social media impacting mental health essay

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Social Media Use and Its Connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review

Fazida karim.

1 Psychology, California Institute of Behavioral Neurosciences and Psychology, Fairfield, USA

2 Business & Management, University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, MYS

Azeezat A Oyewande

3 Family Medicine, California Institute of Behavioral Neurosciences and Psychology, Fairfield, USA

4 Family Medicine, Lagos State Health Service Commission/Alimosho General Hospital, Lagos, NGA

Lamis F Abdalla

5 Internal Medicine, California Institute of Behavioral Neurosciences and Psychology, Fairfield, USA

Reem Chaudhry Ehsanullah

Safeera khan.

Social media are responsible for aggravating mental health problems. This systematic study summarizes the effects of social network usage on mental health. Fifty papers were shortlisted from google scholar databases, and after the application of various inclusion and exclusion criteria, 16 papers were chosen and all papers were evaluated for quality. Eight papers were cross-sectional studies, three were longitudinal studies, two were qualitative studies, and others were systematic reviews. Findings were classified into two outcomes of mental health: anxiety and depression. Social media activity such as time spent to have a positive effect on the mental health domain. However, due to the cross-sectional design and methodological limitations of sampling, there are considerable differences. The structure of social media influences on mental health needs to be further analyzed through qualitative research and vertical cohort studies.

Introduction and background

Human beings are social creatures that require the companionship of others to make progress in life. Thus, being socially connected with other people can relieve stress, anxiety, and sadness, but lack of social connection can pose serious risks to mental health [ 1 ].

Social media

Social media has recently become part of people's daily activities; many of them spend hours each day on Messenger, Instagram, Facebook, and other popular social media. Thus, many researchers and scholars study the impact of social media and applications on various aspects of people’s lives [ 2 ]. Moreover, the number of social media users worldwide in 2019 is 3.484 billion, up 9% year-on-year [ 3 - 5 ]. A statistic in Figure  1  shows the gender distribution of social media audiences worldwide as of January 2020, sorted by platform. It was found that only 38% of Twitter users were male but 61% were using Snapchat. In contrast, females were more likely to use LinkedIn and Facebook. There is no denying that social media has now become an important part of many people's lives. Social media has many positive and enjoyable benefits, but it can also lead to mental health problems. Previous research found that age did not have an effect but gender did; females were much more likely to experience mental health than males [ 6 , 7 ].

Impact on mental health

Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which people understand their abilities, solve everyday life problems, work well, and make a significant contribution to the lives of their communities [ 8 ]. There is debated presently going on regarding the benefits and negative impacts of social media on mental health [ 9 , 10 ]. Social networking is a crucial element in protecting our mental health. Both the quantity and quality of social relationships affect mental health, health behavior, physical health, and mortality risk [ 9 ]. The Displaced Behavior Theory may help explain why social media shows a connection with mental health. According to the theory, people who spend more time in sedentary behaviors such as social media use have less time for face-to-face social interaction, both of which have been proven to be protective against mental disorders [ 11 , 12 ]. On the other hand, social theories found how social media use affects mental health by influencing how people view, maintain, and interact with their social network [ 13 ]. A number of studies have been conducted on the impacts of social media, and it has been indicated that the prolonged use of social media platforms such as Facebook may be related to negative signs and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress [ 10 - 15 ]. Furthermore, social media can create a lot of pressure to create the stereotype that others want to see and also being as popular as others.

The need for a systematic review

Systematic studies can quantitatively and qualitatively identify, aggregate, and evaluate all accessible data to generate a warm and accurate response to the research questions involved [ 4 ]. In addition, many existing systematic studies related to mental health studies have been conducted worldwide. However, only a limited number of studies are integrated with social media and conducted in the context of social science because the available literature heavily focused on medical science [ 6 ]. Because social media is a relatively new phenomenon, the potential links between their use and mental health have not been widely investigated.

This paper attempt to systematically review all the relevant literature with the aim of filling the gap by examining social media impact on mental health, which is sedentary behavior, which, if in excess, raises the risk of health problems [ 7 , 9 , 12 ]. This study is important because it provides information on the extent of the focus of peer review literature, which can assist the researchers in delivering a prospect with the aim of understanding the future attention related to climate change strategies that require scholarly attention. This study is very useful because it provides information on the extent to which peer review literature can assist researchers in presenting prospects with a view to understanding future concerns related to mental health strategies that require scientific attention. The development of the current systematic review is based on the main research question: how does social media affect mental health?

Research strategy

The research was conducted to identify studies analyzing the role of social media on mental health. Google Scholar was used as our main database to find the relevant articles. Keywords that were used for the search were: (1) “social media”, (2) “mental health”, (3) “social media” AND “mental health”, (4) “social networking” AND “mental health”, and (5) “social networking” OR “social media” AND “mental health” (Table  1 ).

Out of the results in Table  1 , a total of 50 articles relevant to the research question were selected. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, duplicate papers were removed, and, finally, a total of 28 articles were selected for review (Figure  2 ).

PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Peer-reviewed, full-text research papers from the past five years were included in the review. All selected articles were in English language and any non-peer-reviewed and duplicate papers were excluded from finally selected articles.

Of the 16 selected research papers, there were a research focus on adults, gender, and preadolescents [ 10 - 19 ]. In the design, there were qualitative and quantitative studies [ 15 , 16 ]. There were three systematic reviews and one thematic analysis that explored the better or worse of using social media among adolescents [ 20 - 23 ]. In addition, eight were cross-sectional studies and only three were longitudinal studies [ 24 - 29 ].The meta-analyses included studies published beyond the last five years in this population. Table  2  presents a selection of studies from the review.

IGU, internet gaming disorder; PSMU, problematic social media use

This study has attempted to systematically analyze the existing literature on the effect of social media use on mental health. Although the results of the study were not completely consistent, this review found a general association between social media use and mental health issues. Although there is positive evidence for a link between social media and mental health, the opposite has been reported.

For example, a previous study found no relationship between the amount of time spent on social media and depression or between social media-related activities, such as the number of online friends and the number of “selfies”, and depression [ 29 ]. Similarly, Neira and Barber found that while higher investment in social media (e.g. active social media use) predicted adolescents’ depressive symptoms, no relationship was found between the frequency of social media use and depressed mood [ 28 ].

In the 16 studies, anxiety and depression were the most commonly measured outcome. The prominent risk factors for anxiety and depression emerging from this study comprised time spent, activity, and addiction to social media. In today's world, anxiety is one of the basic mental health problems. People liked and commented on their uploaded photos and videos. In today's age, everyone is immune to the social media context. Some teens experience anxiety from social media related to fear of loss, which causes teens to try to respond and check all their friends' messages and messages on a regular basis.

On the contrary, depression is one of the unintended significances of unnecessary use of social media. In detail, depression is limited not only to Facebooks but also to other social networking sites, which causes psychological problems. A new study found that individuals who are involved in social media, games, texts, mobile phones, etc. are more likely to experience depression.

The previous study found a 70% increase in self-reported depressive symptoms among the group using social media. The other social media influence that causes depression is sexual fun [ 12 ]. The intimacy fun happens when social media promotes putting on a facade that highlights the fun and excitement but does not tell us much about where we are struggling in our daily lives at a deeper level [ 28 ]. Another study revealed that depression and time spent on Facebook by adolescents are positively correlated [ 22 ]. More importantly, symptoms of major depression have been found among the individuals who spent most of their time in online activities and performing image management on social networking sites [ 14 ].

Another study assessed gender differences in associations between social media use and mental health. Females were found to be more addicted to social media as compared with males [ 26 ]. Passive activity in social media use such as reading posts is more strongly associated with depression than doing active use like making posts [ 23 ]. Other important findings of this review suggest that other factors such as interpersonal trust and family functioning may have a greater influence on the symptoms of depression than the frequency of social media use [ 28 , 29 ].

Limitation and suggestion

The limitations and suggestions were identified by the evidence involved in the study and review process. Previously, 7 of the 16 studies were cross-sectional and slightly failed to determine the causal relationship between the variables of interest. Given the evidence from cross-sectional studies, it is not possible to conclude that the use of social networks causes mental health problems. Only three longitudinal studies examined the causal relationship between social media and mental health, which is hard to examine if the mental health problem appeared more pronounced in those who use social media more compared with those who use it less or do not use at all [ 19 , 20 , 24 ]. Next, despite the fact that the proposed relationship between social media and mental health is complex, a few studies investigated mediating factors that may contribute or exacerbate this relationship. Further investigations are required to clarify the underlying factors that help examine why social media has a negative impact on some peoples’ mental health, whereas it has no or positive effect on others’ mental health.

Conclusions

Social media is a new study that is rapidly growing and gaining popularity. Thus, there are many unexplored and unexpected constructive answers associated with it. Lately, studies have found that using social media platforms can have a detrimental effect on the psychological health of its users. However, the extent to which the use of social media impacts the public is yet to be determined. This systematic review has found that social media envy can affect the level of anxiety and depression in individuals. In addition, other potential causes of anxiety and depression have been identified, which require further exploration.

The importance of such findings is to facilitate further research on social media and mental health. In addition, the information obtained from this study can be helpful not only to medical professionals but also to social science research. The findings of this study suggest that potential causal factors from social media can be considered when cooperating with patients who have been diagnosed with anxiety or depression. Also, if the results from this study were used to explore more relationships with another construct, this could potentially enhance the findings to reduce anxiety and depression rates and prevent suicide rates from occurring.

The content published in Cureus is the result of clinical experience and/or research by independent individuals or organizations. Cureus is not responsible for the scientific accuracy or reliability of data or conclusions published herein. All content published within Cureus is intended only for educational, research and reference purposes. Additionally, articles published within Cureus should not be deemed a suitable substitute for the advice of a qualified health care professional. Do not disregard or avoid professional medical advice due to content published within Cureus.

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Social Media and Mental Health Essay

The role of social media in people’s lives has increased exponentially over the past decade. The online personas that people create matter to them nearly just as much as their real-life image due to the constant communication and the opportunity to track down their responses to specific posts at any time. As a result, the impact of social media on the mental well-being of its users is worth considering. Sumner et al. point to the positive effects of social media, clarifying that the specified technological innovation can be used as the tool for improving mental health of its users. Namely, the research states that social media allows spreading useful and positive information about health-related issues much faster than traditional media. As a result, the opportunities for increasing the levels of public health and addressing some of the most common public health issues emerge.

The connection between the positivity of a message and its reception in social media is a crucial piece of information that needs to be incorporated into the current approach toward increasing the levels of public health, citizens’ health literacy, and the accessibility of health services. Namely, the conclusions that Sumner et al. make concerning the direct correlation between the positivity of a message and the likelihood of it being transmitted to a greater number of people should be used as the tool fro encouraging better health management: “Sheer volume of supportive content provided by produced by organizations or individuals may be less important than creating higher-quality messages” (p. 143). Thus, the conclusion that the authors provide should be used to enhance the efficacy and accessibility of the current health services.

One could argue that the general research outcomes should be seen as quite upsetting given the implications that they provide. Namely, the fact that the work of health professionals, who perform meticulous studies and arrange the data as carefully as possible to provide accurate and concise guidelines may be less important than an upbeat yet empty message is a rather sad idea. The specified conclusions may lead to a drop in the extent of health practitioners’ and nurse educators’ enthusiasm in providing the services of the highest quality.

However, the message that Sumner et al. convey could also be seen as an opportunity for enhancing health education and raising health literacy within the community by building a better rapport with its members. Namely, the data about the significance of the use of positivity in social networks as the tool for attracting the attention of patients and target audiences should be utilized to shape the current approach toward promoting health literacy. Specifically, healthcare practitioners and registered nurses, especially those that address the issues of patient education directly, need to create the strategy for the online conversation with patients through social media. The specified dialogue could be based on a combination of positive messages and clear visuals that inform patients about key issues in health management and provide them with an opportunity to improve their health literacy.

Additionally, the authors have provided an important tool for the development of a campaign aimed at public health management and improvement. Namely, based on the outcomes of the research carried out by Sumner et al. have informed the strategies for improving communication between patients and nurse educators. The specified change in how people perceive health management is especially important in the context of the present-day epidemic of coronavirus. Given the rapid spread of the epidemic and its recent transformation into the pandemic, reinforcing the instructions for people to remain safe is an essential task for APRNs and healthcare experts worldwide. In turn, the application of social media suits perfectly for the described purpose since it allows sharing information instantly and providing people with clear and concise guidelines for them to follow. Although social media mostly do not allow for detailed descriptions of specific health concerns and profound analysis of these issues, they serve their purpose of bulletin boards with clear and distinct guidelines that the members of the global community can apply to their daily routine.

Specifically, the use of positive messages in social media will reinforce the importance of guidelines and ensuring that people will follow them properly. For instance, Sumner et al. mention that the use of social networks has helped to promote social sharing. As the authors explain, “In topic areas such as cancer support, investigators found that the degree of positive sentiment in a message is associated with increased message spread” (Summer et al, p. 143). Therefore, the inclusion of positive thinking and positive emotions into the process of knowledge sharing enhances the extent to which people are willing to engage in the discussion. Moreover, the rise in the inclination to share a message that is positive will allow fighting some of the most severe health concerns that the global community is facing presently, primarily, the coronavirus.

Furthermore, the discussion sparked by the authors raises the question of inaccurate health-related information in social media and the means of filtering data. Indeed, for an uninitiated user of social media, discerning between accurate health-related information and the posts that reinforce health-associated myths is virtually impossible. Although some indicators such as the identity of the user posting the information could provide hints regarding the veracity of data, social media users have to rely on their intuition for the most part. Therefore, it is also critical for nurses to develop strategies for shielding social media users from the data that provides a distorted picture of health management.

Finally, the issue of addressing serious health concerns in social media should be discussed as a contentious subject. Given the outcomes of the research performed by Summer et al., it is critical to focus on delivering positive messages to target audiences to increase compliance with the established health management strategies. However, when tackling a serious health concern that has led or may potentially lead to a rapid rise in lethal outcomes, remaining positive becomes quite challenging. Not only will a message sound false in the specified circumstances, but it is also likely to be perceived in a negative light due to the dissonance between the subject matter and the tone of its delivery. Therefore, the outcomes of the study pose a difficult dilemma for educators and healthcare providers to resolve when addressing their target audiences via social media. Namely, retaining positivity while talking about serious issues is likely to become a major stumbling block for most healthcare service members.

The outcomes of the study performed by Summer et al. have offered a range of important insights, the significance of positivity in modern media as the means of encouraging citizens to accept healthy behaviors being one of the key conclusions. However, to apply the specified results to the management of current public health concerns, one will have to shape the existing framework for communicating with patients significantly. Therefore, the research should be seen as the basis for redesigning the present health education strategy, as well as the approach toward conversing with patients.

Sumner, Steven A., et al. “Factors Associated with Increased Dissemination of Positive Mental Health Messaging on Social Media.” Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention , vol. 41, no. 2, 2019, pp. 141-145. doi:10.1027/0227-5910/a000598.

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Pros & cons: impacts of social media on mental health

• Ágnes Zsila 1 , 2 &
• Marc Eric S. Reyes   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5280-1315 3  

BMC Psychology volume  11 , Article number:  201 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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The use of social media significantly impacts mental health. It can enhance connection, increase self-esteem, and improve a sense of belonging. But it can also lead to tremendous stress, pressure to compare oneself to others, and increased sadness and isolation. Mindful use is essential to social media consumption.

Social media has become integral to our daily routines: we interact with family members and friends, accept invitations to public events, and join online communities to meet people who share similar preferences using these platforms. Social media has opened a new avenue for social experiences since the early 2000s, extending the possibilities for communication. According to recent research [ 1 ], people spend 2.3 h daily on social media. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat have become increasingly popular among youth in 2022, and one-third think they spend too much time on these platforms [ 2 ]. The considerable time people spend on social media worldwide has directed researchers’ attention toward the potential benefits and risks. Research shows excessive use is mainly associated with lower psychological well-being [ 3 ]. However, findings also suggest that the quality rather than the quantity of social media use can determine whether the experience will enhance or deteriorate the user’s mental health [ 4 ]. In this collection, we will explore the impact of social media use on mental health by providing comprehensive research perspectives on positive and negative effects.

Social media can provide opportunities to enhance the mental health of users by facilitating social connections and peer support [ 5 ]. Indeed, online communities can provide a space for discussions regarding health conditions, adverse life events, or everyday challenges, which may decrease the sense of stigmatization and increase belongingness and perceived emotional support. Mutual friendships, rewarding social interactions, and humor on social media also reduced stress during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 4 ].

On the other hand, several studies have pointed out the potentially detrimental effects of social media use on mental health. Concerns have been raised that social media may lead to body image dissatisfaction [ 6 ], increase the risk of addiction and cyberbullying involvement [ 5 ], contribute to phubbing behaviors [ 7 ], and negatively affects mood [ 8 ]. Excessive use has increased loneliness, fear of missing out, and decreased subjective well-being and life satisfaction [ 8 ]. Users at risk of social media addiction often report depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem [ 9 ].

Overall, findings regarding the impact of social media on mental health pointed out some essential resources for psychological well-being through rewarding online social interactions. However, there is a need to raise awareness about the possible risks associated with excessive use, which can negatively affect mental health and everyday functioning [ 9 ]. There is neither a negative nor positive consensus regarding the effects of social media on people. However, by teaching people social media literacy, we can maximize their chances of having balanced, safe, and meaningful experiences on these platforms [ 10 ].

We encourage researchers to submit their research articles and contribute to a more differentiated overview of the impact of social media on mental health. BMC Psychology welcomes submissions to its new collection, which promises to present the latest findings in the emerging field of social media research. We seek research papers using qualitative and quantitative methods, focusing on social media users’ positive and negative aspects. We believe this collection will provide a more comprehensive picture of social media’s positive and negative effects on users’ mental health.

Data Availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

Ágnes Zsila was supported by the ÚNKP-22-4 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Culture and Innovation from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund.

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The Social Media and Mental Health Connection

Sherri Gordon, CLC is a published author, certified professional life coach, and bullying prevention expert. She's also the former editor of Columbus Parent and has countless years of experience writing and researching health and social issues.

Rachel Goldman, PhD FTOS, is a licensed psychologist, clinical assistant professor, speaker, wellness expert specializing in eating behaviors, stress management, and health behavior change.

Verywell / Catherine Song

Why Social Media Is Growing in Popularity

Social media and mental health concerns, signs social media is impacting your mental health.

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in social media use. According to the Pew Research Center, 72% of Americans in the U.S. use social media.

People use social networking tools to stay in touch with family and friends, get their news, and share their political views . This has some researchers wondering about the long-term effects of social media use.

Because social media use is still relatively new, there are no long-term studies documenting its effects. But several studies indicate that social media impacts mental health in a number of ways. The increasing reliance on and use of social media puts a large number of Americans at an increased risk for feeling anxious, depressed, lonely, envious, and even ill over social media use.

Aside from the fact that social media allows people to reconnect with family and friends that live far away or that they have lost touch with, it became a vital communication tool during the pandemic.

Social Media Supports Connections

People used social media to share information and connect with others when stay-at-home orders kept them from meeting in person. It became a vehicle for social support and connectedness that they would not otherwise have had.

Social Media Makes People Feel Good

Social media has a tendency to reinforce use. People quickly become hooked on checking their statuses for comments and likes, as well as perusing other people's posts.

Using social media sometimes activates the brain's reward center by releasing dopamine , also known as the feel-good chemical. This dopamine release, in turn, keeps people coming back because they want to repeat those feel-good experiences.

Social Media Boosts Self-Esteem

Social media also can boost self-esteem , especially if a person is viewed favorably online or gets a number of likes or interactions on their content. And social media allows some people to share parts of their identity that may be challenging to communicate in person.

Social media can be particularly helpful for people with social anxiety who struggle to interact with people in person.

Despite the above benefits, researchers are discovering that there are some downsides to social media, particularly with regard to mental health.

Social Media Use May Contribute to Depression

For a technology that's supposed to bring people closer together, it can have the opposite effect—especially when disagreements erupt online. Social media has been linked to depression , anxiety, and loneliness. It can make people feel isolated and alone.

One 2017 study found that young people who use social media more than two hours per day are much more likely to categorize their mental health as fair or poor compared to occasional social media users.

A large-scale study of young adults in the U.S. found that occasional users of social media are three times less likely to experience symptoms of depression than heavy users.

Social Media May Hurt Your Self-Esteem

While social media can sometimes be a self-esteem booster, it can also cause you to experience feelings of inadequacy about your life and your appearance. Even if you know that the images you see online are manipulated or represent someone else's highlight reel, they can still cause feelings of insecurity, envy, and dissatisfaction.

Fear of Missing Out

Another mental health phenomenon associated with social media is what is known as FOMO , or the "fear of missing out." Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram exacerbate the fear that you're missing something or that other people are living a better life than you are.

In extreme cases, FOMO can cause you to become tethered to your phone where you are constantly checking for updates or responding to every single alert.

Social Media Can Lead to Self-Absorption

Sharing endless selfies as well as your innermost thoughts on social media can create an unhealthy self-centeredness that causes you to focus on crafting your online image rather than making memories with your friends and family members in real life.

In fact, strenuous efforts to engage in impression management or get external validation can have psychological costs, especially if the approval you're seeking is never received. Ultimately, the lack of positive feedback online can lead to self-doubt and self-hatred .

Impulse Control Issues

Excessive social media use can lead to impulse control issues , especially if you access your social networks using a smartphone. This means that you have round-the-clock access to your accounts, which not only makes it easy for you always to be connected, but can affect your concentration and focus. It can even disturb your sleep and compromise your in-person relationships.

Social Media May Be Used As an Unhealthy Coping Mechanism

Social media can become an unhealthy way of coping with uncomfortable feelings or emotions . For instance, if you turn to social media when you're feeling down, lonely, or bored, you're potentially using it as a way to distract you from unpleasant feelings.

Ultimately, social media is a poor way to self-soothe, especially because perusing social media can often make you feel worse instead of better.

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Because everyone is different, there is no set amount of time spent on social media that is recommended. Instead, you need to evaluate how your social media use is impacting your life, including how you feel when you don't use social media as well as how you feel after using it.

A 2018 University of Pennsylvania study suggests that self-monitoring can change one's perception of social media. According to the lead researcher, psychologist Melissa G. Hunt, PhD, using social media less than you normally do, can lead to significant decreases in loneliness and depression. By using self-monitoring and making adjustments, people can significantly improve their overall well-being.

Social Media Distracts You

If you find that your social media use is impacting your relationships or is distracting you from work or school, it may be problematic. Additionally, if scrolling through social media leaves you feeling envious, depressed, anxious, or angry, then you need to re-evaluate your use.

It could be that you need to detox from social media and spend some time offline in order to safeguard your mental health.

You Use Social Media to Avoid Negative Emotions

Social media also could be an issue if you tend to use it to fight boredom or to deal with loneliness. Although these feelings are uncomfortable and it's only natural to want to alleviate them, turning to social media for comfort or as a distraction is not a healthy way to cope with difficult feelings and emotions.

As a result, it may be time for you to reassess your social media habits. Here are some additional signs that social media may be having a negative impact on your life and your mental health:

• Your symptoms of anxiety, depression, and loneliness are increasing.
• You are spending more time on social media than with your real-world friends and family members.
• You tend to compare yourself unfavorably with others on social media or you find that are your frequently jealous of others.
• You are being trolled or cyberbullied by others online.
• You are engaging in risky behaviors or taking outrageous photos in order to gain likes.
• Your work obligations, family life, or school work is suffering because of the time you spend on social media.
• You have little time for self-care activities like mindfulness , self-reflection, exercise, and sleep.

If you're spending a significant amount of time on social media and you're beginning to notice feelings of sadness, dissatisfaction, frustration, and loneliness that are impacting your life and your relationships, it may be time to re-evaluate your online habits.

If you find that even after adjusting your social media use, you're still experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety, it's important to talk with your healthcare provider so that you can be evaluated. With proper treatment, you will soon be feeling better.

If you or a loved one are struggling with [condition name], contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 for information on support and treatment facilities in your area.

For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database .

Pew Research Center. Social media fact sheet .

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Social media use and mental health among students in Ontario . CAMH Population Studies eBulletin . 2018;19(2).

Lin LY, Sidani JE, Shensa A, et al. Association between social media use and depression among U.S. young adults . Depress Anxiety . 2016;33(4):323-31. doi:10.1002/da.22466.

Chou H-TG, Edge N. “They are happier and having better lives than i am”: The impact of using Facebook on perceptions of others’ lives .  Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw . 2012;15(2):117-121. doi:10.1089/cyber.2011.0324

Hunt MG, Marx R, Lipson C, Young J. No more FOMO: limiting social media decreases loneliness and depression . J Soc Clin Psychol . 2018;37(10):751-768. doi:10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751

Karim F, Oyewande AA, Abdalla LF, Chaudhry Ehsanullah R, Khan S. Social media use and its connection to mental health: a systematic review .  Cureus . 2020;12(6):e8627. doi:10.7759/cureus.8627

Pantic I. Online social networking and mental health .  Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw . 2014;17(10):652-657. doi:10.1089/cyber.2014.0070

By Sherri Gordon Sherri Gordon, CLC is a published author, certified professional life coach, and bullying prevention expert. She's also the former editor of Columbus Parent and has countless years of experience writing and researching health and social issues.

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Science News

Social media harms teens’ mental health, mounting evidence shows. what now.

Understanding what is going on in teens’ minds is necessary for targeted policy suggestions

Most teens use social media, often for hours on end. Some social scientists are confident that such use is harming their mental health. Now they want to pinpoint what explains the link.

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By Sujata Gupta

February 20, 2024 at 7:30 am

In January, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta, appeared at a congressional hearing to answer questions about how social media potentially harms children. Zuckerberg opened by saying: “The existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link between using social media and young people having worse mental health.”

But many social scientists would disagree with that statement. In recent years, studies have started to show a causal link between teen social media use and reduced well-being or mood disorders, chiefly depression and anxiety.

Ironically, one of the most cited studies into this link focused on Facebook.

Researchers delved into whether the platform’s introduction across college campuses in the mid 2000s increased symptoms associated with depression and anxiety. The answer was a clear yes , says MIT economist Alexey Makarin, a coauthor of the study, which appeared in the November 2022 American Economic Review . “There is still a lot to be explored,” Makarin says, but “[to say] there is no causal evidence that social media causes mental health issues, to that I definitely object.”

The concern, and the studies, come from statistics showing that social media use in teens ages 13 to 17 is now almost ubiquitous. Two-thirds of teens report using TikTok, and some 60 percent of teens report using Instagram or Snapchat, a 2022 survey found. (Only 30 percent said they used Facebook.) Another survey showed that girls, on average, allot roughly 3.4 hours per day to TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, compared with roughly 2.1 hours among boys. At the same time, more teens are showing signs of depression than ever, especially girls ( SN: 6/30/23 ).

As more studies show a strong link between these phenomena, some researchers are starting to shift their attention to possible mechanisms. Why does social media use seem to trigger mental health problems? Why are those effects unevenly distributed among different groups, such as girls or young adults? And can the positives of social media be teased out from the negatives to provide more targeted guidance to teens, their caregivers and policymakers?

“You can’t design good public policy if you don’t know why things are happening,” says Scott Cunningham, an economist at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Increasing rigor

Concerns over the effects of social media use in children have been circulating for years, resulting in a massive body of scientific literature. But those mostly correlational studies could not show if teen social media use was harming mental health or if teens with mental health problems were using more social media.

Moreover, the findings from such studies were often inconclusive, or the effects on mental health so small as to be inconsequential. In one study that received considerable media attention, psychologists Amy Orben and Andrew Przybylski combined data from three surveys to see if they could find a link between technology use, including social media, and reduced well-being. The duo gauged the well-being of over 355,000 teenagers by focusing on questions around depression, suicidal thinking and self-esteem.

Digital technology use was associated with a slight decrease in adolescent well-being , Orben, now of the University of Cambridge, and Przybylski, of the University of Oxford, reported in 2019 in Nature Human Behaviour . But the duo downplayed that finding, noting that researchers have observed similar drops in adolescent well-being associated with drinking milk, going to the movies or eating potatoes.

Holes have begun to appear in that narrative thanks to newer, more rigorous studies.

In one longitudinal study, researchers — including Orben and Przybylski — used survey data on social media use and well-being from over 17,400 teens and young adults to look at how individuals’ responses to a question gauging life satisfaction changed between 2011 and 2018. And they dug into how the responses varied by gender, age and time spent on social media.

Social media use was associated with a drop in well-being among teens during certain developmental periods, chiefly puberty and young adulthood, the team reported in 2022 in Nature Communications . That translated to lower well-being scores around ages 11 to 13 for girls and ages 14 to 15 for boys. Both groups also reported a drop in well-being around age 19. Moreover, among the older teens, the team found evidence for the Goldilocks Hypothesis: the idea that both too much and too little time spent on social media can harm mental health.

“There’s hardly any effect if you look over everybody. But if you look at specific age groups, at particularly what [Orben] calls ‘windows of sensitivity’ … you see these clear effects,” says L.J. Shrum, a consumer psychologist at HEC Paris who was not involved with this research. His review of studies related to teen social media use and mental health is forthcoming in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research.

Cause and effect

That longitudinal study hints at causation, researchers say. But one of the clearest ways to pin down cause and effect is through natural or quasi-experiments. For these in-the-wild experiments, researchers must identify situations where the rollout of a societal “treatment” is staggered across space and time. They can then compare outcomes among members of the group who received the treatment to those still in the queue — the control group.

That was the approach Makarin and his team used in their study of Facebook. The researchers homed in on the staggered rollout of Facebook across 775 college campuses from 2004 to 2006. They combined that rollout data with student responses to the National College Health Assessment, a widely used survey of college students’ mental and physical health.

The team then sought to understand if those survey questions captured diagnosable mental health problems. Specifically, they had roughly 500 undergraduate students respond to questions both in the National College Health Assessment and in validated screening tools for depression and anxiety. They found that mental health scores on the assessment predicted scores on the screenings. That suggested that a drop in well-being on the college survey was a good proxy for a corresponding increase in diagnosable mental health disorders. 

Compared with campuses that had not yet gained access to Facebook, college campuses with Facebook experienced a 2 percentage point increase in the number of students who met the diagnostic criteria for anxiety or depression, the team found.

When it comes to showing a causal link between social media use in teens and worse mental health, “that study really is the crown jewel right now,” says Cunningham, who was not involved in that research.

A need for nuance

The social media landscape today is vastly different than the landscape of 20 years ago. Facebook is now optimized for maximum addiction, Shrum says, and other newer platforms, such as Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok, have since copied and built on those features. Paired with the ubiquity of social media in general, the negative effects on mental health may well be larger now.

Moreover, social media research tends to focus on young adults — an easier cohort to study than minors. That needs to change, Cunningham says. “Most of us are worried about our high school kids and younger.” 

And so, researchers must pivot accordingly. Crucially, simple comparisons of social media users and nonusers no longer make sense. As Orben and Przybylski’s 2022 work suggested, a teen not on social media might well feel worse than one who briefly logs on. 

Researchers must also dig into why, and under what circumstances, social media use can harm mental health, Cunningham says. Explanations for this link abound. For instance, social media is thought to crowd out other activities or increase people’s likelihood of comparing themselves unfavorably with others. But big data studies, with their reliance on existing surveys and statistical analyses, cannot address those deeper questions. “These kinds of papers, there’s nothing you can really ask … to find these plausible mechanisms,” Cunningham says.

One ongoing effort to understand social media use from this more nuanced vantage point is the SMART Schools project out of the University of Birmingham in England. Pedagogical expert Victoria Goodyear and her team are comparing mental and physical health outcomes among children who attend schools that have restricted cell phone use to those attending schools without such a policy. The researchers described the protocol of that study of 30 schools and over 1,000 students in the July BMJ Open.

Goodyear and colleagues are also combining that natural experiment with qualitative research. They met with 36 five-person focus groups each consisting of all students, all parents or all educators at six of those schools. The team hopes to learn how students use their phones during the day, how usage practices make students feel, and what the various parties think of restrictions on cell phone use during the school day.

Talking to teens and those in their orbit is the best way to get at the mechanisms by which social media influences well-being — for better or worse, Goodyear says. Moving beyond big data to this more personal approach, however, takes considerable time and effort. “Social media has increased in pace and momentum very, very quickly,” she says. “And research takes a long time to catch up with that process.”

Until that catch-up occurs, though, researchers cannot dole out much advice. “What guidance could we provide to young people, parents and schools to help maintain the positives of social media use?” Goodyear asks. “There’s not concrete evidence yet.”

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How social media affects teen mental health: a missing link

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Depression, anxiety and suicidality have all sharply increased in adolescents over the past decade 1 . So, too, has the amount of time that young people spend online (see ‘Troubling trends’). Partly because of fears that there’s a link between these trends, governments around the world are under pressure to do more to regulate technology companies.

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A.O. is an unpaid member of governmental and non-governmental organizations (including the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and The British Academy). She has also provided unpaid and paid talks and consultancy work to organizations that will not gain or lose financially from this publication. S.-J.B. currently receives funding from Wellcome, the MRC, the Jacobs Foundation, the Wellspring Foundation and the University of Cambridge. In the past five years, S.-J.B. engaged in a paid consultancy with Cognita International Schools Group and has provided paid expert witness work for UK charities, legal organisations in the UK and USA and the UK government. S.-J.B. is the author of two books related to the brain, education and learning, for which she received an advance and royalties. S.-J.B. gives talks in schools, in the state and private sector, as well as at education conferences and for education organizations, and other public, private and third sector organizations (some talks are remunerated). S.-J.B. is a member of the Rethinking Assessment group, the Steering Committee of the Cambridge Centre of Science Policy, the Technical Advisory Group for the UK Government Department of Education 'Education and Outcomes Panel-C Study' and the Singapore Government National Research Foundation Scientific Advisory Board. She was a member of the Times Education Commission in 2021-22.

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Social media use can be positive for mental health and well-being

January 6, 2020— Mesfin Awoke Bekalu , research scientist in the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, discusses a new study he co-authored on associations between social media use and mental health and well-being.

What is healthy vs. potentially problematic social media use?

Our study has brought preliminary evidence to answer this question. Using a nationally representative sample, we assessed the association of two dimensions of social media use—how much it’s routinely used and how emotionally connected users are to the platforms—with three health-related outcomes: social well-being, positive mental health, and self-rated health.

We found that routine social media use—for example, using social media as part of everyday routine and responding to content that others share—is positively associated with all three health outcomes. Emotional connection to social media—for example, checking apps excessively out of fear of missing out, being disappointed about or feeling disconnected from friends when not logged into social media—is negatively associated with all three outcomes.

In more general terms, these findings suggest that as long as we are mindful users, routine use may not in itself be a problem. Indeed, it could be beneficial.

For those with unhealthy social media use, behavioral interventions may help. For example, programs that develop “effortful control” skills—the ability to self-regulate behavior—have been widely shown to be useful in dealing with problematic Internet and social media use.

We’re used to hearing that social media use is harmful to mental health and well-being, particularly for young people. Did it surprise you to find that it can have positive effects?

The findings go against what some might expect, which is intriguing. We know that having a strong social network is associated with positive mental health and well-being. Routine social media use may compensate for diminishing face-to-face social interactions in people’s busy lives. Social media may provide individuals with a platform that overcomes barriers of distance and time, allowing them to connect and reconnect with others and thereby expand and strengthen their in-person networks and interactions. Indeed, there is some empirical evidence supporting this.

On the other hand, a growing body of research has demonstrated that social media use is negatively associated with mental health and well-being, particularly among young people—for example, it may contribute to increased risk of depression and anxiety symptoms.

Our findings suggest that the ways that people are using social media may have more of an impact on their mental health and well-being than just the frequency and duration of their use.

What disparities did you find in the ways that social media use benefits and harms certain populations? What concerns does this raise?

My co-authors Rachel McCloud , Vish Viswanath , and I found that the benefits and harms associated with social media use varied across demographic, socioeconomic, and racial population sub-groups. Specifically, while the benefits were generally associated with younger age, better education, and being white, the harms were associated with older age, less education, and being a racial minority. Indeed, these findings are consistent with the body of work on communication inequalities and health disparities that our lab, the Viswanath lab , has documented over the past 15 or so years. We know that education, income, race, and ethnicity influence people’s access to, and ability to act on, health information from media, including the Internet. The concern is that social media may perpetuate those differences.

— Amy Roeder

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How Does Social Media Affect Your Mental Health?

Facebook has delayed the development of an Instagram app for children amid questions about its harmful effects on young people’s mental health. Does social media have an impact on your well-being?

By Nicole Daniels

What is your relationship with social media like? Which platforms do you spend the most time on? Which do you stay away from? How often do you log on?

What do you notice about your mental health and well-being when spending time on social networks?

In “ Facebook Delays Instagram App for Users 13 and Younger ,” Adam Satariano and Ryan Mac write about the findings of an internal study conducted by Facebook and what they mean for the Instagram Kids app that the company was developing:

Facebook said on Monday that it had paused development of an Instagram Kids service that would be tailored for children 13 years old or younger, as the social network increasingly faces questions about the app’s effect on young people’s mental health. The pullback preceded a congressional hearing this week about internal research conducted by Facebook , and reported in The Wall Street Journal , that showed the company knew of the harmful mental health effects that Instagram was having on teenage girls. The revelations have set off a public relations crisis for the Silicon Valley company and led to a fresh round of calls for new regulation. Facebook said it still wanted to build an Instagram product intended for children that would have a more “age appropriate experience,” but was postponing the plans in the face of criticism.

The article continues:

With Instagram Kids, Facebook had argued that young people were using the photo-sharing app anyway, despite age-requirement rules, so it would be better to develop a version more suitable for them. Facebook said the “kids” app was intended for ages 10 to 12 and would require parental permission to join, forgo ads and carry more age-appropriate content and features. Parents would be able to control what accounts their child followed. YouTube, which Google owns, has released a children’s version of its app. But since BuzzFeed broke the news this year that Facebook was working on the app, the company has faced scrutiny. Policymakers, regulators, child safety groups and consumer rights groups have argued that it hooks children on the app at a younger age rather than protecting them from problems with the service, including child predatory grooming, bullying and body shaming.

The article goes on to quote Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram:

Mr. Mosseri said on Monday that the “the project leaked way before we knew what it would be” and that the company had “few answers” for the public at the time. Opposition to Facebook’s plans gained momentum this month when The Journal published articles based on leaked internal documents that showed Facebook knew about many of the harms it was causing. Facebook’s internal research showed that Instagram, in particular, had caused teen girls to feel worse about their bodies and led to increased rates of anxiety and depression, even while company executives publicly tried to minimize the app’s downsides.

But concerns about the effect of social media on young people go beyond Instagram Kids, the article notes:

A children’s version of Instagram would not fix more systemic problems, said Al Mik, a spokesman for 5Rights Foundation, a London group focused on digital rights issues for children. The group published a report in July showing that children as young as 13 were targeted within 24 hours of creating an account with harmful content, including material related to eating disorders, extreme diets, sexualized imagery, body shaming, self-harm and suicide. “Big Tobacco understood that the younger you got to someone, the easier you could get them addicted to become a lifelong user,” Doug Peterson, Nebraska’s attorney general, said in an interview. “I see some comparisons to social media platforms.” In May, attorneys general from 44 states and jurisdictions had signed a letter to Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, asking him to end plans for building an Instagram app for children. American policymakers should pass tougher laws to restrict how tech platforms target children, said Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, a Boston-based group that was part of an international coalition of children’s and consumer groups opposed to the new app. Last year, Britain adopted an Age Appropriate Design Code , which requires added privacy protections for digital services used by people under the age of 18.

Students, read the entire article , then tell us:

Do you think Facebook made the right decision in halting the development of the Instagram Kids app? Do you think there should be social media apps for children 13 and younger? Why or why not?

What is your reaction to the research that found that Instagram can have harmful mental health effects on teenagers, particularly teenage girls? Have you experienced body image issues, anxiety or depression tied to your use of the app? How do you think social media affects your mental health?

What has your experience been on different social media apps? Are there apps that have a more positive or negative effect on your well-being? What do you think could explain these differences?

Have you ever been targeted with inappropriate or harmful content on Instagram or other social media apps? What responsibility do you think social media companies have to address these issues? Do you think there should be more protections in place for users under 18? Why or why not?

What does healthy social media engagement look like for you? What habits do you have around social media that you feel proud of? What behaviors would you like to change? How involved are your parents in your social media use? How involved do you think they should be?

If you were in charge of making Instagram, or another social media app, safer for teenagers, what changes would you make?

Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column . Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Nicole Daniels joined The Learning Network as a staff editor in 2019 after working in museum education, curriculum writing and bilingual education. More about Nicole Daniels

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The Impact of Social Media on Teens' Mental Health

Social media has some good intentions: connecting you with people all around the world, showing you content you are interested in, and providing endless entertainment. But there are also negative consequences to endless scrolling. Research has shown that young adults who use social media are three times as likely to suffer from depression , putting a large portion of the population at risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. 

In the U.S., suicide rates have declined slightly since 2019, but it continues to be a serious concern among our younger generation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of suicides in females aged 15-24 increased 87 percent over the past 20 years. And among males aged 15-24, the number of suicides rose by 30 percent over that same time period. 

Almost every teen now has an account on at least one social media platform. They use social media to reach out to friends, share experiences, and tell the world about themselves. However, without realizing it, they are managing an addiction. 

Jessica Holzbauer , a licensed clinical social worker at Huntsman Mental Health Institute , explains how our smartphones are, by design, addictive. “We get a dopamine release in our brain when we pick up our phone or log into social media,” she says. Using social apps is essentially priming your brain into thinking you are rewarding yourself every time you pick up your device. 

Negative Impacts of Social Media

Is it true that using social apps could negatively affect your mental health? 

“In short, yes, social media can have negative consequences for our mental health,” Holzbauer says. “The younger generation grew up with social media and the ability to see anything, anytime, anywhere. Our ability to tolerate the distress of waiting has been eroded because we can Google the answer to almost any question. We no longer have to wait to know who was the actor that played Ron Burgundy in Anchorman or where to find the nearest library.” 

In many ways, social media has removed the barriers between the user and the audience—with far-reaching implications. “We can act on impulse and post something to social media that may reflect a feeling or thought in the moment but may not be true to us a day later,” Holzbauer says. “When our more level-headed self is back in charge, we can feel embarrassment, shame, or regret for posting something impulsively.” 

We also know that content can be filtered, edited, and manipulated before it’s posted, which can lead to unattainable standards being broadcast to the entire world for anyone to see. Users are obsessed with instant gratification and in some instances base their worth or image off the images they see and the amount of likes they receive on their post. 

“The information teens are putting out is one factor—another is the information they are taking in,” Holzbauer says. “Social media is giving them access to images, people, and ideas they otherwise would not be able to access. This can be a very positive thing, but we know it can also have negative consequences.” 

A recent study from Facebook found Instagram to have harmful effects among a portion of its millions of young users, particularly teenage girls. Findings indicated that Instagram makes body image issues worse for one in three teenage girls. And among teenagers who reported suicidal thoughts, 6 percent in the U.S. traced them back to Instagram. 

Warning Signs Your Teen Is Struggling

This is not to say that keeping teens from social media will keep teens from having suicidal thoughts. Instead, it is a call for parents to be aware of what their kids are doing online—and to look for any changes in their child’s behavior. 

“If your child is starting to focus too much of their attention on social media at the expense of real-life interactions, parents should be concerned,” Holzbauer says. “At the very least, this should spark a conversation about the behaviors to ensure there aren’t more serious issues going on like bullying, anxiety , or other issues.”  

Parents should also look for behaviors not necessarily related to social media that may signal a problem. If a teen is acting differently, seems disinterested in life, or is talking about not wanting to live, actions should be taken. It can be a hard conversation to have —but it might save their life. 

Parents aren’t the only ones who should be on alert. Friends should also be aware when it appears someone is in trouble. They may even have more insight into the situation because they are sharing social media experiences and seeing similar content. One thing all teens should know is that if a friend appears to be considering suicide, they should not write it off as someone being “dramatic” or seeking attention. Be sure to tell someone if you see concerning behavior online and know the resources available. 

Tips for Healthy Social Media Use

We all know how the algorithm works—the more you look at your phone, the more it will send compelling content to keep your eyes from looking away. It’s hard to break habits of checking TikTok or Instagram and constantly refreshing to see more, but it’s important to take time away for our mental and physical health. Parents can set a good example through their own virtual behavior. Here are some tips for parents and their teens .

988 , the national suicide and crisis lifeline, is available anytime, anywhere. Simply call, chat, or text 9-8-8 for an immediate response from a licensed mental health professional. In Utah, students also have access to the  SafeUT app  where they can chat confidentially or submit a tip about themselves or a friend. 

• mental health
• social media

Social Media and Youth Mental Health

• Published: 16 December 2023
• Volume 26 , pages 1–8, ( 2024 )

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• Paul E. Weigle 1 , 2 , 3 &
• Reem M. A. Shafi 4 , 5  

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Purpose of Review

We review recent evidence regarding the relationship between the social media (SM) habits, experiences, and the mental health of youth. We examine effects of social media use (SMU) on specific diagnoses including depression and anxiety. The relationship between psychiatric illness, specific SM experiences, and the issue of SM mental health contagion is also explored.

Recent Findings

Youth engagement in SMU has increased dramatically in recent years, concurrent with increases in prevalence of depression and anxiety. The relationship between SMU and mental illness is complex and depends on characteristics of the user (e.g., social comparison and fear of missing out (FOMO) and their SM habits and experiences (e.g., cyberbullying, and sexting,). SM engagement has distinct impacts on anxiety, depression, and suicidality. Growing evidence documents how SM may be a medium for psychiatric contagion. Research findings are largely correlational and dependent on subjective report, limiting their interpretation.

The mental health of youth is increasingly tied to their SMU, depending greatly on how youth engage with SM and resultant feedback. Future research must look to establish causality in relationships between SM and mental illness.

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Studies highlight impact of social media use on college student mental health

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When Kyle Palmberg set out to design a research study as the capstone project for his psychology major at St. Mary’s University of M i nnesota in Winona, he knew he wanted his focus to be topical and relevant to college students.

His initial brainstorming centered around the mental health impact of poor sleep quality. 

“I wanted to look at college students specifically, to see the different ways that sleep quality can be harmed and how that can impact your mental health,” he said. As he reviewed the scientific literature, one variable kept appearing. “The topic that kept coming up was social media overuse,” he said. “It is such an important thing to my target demographic of college students.”

Palmberg, 22, grew up surrounded by social media. He’d heard plenty of warnings about the downsides of spending too much time online, and he’d seen many of his peers seemingly anchored to their phones, anxious or untethered if they had to put them down for more than a few minutes at a time.

“I think from my perspective as someone who’s been really interested in psychology as an academic discipline, social media addiction is also something I’ve been aware of personally,” Palmberg said. “I can tell within myself when things can become harmful or easy to misuse. I often see the hints of addictive behaviors in peers and coworkers.”

Palmberg found much of the published research on the topic inspiring, particularly a 2003 study on internet gambling addiction. 

“They were looking at how internet gambling addiction permeates a person’s behavior,” he said. Palmberg hypothesized that there may be behavioral similarities between people addicted to online gambling and those addicted to social media. 

“Social media provides this convenient platform for users to interact with others,” he said. “As users grow addicted, they learn that they can come back to that social platform more and more to get their needs met. The tolerance users have for gratifying that social need grows. Then they have to use social media more and more often to get those benefits.”

The negative impact of a growing dependence on social media is that time spent online takes away from real in-person interactions and reduces the time a person has available for basic personal care needs, like sleep and exercise, Palmberg said. This can ultimately have a negative impact on mental health.

“As a person builds a high tolerance for the use of social media it causes internal and external conflict,” he said. “You know it is wrong but you continue to use it. You relapse and struggle to stop using it.” Palmberg said that social media use can be a form of “mood modification. When a person is feeling down or anxious they can turn to it and feel better at least for a moment. They get a sense of withdrawal if they stop using it. Because of this negative side effect, it causes that relapse.”

Palmberg decided he wanted to survey college students about their social media use and devise a study that looked at connections between the different motivations for that use and potential for addictive behaviors. He ran his idea by his academic advisor, Molly O’Connor, associate professor of psychology at Saint Mary’s, who was intrigued by his topic’s clear connections to student life.

“We often notice social media addiction with our student population,” O’Connor said. She knew that Palmberg wouldn’t have a hard time recruiting study participants, because young people have first-hand experience and interest in the topic. “He’s looking at college students who are particularly vulnerable to that addiction. They are tuned into it and they are using it for coursework, socialization, entertainment, self-documentation.”

O’Connor said she and her colleagues at the university see signs of this addiction among many of their students. 

“They’ll be on their phones during class when they are supposed to pay attention,” she said. “They can’t help themselves from checking when a notification comes through. They say they had trouble sleeping and you’ll ask questions about why and they’ll say they were scrolling on their phone before they went to bed and just couldn’t fall asleep.”

The entertainment-addiction connection

Once his study was given the go-ahead by his advisor and approved by the university for human-subjects research, Palmberg had two months to recruit participants. 

To gather his research subjects, he visited classes and gave a short speech. Afterward, students were given an opportunity to sign up and provide their emails. Palmberg recruited 86 participants this way, and each was asked to fill out an anonymous survey about their social media habits.

Palmberg explained that the main framework of his study was to gain a deeper understanding of why college students use social media and the circumstances when it can become addictive and harmful to their mental health and well-being. He also hypothesized that perceived sleep quality issues would be connected to social media addiction.

After collecting the surveys, Palmberg said, “We essentially threw the data into a big spreadsheet. We worked with it, played with it, analyzed it.” He explained that his analysis focused on motivations for social media use, “including building social connections and self-documentation.”

What Palmberg discovered was that his subjects’ most popular motivation for social media use was for entertainment. While some participants listed other motivations, he said the most “statistically significant” motivation was entertainment.

“Not only was entertainment the most highly endorsed reason to use social media in the study,” Palmberg said, “for college students it was the only motivation we analyzed that was statistically connected to social media addiction and perceived stress. The entertainment motivation was also related to poor sleep quality.”

Mental Health & Addiction

A better way to deliver unexpected news, in her new book, ‘the rock in my throat,’ kao kalia yang shares her struggle with selective mutism, a community-based approach to suicide prevention.

He found connections between a reliance on social media for entertainment and addictive behaviors, like an inability to shut down apps or put a phone away for an extended period of time. “If a person is using social media for entertainment, they are more likely to be addicted to social media than someone who is not using it for entertainment,” Palmberg said.

The structures of popular social media platforms reinforce addictive behaviors, he said. “Current trends in social media lean more toward entertainment platforms like TikTok or Instagram. People are going on there just to pass time,” Palmberg said. These brief and repetitive formats encourage addiction, he said, because the dopamine high they create is short-lived, causing users to keep visiting to get those fleetingly positive feelings. 

O’Connor supports Palmberg’s conclusions. A reliance on social media platforms for entertainment encourages addiction, she said. This is backed up by student behavior.

“My big takeaway was the interest in the entertainment variable was the key predictor of addiction. It’s not necessarily the students that are using it to communicate with each other, but the ones that say, ‘I need to kill time between classes,’ or, ‘I’m bored before bed,’ or, ‘I am trying to relieve stress after working on homework.’” The addictive aspect comes in, O’Connor said, “because users want to be entertained more and more. They are constantly looking for the next thing to talk about with their friends.”

Palmberg said he believes that not all social media use among college students has to be addictive. “It is important for people to view social media as not only something that can be harmful but also something that can be used as a tool. I like to emphasize with my study that it’s not all negative. It is more of an emphasis on moderation. It is possible to use social media responsibly. But just like almost anything, it can be addictive.”

An emphasis on digital well-being

Twice a year, in an effort to get out ahead of digital addiction, students at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter are encouraged to take a deeper look at their social media use and its impact on their mental health. Charlie Potts, the college’s interim dean of students, heads the effort: It’s a clear match with his job and his research interests.

During the semiannual event, known as “Digital Well-Being Week,” Gustavus students learn about the potentially negative impact of social media overuse — as well as strategies for expanding their social networks without the help of technology.

Potts said that event has been held four times so far, and students now tell him they anticipate it. 

“We’ve gotten to the point where we get comments from students saying, ‘It’s that time again,’” he said. Students say they appreciate the information and activities associated with Digital Well-Being Week, Potts continued, and they look forward to a week focused on spending less time with their phones.

“They remember that we put baskets on every table in the dining hall with a little card encouraging them to leave their phones there and instead focus on conversations with others,” he added. “We even include  a card in the basket with conversation starters. Students are excited about it. They know the drill. It is something they like to do that feels good.”

Potts’ own academic research has focused on mental health and belonging. Each fall, he also heads up a campus-wide student survey focused on digital well-being and how to balance phone use with other aspects of mental and physical health.

In the survey, Potts said, “We ask students, ‘How much time do you spend every day on social media? How does it make you feel?’ Students are blown away when they see the number of hours that the average Gustie spends online. The vast majority are in the 4-7 hours a day on their phone range.”

The survey, which uses a motivational style of interviewing to help participants get at the root of why altering their social media behaviors may be valuable to their overall health and well-being, focuses on small changes that might reduce participants’ reliance on technology in favor of face-to-face interaction. 

“We do a lot of conversations with students about strategies they could use,” Potts said. “Things like plugging your phone in across the room while you sleep, leaving it behind while you go to work out at the rec center, subtle changes like that. We also talk about mental health and mindfulness and how…you discern your values about what you are consuming and how that might affect you.”

Though Potts said he has encountered some resistance from students (“You roll with that and help them understand the value of that and think about how they are going to make that change,” he said), he’s also heard a lot of positive student feedback about his survey — and the twice-yearly focus on digital well-being.  

“What we found with our students is they realize deep down that their relationship with their phones and social media was not having a positive impact on their life,” Potts said. “They knew change would be good but they didn’t know how to make change or who to talk to about that or what tools were at their disposal. These options help them understand how to do that.”

Andy Steiner

Andy Steiner is a Twin Cities-based writer and editor. Before becoming a full-time freelancer, she worked as senior editor at Utne Reader and editor of the Minnesota Women’s Press. Email her at  [email protected] .

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A new book has amplified fierce debate around teens, mental health and smartphones

A new book has embroiled the academic community in a heated debate over whether spending time on smartphones affects young people’s mental health and, if so, how.

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s “ The Anxious Generation ,” published last week, argues that the smartphone-driven “great rewiring of childhood” is causing an “epidemic of mental illness.” He suggests four ways to combat this: no smartphones before high school, no social media before age 16, no phones in schools; and prioritizing real-world play and independence.

“I call smartphones ‘experience blockers,’ because once you give the phone to a child, it’s going to take up every moment that is not nailed down to something else,” Haidt told TODAY.com , adding, “It’s basically the loss of childhood in the real world.”

Phones and social media have become a ubiquitous part of everyday life. But as much as researchers study their impact, there remains no easy answer to how exactly these technologies affect the mental health of kids and teens.

Haidt’s book quickly has generated a wave of both support and backlash, including a viral review in the scientific journal Nature that argues Haidt is contributing to a “rising hysteria” around social media and screen time that’s unproductive in addressing the “real causes” of teen depression and anxiety.

“We have a generation in crisis and in desperate need of the best of what science and evidence-based solutions can offer,” psychologist Candice Odgers wrote in her scathing review. “Unfortunately, our time is being spent telling stories that are unsupported by research and that do little to support young people who need, and deserve, more.”

Over the past decade, scholars and politicians have grown increasingly concerned about the potential impact of social media and screen time on young people. A Senate hearing in January grilled the CEOs of several major social media companies on a variety of topics related to child safety, including their platforms’ impacts on youth mental health.

Also in January, California introduced a bill aimed at protecting children from social media addiction. And last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a ban on children under 14 joining social media, which takes effect next January.

Research linking social media use to poor youth mental health led U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to issue an advisory last year warning of social media’s potential harms to child and adolescent well-being. Up to 95% of youth ages 13 to 17 say they use social media, according to the report , with more than one-third saying they use it “almost constantly.”

Some academics and scientists remain unconvinced that current evidence shows a causal link between social media and poor mental health. Christopher Ferguson, a psychology professor at Stetson University, said he believes the concern is part of a recurring moral panic largely driven by older adults.

He pointed to a cyclical pattern in which disruptive new technologies — from TV to video games to, more recently, generative AI — almost always undergo periods of uproar over their potential harms. He said the buildup of concern around smartphones started slower than most, only taking significant shape in the late 2010s.

But the toothpaste can’t be squeezed back into the tube. The kids who are on smartphones and social media now will be using those technologies well into old age, Ferguson said, and it’ll be their turn to “freak out” once a new, unfamiliar technology threatens to displace their habits.

“I just think this is how it is now. It’s just a matter of getting used to that,” Ferguson said. “For some reason, society always wants to throw a temper tantrum when a new thing comes along. And eventually, like all temper tantrums, they go away.” 

But researcher Jean Twenge, author of “Generations” and “iGen,” said there’s a “reasonably robust” consensus among academics that smartphones and social media are at least partially linked to the rise in teen depression, self harm and loneliness.

She said she believes the pushback comes from a smaller group of academics whose arguments imply that screen time and social media are harmless. Unlike Ferguson, Twenge said she believes the skepticism around them will continue to grow over time.

“The critics in this area need to answer one important question,” said Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University. “If smartphones and social media are not behind the increase in teen depression, what is? Because over and over, the answers that they have given have not been supportable.”

Ninety percent of this debate is basically just back-and-forths about different studies that are subtly designed differently and create totally different results.

-Joseph Bak-Coleman, an associate research scientist at the Columbia School of journalism

Joseph Bak-Coleman, an associate research scientist at the Columbia School of Journalism who studies collective decision-making, said part of why the effects of phone and social media use are so difficult to study is because research subjects cannot be fully isolated from the impact of these technologies.

This leads to conflicting research results, he said, as even individuals who eschew social media and smartphones still live within networks of people who do use them — and in a world already shaped by them.

As Bak-Coleman puts it: “ Ninety percent of this debate is basically just back-and-forths about different studies that are subtly designed differently and create totally different results. And then everyone fights.”

While social platforms and regulators have an obligation to figure out how to protect children and teens, he suspects any restrictive protections would be a “nightmare” to enforce. Measures such as removing access to phones entirely could cause different troubles in a world where kids rely on cellphones to contact their parents, he said, and where many aspects of life now take place in the digital realm.

And because the average effects of social media use might also look different from the effects on those who are most at risk for certain harms, Bak-Coleman said it could be more worthwhile to hone in on specific concerns instead of trying to identify a broad trend in how phones impact mental health.

“Rather than asking, is it a net negative or positive, which is an absurd discussion,” he said, “it’d be much nicer if we could ask: What are the impacts? To who? And which thing does it, and how can you change it?”

Angela Yang is a culture and trends reporter for NBC News.

Essay on Effects Of Social Media On Mental Health

Students are often asked to write an essay on Effects Of Social Media On Mental Health in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Effects Of Social Media On Mental Health

Introduction.

Social media is a tool that lets us communicate and share with people around the world. It’s very popular, especially with young people. But, it can also affect our mental health in different ways.

Positive Impact

Social media can have a good effect on our mental health. It allows us to connect with friends and family, even if they live far away. It can also help us find groups of people who share our interests. This can make us feel less alone and more understood.

Negative Impact

On the other hand, social media can also have a bad effect on our mental health. Seeing other people’s “perfect” lives can make us feel bad about our own. It can also lead to cyberbullying, which can hurt our self-esteem and cause stress.

Importance of Balance

Like most things, balance is key when using social media. Spending too much time online can make us feel isolated in real life. It’s important to take breaks and spend time doing other things we enjoy.

In conclusion, social media can have both positive and negative effects on our mental health. It’s important to use it wisely and remember that it’s okay to take a break if it’s making us feel bad.

250 Words Essay on Effects Of Social Media On Mental Health

Social media is a powerful tool that connects people from all corners of the world. It is a platform where we share our thoughts, ideas, and daily life activities. But, it also has a great impact on our mental health.

Impacts on Self-Esteem

One of the main effects of social media on mental health is on our self-esteem. When we see our friends having fun, achieving things, or looking happy, we often compare ourselves with them. This comparison can make us feel less confident and happy about our own lives.

Loneliness and Isolation

Another effect is the feeling of loneliness and isolation. Even though we are connected with many people online, we can still feel alone. This is because social media interactions are not the same as real-life interactions. This feeling can lead to sadness and depression.

Anxiety and Fear

Social media can also cause anxiety and fear. We often worry about what others will think of our posts. We fear negative comments and judgments. This constant worry can lead to stress and anxiety.

In conclusion, while social media has its benefits, it can also have negative effects on our mental health. It can affect our self-esteem, make us feel lonely, and cause anxiety. Therefore, it is important to use social media wisely and not let it control our lives. We need to remember that what we see on social media is not always the full picture of someone’s life.

500 Words Essay on Effects Of Social Media On Mental Health

Social media is a big part of our lives. We use it to chat with friends, share photos, and learn about the world. But, it can also affect our mental health in both good and bad ways. This essay will explore these effects.

Positive Effects

First, let’s talk about the good things. Social media can make us feel connected. It allows us to keep in touch with friends and family, even if they live far away. This can make us feel less lonely. It can also help us find people who share our interests. For example, if you love painting, you can join an art group online. This can boost your confidence and make you feel part of a community.

Negative Effects

Now, let’s look at the negative side. Spending too much time on social media can make us feel sad or anxious. This is because we often compare our lives to the perfect ones we see online. This can make us feel like we are not good enough.

Another problem is cyberbullying. Some people use social media to hurt others by sending mean messages or spreading rumors. This can lead to stress, anxiety, and even depression.

Impact on Sleep

Social media can also affect our sleep. Many of us check our phones before bed. The bright screen can make it harder for us to fall asleep. Lack of sleep can lead to mood swings, trouble focusing, and feeling tired all the time.

Ways to Stay Healthy

The good news is there are ways to use social media without hurting our mental health. One way is to limit our time online. We can set a timer or use an app that reminds us to take a break.

We should also remember that what we see online is not always real. Many people only share the best parts of their lives, not the hard parts.

If someone is being mean to us online, we should tell a trusted adult. We can also block or report the person.

In conclusion, social media has both good and bad effects on our mental health. It can make us feel connected, but it can also make us feel sad, anxious, and tired. To stay healthy, we need to use social media in a balanced way, remember that what we see online is not always real, and speak up if someone is being mean to us.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Effects Of Social Media On Family Relationships
• Essay on Effects Of Social Media
• Essay on Effects Of Poverty On Health

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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5 Things Parents Should Know About Social Media’s Impact on Teens’ Mental Health

S lightly more than half of U.S. teens spend at least four hours a day on social media and on average, all teens spend close to five, according to a recent Gallup survey , whose findings underscore the growing alarm over social media’s role in the youth mental health crisis.

Girls, who have been shown to be particularly vulnerable to the psychological harms of social media, spend even more time on the apps than boys (an average of 5.3 hours a day vs. 4.4 hours for boys) and the platforms consume more of teenagers’ lives as they move through high school: 4.1 hours a day on average for 13-year-olds compared to 5.8 hours for 17-year-olds. 

Teen Mental Health Crisis Pushes More School Districts to Sue Social Media Giants

The data collected from 6,643 parents and 1,591 of their adolescent children between June and July also identified factors that can loosen social media’s grip: Teens who scored high on conscientiousness as it relates to self-control and regulation spent less time on the apps as did those living with parents who restricted their screen time. Those kids were on social media 1.8 hours less a day on average than their peers whose parents strongly disagreed with curtailing screen time. 

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The survey was accompanied by a report  by Gallup and the Institute for Family Studies looking more closely at how parenting and self-control can mediate the link between social media use and youth mental health. Both come some five months after the U.S. surgeon general warned that social media poses a profound risk to children and the same month that 31 states sued Meta , saying it designed features to hook children and lied about its platforms’ safety.

Surgeon General’s Social Media Warning May Impact School District Legal Surge

Meta owns three of the seven social media apps examined in the Gallup survey — Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. YouTube and TikTok were by far the most popular platforms surveyed, with teen girls spending nearly two hours a day watching TikTok videos and boys doing the same on YouTube for slightly more than that.

The 74 spoke with Jonathan Rothwell, a principal economist at Gallup who authored the research, to alert parents and educators to five things they should know about social media’s impact on youth mental health.

• There’s a direct link between parent involvement and teens’ social media use and mental health.

Though social media’s impact on teen mental health has been long explored, one notable and less-researched feature of this survey is the correlation between parental involvement and intervention in teen’s screen time and its impact on their mental health. Rothwell says not only is limiting social media usage beneficial, but any harm from the content absorbed also seems to be mitigated by a strong parent-child relationship.

The Gallup and Institute for Family Studies report explored the idea from other researchers that the issue of social media and declining mental health may be cyclical for young people, who are already experiencing poor mental health or have “low life satisfaction,” and turn to social media as a form of escapism. But teens who reported having a stronger and more loving relationship with their parents used social media less frequently and overall reported having better mental health.

• Video-centered social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube may pose a bigger threat to teens’ mental health than other social media apps.

Teens reported spending an average of 1.9 hours a day on YouTube and 1.5 hours on TikTok. Rothwell points to videos being their most obvious feature, one unlike that of other social media apps that have historically focused on text and photos. The distinction raises questions about their appeal and potential harm. Instagram and Facebook are now modeling their platforms after TikTok and YouTube with vertical video features, trying to capture some of the same audience allure.

Rothwell says it would require greater detailed analysis to determine whether it’s simply the never-ending loop design of these video-centered apps or whether it’s particular content in the videos themselves that is creating a large appeal among teens and having an impact on their mental health. 

Banning Smartphones at Schools: Research Shows Higher Test Scores, More Exercise

• Even with involved parents, teen body image issues persist.

The report found that teens who spend more than five hours a day on social media are nearly three times as likely to hold negative views of their appearance as those who spend less time online. These negative effects were only associated in the report with YouTube and TikTok, likely because of the higher frequency with which teens use those apps versus Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

“Even when we saw that that sort of strong parenting relationship mitigates and maybe even eliminates the overall mental health problems, we did find that this other measure related to the teens’ body image continued to be negative, even in the context of a loving relationship with their parents,” Rothwell said. “That makes me think that there could be something about these videos that makes people feel bad about who they are and what their body looks like.”

• Reducing the quantity of time spent on social media versus the quality of time may be more beneficial.

Because there’s no way for parents to ensure what teens may come across online at all times, Rothwell believes that reducing the amount of time spent on social media rather than trying to curate content creators or types of posts is the safer strategy. And because apps have refined their platforms to prioritize showing users people they don’t follow, there’s an added risk of coming across content that may contribute to declining mental health.

“With any of these sites, there’s just no guarantee that unless you’re there with your kid, watching the videos together, that you’re going to be able to prevent exposure to harmful content.”

• Parents and educators have the opportunity to foster a healthier relationship between teens and their social media use.

Rothwell says that much like the cultural norms that exist with teaching healthy lifestyle habits, such as not overeating, healthy social media practices should also be implemented at home and in school.

“Everyone who interacts with teenagers needs to do a better job of teaching them that it’s wasting their time and wasting their opportunities [and] to do something healthier, whether it’s education- or exercise-related or spending time with friends,” Rothwell said. “Even if the content was totally harmless, the probability that they’re going to be learning something useful from that content is very low.”