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[Untitled Tue May 16 2023 20:25:54 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)]

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Untitled Tue May 16 2023 20:25:54 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)]

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Of all the 17 respondents, 7 (41.2%) spend 3-5 hours a day scrolling through social media, 4 (23.5%) spend 1-2 hours a day, and 4 (23.5%) spend 6-7 hours a day. Two students (11.8%) actually spend 8-10 hours a day staying updated on social media. In terms of how social media affect their mental health, 13 (76.5%) of them have ever experienced mental health problems due to content on social media, and 4 (23.5%) of them have never experienced such problems. The most common problems experienced by those people are FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) with 9 of them (69.2%) experiencing this. It is then followed by self-doubt, with 8 of them (61.5%) experiencing this. 7 of them (53.8%) experience low self-esteem, 6 of them (46.2%) experience sleeping problems, 4 of them (23.5%) experience loneliness, 4 of them (23.5%) experience anxiety, and 3 of them (23.1%) experience depression due to social media contents. One student (7.7%) also said that it gives him/her/them an "ick" feeling. The vast majority (14, or 82.4%) think that social media affects their mindset about their bodies, though 3 (17.6%) think that their mindset about their bodies is not affected. 8 of the ones who are affected (61.5%) believe the effect is negative, while the other 6 (46.2%) believe the effect is positive. These 6 people (46.3%), who believe the effect is positive, think that social media content promotes body positivity, and 1 of them (7.7%) also thinks that it boosts self-confidence. In terms of comparing themselves to public figures on social media, 9 students (52.9%) do it sometimes, 5 students (29.4%) do it rarely, and 3 students (17.6%) do it often. To focus on their mental health, 9 students (52.9%) have ever taken a break from social media, while the other 8 students (47.1%) have never done this. 12 students (70.6%) have rendered positive effects of social media on mental health, and the other 5 students (29.4%) believe there are no positive effects of social media on mental health. 2 students (16.7%) believe social media contents are entertaining and refreshing, while one of them (8.3%) do not specify any positive impact. Overall, 4 (23.5%) believe social media affects their mental health to a low extent, 8 (47.1%) believe social media affects their mental health to a moderate extent, 2 (11.8%) believe social media affects their mental health to a pretty large extent, and 3 (17.6%) believe social media affects their mental health to a very large extent.

What stood out to me was that 76.5% of the students who take the survey have experienced mental health problems due to content on social media. This stunned me as I have never expected that social media has that huge of an impact on the mental health of its users. This fact opens up my eyes that for most people, social media is not healthy for their mental health. However, what makes me happy is that more than half of these people have taken a break from social media to focus on their mental health. It is pleasant to know that people are aware of the fact that mental health should be prioritized over social media, and they are mindful of when to stop using social media. Also, the fact that social media cause them to have a negative mindset about their bodies is very heartbreaking. Furthermore, more than half of the students taking the survey also compare their bodies to the others' on social media. This highlights how strong social media is in altering the mindset of a person for the worse. These people should never feel insecure about their bodies just because of the content displayed on social media. Also of note was that some of the survey takers believe that social media have a small impact on one's mental health. I am intrigued to know more about these people, and how can they build up such a strong wall that protects their mental health despite the content on social media, which is sometimes very triggering.

As far as the open-ended questions, the good effects of social media on one's mental health range from the contents being "inspiring and motivating," to "spreading awareness and positivity," to "entertaining and refreshing," to providing a "positive community to strive together." It is delightful to see that these people can perceive social media in a positive way. Despite the harms and negativity radiated by social media platforms, they also serve as a source of positivity and entertainment.

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Growing up as a teen in this technology-advanced society, social media had always been an integral part of my life. When first introduced to social media, I enjoyed it so much that I believed it was the best invention humans had ever contrived. I did not realize the harmful effects it could bring about until the beginning of 2020 when the pandemic hit. I spent almost 12 hours a day scrolling through social media, especially Instagram. Never once did I skip a day not scrolling through social media.

Being constantly exposed to content whose object was a “perfect” looking woman, with the perfect body proportions, magnificent beauty, and incredible fashion sense, I began to compare my physical appearance with those individuals. Every time I looked in the mirror, my hatred towards my body elevated, and the confidence I had built up briefly shattered into pieces before realization crept into me. To stop the hate rushing into me even more deeply, I set a goal to develop my body to resemble those I regularly viewed on social media. I dwindled my eating portions and even managed to have only one meal daily, restricting myself to breakfast and dinner. Not long afterward, I suffered from an eating disorder. After having every meal, my feet never missed dragging me to the weighing scale. I was so scared of gaining weight, even by half a pound, that I would minimize my meal portion every time the weight number was undesirable. Soon afterward, my meal portion became abnormal, and I experienced a new disease called GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease). This disease induced so much discomfort in me that it disturbed my sleeping hours. I would sleep at midnight and wake up before the sun rose, earning me only 3-4 hours of sleep every day. As a result, I became more sensitive, losing the ability to control my emotions, as I frequently got angry, sad, or even frustrated over small things. From this horrible phase of my life, I believe that social media can also induce negative impacts on my mental health.
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To explore my critical question, I conducted an anonymous survey about the relationship between mental health and social media and read through 5 articles online (all included in my Annotated Bibliography).

After researching, I discovered a few essential things about the complex correlation between mental health and social media. One thing I learned was that social media has both positively as well as adversely affected its users’ mental health. In other words, social media is a double-edged sword. One of the articles states that social media enables the formation of a community, significantly improving the mental health of its members who crave social interaction and helping them cope with loneliness. However, the community may be toxic, such that the members encourage one another to practice life-threatening diets, exacerbating their mental well-being. Similarly, social media enables body positivity advocating campaigns and messages to be disseminated to a wide range of audiences from different backgrounds within a short time, hence resulting in improvements in the mental health of more women on Earth. On the other hand, the addictive characteristic of social media may result in decreased sleeping hours of the users, worsening mental health and an elevated chance of depression. Besides, the culture of teens nowadays to post their activities daily on social media may induce the viewers to compare their lives with the ones on social media, developing the feeling of missing out, as their daily basis is not comprised of that much fun, enticing activities. These facts about social media are backed up by the data from the survey. It is shown that most of the individuals have experienced mental health issues associated with social media. Furthermore, more than half of the survey takers have stated that social media have negatively altered their mindset about their body and caused them to develop anxiety, depression, FOMO, self-doubt, loneliness, poor sleeping, and low self-esteem. Nevertheless, similar to what I have found in the article, social media also positively affects one’s mental health. According to the survey, social media has been a source of positive inspiration and motivation, entertainment, and a community that minimizes the sense of isolation its users feel. Lastly, most people answered that social media affected their mental health moderately.

The survey result coincides with the facts I have found on online websites. Both suggest that social media does not affect mental health to a large extent, yet it affects mental health to a moderate degree. Likewise, the positive and negative effects of social media on the users’ mental health are similar in the survey and from the sources. Therefore, I believe that this similarity proves the credibility of my research, hence validating me to say that social media contributes notably to the deterioration of one’s mental health, yet it is not the sole cause of mental illness. Nevertheless, I am curious about how social media companies will come up with a solution to solve this crucial problem. Will they adopt META’s “nudging” solution? Or will they hire a workforce to be updated with mentally disturbing content and report them? What other solutions can they come up with? I do realize that this issue is not one that can be solved quickly. It requires time, effort, and brain to turn the double-edged sword of social media platforms into a one-way sword, directing only toward the positive effects of social media on mental health. (563)

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This image depicts a woman being stressed and troubled while looking at the social media content on her phone.

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This image shows a woman feeling that she is missing out as the others are seen to be partying and hanging out with friends on social media.

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This picture shows that the content posted on social media is not always what it is in real life. Similarly, individuals post only positive and happy days on social media, leaving out the bad days.

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This picture shows a girl meditating and disconnecting from social media to find peace, reconnect with real-life friends, and have real-life social interactions with people.

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This is my original drawing, where I try to show a girl being anxioius due to the constant thoughts about social media colonizing her head. In this drawing, I depict social media as negatively affecting mental health. This was because, from the research on the internet I did previously, I found out that social media leads to the deterioration of mental health rather than promoting positive effects on mental health in most cases. Also, I feel that social media worsens my mental health more than improves it.

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This picture shows a girl being uneasy as her brain is filled with content from various social media platforms, such as Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. In short, these social media platforms control her brain the most.

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[Untitled Thu May 11 2023 19:13:08 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)]

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Untitled Thu May 11 2023 19:13:08 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)]