Effect of Social Media on Mental Health

Over the past decade, social networks have developed rapidly. The unprecedented evolution of sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and others has resulted in numerous profound changes regarding how individuals interact and communicate. Facebook, for example, has in excess of 1billion daily users. Although social media has proved very useful among individuals and organizations in communicating business, formal, informal and personal messages, various research has indicated that the excessive utilization of the sites could be connected to symptoms and signs of psychiatric disorders like depression, addiction, low self-esteem, anxiety and so forth (Pantic 652-657). For sure, social networks represent a new phenomenon, and therefore, their potential effect regarding mental health needs more research and supporting evidence. However, there is sufficient and convincing evidence that social media usage could cause mental health problems. This paper, therefore, critically establishes the connection between social media utilization and psychological health issues.

To begin with, and generally, the use of the internet profoundly affects social relationships alongside community life participation. Social media users spend a lot of time online, reducing the time spent communicating with relatives and family members. This has the potential for increasing feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression (Warrender and Milne 56-59). With the increased popularity of social networking, the time spent by adolescents and children using computers and smartphones has increased significantly. As a consequence, the interpersonal communication’s intensity with family members and in the broader social environment has further reduced (Mir and Novas n.p.). Opponents of this premise may argue that social networks allow individuals to interact with a larger population. Still, such interactions are not only shallow but also cannot sufficiently substitute daily one-on-one communication.

One of the significant reasons why the overuse of social media is linked to depressive signs is because computer-mediated interaction has the potential of causing the altered (usually wrong) impression regarding the personality and physical traits of fellow users. As a result, inaccurate conclusions may be drawn concerning educational level, moral integrity, intelligence, physical appearance, and multiple other features of online contacts (Jelenchick, Eickhoff, and Moreno 128-130). For example, in a study conducted on students in Utah regarding social media impact on psychological health, it was revealed that the use of Facebook is associated with participants’ perception that fellow users are happier, along with a feeling that ‘life is unfair.’ It should be noted that perceiving others as being more successful and happier does not essentially cause depression. Nevertheless, for people who already possess particular depressive predispositions alongside other mental comorbidities, it may further harm mental health.

Critics may oppose the argument that social media use could cause depression by indicating that communicating online with family and friends is actually related to a decrease in depression. This counter-argument is based on the assumption that the use of social network sites to maintain and strengthen social ties, specifically with close friends and family members could have a beneficial impact on mental wellness.  However, it has to be noted that extensive use of these sites outside the circles mentioned above may weaken prevailing friends and close family relations and promote the feeling of depression and loneliness (Pantic 745-746).

Equally crucial to the effect of social media use on depressive symptoms is its negative impact on self-esteem.  To be precise, self-esteem could be described as ‘an evaluative part of the concept of self- the extent to which an individual values, prizes likes or approves him/herself. It is a critical factor when it comes to the development and maintenance of psychological health and the general quality of life (Fioravanti, Dèttore and Casale 76-89). It is crucial to understand that low self-esteem could be related to several mental illnesses’ pathogenesis that includes addiction, eating problems as well as depression. Various studies conclude that using various social media sites causes low self-esteem or, at least, encourages narcissistic behavior. According to a survey of Facebook users conducted at York University regarding narcissistic and self-esteem self-reports, the findings showed that people having lower self-esteem were more active on social media in regard to posting self-promotional images, messages and videos on their profiles (Jelenchick, Eickhoff and Moreno 128-130).

Similarly, numerous models and theories provide vivid explanations on the potential impact regarding computer-aided interactions on self-esteem when focusing on the overall population. The theory of objective self-awareness, for example, proposes that a stimulus that transforms the self into an object of the awareness (consciousness), usually results in a reduced impression regarding the self (Pantic, Damjanovic and Todorovic 90-93). Such stimuli include self-reflection on a mirror, listening to their own voice, preparing personal curriculum vitae, and other situations whereby the subject focusses their attention on the self. Characteristically, a typical social media user, will regularly visit their profile pages each day. During this time, they usually view their already uploaded bio-data, photos, videos, and so forth. All the mentioned activities, particularly in the presence of similar data acquired from fellow users’ profiles, could either result in a short/long-term decline as far as self-esteem is concerned.

Generally, social media is connected to low self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and anxiety for many reasons such as sleep problems, jealousy feelings, FOMO (fear of missing out), cyberbullying, and increased social comparisons. Social comparison entails sociological self-esteem in which individuals derive their feeling of self by comparing themselves with others. Typically, individuals engage in downward comparisons with those they see as being worse off, something that could boost their self-esteem (Fioravanti, Dèttore and Casale 76-89). However, upward comparisons could jeopardize this self-esteem; and this is mostly what happens in social media.

Fear of Missing out (FOMO) is another negative impact that entails the anxiety gotten by a person when they are scared of missing a positive emotion or experience that others are getting, especially through engagement in social media. Again, social networking has facilitated the formation of unrealistic expectations regarding friendships and life through lack of online authenticity like Instagram, Snapchat, or Facebook (Jelenchick, Eickhoff and Moreno 128-130). Cyberbullying also causes anxiety, low self-esteem, and depressive symptoms. With social media, it is possible to bully someone online anonymously. The anonymity provided by social networks is employable by perpetrators or predators to obtain people’s trust and thereby ending up terrorizing them in the presence of their colleagues or peers. For sure, this jeopardizes the victim’s mental well-being.

Another meaningful way in which social media use negatively affects mental health is the causation of addiction. The addictive characteristic of prolonged use of social networks can be principally supported by the psychological preoccupation of various chronic social media users who consequently have a tendency of neglecting other aspects concerning their social functioning like offline friends and family (Griffiths 518-520). Additionally, based on observations and research, sudden stoppage of social networking, for instance, absence of internet connection, could in certain chronic users result in symptoms and signs that somehow resemble those observed during nicotine/alcohol/drug abstinence syndrome.  The amount of time spent by global internet users social networks has considerably increased, averaging at 136 minutes per day in 2018 (Warrender and Milne 56-59). Unsurprisingly, studies have described social media as being more addictive compared to alcohol and tobacco. However, the addictive nature is complicated, and the notion of its high addiction could be because of its high availability with no restriction. Also, it is not only accessible but also socially acceptable.

In 2012, a ‘Facebook Addiction Scale’ was developed based on eighteen items that tested addiction features like tolerance, mood modification, relapse, conflict, withdrawal, and salience. The test demonstrated a relatively increased reliability and proved its applicability to the student population. However, during this same year,  another study was conducted on the same subject that showed that the concept ‘Facebook addiction’ could be obsolete because of the various activities that could be performed on Facebook, apart from conventional social interaction, that is, playing games (Kuss and Griffiths 3528-3552).  However, any trial of designing a testing system that is capable of quantifying at least one element of social media addiction is crucial evidence that prolonged social network usage could lead to addiction.

Probably, opponents of the above argument may ask whether or not social media addiction is really a psychological disorder, or whether it deserves such diagnosis and treatment. To address such a likely inquiry, several particular criteria exist for dependence syndrome. These include a sense of compulsion, intense desire, difficulties to control consumption behavior, evidence regarding tolerance, physiological withdrawal after cessation or reduction, among others (World Health Organization n.p.).  Therefore, if at least three of these criteria are manifested (during a particular time point), a diagnosis ought to be made. Clearly, a majority of such diagnostic criteria are applicable to a significant percentage of chronic social media users, who, due to the extensive smartphone or computer use, exhibit problems concerning normal daily functioning.

In fact, it could be credible to explicitly use the concept ‘Facebook Addiction Disorder’ since addiction criteria like neglecting personal life, escapism, mental preoccupation, mood modifying behaviors, concealing addiction, and tolerance can be observed in excessive users of social media (Gonzales and Hancock 43-56).  Similarly, users tend to portray psychological withdrawal symptoms if they stop using the platforms. However small these withdrawal symptoms might be, they are measurable mental effects.  In other words, users who are over-reliant on social networks report anxiety feelings if they are discouraged from utilizing them; the psychological effects lead to real mental changes.

Nevertheless, when using this approach, caution must be observed because going forward, there might be difficulties in distinguishing internet addition from social media addiction.  Also, one must note that neither internet nor social media addiction has been incorporated in the most recent disease classification manuals like DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). Furthermore, social networks and other internet-oriented mental issues are commonly seen in combination with diagnosable mental illnesses (Griffiths 518-520). In other words, the said problems are made difficult by comorbidity. For this reason, there is a lack of clarity on whether potential social media addiction occurs as an autonomous disorder or merely an exhibition of other psychological issues like personality disorders.

What is more interesting is that most users of Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, or Instagram survive a whole day without checking their accounts. Social networking has changed the way people used to interact by providing limited interpersonal skills, little privacy, as well as limited conflict resolution skills (Mir and Novas n.p.). For example, most of the time, users find themselves in a position whereby they cannot personally engage their colleagues at work or peers in social places. Why? It is because they are tweeting, reading tweets, or going through Facebook comments. To the social media addicts, it is just unavoidable.

Besides being linked to depression, low self-esteem, and addiction, social media use has been found to trigger more sadness, unhappiness, and less mental well-being. The more users engage in social networks, the unhappy they seem to be. According to studies, Facebook use was connected to less life satisfaction and time-to-time happiness; the more individuals were engaged in Facebook activities daily, the more the mentioned variables declined (Pantic, Damjanovic and Todorovic 90-93). This suggests that Facebook enhances the social isolation perception in a manner that other related solitary engagements do not.

Critics of this thought may claim that social media platforms offer an essential resource for satisfying solitary needs by enabling individuals to connect instantly. However, instead of promoting well-being as regular interactions with conventional (and supportive) ‘offline’ social networks actively do, the present findings inform that Facebook interactions could forecast the reverse outcome for adolescents/young adults, that is, it could undermine it. Interestingly, a survey concluded that the use of social media is correlated with greater feelings regarding social isolation (Gonzales and Hancock 43-56). The more time spent on these platforms, the higher the perception of social isolation. It has to be noted that perceived social isolation is very damaging to individuals, both physically and mentally.

Generally, opponents make the following counter-argument that users who are already depressed, anxious, sad, unhappy, jealous, and socially isolated will always visit social media platforms to seek social satisfaction, relief, happiness, closure and socially interactive engagements to deal with their mental issues (Pantic 652-657). It makes a lot of sense for sure. Still, social media activities like social comparisons, perceived social isolation, cyberbullying, FOMO, jealousy, self-presentation, and deceit regarding users’ personal characteristics could cause sleep problems, anxiety and worsen their self-esteem, escalate depression and other psychiatric disorders.

In conclusion, it is clear that social media could have potential benefits to the users’ mental health, but its extensive use could be psychologically detrimental.  Mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, addiction, sleep problems, unhappiness, jealousy, and sadness epitomize the extent to which social media use can harm users’ psychological well-being. Since social media use happens to be a new phenomenon, studies continue to be conducted to ascertain its connection with mental health.  However, the already completed studies present convincing evidence that excessive social media use, indeed, can negatively affect mental wellness.

Works Cited

Fioravanti, Giulia, Davide Dèttore, and Silvia Casale. “Adolescent Internet Addiction: Testing the Association Between Self-Esteem, the Perception of Internet Attributes, and Preference for Online Social Interactions.” Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking (2012): 15(6): 76-89.

Gonzales, Amy and Jeffrey Hancock. “Mirror, Mirror on my Facebook Wall: Effects of Exposure to Facebook on Self-Esteem.” (2011): 14(1-2): 43-56.

Griffiths, Mark. “Facebook Addiction: Concerns, Criticism, and Recommendations—A Response to Andreassen and Colleagues. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2466%2F01.07.18.PR0.110.2.518-520.” SAGE Journals (2012): 110(2): 518-520.

Jelenchick, Lauren, Jens Eickhoff and Megan Moreno. “Facebook Depression?” Social Networking Site Use and Depression in Older Adolescents.” Journal of Adolescent Health (2013): 52(1): 128-130.

Kuss, Daniel and Mark Griffiths. “Online Social Networking and Addiction: A Review of the Psychological Literature.” International Journal of Environmenmental Research and Public Health (2011): 8(9): 3528-3552.

Mir, Elina and Caroline Novas. “Social Media and Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Mental Health. Retrieved from http://www.center4research.org/social-media-affects-mental-health/.” (2020).

Pantic, Igor. “Online Social Networking and Mental Health. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4183915/.” Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking (2014): 17(10): 652-657.

Pantic, Igor, et al. “Association Between Online Social Networking and Depression in High School Students: Behavioral Physiology Viewpoint.” Psychiatria Danubina (2012): 24(1): 90-93.

Warrender, Dan and Rosa Milne. “How the Use of Social Media and Social Comparison Affect Mental Health. Retrieved from https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/mental-health/how-use-of-social-media-and-social-comparison-affect-mental-health-24-02-2020/.” Nursing Times (2020): 116(3): 56-59.

World Health Organization. “Dependence Syndrome. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/terminology/definition1/en/.” (2014).