagram. They have also, in 
recent years, begun to use TikTok, 
the popular video application. 
However, Snapchat is different 
because most parents do not use it 
and are generally unaware of their 
teens’ activity on the platform.
Snapchat’s own annual reports 

explain that it is used primarily by 
high school and college students. 
The mobile application allows 
users to share photos, videos and 
messages. As of February 2023, 
Snapchat has approximately 750 
million monthly active users, 
63% of which use the application 
regularly, and more than three 
billion snaps are created and 
exchanged each day.
Snapchat causes negative mental 
health issues, such as anxiety and 
depression, in high school and 
college students, making it an 
activity that should be high on the 
concern list of parents, teachers 
and mental health professionals. 
There exists a worldwide mental 
health crisis among teens and 
college students, and the use of 
Snapchat is prevalent among this 
age demographic. Studies have 
been conducted to show a causal 
relationship between Snapchat use 

and this mental health crisis.

FOMO
Many teens will be enjoying a fun 
experience with family or friends, 
and then experience a sudden 
mood swing upon opening the 
Snapchat application on their 
phone. The phone screen will 
display photos of their friends 
and their activities, who they’re 
with and where they are currently 
located using Snapchat’s “Snap 
Map” GPS (global positioning 
system) feature. The teen who 
seemed to be happy and content 
is now feeling lonely, anxious and 
depressed, thanks to the “fear of 
missing out.”
Commonly known by the 
acronym “FOMO,” Snapchat 
contributes to this fear by making it 
appear that others in the teen’s peer 
group are enjoying life more. The 
teen often feels they have not been 
invited or included in a competing 
activity even though they were 
satisfied with their situation prior 
to looking at the “Snap Map.” 
Seeing what others are posting on 
Snapchat, the teen loses focus and 
cannot be present with the people 
they are actually with in real life 
(“IRL”).
Teens feel that Snapchat is 
necessary to have on their mobile 
devices because it is one of the most 
popular forms of communication 
for this age demographic. Many 
young people prefer communicating 
quickly through Snapchat over 
text messaging, phone calls or 
video chatting apps like FaceTime. 
Snapchat messaging has become the 
norm for young people, making the 
app essential to their daily lives. 
A teen who removes the app from 
their phone over concerns that it 
leads to increased FOMO, and thus 
anxiety and depression, soon finds 
they are not able to stay in contact 
with their friend group because 
their peers are using Snapchat to 
communicate and make social 

OUR COMMUNITY

Snapchat’s Effect 
on Our Teens’ 
Mental Health 

COMMENTARY- JEWS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Rabbi Jason 
Miller

Joshua 
Miller

