Childhood is something most adults reminisce about. Many adults today are often heard telling children to value their years being young, a message that doesn’t feel important until those years have passed. The urge for kids to grow up quickly is shaped by the society around them, prompting their behavior, appearance and what activities they engage in. The question is: Where are these social pressures coming from? What encourages this gap in vital childhood years? According to the National Library of Medicine, studies suggest that social media is a contributing factor to children growing up faster due to the exposure to adult-oriented content and pressures that children are not prepared for. Social media platforms are prompting the younger generation of kids to mature faster than ever before.
A recent trend on TikTok, known as “Sephora Kids,” was a hot topic in the past year. “Sephora Kids” included girls aged ten and below reviewing and using expensive skincare and beauty products, taking consumerism to the next level. These children, not old enough to use products marketed towards adults, are changing traditional childlike behavior as they are prompted towards materialism and attention to appearances rather than carefree, youthful fun. These actions have raised concerns because many products popularized on social media are intended for older skin and target specific needs, like aging. In the hands of children as young as eight, these products are significantly unnecessary and potentially harmful to such youthful skin. As one scrolls through TikTok and Instagram, they witness the phenomenon of children younger and younger adapting to behavior expected from older teens, such as buying products like skincare and popularized makeup. These small actions lead to bigger changes and are seen to create a generational gap in childhood.
According to a recent April survey conducted by the Redwood Bark, 47 percent of students have felt or currently feel pressure to act or look older online. Social media offers individuals the opportunity to alter and shape their online image. Social media is undeniably a great creative outlet and offers endless opportunities for young teens; however, it creates significant social pressures and has affected younger generations negatively due to its consistent overuse. While social media is a great tool for connection and sharing, its accessibility to adult content for kids ages ten and under has contributed significantly to this negative impact on kids’ childhoods. Whether or not parents view social media’s effects as an issue, losing the sense of childhood by attempting to grow up quickly is detrimental to developmental skills. Racing through or even skipping core years of childhood can lead to big changes in the way younger generations grow into adults, which may also shift how they view themselves and their future selves.
Early childhood is something to cherish, not skip over, as it is a huge age of development. When kids are encouraged, directly or indirectly, to mature quicker because of media trends and older content, they lose what childhood was once defined as: a time of creativity and carefree nature. Growing up and acting one’s age is not “cringy,” rather, it is a rite of passage. Social media shows young children that they should act like teenagers and spend money on the same products, too, but kids deserve to have a normal childhood instead. Get your young children off social media, encourage them to be themselves and show them that being a kid is the best part of growing up.
The risks of the rise of health influencers in teen culture
Opinion article by Nina Baker and Skyla Thomas (Illustration by Nadia Massoumi)
According to the Pew Research Center, 97 percent of teens use the internet daily. Because they spend so much time online, youth are especially susceptible to the messages from health and self-improvement influencers, with content such as “What I eat in a day” videos. Sophomore Mateo Ferst has seen firsthand the effects of these influencers, as he frequently uses TikTok and Instagram reels to find inspiration for health.
“I've seen a lot of TikTokers making videos about health. It's influenced me to eat a lot healthier, and it's given me a lot of suggestions for food options,” Ferst said.
Because of their status, success and experience, many younger students feel motivated to follow these influencers' advice. Many share different health tips, products or recommendations for their audiences, which has had a significant impact on Ferst.
“I think there are a lot of positives, because [following their advice] makes you feel better in general, and you feel like you're slowly improving yourself. I've seen a lot of differences in my skin and in my energy,” Ferst said.
While there can be positive impacts from the lifestyle tips influencers share, they can also perpetuate false narratives and expectations, particularly directed at younger, easily impressionable boys.
“There is a lot of pressure [to implement health trends into your life], because there's a lot of judgment, [for example], when someone sees someone eating a food that's not considered very healthy,” Ferst said.
This is the downside to social media’s influence: it can make a teenager feel bad about themselves for not following the health “trends” or tips. To make matters worse, a significant amount of information on social media about well-being is false. According to a 2022 study by the National Library of Medicine, the proportion of health-related misinformation was up to 28.8 percent across different social media platforms.
There is no doubt that prioritizing health can be beneficial, however, much of this health-related content is generalized and not meant for all viewers. So, while social media influencers can provide valuable health information, it is important for young people to pursue these messages with caution.
Ozempic has gained widespread attention on social media platforms, with celebrities and influencers promoting its weight-loss effects. Ozempic, generally known as semaglutide, is used to help obese or diabetic people lose weight. It is a weekly injection that helps lower blood sugar by assisting the pancreas in making more insulin. Because there are 2 mg of semaglutide in a 3/mL of Ozempic, it has been approved for use for people who don't have a medical diagnosis concerning weight. Hence, the commonality of people without these issues obtaining the drug for the sole purpose of losing weight. Due to the easy accessibility, Ozempic suffered a shortage from early 2022 until Feb. 2025. Ro, a telehealth company, created a tool to track shortages in weight loss drugs, including Ozempic, and found that two weeks after it launched, 35,000 shortage reports were made. The high demand for the drug has created difficulty for patients who need it, mainly those with Type 2 diabetes.
With the rise of social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and more, influencers have been promoting the use of weight loss drugs like Ozempic. A common advertising tactic used by these influencers is a before-and-after picture of their body or telling their viewers how much weight they lost in a shocking amount of time. Not only is this promoting medicine used for a disease, but it typically only showcases the so-called benefits of Ozempic, without sharing the risks of the medication. Many social media users are easily influenced, and an accessible, weight-loss drug like Ozempic has easily infiltrated the public view. 67 percent of students have heard someone referring to or making a joke about Ozempic on social media. The drug occasionally requires a signature from a doctor, if at all, which increases the chances of a shortage. In a recent article by NPR, Type 2 diabetic Jim Cox was highlighted.. When Cox went to his local pharmacy to get his Trulicity, in the same class of GLP-1 drugs as Ozempic, he was told they were sold out and he couldn't refill his prescription. Due to this news, he had to ration his leftover medication, luckily not facing any health complications. It's easy to infer that if this happened to someone who had more severe diabetes or who did not have leftover medicine to ration, it could have been very dangerous.
The unknown risk of Ozempic is another problem faced when choosing to take the drug. Low blood sugar and potential kidney problems may occur. Christina Pazzanese, a writer for the Harvard Gazette, believes that it is important for people who have concerns about their weight to speak to their doctor as well as a weight specialist and that doctors should not prescribe weight loss medication to patients who don't need it. Supporting this point, Dr. Caroline Apovian, interviewed by PEOPLE magazine, believed that because of the increased demand for Ozempic, people were suffering when there was a shortage for almost three years.
“The Hollywood trend is concerning. We’re not talking about stars who need to lose ten pounds. We're talking about people who are dying of obesity, [who] are going to die of obesity,” Apovian said in the article.
Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that the U.S. is not currently in a shortage of Ozempic, this could change as we only came out of the shortage in early 2025. The Harvard Gazette states that America is cursed with an obesity pandemic, noting that nearly 42 percent of American adults are obese. This further supports the argument that weight loss medication should be more accessible to everyone. Apovian reflects on this dilemma.
“A third of obese patients will lose 20 percent of their body weight [on weight loss drugs]… If you lose weight with a drug and stop the drug, you'll gain it back,” Apovian said.
Medications like Ozempic are a quick fix to losing weight, but don't have permanent effects on weight once they aren’t taken anymore. As 67 percent of students have heard someone referring to or making a joke about Ozempic on social media, it is important to stop the spread of misinformation about weight loss drugs like Ozempic on social media. An effective way to counteract these posts is by countering the false information with accurate information. Doctors or anyone educated on the matter must explain the risks of certain weight loss medications through social media accounts. Directing viewers to look at the FDA's website medication section or sharing that information could generate knowledge and lower the usage of the product. If the FDA limits who can get access to the medication, it can prevent the risks that come with people taking the medication when unnecessary for their health. This would prevent people who aren't in critical need of Ozempic from potential risks and ensure there aren’t shortages.
Welcome back to the No L’s Podcast with Liam Healy and Leighton Olsen, the best of the best when it comes to chatting. During this podcast, we dive deep into topics and activities that continue to be the backbone of the Redwood community. Today, we explore the rise of Y2K and vintage clothing through social media trends and the benefits of sustainable shopping. One of the most popular platforms allowing users to resell their clothing is Depop, so we brought on junior Leon Schablitzki to talk about his experiences as a Depop seller.
Title illustration by Lucy Jeffers