{"id":533203,"date":"2026-03-19T17:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T17:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/533203\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T17:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T17:42:11","slug":"after-talking-to-nearly-1100-teens-about-social-media-and-making-a-terrifying-self-harm-discovery-17-year-old-deleted-tiktok-instagram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/533203\/","title":{"rendered":"After talking to nearly 1,100 teens about social media and making a terrifying self-harm discovery, 17-year-old deleted TikTok, Instagram"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Teen girl lying in bed at night and using a smartphone, Image 2 shows Hallie Zilberman sits on a patio bench, smiling at the camera<\/p>\n

The kids are not alright \u2014 and they know it.<\/p>\n

It seems like Americans can\u2019t agree on anything today, but if there\u2019s one thing Gen Z is in lockstep about, it\u2019s this: Social media has robbed them of their time, their happiness and their wellbeing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hallie Zilberman, a junior at Aspen High School in Aspen, Colorado, feels it. And she knew she couldn\u2019t be the only one.<\/p>\n

So the 17-year-old surveyed 1,084 other teenage girls from around the US, asking about their mental health, to confirm her suspicion that growing up online has devastated her generation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Hallie<\/p>\n

Hallie Zilberman, 17, surveyed 1,084 other teenage girls from around the US, asking about their mental health, to confirm her suspicion that growing up online has devastated her generation. Courtesy of Hallie Zilberman<\/p>\n

About 6 in 10 agreed that they feel overwhelmed every day, have daily anxiety and feel pressure to be perfect.<\/p>\n

She also found that about half \u2014 48.6% \u2014 of the surveyed girls have thought about self-harm in the past six months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was really upsetting for me, because that\u2019s basically 50% of girls in my classes, 50% of the girls at the cafeteria at lunch,\u201d Zilberman said.<\/p>\n

\"Zilberman,<\/p>\n

Zilberman, who is a junior at a high school in Aspen, Colorado, found that about half \u2014 48.6% \u2014 of the girls she surveyed have thought about self-harm in the past six months. Courtesy of Hallie Zilberman<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen self harm scars on people\u2019s wrists,\u201d she added. \u201cI\u2019ve heard friends talking about their mental health problems that are so hidden \u2026 nobody would have known about it. It just shows how many people are hiding what\u2019s going on in their life.\u201d<\/p>\n

And she has a wake-up call for parents: \u201cThere\u2019s a 50% chance that that\u2019s your kid right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s certainly the case for the moms and dads who have been attending and keeping vigil outside a landmark trial now wrapping up in Los Angeles, where a 20-year-old California girl, known as KGM, is suing Meta and Google, alleging their platforms were deliberately designed to addict children. (TikTok and Snapchat already settled in the case.)<\/p>\n

\"Victoria<\/p>\n

Victoria Hinks\u2019 daughter Alexandra \u2014 known as Owl \u2014 took her own life in 2024, at age 16, and her mom blames social media\u2019s influence. Courtesy of Victoria Hanks<\/p>\n

One of them, Victoria Hinks, talked to me recently<\/a> about her daughter Alexandra, who was 16 when she took her own life in August 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look through her phone as her 1773942128, I see all the stuff that was being served up really just normalizing depression and glamorizing suicide,\u201d Hinks, from Marin County, California, said. \u201cThe \u2018skeleton bride diet,\u2019 and these creepy, very anorexic-looking girls, it affected her self-esteem for sure \u2026 \u201d<\/p>\n

Zilberman said she and her peers are very aware of social media\u2019s detrimental impacts on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of people I\u2019ve heard say, \u2018I hate TikTok,\u2019 but then never delete it is scary,\u201d she told me.<\/p>\n

\"According<\/p>\n

According to Victoria Hinks, her daughter Owl\u2019s perception of reality was shaped by the impossible beauty standards she saw on social media. Courtesy of Victoria Hanks<\/p>\n

The teen deleted TikTok and Instagram from her phone recently and hopes to inspire her friends to do the same \u2014 which isn\u2019t easy given, as the KGM trial is all about<\/a>, how dependent kids can be on their phone and social media apps. (The companies have denied all wrongdoing.)<\/p>\n

But, Zilberman said, \u201cI think kids who want to change their lives can make it happen. I think teenagers have agency.\u201d<\/p>\n

I like her optimism. There\u2019s been a massive grassroots movement to inform kids, parents and teachers about the dangers of growing up online. But it occasionally slips into a fatalism that tells kids that they\u2019re helpless puppets at the whim of Big Tech.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New apps built by young people pop up every day with new, innovative ways to limit screen time. Adults need to encourage this. Shutterstock<\/p>\n

That sort of rhetoric is almost an excuse to surrender themselves to the algorithms.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time for society to empower young people to unplug. Whether it\u2019s parents staving off social media or schools implementing phone bans on campus, we need to help kids help themselves.<\/p>\n

There are phone-free parties in New York City. Young men are fighting against porn and creating apps to help others<\/a> kick their addiction. New apps built by young people pop up every day with new, innovative ways to limit screen time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zilberman reports that her life \u201chas been infinitely better\u201d since unplugging.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been more efficient with my work. I have more time to spend with family and friends. I\u2019ve actually been looking at the world around me,\u201d she said. \u201cI keep telling people your life will get better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows Teen girl lying in bed at night and using…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[239547,239546,97,259,260,108,239550,239548,239549],"class_list":["post-533203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-aspen-high-school","tag-hallie-zilberman","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-social-media","tag-teenage-girls","tag-victoria-hinks","tag-zilberman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}