Social media is directly correlated to Mental Health

Human beings need companionship to thrive in life as they are social creatures. The
quality of the connections and friendships created has an impact on mental health. When one is
socially connected, their self-esteem is boosted, anxiety, stress, and depression are avoided, and
they find comfort and joy in life. On the other hand, lack of connection creates loneliness,
feelings of rejection, and stress. Lack of strong social connections can cause serious negative
impacts on one’s emotional and mental health. In today’s world, human beings rely significantly
on online networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat to create connections. The
paper seeks to identify whether the use of social media is directly correlated to a person’s mental
health.
Studies on the use of online social sites and their impact on the users’ mental wellbeing
have thrived in the recent past. Many researchers have been exploring the effect of frequent use
of online social sites on mental wellbeing. First, social media use affects different people
differently. For instance, among adolescents, social media has created a platform for increased
intensity, immediacy, and frequency in communication and interactions. There have been cases
where adolescents’ experiences on online platforms have posed a potential risk to their mental
wellbeing. Unsupervised use of social media by children exposes them to dangerous people and

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sites. They may either get attacked online or come across content that is inappropriate for their
age. Either way, their mental wellbeing will be at stake.
There are many cases of cyber victimization. Teenagers have been victims of
cyberbullying by their peers on different social media platforms. Research has shown that “seven
in every ten young people experience cyberbullying” (Glazzard and Samuel 2). It might be
difficult to escape from cyberbullying because it mostly exists in a person’s private and personal
space. Young people mostly use their phones alone in the bedroom, and this makes it a personal
problem. These experiences have been associated with higher cases of self-harm, anxiety,
depression, poor sleep, and feelings of rejection and loneliness. Some teenagers have even
resulted in suicidal behavior due to unpleasant experiences on social media.
Teenagers are at a high risk of suffering from mental illness. Research has shown that one
in every five adolescents has been diagnosed with mental health disorders. Mental health
concerns have been raised due to an increase in suicide and depression among young people.
Between 2007 and 2017, suicide rates among young people aged 10-24 increased by 56 percent
(Nesi 116). the increase in suicide cases has coincided with the extensive use of social media due
to technological advancement. The coincidence has raised concerns about the potential link
between mental illness and the intensified use of social networking sites among young people.
The use of devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops tends to intensify over the
course of a person’s childhood. Teenagers use social media more than younger children. A great
percentage of teenagers use at least one form of social media. Some of the popular sites include
Snapchat, which has attracted 69 percent of adolescents. Youtube is also widely used by about
85 percent, Facebook has 51 percent, while Instagram has 72 percent of young users (Nesi 116).
There are also new sites that are also gaining traction among young people. For instance, Tiktok

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is a new platform that has attracted many young people across the globe. These sites provide
many avenues through which people can communicate, share ideas, and interact despite being far
from each other geographically.
Social media platforms have a unique appeal to young people. During adolescents,
individuals are more attracted to peer evaluation and social rewards. Since social media provides
these opportunities, then these platforms attract a high number of young people. Also, young
people’s brains have a heightened sensitivity to social information. Different social media
platforms provide an environment within which the users can navigate different tasks. Peers are
always available to chat, personal information is publicly displayed, and there are ‘likes’ and
‘views’ which appeal to most young people (Ford et al. 4). on the other and, content is readily
available. Social exclusion and online conflict are negative experiences that affect a teenager’s
mental wellbeing. In case a user gets negative comments or few likes, they might feel unaccepted
or disliked by their peers and other social media users.
Young people have access to ways of inflicting self-harm and suicide-related
information. A recent study showed that 14.8 percent of suicide cases were promoted by content
accessed on social media. Among 400 young people that were hospitalized due to psychiatric
issues, 16.6 percent had accessed self-harm related content online (Nesi 118). The kind of
content that is available online increases the risk of suicidal behavior among a vulnerable young
population. People share almost anything on social media. Young people have uncensored access
to this content. If they are depressed, then suicide thoughts might be triggered. In such a case,
online networking sites have negative impacts on the young person’s mental wellbeing.
Another risk that is associated with using social media by adolescents is social
comparison. People post their accomplishments on social media. They are mostly selective about

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the content they post. The images and posts that are posted online portray individuals positively
as they are carefully crafted and edited. Such portrayals can make some young people make
negative self-comparisons. They compare their appearances, accomplishments, and abilities with
those of others and see themselves as failures. Excessive online comparisons have had negative
effects on young people (Nesi 118). People develop negative body images and low self-esteem
and end up disliking their appearances.
Negative comparisons have been found to cause depressive symptoms among the youth.
Comparisons that are based on one’s appearance have been found to increase the risk of
developing body image issues and even disordered food consumption. Research shows that “the
predominant focus of the research between negative self-image and media has been on women”
(Barlett et al. 281). The modern American culture has put a lot of emphasis on the size of the
human body and appearance. Constant viewing of perfect and ideal bodies on social media might
affect a person’s body image, self-esteem, and emotional wellbeing.
Excessive use of social media before bedtime affects sleep patterns. A study has shown
that there is a direct correlation between the mobile screen time before bed and the quality of
sleep (Nesi 118). People tend to have poor sleep patterns if they use their phones or laptops just
before sleep. Forty percent of young people report that they use their phones five minutes before
going to bed. Also, about 36 percent of them tend to check their phones at least once during the
night (Nesi 118). There is no conclusive research on the impact of online networking sites on
sleep patterns and, consequently, on one’s mental health. However, when young people have
poor sleep patterns, they tend to fall asleep during the day, and mostly in class. If the pattern is
repeated over a long period, it could have a negative impact on academic performance. Low

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academic performance could lead to low self-esteem and, consequently, the development of
depressive disorders.
However, research has also shown that social media use has great benefits for the user
(Bashir and Shabir 127). Through social media, people express their creativity, and this helps
them develop their mental abilities. Also, people are able to hold meaningful conversations with
their peers online, without necessarily having to wait until they meet physically for a one-on-one
chat. Connecting with friends and family is one of the positive aspects of social media. The
different platforms promote individual wellbeing when used to foster a sense of belonging and
acceptance. People are also able to create new connections online. For example, people have
identified other people online who have the same personalities and preferences in life. The
LGBTQ community has created huge social support online by advancing new connections with
each other. Such connections are a source of emotional support that fosters mental wellbeing.
Further, people who receive social support on different social media platforms might be
cushioned or protected from developing mental illnesses. When people receive social support,
encouragement, and are given a sense of belonging, their chances of becoming suicidal or
depression are minimized (Bashir and Shabir 129). When this happens, social media supports
their mental wellbeing. Also, when people share their difficult moments and experiences online,
they receive support, which helps them cope even when times are hard.
In the recent past, new media has been providing promising results on new ways through
which people’s mental wellbeing can be assessed by reviewing their social media pages. Through
the use of complex machine learning algorithms, it has been made possible to detect signals of
mental illness based on one’s posts on social media. Online networking sites such as Instagram
and Facebook are already using this mechanism to identify when uses exhibit signs of emotional

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and mental distress (Nesi 119). The mechanism is instrumental in identifying when a user is at
risk of committing suicide. The implementation of this mechanism creates the possibility of
significantly reducing cases of mental illness. It also makes it easier to diagnose these illnesses,
especially when the patient has not yet identified that they could be having a problem. It is a
preventive mechanism that arrests the problem before it gets out of hand. Social media has thus
created possibilities, where mental health workers will diagnose mental health problems in their
primary stages and thus help in averting serious consequences such as suicide.
Social media has created a promising avenue, that if properly explored, will help get third
party information about people’s mental health. Algorithm is already being used in
advertisement. Advancing its use to the field of mental health is a great approach towards
improving people’s wellbeing. “as machine learning and their computer science techniques have
become more advanced, it is increasingly possible to identify or predict specific characteristics,
such as mood or depression” (Ford et al. 3). Social media has created a new and timely way of
identifying depressive disorders among users. However, the problem is that some social media
users might not like the idea of content profiling. It may appear unacceptably intrusive to some
users. When using social media, privacy is an important concern. The idea of stigmatization,
breach of confidentiality, and wrongful profiling can be scary among some users. Some people
might be mistaken for having mental health issues based on their posts, yet this is not the case.
Such technicalities might affect the effectiveness of this technology in advancing mental health.
Social media presents a platform where mental health awareness can be created. Mental
health promotion efforts can be more effective on social media. It is thus a platform that can be
used to promote tendencies and behavior that lead to enhanced mental health (Bashir and Shabir
128). the potential scale to reach many people at once, combined with the immediate

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accessibility of information on social media, makes it to provide unlimited possibilities. It is
possible to reach populations in remote locations, and help people self-diagnose when symptoms
related to mental illness start to set-in.
Overall, there is evidence that social media is directly correlated to mental health. It is
evident that the different social media platform provides exciting possibilities that can be
explored to enhance mental wellbeing. Thus, positive use of social media leads to positive
impacts on the user’s mental health. on the other hand, when used recklessly, online networking
sites have the potential to cause negative health impacts on the user. The use of social media
excessively, or to self-compare oneself with other people could affect the mental wellbeing of a
user. Therefore, there is a direct correlation between social media use and mental health. The
user either benefits and enhances their mental wellbeing by suing social media constructively, or
causes harm to themselves by using it recklessly and experiencing its side effects. As social
media continues to grow, it is up to the users to use it constructively to reap the increasing
benefits.

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Works Cited

Barlett, Christopher P., Christopher L. Vowels, and Donald A. Saucier. “Meta-analyses of the
effects of media images on men’s body-image concerns.” Journal of social and clinical
psychology 27.3 (2008): 279-310.
Bashir, Hilal, and Shabir Ahmad Bhat. “Effects of social media on mental health: A review.” The
International Journal of Indian Psychology 4.3 (2017): 125-131.
Ford, Elizabeth, et al. “Public Opinions on Using Social Media Content to Identify Users With
Depression and Target Mental Health Care Advertising: Mixed Methods Survey.” JMIR
mental health 6.11 (2019): e12942.
Glazzard, Jonathan, and Samuel Stones. “Social Media and Young People’s Mental
Health.” Technology and Child Mental Health. IntechOpen, 2019.
Nesi, Jacqueline. “The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health: Challenges and
Opportunities.” North Carolina Medical Journal 81.2 (2020): 116-121.