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5 Reasons Why Social Media is Bad for Our Mental Health - Counseling South Austin

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Today’s post is by Morgan Meyer, a Licensed Professional Counselor Intern at Counseling South Austin specializing in women’s issues, self-esteem, eating disorders, relational issues and depression. Contact her for a free thirty-minute consultation here. Ever feel like your social media use is bogging you down? As sites like Facebook and Twitter have become integral parts […]

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Social Media and Mental Health: Social Media Addiction

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Excessive use of social media can fuel anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. Here’s how to change your habits and improve your mood.

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Outpatient mental health services including individual, family, and group sessions. Psychotherapy, case management, psychoeducation, and psychiatric evaluations and medication management available in our outpatient counseling department.Adult Partial-Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient Programs also available and this location.

Outpatient mental health services including individual, family, and group sessions. Psychotherapy, case management, psychoeducation, and psychiatric evaluations and medication management. .

Outpatient mental health services including individual, family, and group sessions. Psychotherapy, case management, psychoeducation, and psychiatric evaluations and medication management. .

Adult outpatient psychiatric evaluation and medication management services.

Individual, Group and Intensive Outpatient services for adults dealing with behavioral health issues. Psychiatric assessment and medication monitoring are also available.

Adult outpatient psychiatric evaluation and medication management services.

Inpatient psychiatric unit for treatment of acute psychiatric illness. Multidisciplinary team provides care during hospitalization and coordination with other providers for discharge and aftercare.

Currently offering outpatient and Intensive Outpatient individual and group addiction treatment services, medication-assisted therapy (MAT). Inpatient addiction treatment services available in 2024.

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Booker Behavioral Health Center
661 Shrewsbury Avenue
Shrewsbury, NJ 07702
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Inpatient psychiatric unit for treatment of acute psychiatric illness. Multidisciplinary team provides care during hospitalization and coordination with other providers for discharge and aftercare.

Adult outpatient psychiatric evaluation and medication management services.

Walk-in care for traditional urgent care medical needs, but also offers services to treat short term outpatient mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, mood disorders, and behavioral issues in adults ages 16 years and older.

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1610 Route 88, 3rd Floor
Brick, NJ 08724
732-295-6543

Outpatient mental health assessment, evaluation and therapy for children, adolescents, adults and older adults. Individual therapy available. Specialized outpatient services for addiction treatment.

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Hackensack Meridian Health Carrier Clinic

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Carrier Clinic Behavioral Health Facility 252 County Route 601 Belle Mead, NJ 08502 Quick Links Addiction Self-Help Support Addiction self-help, as well as ongoing support, are integral and necessary in making a full recovery, which is why we also have specialists from both Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous, NJ, on premise daily to give our patients the reinforcement they need for relapse prevention.

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Many parents worry about how exposure to technology might affect toddlers developmentally. We know our preschoolers are picking up new social and cognitive skills at a stunning pace, and we don't want hours spent glued to an iPad to impede that. But adolescence is an equally important period of rapid development, and too few of us are paying attention to how our teenagers' use of technology - much more intense and intimate than a 3-year-old playing with dad's iPhone - is affecting them. In fact, experts worry that the social media and text messages that have become so integral to teenage life are promoting anxiety and lowering self-esteem.

Young people report that there might be good reason to worry. A survey conducted by the Royal Society for Public Health asked 14-24-year-olds in the UK how social media platforms impacted their health and well-being. The survey results found that Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all led to increased feelings of depression, anxiety, poor body image, and loneliness.

Indirect communication

Teens are masters at keeping themselves occupied in the hours after school until way past bedtime. When they're not doing their homework (and when they are) they're online and on their phones, texting, sharing, trolling, scrolling, you name it. Of course before everyone had an Instagram account teens kept themselves busy, too, but they were more likely to do their chatting on the phone, or in person when hanging out at the mall. It may have looked like a lot of aimless hanging around, but what they were doing was experimenting, trying out skills, and succeeding and failing in tons of tiny real-time interactions that kids today are missing out on. For one thing, modern teens are learning to do most of their communication while looking at a screen, not another person.

"As a species we are very highly attuned to reading social cues," says Catherine Steiner-Adair, EdD, a clinical psychologist and author of The Big Disconnect. "There's no question kids are missing out on very critical social skills. In a way, texting and online communicating puts everybody in a context where body language, facial expression, and even the smallest kinds of vocal reactions are rendered invisible."

Lowering the risks

Certainly speaking indirectly creates a barrier to clear communication, but that's not all. Learning how to make friends is a major part of growing up, and friendship requires a certain amount of risk-taking. This is true for making a new friend, but it's also true for maintaining friendships. When there are problems that need to be faced - big ones or small ones - it takes courage to be honest about your feelings and then hear what the other person has to say. Learning to effectively cross these bridges is part of what makes friendship fun and exciting, and also scary. "Part of healthy self-esteem is knowing how to say what you think and feel even when you're in disagreement with other people or it feels emotionally risky," notes Dr. Steiner-Adair.

But when friendship is conducted online and through texts, kids are doing this in a context stripped of many of the most personal - and sometimes intimidating - aspects of communication. It's easier to keep your guard up when you're texting, so less is at stake. You aren't hearing or seeing the effect that your words are having on the other person. Because the conversation isn't happening in real time, each party can take more time to consider a response. No wonder kids say calling someone on the phone is "too intense"- it requires more direct communication, and if you aren't used to that it may well feel scary.

If kids aren't getting enough practice relating to people and getting their needs met in person and in real time, many of them will grow up to be adults who are anxious about our species' primary means of communication - talking. And of course social negotiations only get riskier as people get older and begin navigating romantic relationships and employment.

Cyberbullying and the imposter syndrome

The other big danger that comes from kids communicating more indirectly is that it has gotten easier to be cruel. "Kids text all sorts of things that you would never in a million years contemplate saying to anyone's face," says Donna Wick, EdD, a clinical and developmental psychologist. She notes that this seems to be especially true of girls, who typically don't like to disagree with each other in "real life."

"You hope to teach them that they can disagree without jeopardizing the relationship, but what social media is teaching them to do is disagree in ways that are more extreme and do jeopardize the relationship. It's exactly what you don't want to have happen," she says.

Dr. Steiner-Adair agrees that girls are particularly at risk. "Girls are socialized more to compare themselves to other people, girls in particular, to develop their identities, so it makes them more vulnerable to the downside of all this." She warns that a lack of solid self-esteem is often to blame. "We forget that relational aggression comes from insecurity and feeling awful about yourself, and wanting to put other people down so you feel better."

Peer acceptance is a big thing for adolescents, and many of them care about their image as much as a politician running for office, and to them it can feel as serious. Add to that the fact that kids today are getting actual polling data on how much people like them or their appearance via things like "likes." It's enough to turn anyone's head. Who wouldn't want to make themselves look cooler if they could? So kids can spend hours pruning their online identities, trying to project an idealized image. Teenage girls sort through hundreds of photos, agonizing over which ones to post online. Boys compete for attention by trying to out-gross one other, pushing the envelope as much as they can in the already disinhibited atmosphere online. Kids gang up on each other.

Adolescents have always been doing this, but with the advent of social media they are faced with more opportunities - and more traps - than ever before. When kids scroll through their feeds and see how great everyone seems, it only adds to the pressure. We're used to worrying about the impractical ideals that photoshopped magazine models give to our kids, but what happens with the kid next door is photoshopped, too? Even more confusing, what about when your own profile doesn't really represent the person that you feel like you are on the inside?

"Adolescence and the early twenties in particular are the years in which you are acutely aware of the contrasts between who you appear to be and who you think you are," says Dr. Wick. "It's similar to the 'imposter syndrome' in psychology. As you get older and acquire more mastery, you begin to realize that you actually are good at some things, and then you feel that gap hopefully narrow. But imagine having your deepest darkest fear be that you aren't as good as you look, and then imagine needing to look that good all the time! It's exhausting."

As Dr. Steiner-Adair explains, "Self-esteem comes from consolidating who you are." The more identities you have, and the more time you spend pretending to be someone you aren't, the harder it's going to be to feel good about yourself.

Stalking (and being ignored)

Another big change that has come with new technology and especially smart phones is that we are never really alone. Kids update their status, share what they're watching, listening to, and reading, and have apps that let their friends know their specific location on a map at all times. Even if a person isn't trying to keep his friends updated, he's still never out of reach of a text message. The result is that kids feel hyperconnected with each other. The conversation never needs to stop, and it feels like there's always something new happening.

"Whatever we think of the 'relationships' maintained and in some cases initiated on social media, kids never get a break from them," notes Dr. Wick. "And that, in and of itself, can produce anxiety. Everyone needs a respite from the demands of intimacy and connection; time alone to regroup, replenish and just chill out. When you don't have that, it's easy to become emotionally depleted, fertile ground for anxiety to breed."

It's also surprisingly easy to feel lonely in the middle of all that hyperconnection. For one thing, kids now know with depressing certainty when they're being ignored. We all have phones and we all respond to things pretty quickly, so when you're waiting for a response that doesn't come, the silence can be deafening. The silent treatment might be a strategic insult or just the unfortunate side effect of an online adolescent relationship that starts out intensely but then fades away.

"In the old days when a boy was going to break up with you, he had to have a conversation with you. Or at least he had to call," says Dr. Wick. "These days he might just disappear from your screen, and you never get to have the 'What did I do?' conversation." Kids are often left imagining the worst about themselves.

But even when the conversation doesn't end, being in a constant state of waiting can still provoke anxiety. We can feel ourselves being put on the back burner, we put others back there, and our very human need to communicate is effectively delegated there, too.

What should parents do?

Both experts interviewed for this article agreed that the best thing parents can do to minimize the risks associated with technology is to curtail their own consumption first. It's up to parents to set a good example of what healthy device usage looks like. Most of us check our phones or our email too much, out of either real interest or nervous habit. Kids should be used to seeing our faces, not our heads bent over a screen. Establish technology-free zones in the house and technology-free hours when no one uses the phone, including mom and dad. "Don't walk in the door after work in the middle of a conversation," Dr. Steiner-Adair advises. "Don't walk in the door after work, say 'hi' quickly, and then 'just check your email.' In the morning, get up a half hour earlier than your kids and check your email then. Give them your full attention until they're out the door. And neither of you should be using phones in the car to or from school because that's an important time to talk."

Not only does limiting the amount of time you spend plugged in to computers provide a healthy counterpoint to the tech-obsessed world, it also strengthens the parent-child bond and makes kids feel more secure. Kids need to know that you are available to help them with their problems, talk about their day, or give them a reality check.

"It is the mini-moments of disconnection, when parents are too focused on their own devices and screens, that dilute the parent-child relationship," Dr. Steiner-Adair warns. And when kids start turning to the internet for help or to process whatever happened during the day, you might not like what happens. "Tech can give your children more information that you can, and it doesn't have your values," notes Dr. Steiner-Adair. "It won't be sensitive to your child's personality, and it won't answer his question in a developmentally appropriate way."

In addition Dr. Wick advises delaying the age of first use as much as possible. "I use the same advice here that I use when talking about kids and alcohol - try to get as far as you can without anything at all." If your child is on a social media platform, Dr. Wick says that you should friend them and monitor their page. But she advises against going through text messages unless there is cause for concern. "If you have a reason to be worried then okay, but it better be a good reason. I see parents who are just plain old spying on their kids. Parents should begin by trusting their children. To not even give your kid the benefit of the doubt is incredibly damaging to the relationship. You have to feel like your parents think you're a good kid."

Offline, the gold standard advice for helping kids build healthy self-esteem is to get them involved in something that they're interested in. It could be sports or music or taking apart computers or volunteering - anything that sparks an interest and gives them confidence. When kids learn to feel good about what they can do instead of how they look and what they own, they're happier and better prepared for success in real life. That most of these activities also involve spending time interacting with peers face-to-face is just the icing on the cake.

Frequently Asked Questions

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How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers - Child Mind Institute

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How does social media affect teens? Experts say kids are growing up with more anxiety and less self-esteem due to social media. Read advice for parents from specialists in our article.

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The Negative Effects of Social Media for Teens | SmartSocial.com

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Learn how social media can negatively impact our ability to sleep, trigger anxiety, increase body image issues, and what parents and educators can do to help.

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Social media use may expose teens to peer pressure, cyberbullying, and increased mental health risk.

But, social media can also connect isolated teens and help them find supportive networks.

Parents can set limitations and communicate openly with teens about healthy social media use.

Teenagers and tweens are spending more time than ever on screens and social media.

Social media use and screen time in general has risen sharply among teens and tweens, with teens saying they spend almost an hour and a half a day on social media, according to 2021 survey results from Common Sense Media.

At the same time, mental health issues like depression have increased among teenagers since the beginning of the 2010s.

Could there be a connection?

While research has found that social media can negatively impact teenagers, there are many positive effects, as well.

Here's what experts say about how social media is affecting teens.

The negative effects of social media

Teenagers' brains are still developing, making them especially vulnerable to the detrimental aspects of social media. Here are four ways that social media might affect teens negatively:

1. Mental health

Studies have suggested that some teenagers are losing sleep due to social media use at night, and some are more distracted from it during the school day. Lack of sleep can contribute to poor school performance and even increase the risk of developing mental health issues.

"While we can't say anything yet about direct causation, we are seeing strong negative correlations in a few areas," says Neha Chaudhary, MD, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Chaudhary says social media may be tied to depression, lowered self-esteem, and loneliness.

In fact, a large 2019 study found that young people who spend more than three hours on social media may have a higher risk of internalizing mental health disorders, such as depression or anxiety.

A large 2022 study shed light on which ages are most susceptible to the harms associated with social media. Here's what they found:

Young women seemed most sensitive to social media between ages 11 and 13, when an increase in social media use was followed by a decrease in life satisfaction a year later.

Males were more likely to have this experience around 14 or 15.

Both genders had an increase in sensitivity to social media around age 19.

Decreases in life satisfaction were followed by increases in social media use, pointing to it as a possible coping mechanism.

But research is mixed over whether social media use is directly related to an increased risk of mental health issues. For example, one 2021 study focusing on 8th and 10th grade students found that social media was not a cause of depressive symptoms in teens, except in girls who already had a low risk of depression.

2. Body image

Research has found a correlation between social media and having a negative body image. Social media can harbor an environment where it's easy for teens to compare themselves to the often edited and perfected photos of peers, celebrities, or influencers.

Linda Charmaraman, a senior research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women and director of the Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab, found that 21% of teens "felt down" about themselves after looking at social media.

More than half of those teens reported that the feeling was related to their bodies.

Charmaraman says groups who were particularly vulnerable to this were women, those with large online peer networks, those who checked their social media frequently, and those who followed celebrities.

Those feelings don't end after the teenage years. In a small 2019 study of undergraduate college women, participants who looked at or engaged with an attractive female peer on social media were more likely to experience an increase in negative feelings around their body image than subjects who engaged with a family member's social media.

3. Peer pressure

Peer pressure for teenagers is nothing new. However, social media worsens this pressure because teens are exposed to and getting feedback from many more people than they would encounter in daily life.

Teens can be especially influenced by "likes" on social media sites like Instagram or Facebook.

In a small 2016 study of teenage participants, researchers created a social media feed similar to Instagram and measured the teens' brain responses. Here's what they found:

Teens were more likely to "like" photos that already had a large number of likes.

Teens' brain activity - specifically areas associated with reward processing and attention - was greater when viewing photos with more "likes."

This was true whether the photo depicted risky behavior (such as a peer holding a cannabis cigarette) or not.

These results indicate that teens learn from the social cues of their peers online and take note when they are rewarded with "likes" and attention.

4. Cyberbullying

Chaudhary says that social media opens the door for teens to compare themselves to their peers and deprioritize communicating in-person. "What's more is, from a mental health perspective, social media has introduced new risks: teens can now harm or be harmed by others online."

According to Chaudhary, teens on social media are more apt to say something negative or mean.

According to a 2018 Pew Research survey. 59% of teens in the United States have experienced cyberbullying. A 2019 study of college students found that experiencing cyberbullying may be tied to increased anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation.

Social media use can still be positive

However, according to the Pew survey, 31% of teens say that social media use has a "mostly positive" impact on their lives, while only 24% say "mostly negative." The other 45% said that social media's effect was neither positive nor negative.

"Social media usage can certainly have positive effects, such as a sense of social connectivity and belonging, personal contentment and self-esteem, emotional expression and control, and identity development," Charmaraman says.

In fact, more than half of teens in Charmaraman's study reported giving and receiving emotional support online.

This can be especially important for teens who have an illness, are navigating their LGBTQ+ identity, or dealing with other experiences that might be isolating.

How parents can help teenagers navigate social media

Setting limitations can help your teen learn to use social media positively without suffering from the negative associations.

"Just like you wouldn't give your child the keys to a car for the first time and let them drive away without any practice, you'll need to be there to teach them how to use social media in a healthy way," Charmaraman says. "Together, you can set rules and shared expectations that promote your teen's autonomy while safeguarding them from risks."

Research has found that parental monitoring is tied to less problematic behaviors, like social media addiction or bullying others online.

Here are a few ways that parents can help their kids foster a healthy relationship with social media:

Restrict access to social media, for example, by setting curfews or time limits on social teens' media usage. A small 2018 study of college students found that limiting social media use to 30 minutes per day can boost well-being.

Monitor social media behavior, by following teens' social media accounts or asking for access.

Communicate openly about expectations around social media. For example, discuss the impact of cyberbullying, and encourage teens to never say something online that they wouldn't say in person.

Encourage breaks, even for a short period. A 2022 study found that taking a one week break from social media was enough to improve well-being and reduce depression and anxiety.

If parents are concerned about their teens' social media use, they should talk with them about how social media is making them feel, Chaudhary says. In addition, it's important that parents model these best practices in their own social media use.

Insider's takeaway

As teens' social media use continues to increase, so do rates of mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

Research has shown that social media can interfere with sleep and that more time spent on social media sites is associated with an increased risk of some mental health disorders. Social media can also serve as a vehicle for peer pressure and cyberbullying.

However, social media isn't all bad. It allows teens a space to form their own identity and find support from online communities.

Parents can help their teens foster a healthy relationship with social media by communicating openly about the harms and benefits. They can also set time limits and encourage breaks to keep teens from spending an unhealthy amount of time online.

If you're very concerned about your teen's social media use, seek guidance from a mental health professional.

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How does social media affect teenagers? Understanding the mental health impact - and why it's not all bad

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Social media use may expose teens to peer pressure, cyberbullying, and increased mental health risk. But, social media can also connect isolated teens and help them find supportive networks. Parents can set limitations and communicate openly with teens about healthy social media use. Teenagers and tweens are spending more time than ever on screens and social media.

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If you were born after 1995 then you won't remember life before the Internet. Being connected through smartphones and social media is now just a part of growing up for many children and adolescents. Most of them have positive experiences online, but there are risks involved, including whether the excessive use of social media can ultimately harm their mental health. Research in this area is still in its early stages, but the significance of social media in the lives of many young people is clear.
Designed for excessive use
It is no secret that social media platforms were deliberately designed to hold users' attention as long as possible, tapping into psychological biases and vulnerabilities relating to our desire for validation and fear of rejection. Too much passive use of social media - just browsing posts - can be unhealthy and has been linked to feelings of envy, inadequa cy and less satisfaction with life. Studies have even suggested that it can lead to ADHD symptoms, depression, anxiety and sleep deprivation.

More evidence is necessary before we can consider these findings conclusive. However, with depression on the rise worldwide and half of all mental illnesses starting at age 14 though, the potential issues warrant further exploration.

Many governments, sociologists and psychologists have also expressed concerns that children today are spending too much time interacting with their phones and missing out on other important social experiences.
Exacerbating loneliness
The feelings triggered by a 'like' can temporarily relieve feelings of loneliness, but they cannot replace socializing altogether. When adolescents who feel lonely offline use social media to compensate for less developed social skills, they may end up feeling even more lonely in the long run.

The meaningful relationships we build face to face, through both verbal and non-verbal cues, are a deep and lasting source of personal satisfaction and happiness. An emoji or an 'LOL' can elicit superficial feelings of connection, but face-to-face communication builds more meaningful bonds through body language, touch and facial expressions, along with the interpretation of feelings through tone and nuance - all things that are often lost in the in the digital world.

Adolescents often speak online to people they have existing relationships with offline. In moderation, using social media in this way allows teens to keep in touch with friends, classmates and relatives and can potentially improve their offline relationships. But it can become problematic if talking online comes to dominate all social interaction, or in the case of excessive passive browsing, when teens are consuming more information than they are engaging with.

Rather than promoting meaningful communication, the 'like' feature can be a substitute for exchanging comments. It can also feel like a public ranking system that makes some teens feel judged and excluded, something many adolescents are already highly sensitive about. Seventeen-year-old Ashley from Singapore echoes this sentiment in this blog post, "how can we prevent ourselves and our peers from spiralling deeper down this rabbit hole of self-doubt and yearning?"
Cyberbullying
Insecurities are easily exacerbated by peers on social media. Bullies can disseminate violent, hurtful and humiliating words and images with the tap of a key.

Though the violence may be perpetrated digitally, the repercussions are tangible. Research shows that victims of cyberbullying are more likely to use alcohol and drugs and skip school than other students. They also are more likely to receive poor grades and experience low self esteem and health problems. In extreme situations, cyberbullying has led to suicide.

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Is social media bad for teens' mental health?

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There are risks, but they can be avoided

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In some cases, social media may enhance well-being (Credit: Getty Images)

What the science suggests so far about the impact of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram on your mental well-being.

#LikeMinded

A special series about social media and well-being

This month, BBC Future is exploring social media's impact on mental health and well-being - and seeking solutions for a happier, healthier experience on these platforms. Stay tuned for more stories, coming soon...

Share your tips for a happy life on social media with the hashtag #LikeMinded on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

This story is featured in BBC Future's "Best of 2018" collection. Discover more of our picks.

Three billion people, around 40% of the world's population, use online social media - and we're spending an average of two hours every day sharing, liking, tweeting and updating on these platforms, according to some reports. That breaks down to around half a million tweets and Snapchat photos shared every minute.

With social media playing such a big part in our lives, could we be sacrificing our mental health and well-being as well as our time? What does the evidence actually suggest?

Since social media is relatively new to us, conclusive findings are limited. The research that does exist mainly relies on self-reporting, which can often be flawed, and the majority of studies focus on Facebook. That said, this is a fast-growing area of research, and clues are beginning to emerge. BBC Future reviewed the findings of some of the science so far:

People use social media to vent about everything from customer service to politics, but the downside to this is that our feeds often resemble an endless stream of stress. In 2015, researchers at the Pew Research Center based in Washington DC sought to find out if social media induces more stress than it relieves.

In the survey of 1,800 people, women reported being more stressed than men. Twitter was found to be a "significant contributor" because it increased their awareness of other people's stress.

But Twitter also acted as a coping mechanism - and the more women used it, the less stressed they were. The same effect wasn't found for men, whom the researchers said had a more distant relationship with social media. Overall, the researchers concluded that social media use was linked to "modestly lower levels" of stress.

The presence of a phone affects the quality of conversation, some studies suggest (Credit: Getty Images)

In 2014, researchers in Austria found that participants reported lower moods after using Facebook for 20 minutes compared to those who just browsed the internet. The study suggested that people felt that way because they saw it as a waste of time.

A good or bad mood may also spread between people on social media, according to researchers from the University of California, who assessed the emotional content of over a billion status updates from more than 100 million Facebook users between 2009 and 2012.

Bad weather increased the number of negative posts by 1%, and the researchers found that one negative post by someone in a rainy city influenced another 1.3 negative posts by friends living in dry cities. The better news is that happy posts had a stronger influence; each one inspired 1.75 more happy posts. Whether a happy post translates to a genuine boost in mood, however, remains unclear.

Researchers have looked at general anxiety provoked by social media, characterised by feelings of restlessness and worry, and trouble sleeping and concentrating. A study published in the journal Computers and Human Behaviour found that people who report using seven or more social media platforms were more than three times as likely as people using 0-2 platforms to have high levels of general anxiety symptoms.

That said, it's unclear if and how social media causes anxiety. Researchers from Babes-Bolyai University in Romania reviewed existing research on the relationship between social anxiety and social networking in 2016, and said the results were mixed. They concluded that more research needs to be done.

Social media mimics many of the rewards of games and play, which can pose an attractive lure (Credit: Getty Images)

While some studies have found a link between depression and social media use, there is emerging research into how social media can actually be a force for good.

Two studies involving more than 700 students found that depressive symptoms, such as low mood and feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, were linked to the quality of online interactions. Researchers found higher levels of depressive symptoms among those who reported having more negative interactions.

A similar study conducted in 2016 involving 1,700 people found a threefold risk of depression and anxiety among people who used the most social media platforms. Reasons for this, they suggested, include cyber-bullying, having a distorted view of other people's lives, and feeling like time spent on social media is a waste.

However, as BBC Future will explore this month in our #LikeMinded season, scientists are also looking at how social media can be used to diagnose depression, which could help people receive treatment earlier. Researchers for Microsoft surveyed 476 people and analysed their Twitter profiles for depressive language, linguistic style, engagement and emotion. From this, they developed a classifier that can accurately predict depression before it causes symptoms in seven out of 10 cases.

Researchers from Harvard and Vermont Universities analysed 166 people's Instagram photos to create a similar tool last year with the same success rate.

Humans used to spend their evenings in darkness, but now we're surrounded by artificial lighting all day and night. Research has found that this can inhibit the body's production of the hormone melatonin, which facilitates sleep - and blue light, which is emitted by smartphone and laptop screens, is said to be the worst culprit. In other words, if you lie on the pillow at night checking Facebook and Twitter, you're headed for restless slumber.

Last year, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh asked 1,700 18- to 30-year-olds about their social media and sleeping habits. They found a link with sleep disturbances - and concluded blue light had a part to play. How often they logged on, rather than time spent on social media sites, was a higher predictor of disturbed sleep, suggesting "an obsessive 'checking'", the researchers said.

The researchers say this could be caused by physiological arousal before sleep, and the bright lights of our devices can delay circadian rhythms. But they couldn't clarify whether social media causes disturbed sleep, or if those who have disturbed sleep spend more time on social media.

One of the worst times to use social media may be just before bed (Credit: Getty Images)

Despite the argument from a few researchers that tweeting may be harder to resist than cigarettes and alcohol, social media addiction isn't included in the latest diagnostic manual for mental health disorders.

That said, social media is changing faster than scientists can keep up with, so various groups are trying to study compulsive behaviours related to its use - for example, scientists from the Netherlands have invented their own scale to identify possible addiction.

And if social media addiction does exist, it would be a type of internet addiction - and that is a classified disorder. In 2011, Daria Kuss and Mark Griffiths from Nottingham Trent University in the UK have analysed 43 previous studies on the matter, and conclude that social media addiction is a mental health problem that "may" require professional treatment. They found that excessive usage was linked to relationship problems, worse academic achievement and less participation in offline communities, and found that those who could be more vulnerable to a social media addiction include those dependent on alcohol, the highly extroverted, and those who use social media to compensate for fewer ties in real life.

Women's magazines and their use of underweight and Photoshopped models have been long maligned for stirring self-esteem issues among young women. But now, social media, with its filters and lighting and clever angles, is taking over as a primary concern among some campaigning groups and charities.

Social media sites make more than half of users feel inadequate, according to a survey of 1,500 people by disability charity Scope, and half of 18- to 34-year-olds say it makes them feel unattractive.

A 2016 study by researchers at Penn State University suggested that viewing other people's selfies lowered self-esteem, because users compare themselves to photos of people looking their happiest. Research from the University of Strathclyde, Ohio University and University of Iowa also found that women compare themselves negatively to selfies of other women.

Selfies may have downsides for the viewer (Credit: Getty Images)

But it's not just selfies that have the potential to dent self-esteem. A study of 1,000 Swedish Facebook users found that women who spent more time on Facebook reported feeling less happy and confident. The researchers concluded: "When Facebook users compare their own lives with others' seemingly more successful careers and happy relationships, they may feel that their own lives are less successful in comparison."

But one small study hinted that viewing your own profile, not others, might offer ego boosts. Researchers at Cornell University in New York put 63 students into different groups. Some sat with a mirror placed against a computer screen, for instance, while others sat in front of their own Facebook profile.

Facebook had a positive effect on self-esteem compared to other activities that boost self-awareness. Mirrors and photos, the researchers explained, make us compare ourselves to social standards, whereas looking at our own Facebook profiles might boost self-esteem because it is easier to control how we're presented to the world.

In a study from 2013, researchers texted 79 participants five times a day for 14 days, asking them how they felt and how much they'd used Facebook since the last text. The more time people spent on the site, the worse they felt later on, and the more their life satisfaction declined over time.

But other research has found, that for some people, social media can help boost their well-being. Marketing researchers Jonah Berger and Eva Buechel found that people who are emotionally unstable are more likely to post about their emotions, which can help them receive support and bounce back after negative experiences.

Overall, social media's effects on well-being are ambiguous, according to a paper written last year by researchers from the Netherlands. However, they suggested there is clearer evidence for the impact on one group of people: social media has a more negative effect on the well-being of those who are more socially isolated.

In some cases, social media may enhance well-being (Credit: Getty Images)

If you've ever been talking to a friend who's pulled their phone out to scroll through Instagram, you might have wondered what social media is doing to relationships.

Even the mere presence of a phone can interfere with our interactions, particularly when we're talking about something meaningful, according to one small study. Researchers writing in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships tasked 34 pairs of strangers with having a 10-minute conversation about an interesting event that had happened to them recently. Each pair sat in private booths, and half had a mobile phone on the top of their table.

Those with a phone in eyeshot were less positive when recalling their interaction afterwards, had less meaningful conversations and reported feeling less close to their partner than the others, who had a notebook on top of the table instead.

Romantic relationships aren't immune, either. Researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada surveyed 300 people aged 17-24 in 2009 about any jealousy they felt when on Facebook, asking questions such as, 'How likely are you to become jealous after your partner has added an unknown member of the opposite sex?'.

Women spent much more time on Facebook then men, and experienced significantly more jealousy when doing so. The researchers concluded they "felt the Facebook environment created these feelings and enhanced concerns about the quality of their relationship".

In one survey of 1,800 people, women reported being more stressed by social media than men (Credit: Getty Images)

In a study involving 600 adults, roughly a third said social media made them feel negative emotions - mainly frustration - and envy was the main cause. This was triggered by comparing their lives to others', and the biggest culprit was other people's travel photos. Feeling envious caused an "envy spiral", where people react to envy by adding to their profiles more of the same sort of content that made them jealous in the first place.

However, envy isn't necessarily a destructive emotion - it can often make us work harder, according to researchers from Michigan University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. They asked 380 students to look at "envy-eliciting" photos and texts from Facebook and Twitter, including posts about buying expensive goods, travelling and getting engaged. But the type of envy the researchers found is "benign envy", which they say is more likely to make a person work harder.

A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine last year surveyed 7,000 19- to 32-year-olds and found that those who spend the most time on social media were twice as likely to report experiencing social isolation, which can include a lack of a sense of social belonging, engagement with others and fulfilling relationships.

Spending more time on social media, the researchers said, could displace face-to-face interaction, and can also make people feel excluded.

"Exposure to such highly idealised representations of peers' lives may elicit feelings of envy and the distorted belief that others lead happier and more successful lives, which may increase perceived social isolation."

It's clear that in many areas, not enough is known yet to draw many strong conclusions. However, the evidence does point one way: social media affects people differently, depending on pre-existing conditions and personality traits.

As with food, gambling and many other temptations of the modern age, excessive use for some individuals is probably inadvisable. But at the same time, it would be wrong to say social media is a universally bad thing, because clearly it brings myriad benefits to our lives.

We'll be exploring this tension more over the next month, in a series of articles and videos in our special series #LikeMinded - and hopefully providing solutions that could help us all live a happier, healthier digital life.

If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called "If You Only Read 6 Things This Week". A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Capital, and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.

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Teens and social media use: What's the impact?

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Social media psychology is an emerging field which you may decide to pursue a career in. Social media is a near-constant presence in the lives of many teenagers in the United States. According to a Pew Research Center report, 95 percent of teens have a smartphone, 45 percent report being online "almost constantly" and only three percent of teens surveyed report not using any social media platforms at all. This raises an important question: Does social media impact the mental, behavioral and social health of teenagers?

Social Media Can Have Positive Benefits on Mental and Social Health

It is helpful to go directly to adolescents when evaluating the effect of social media on teens. The Pew Research report concludes that nearly half of all teens beliefs that social media has no positive or negative impact on their health. About three in 10 teens reported that social media has affected their social health in a positive way because it:

Allows self-expression

Facilitates connections with friends and family

Enables them to "meet" new people with the same interests

Makes it easier to find news and other information

Allows them to seek support from others

Social media can allow people to feel like they fit in with a group of people. It can also decrease isolation and loneliness, while increasing the ability to connect with others over shared interests in views. When looking at the potential benefits of social media, it is necessary to draw a line between teens who are actively engaged online and those who are passively browsing.

A study from the University of Missouri found that users who actively post and comment to stay connected with friends and family are likely to find social media beneficial for social health. However, those who use social media for "surveillance" to passively keep up with others rather than posting or commenting are more likely to develop envy of others and increase their risk of depression.

Social Media Can Have Negative Effects on Mental and Social Health

Social media envy is a widespread phenomenon. Users on social media platforms do not see a complete depiction of the lives of other users. A typical social media user will upload posts about fun vacations, accomplishments and other positive parts of their life. However, they tend not to post about negative things going on in their life. When a teenager passively looks at these apparently perfect lives, it can inspire feelings of depression and self-hatred because their life seems less perfect.

A study in Clinical Psychological Science looked at the social media and electronic device usage among teenagers and compared it to the rate of teen suicide between 2010 and 2015. The researchers discovered that 48 percent of teenagers who spend at least five hours per day on electronic devices have at least one risk factor of suicide. Only 33 percent of teens who spend two hours per day online had at least one risk factor.

However, it is important to note that the data are inconclusive. There is a correlation between social media use and depression or suicide, but this does not mean that social media use is the cause. It is possible that teens who are prone to depression and suicidal ideation are more likely to go on social media for many hours per day.

Social Media Has the Potential to Lead to Addiction

Another major issue in social media psychology is the potential for social media addiction. While social media addiction has not been recognized as an official mental health disorder by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, excessive social media and internet usage can share similar characteristics of impulse control disorders and gambling addiction. Some of the most common manifestations of addictive behavior among social media users includes:

Preoccupation with social media, even when not currently using it

Attempts to cut back on usage, but failure to do so

Using social media to cope with negative problems or regulate mood

Sleep loss, moodiness and irritability

Therapists who study social media psychology can help teenagers struggling with social media usage by encouraging them to minimize their time spent online. Replacing time spent online with real-world activities can help teenagers improve in their ability to build healthy relationships and enjoy healthy interactions with people in offline settings.
If you feel called to help children, teens or adults work through obstacles to their mental and social health, consider beginning your journey at Grand Canyon University. The Bachelor of Science in Psychology program follows an intensive curriculum that covers topics such as health psychology, child and adolescent psychology and psychological research methods. To learn more about Psychology and Counseling programs offered by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, visit our website or click on the Request More Information button on this page.
Sources:

Anderson, M., & Jiang, J. (2018, May 31). Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/

News Bureau, University of Missouri. (2015, February 3). If Facebook Use Causes Envy, Depression Could Follow. Retrieved from https://munewsarchives.missouri.edu/news-releases/2015/0203-if-facebook-use-causes-envy-depression-could-follow/

Twenge, J. M., Joiner, T. E., Rogers, M. L., & Martin, G. N. (2017). Increases in Depressive Symptoms, Suicide-Related Outcomes, and Suicide Rates Among U.S. Adolescents After 2010 and Links to Increased New Media Screen Time. Clinical Psychological Science, 6(1), 3-17. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2167702617723376

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Social media psychology is an emerging field which you may decide to pursue a career in. Social media is a near-constant presence in the lives of many teenagers in the United States.

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Multitasking has become a common theme in our lives. It's a wonder how we manage it all.

We depend on our smartphones for work, school, our personal and social lives. When was the last time you left home without your phone and kept on going? The internet has become a significant part of our daily lives. So too has social media.

And it is having an impact on today's teens.

Social media usage

Back in 2005, when social media was still in its infancy, only about 5 percent of users in the United States were involved in social media. In 2019, that number grew to about 70 percent.

Pew Research Center surveyed social media usage and popularity among US adults early in 2019. The survey found that while the most-used social platforms for adults are YouTube and Facebook; teens prefer SnapChat and Instagram, while TikTok is reportedly the fastest growing social network among younger users.

Social media use is nearly universal among today's teens. Pew Research Center reports 97 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds use at least one of seven major online platforms.

The amount of time spent on social sites is astounding. One report indicates the average teen ages 13 to 18 spends about nine hours on social media each day; tweens ages 8 to 12 are on for about six hours a day.

Like most things, using social media has its positives (the good), its cautionary tales (the bad), and dangers (the ugly) that lurk and impact the lives of many, but especially teens.

Pros: Why is social media good?

Social media and technology offer us greater convenience and connectivity:

staying connected with family and friends worldwide via email, text, FaceTime, etc.

quick access to information and research

banking and bill pay at our fingertips

online learning, job skills, content discovery (YouTube)

involvement in civic engagement (fundraising, social awareness, provides a voice)

great marketing tools

opportunities for remote employment

Social media can be a good thing, but if teens ever feel uncomfortable about something they see or read on social, they should trust their own feelings and talk to someone - a parent, a teacher, or another trusted adult. Bullying, threats and cruelty on social media are all signs that the person doing those things needs help.

Cons: Why is social media bad?

Along with the good comes the bad. With all of its benefits, the nature of social media presents a range of potential issues.

Online vs Reality. Social media itself is not the problem. It is the way people use it in place of actual communication and in-person socializing. "Friends" on social media may not actually be friends, and may even be strangers.

Increased usage. The more time spent on social media can lead to cyberbullying, social anxiety, depression, and exposure to content that is not age appropriate.

Social Media is addicting. When you're playing a game or accomplishing a task, you seek to do it as well as you can. Once you succeed, your brain will give you a dose of dopamine and other happiness hormones, making you happy. The same mechanism functions when you post a picture to Instagram or Facebook. Once you see all the notifications for likes and positive comments popping up on your screen, you'll subconsciously register it as a reward. But that's not all, social media is full of mood-modifying experiences.

Fear of Missing Out. FOMO has become a common theme, and often leads to continual checking of social media sites. The idea that you might miss out on something if you're not online can affect your mental health.

Self-image issues. Social media sites provide tools that allow people to earn others' approval for their appearance and the possibility to compare themselves to others. It can be associated with body image concerns. The "selfieholics" and people who spend most of their time posting and scrolling are the ones most vulnerable to this. In fact, most college girls who use Facebook at least five times a day are likely to link their self-worth to their looks. That doesn't mean that the main problem is social media; it only provides a medium for it, which further elevates the problem. It also promotes the same sort of behavior to others.

Social media and bullying

Sadly, there is an ugly side to all that technology offers. While bullying is not a new concept, social media and technology have brought bullying to a new level. It becomes a more constant, ever-present threat -- cyberbullying. The State of Rhode Island anti-bullying laws & regulations define bullying and cyberbullying as follows:

"Bullying" means the use by one or more students of a written, verbal or electronic expression or a physical act or gesture or any combination thereof directed at a student that:

causes physical or emotional harm to the student or damage to the student's property

places the student in reasonable fear of harm to himself/herself or of damage to his/her property

creates an intimidating, threatening, hostile, or abusive educational environment for the student

infringes on the rights of the student to participate in school activities

materially and substantially disrupts the education process or the orderly operation of a school

"Cyberbullying" means bullying through the use of technology or any electronic communication, which shall include, but not be limited to, any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, texting or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photo electronic or photo optical system, including, but not limited to, electronic mail, Internet communications, instant messages or facsimile communications.

Bullying statistics

Every 7 minutes a child is bullied. Unfortunately, intervention is rare, with an adult intervening in only four percent of cases, and a peer in 11 percent. An astonishing 85 percent of all cases of bullying are not addressed.

The following are just some statistics on how common bullying and cyberbullying have become: According to StopBullying.org:

One out of four (25 percent) teens are bullied, while up to 43 percent have been bullied while online.

Nine out of ten LGBTQ students experienced harassment at school and online. Biracial and multiracial youth are more likely to be victimized than youth who identify with a single race. Kids who are obese, gay, or have disabilities are more likely to be bullied than other children.

58 percent have not told their parents or an adult about something mean or hurtful that happened to them online.

5.4 million children stay home on any given day because they fear being bullied.

Social media and suicide

Sadly, the cons of social media can take a toll on young minds. Suicide remains among the leading causes of death of children under age 14. In most cases, young people die from hanging.

Suicide rates among 10- to 14-year-olds have grown more than 50 percent over the last three decades, according to the American Association of Suicidology.

Suicide rates among children between the ages of 10 and 14 are very low, but are creeping up, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

What can parents do?

As parents, there are things we can do to improve our children's lives online and in real life.

Attempt to model the behavior we want to see.

Set boundaries right way when you give your child their first phone. Set parental controls on his or her phone, with access to their passwords. Phones should be charged somewhere other than their room at night, and should be shut off an hour or two before bed.

Have conversations with your children on why some things should be kept private.

Take time to actively engage with your kids face-to-face. This interaction teaches them how to follow social cues, verbal and non-verbal.

Talk to your kids without glancing at your phone.

Find opportunities to have genuine conversations that are not lectures.

Be aware of privacy concerns and cybersecurity issues.

Technology has changed the way we live, work, and socialize. But it can't replace parenting.

For more tips on parenting, visit the Growing section of our Lifespan Living health and wellness blog.

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Consider learning about the pros and cons of social media before logging in to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. from our experts here.