WHEELING, W.Va. (WTRF) — Getting through the stress of the school day isn’t easy for any teenager…but what happens when that school day never ends?

With constant online media, adolescents are feeling despair in ways many of us never had to experience.

Nearly a third of girls and more than 10 percent of boys say they’ve seriously considered suicide…and Dr. Patricia Bailey says the why lies in something they have access to all day in their pocket.

A new CDC survey shows shocking levels of persistent sadness among adolescents, with phone use and internet as one of the primary drivers.

Dr. Bailey works with teens and says she sees technology use and mental illness rising together.

She says they often feel that they have no escape from the nonstop feedback that TikTok and Facebook provide.

“Because of the access to technology, it creates a lot of difficulty in terms of escape. In other words, if I’m being bullied 24 seven, I don’t really have any time, any respite, any time that I can kind of wind down, so to speak. So there becomes a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.”

Dr. Patricia Bailey, Psychologist

As for why girls appear to be hurting at higher rates, she says their increased focus on body image is to blame.

Social media influencers provide a base of comparison far beyond the walls of their school.

Dr. Bailey says depression in teens will reveal itself in subtle signs like eating habits or in not sleeping well—and parents with a close eye can start the healing process before it becomes critical.