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FEAR OF MISSING OUT - AN ESSENTIAL CORRELATE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE ADDI...: EBSCOhost

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Millennials and Anxiety: An Exploration into Social Networking Sites as a P...: EBSCOhost

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Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA

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Anxiety Disorders and Depression Research & Treatment | Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA

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ADAA is an international nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the prevention, treatment, and cure of anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, and co-occurring disorders through education, practice, and research.

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Digital Life and Youth Well-being, Social Connectedness, Empathy, and Narcissism

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Youth well-being, social connectedness, and personality traits, such as empathy and narcissism, are at the crux of concerns often raised about the impacts of digital life. Understanding known impacts, and research gaps, in these areas is an important first step toward supporting media use that contributes positively to youth's happiness, life satisfaction, and prosocial attitudes and behaviors.

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It's Time to Confront Student Mental Health Issues Associated with Smartpho...: EBSCOhost

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Social Media Use and Mental Health among Young Adults - Psychiatric Quarterly

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In recent years many parents, advocates and policy makers have expressed concerns regarding the potential negative impact of social media use. Some studies have indicated that social media use may be tied to negative mental health outcomes, including suicidality, loneliness and decreased empathy.

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Social Media Use and Mental Health among Young Adults - Psychiatric Quarterly

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In recent years many parents, advocates and policy makers have expressed concerns regarding the potential negative impact of social media use. Some studies have indicated that social media use may be tied to negative mental health outcomes, including suicidality, loneliness and decreased empathy.

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The Isolated Children's Parents' Association has not been included on the Premier's cyber-bullying taskforce, a decision that has been described as short-sighted and making no sense.

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The Isolated Children's Parents' Association has not been included on the Premier's cyber-bullying taskforce, a decision that has...

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Social media and its impact on anxiety

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Revenue is now a primary metric for social media marketing campaigns. It is the responsibility of performance marketers to measure ad performance and tweak campaigns accordingly. We've listed the key social media ad targeting and measurement tools that performance marketers can use.

Social is the buzzword for customers, and in turn, for brand marketers to make their presence felt. Social media marketing (SMM) is no longer just about establishing presence; instead, it takes a sizeable chunk of an organization's marketing budget to reach out to their audience. When you invest your best resources in SMM, it's natural to expect a high ROI. But how do you manage and measure your SMM campaigns?

The answer is Performance Marketing, which is gaining traction in the world of marketing. Simply put, marketers get to extract the maximum ROI out of their affiliates, while affiliates get paid in proportion to their performance - the better they perform, the better they get paid. As revenue becomes the primary metric, the onus is on performance marketers to do the math and plan and tweak campaigns according to performance. The good news is - performance marketers have an array of analytics tools at their disposal that comes in handy for targeted ads and performance measurement.
Also Read: 5 Performance Marketing Basics in an Omni-Channel World
Ad Targeting Tools

AdEspresso supports Facebook, Instagram and Google AdWords campaigns. You can manage, collaborate and analyze all your campaigns at one place. You can set up tests, test multiple ad variations, and optimize ads that increase ROI. AdEspresso also generates Web, PDF, and Excel reports at a customizable level of granularity.

Reveal is an advanced automation tool that can optimize ad management and boost your return on ad spend. You can set up conditions, build rules to automate your Facebook or Instagram campaign, track how rules are triggered using the log interface, and choose your preferred metrics and get customized reports.

Ad Stage is a one-stop tool to create and measure ads for various social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. You need to consolidate your ad network data and conversion information into AdStage, and it will measure, analyze, and report your paid campaign performance to you.

FB Ads Manager/App is a powerful and popular tool to create and edit ads, track ad performance, tweak ad budgets and schedules. It provides all the essential functionality to create targeted ads, see ad performance and keep an eye on billings and payments.

Also Read: How to Master Social Media Marketing Metrics - Easy Lessons for 2018
Analytics Platforms

Owlmetrics is an analytics tool for your brand's Instagram presence. It offers rich insights into follower engagement, content performance, gender and geo-distribution, and traffic to your website.

Sprout Social integrates most social media networks, making it easier to track and compare performance across platforms. You can monitor keyword, hashtag and location searches pertaining to your brand in real time, access analytics, plan and schedule your content, provide support, create a 360-degree view of customers and much more, all at one place.

Funnel.io brings together marketing and advertising data from various data sources, which makes it easier to compare the performance of ads across social channels. Funnel.io will connect you to any data source, clean and segment that data, and feed information from multiple data sources to simplify social media ad performance analytics.

Snaplytics is a publishing and analytics platform for Snapchat and Instagram. This tool analyzes your efforts to give you insights on how to optimize them. You can also plan and schedule your posts, monitor what your competitors are posting, measure your influencer networks and quantify your brand mentions and stories' popularity.

Iconosquare helps you measure your reach across Instagram and Facebook. You can track and analyze your posts' performance - history, completion rate, reach, impressions, etc. You can also analyze audience engagement, compare with your competitors' performance, and perform influencer analytics.

Tailwind: If Pinterest is where your target audience is Tailwind is for you. You can track followers' engagement, track audience, amplify reach, schedule posts and analyze the performance of your pins.

TapInfluence: If influencer marketing is your strategy, TapInfluence will discover influencers best suited for your brand and help you measure and compare influencer performance.

HootSuite Impact helps enterprise organizations gauge the revenue and marketing results generated by social media. You can measure conversions by channel and separate organic and paid ROI, do competitor benchmarking, and glean real-time insights into audience engagement. \

Google Analytics: Google Analytics, although not a social media analytics tool, does provide social media tracking, monitors and analyzes traffic from social, tracks social campaigns and measures ROI.

Also Read: What Is Social Media Advertising? Definition, Costs, Best Practices, Benefits, and Examples

When it comes to ad targeting, there's a wealth of tools that can help you measure and track your ad and campaign performance. A performance marketer can measure every click, every impression, and whether you are small. medium or a big business, you will final the right tools to create, test and set up ads, measure their performance and adapt according to their performance on your social media pages.
Also Read: 5 Critical Skills for a Performance Marketing Manager

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Vandita Grover Contributor, Ziff Davis B2B

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Social Media Ad Targeting and Measurement Tools for Performance Marketers

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Revenue is now a primary metric for social media marketing campaigns. It is the responsibility of performance marketers to measure ad performance and tweak campaigns accordingly. We've listed the key social media ad targeting and measurement tools that performance marketers can use.

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Video games will always manipulate us. Each challenge and scenario in a game has been carefully engineered to make us react a certain way. Most of the time, that's what we sign up for. But the moment real money enters the equation, something changes.

In-game purchases, also known as microtransactions, have been at the heart of several colossal fan freakouts over the past few months. Last Friday, Destiny 2 developer Bungie changed the game's experience points system after players discovered it was invisibly throttling their progress, which among other things slowed the pace at which they could earn loot boxes they'd otherwise have to pay for. A week before that, Star Wars Battlefront II ignited a furious online backlash after pre-release coverage revealed that the game's purchasable loot boxes contained power-ups that made you more effective on the battlefield. A month earlier, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War courted similar controversy with a convoluted loot box scheme that gave players gear and soldiers for their Orc army. September's NBA 2K18 was so riddled with microtransactions that it significantly detracted from the experience of playing it. Less controversial fall games like Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Origins still gave players an option to pay extra money for better in-game gear.

The debate about in-game purchases predates any of those games. Way back in 2009, my boss, Stephen Totilo, of a microtransaction-laden Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles spin-off: "Is there a dirty trick being played here on gamers? Who knows. There is the possibility. That stinks enough." Today we're still asking that question, even if the particulars have changed.

Viewed up close, the differences between the microtransactions in each of the fall games I mentioned above are manifold and relevant. Randomized loot boxes are inherently more exploitative than direct purchases. "Pay-to-win" systems that give tangible gameplay advantages are more of an obvious problem than systems that revolve around cosmetic items. Microtransactions in full-priced games leave a more bitter taste than in free-to-play games. Zoom out a bit, however, and those differences matter less. Whatever form in-game purchases take, their mere existence damages the trust between people who play games and people who make them. Like Stephen wrote in 2009, the possibility of dirty tricks stinks enough that the tricks themselves are almost beside the point.

Every game with a microtransaction system is a player revolt waiting to happen. That's more true of full-priced games than free-to-play ones, but making a game free doesn't necessarily make players feel any less taken advantage of. To see that in action, look no further than Destiny 2, whose Eververse microtransaction hub was generally seen as innocuous until last week's XP revelations. Seemingly overnight, the grumbles of few players about the Eververse amplified into .

The reason is simple: whenever some aspect of the game is locked behind a real-money paywall, every decision the developers make will be suspect. All games are designed to make us feel one way or another, and most operate according to calculations and algorithms that are hidden from the player's eye. But when real money is involved, those hidden systems take on a more sinister quality. In the wake of the Destiny 2 blow-up, I've seen a common refrain from its players: What else aren't they telling us?

Every game with a microtransaction system is a player revolt waiting to happen.

Microtransactions have become so prevalent in mainstream video games that it's easy to forget what unnatural appendages they are. They're not exactly "game design," are they? They're more of a marketplace experiment, albeit one that requires game design to function. It can be helpful to break the concept down to its basics, as a reminder of how in-game purchases can warp a player's relationship with a game.

Imagine a video game boss fight. It's this big monster that you have to beat, and he's really tough. He defeats you over and over again, because he's meant to test your abilities. You keep coming back, gradually learning his patterns and eventually overcoming him. After he goes down, you get a sweet new helmet. You equip the helmet and move on to the next challenge.

Now imagine the same boss fight, with one difference: if you want, you can just buy the helmet for $5. Just like that, the fight seems different. On your third or fourth death, you might begin to question the motives of the people who made it. Why is this boss so hard? Was he designed to be difficult in order to test your skill, or because the designers wanted you to eventually just give in and pay for the helmet? Is the game playing fair, or are you being manipulated?

Those two examples illustrate in the simplest terms the underlying problem with video game microtransactions. They will always have a detrimental effect on games, because they call into question a game's integrity. They may be immensely profitable, and thus a smart business move. They may make it possible for a development studio to stay in business and keep making games. They may even appeal to a subset of gamers who like being able to pay for extra goodies. But in exchange for all that, game developers must be willing to undermine the design of their game on a fundamental level.

Games are built on trust between the designer and the player. We agree to play by the rules and in doing so, agree to trust the people who devised them. That agreement forms the basis for the rest of our relationship with a game, however lengthy or fleeting it may be. In-game purchases call our trust into question.

Some games will add microtransactions the "right" way, and won't kick up much fuss. Others will get it "wrong," prompting the next great Internet backlash. Still others might start out okay before making a change for the worse, or vice-versa. The particulars will always be different. But the moment a player is given the option to pay extra for something they'd otherwise have to earn, the damage is done.

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Video games will always manipulate us. Each challenge and scenario in a game has been carefully engineered to make us react a certain way. Most of the time, that's what we sign up for. But the moment real money enters the equation, something changes.

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The Washington Post - Breaking news and latest headlines, U.S. news, world news, and video - The Washington Post

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Breaking news, live coverage, investigations, analysis, video, photos and opinions from The Washington Post. Subscribe for the latest on U.S. and international news, politics, business, technology, climate change, health and wellness, sports, science, weather, lifestyle and more.

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Creating a social media strategy for use during political campaigns has become an essential part of every candidate's plan to get into office. With social media sites often getting more traffic than an official campaign website, it's important for candidates to get connected.

"The use of social media in today's campaign is not only important - it is critical," says Hubert "Sonny" Massey, a Business instructor and advisor at South University, Savannah. "Millions of people are involved in using social networks daily. It is the opportunity to be in touch with large numbers of voters quickly, constantly and at a low cost."

Massey says it has become a common practice for political campaigns to create social media sites or pages as part of their marketing strategy.

"From now on, social media will have a huge impact on elections," Massey says. "With the speed of communications and the numbers of people involved, the impact has to be significant."

Chris Saad, chief strategy officer at Echo, says the use of social media was pivotal during the 2008 presidential election, when U.S. President Barack Obama became the first candidate to use it successfully.

"It was the first campaign where social media was pervasive and he understood it and leveraged it," Saad says.

He compared the use of social media in the 2008 presidential election to the first televised campaign debate in 1960, between then-presidential candidates John Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

"The candidate who learned how to put on makeup and smile is the one who won the debate, and the other won on radio, (because) he understood the language of TV," Saad says.

Saad says social media is a campaign tool - just as advertisements - and is a critical part of the campaign toolkit.

As part of their social media strategy, Saad says politicians create interesting posts to try to engage followers, similar to the tactics used by a brand or media company.

Candidates create simple to digest posts that can be easily retweeted or shared, Saad says. This type of campaign marketing is much different than creating television commercials, as the politicians can create social media posts quickly and easily to react to news and reach out to voters, whereas making an advertisement is a much longer process.

"They are using social media and engagement numbers almost as proxy battles for the actual elections."

Saad says the main social media goals in the presidential campaign are to create content that people share, for fundraising purposes, and to gauge where the candidates stand in the race.

The use of social media in today's campaigns is not only important - it is critical.

Political Campaigns Connect With Voters

Most of what happens on social media from brands and political campaigns are not conversations, as they aren't creating a back-and-forth dialog with voters, but simply hoping the messaging will get voter to vote a certain way.

Saad says candidates don't typically reply to voter's tweets and Facebook posts, but they do use social media companies like Facebook and Twitter to host live Q&As from the company headquarters, as a sort of town hall debate.

"They're using the brand of a Facebook or Twitter to appeal to a young generation," he says.

Though candidates may not reply to voter comments on their social media sites, Massey says it can be helpful for them to have the opportunity to see responses and opinions to topics they post.

Campaign Social Media Strategy

Massey and Saad agree that having the ability to see the political views of family, friends, and peers can sway a person's vote.

"I think that's the only way that social media works," Saad says.

Saad says politically active people are subscribing to the candidates on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and although less politically savvy people aren't doing that, they're still seeing those messages when their politically active friends comment and "like" them.

He says the only way the people without much interest in politics find out about a candidate's posts is through the politically savvy people.

"A candidate may have a million subscribers, but will reach 10 million or 100 million people because of its viral effect," Saad says. "Everybody is seeing a ton of campaign content coming through, whether they like it or not."

With so much emphasis placed on social media sites, it can be easy to forget that candidates typically have an official campaign website as well.

Saad says it ebbs and flows as to whether voters visit the official campaign website of a candidate or their social media site more.

"With AOL and MySpace, there was this pull towards party websites, so people would push everyone to those sites, that peaked, then people realized their own websites were more important than other people's," Saad says. "We're in this interesting swing right now where people are promoting Facebook and Twitter more than their own websites, but we actually think this is a temporary glitch. Their own website needs to be the place they're promoting."

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Political Campaigns and Social Media - Tweeting Their Way Into Office

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Creating a social media strategy for use during political campaigns has become an essential part of every candidate's plan to get into office. With social media sites often getting more traffic than an official campaign website, it's important for candidates to get connected.

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Three ways gadgets are keeping you awake

Our cell phones, tablets, computers and other electronic gadgets have become such a huge part of our daily lives that it's often hard to put them down-even at bedtime. Keeping your phone on your nightstand may not seem like a big deal, but technology affects your sleep in more ways than you realize. Whether you're surfing the web, playing a video game, or using your phone as an alarm clock in the late evening, you're probably keeping yourself from a restful night. Learn the facts about digital devices, below, so you can nip your tech habits in the bud.
They Suppress Melatonin.
The blue light emitted by screens on cell phones, computers, tablets, and televisions restrain the production of melatonin, the hormone that controls your sleep/wake cycle or circadian rhythm. Reducing melatonin makes it harder to fall and stay asleep. Most Americans admit to using electronics a few nights a week within an hour before bedtime. But to make sure technology isn't harming your slumber, give yourself at least 30 minutes of gadget-free transition time before hitting the hay. Even better: Make your bedroom a technology-free zone-keep your electronics outside the room (that includes a TV!).
They Keep Your Brain Alert.
It may seem harmless to knock out a few emails before bed or unwind with a favorite movie, but by keeping your mind engaged, technology can trick your brain into thinking that it needs to stay awake. And if you're surfing the web, seeing something exciting on Facebook, or reading a negative email, those experiences can make it hard to relax and settle into slumber. After spending an entire day surrounded by technology, your mind needs time to unwind.
They Wake You Up.
Just because you're not using your cell phone before bed doesn't mean that it can't harm your sleep: Keeping a mobile within reach can still disturb slumber, thanks to the chimes of late night texts, emails, calls, or calendar reminders. About 72 percent of children ages six to 17 sleep with at least one electronic device in their bedroom, which leads to getting less sleep on school nights compared with other kids, according to their parents. The difference adds up to almost an hour per night, and the quality of snoozing is negatively affected too. To get a better night's slumber, parents can limit their kids' technology use in the bedroom, and mom and dad should be solid role models and set the tone by doing the same.

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How Technology Impacts Sleep Quality | Sleep.org

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Our cell phones, tablets, computers and other electronic gadgets have become such a huge part of our daily lives that it's often hard to put them down-even at bedtime. Keeping your phone on your nightstand may not seem like a big deal, but technology affects your sleep in more ways than you realize.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Since the publication of this post in 2018, new information has emerged regarding the credibility of the so-called Blue Whale Challenge.
It is a game that does not physically exist. A game, hidden in a world that cannot be found, except to those who know how to find it. Imagine being trapped in a world with no escape. A world that lasts for 50 days, ending with you taking your own life.

With the Blue Whale Challenge, you're entering into a new world of Jumanji--except this game, there is no happy return. If you have ever received an invitation to join this "game," swim far, far away.
What Is The 'Blue Whale Challenge?'
While there is no written proof depicting the rules of the game, rumor has it The Blue Whale Challenge is today's newest suicide game, conducted primarily through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The game lasts for a total of 50 days, presenting the "player" with daily tasks.

Similar to an act of "beaching" that blue whales do on their own accord, for reasons unknown, the meaning behind this game falls under similar logic. It is one of the ocean's great mysteries as to why some blue whales beach themselves, causing them to die.
How Does The Game Work?'
The game starts out as between the administrator and the participant/victim. Each day, the administrator will set up a different task for the participant to do. The daily tasks start off fairly easy--listening to certain genres of music to watching horror-style movies. As the days go on, the tasks grow increasingly difficult such as staying up until all hours of the night to mutilating the skin along with carving a the "whale" symbol onto their arm. The final task and end to the game is the person committing suicide.

But, why go along with this? Well, if the participant refuses to complete their task, the administrator will release, publish, share, and/or post something extremely personal or highly-sensitive online from their accounts (or at least lead them to believe they will).
New Age of Cyberbullying, Trolling, and Criminal Activity
This form of online trolling, cyberbullying, suicide, and potentially, murder are extremely concerning from a legal and social perspective. In the past year alone, we have seen social media used as the instrumentality to crimes, essentially becoming the bullet, and in some cases, an actual weapon, from the Twitter/Gif incident involving Dallas journalist, Kurt Eichenwald, to the Facebook Live killing of Cleveland man, Robert Godwin III.

With the growth and expansion of the Internet, the methods in which people conduct themselves online continues to broaden. This means criminal activity becomes more complex, advanced, and thought-out.
How Are Victims Chosen?
That's the million dollar question isn't it. Almost always, victims in these types of scenarios are those who appear to be most vulnerable or susceptible to persuasion. They are groomed and nurtured, tortuously speaking of course.

But don't get me wrong, these tactics are well thought out and planned. The administrator surveys and learns about their victim--through their status updates, daily postings, and even personal information they have available in their profiles. When the victim starts the challenge, the platform they are using (device and internet browser) are supposedly infected with malware and viruses that the administrator places on there. Believing the malware to be infected, the victims are held hostage with hopes their information and photos are not publicly released. Ultimately, it's the soon-to-be victim's decision on whether or not to play.

This is another instance to why oversharing on social media isn't always the best idea.
Signs That Another May Be A Victim
While many of these signs may not be exclusively linked, most reports of those victimized by the challenge are said to have been sleep deprived, checking their mobile phones incessantly, wearing long-sleeved, loose clothing to disguise any self-harm that they may have inflicted upon themselves, and many others.
Legally Speaking.
Call it what you will--cyberbullying, trolling, or cyber-terrorism. Legally speaking, you have many factors at work: online harassment, blackmail, inciting one to commit suicide, and even murder. While it's difficult to ascertain how a person in another state/country could be guilty of a crime committed by another individual in another state/country, it's still possible. A territorial legal principle known as the Effects Doctrine, holds a person responsible for their acts committed from one state/country, into another state/country. You're looking at the administrator intentionally targeting a citizen of one state/country, and causing harms (effects) into that state/country. With enough proof and information, that could be enough to charge the administrator with a crime.

The phenomenon is believed to have originated in 2013 from a 21-year-old psychology student who was expelled from his university. The student claimed that he invented the game with the intention of cleansing society, by pushing those individuals to commit suicide, whom he deemed as having no value. That student was later charged and convicted of inciting suicide of a minor.

Reports indicate that over 100 lives have been taken because of this 'game.' While its still considered to be a 'myth,' there has been strong evidence across the internet leading back to the Challenge. Most notably, reports coming out of India and Russia have brought this issue to light. The fear is that this game will continue to spread and grow, eventually making its way into The United States, if it hasn't already.
What Can You Do?
As previously mentioned, this isn't a physical game you buy--it's a game where the victim is recruited/invited through social media platforms or even over the phone. The best way to avoid being brought into this world is to change your privacy settings on your online accounts, so only you or your family/close friends can see your profile. Additionally, don't accept friend requests from people you don't know. Lastly, the old homage, "don't talk to strangers," still holds true--don't answer calls from people you don't know.

If you see people sharing posts via social media with hashtags like #f57, bluewhalechallenge, # curatorfindme, # i_am_whale, these are visible signs that a person is in need of assistance.

This isn't like a retailer introducing a new board game to the market--this is a person from one end of a phone or a computer, forcing someone they have never met, on the other side of that device, to seriously harm themselves, and ultimately, fatally injure themselves.

Many groups and organizations have began to take a stand. Social media platforms like Instagram, have even taken strides to warn users about the game, setting warning messages out if it detects a particular hashtag being used that is associated with the game. Even other organizations, like the under-fire hacker group, known as Anonymous, started a movement dubbed # OpBlueWhale, which encourages young people to avoid getting involved with this game.

Dr. Shannon Barnett, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told Motherboard in an email, that while this game exemplifies the risk of someone taking advantage of youth who are emotionally distressed, there is no one reason for adolescents to feel so bad that they have suicidal thoughts and/or thoughts of harming themselves.

For those who may be suffering from depression or even suicidal thoughts, it's important to build up a support network of people you can trust. If a victim has been threatened, it is always smart to go to local law enforcement, as threats like these are taken very seriously. Additionally, there are services that aim to help victims of cyberbullying.

Christopher Nolan's said it best..."a n idea is like a virus. Resilient. Highly contagious. And even the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you...once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed - fully understood - that sticks; right in there somewhere."
If you're thinking about suicide, you deserve immediate help. In the U.S. you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741. In the U.K., you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 or use the Shout text support services. Globally, use a search engine and type 'mental health help' for local support or call the emergency services if your life is at risk.

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Cyberbullying Taken To A Whole New Level: Enter The 'Blue Whale Challenge'

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Since the publication of this post in 2018, new information has emerged regarding the credibility of the so-called Blue Whale Challenge.

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UMKC Women's Center - Advancing gender equity

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By Armelle Djoukoue

With the advent of Photoshop in the design industry, it has been easy for the media NOT to keep it real. Photoshop has allowed advertisers to give cover models a little superficial nip and tuck or body sculpting where it doesn't really exist. These false images can affect the way readers see beauty in an unrealistic way, impacting self-esteem and their own body image.

The more women and girls watch television or look at magazines full of unattainable and idealize images of women created by "photoshopping", the more anxious and insecure about their appearance they become. The pressure to attain the "perfect body" has women now spending millions of dollars a year on unnecessary plastic surgery and harming their bodies by becoming anorexic or bulimic.

In recent years, researchers have tried to understand the determinants of body image disturbance among young women. High exposure to media has been shown to have a large impact on women's self-esteem in western societies. Nowadays, with the use of Photoshop, women have been tricked into thinking that flawless beauty does exist. But in reality, this type of perfection is simply unattainable. Even celebrities have imperfections, but that's not what we often see in the magazines.

Some celebrities, such as Brad Pitt and Kate Winslet, have taken action against digital altering of their bodies. Brad Pitt broke one of Hollywood's golden rules in a recent issue of W Magazine by revealing all his flaws and wrinkles. He even personally requested to be photographed by Chuck Close, who is famous for his extremely detailed portraits that reveal all skin flaws. Winslet was also one of the first to break ground when she took action against GQ magazine for digitally altering her body in its photographs that made her look unrealistically thin.

Perhaps if more celebrities become more secure with their own body image and demand that their photos be printed without photoshopping, everyone else will follow suit. And more women and girls will realize that there is no such thing as "perfect" beauty.

For the past three days,The Keep it Real Campaign sponsored by Miss Representation has been asking advertisers and the media to do away with Photoshop and print at least one unphotoshopped picture of a model. One photo may not be enough to fix someone's self esteem, but maybe it will help advertisers understand the damage that they are doing to the physical, emotional, and mental health of many women and girls when they don't keep it real.

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Keep it real challenge: Photoshop's impact on body image - UMKC Women's Center

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By Armelle Djoukoue With the advent of Photoshop in the design industry, it has been easy for the media NOT to keep it real. Photoshop has allowed advertisers to give cover models a little superficial nip and tuck or body sculpting where it doesn't really exist.

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#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:
STRESS
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.

MOOD
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.
ANXIETY
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.

DEPRESSION
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.
SLEEP
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.

ADDICTION
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.
SELF-ESTEEM
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.

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.
WELL-BEING
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.

RELATIONSHIPS
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".

ENVY
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.
LONELINESS
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."
CONCLUSIONS?
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.
Join 800,000+ Future fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.
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Is social media bad for you? The evidence and the unknowns

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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...

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Why Instagram Is the Worst Social Media for Mental Health

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Instagram and Snapchat are the worst social media networks for mental health, according to a new survey of teenagers and young adults.

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Story highlights

Being addicted to your smartphone can affect your safety and your health

New research shows a connection to a lack of neural chemicals that affect your ability to focus

You may be one of the growing number of Americans (or global citizens) who has a bit of nomophobia.

"Nomophobia?" you mutter as you read this on your ever-present smartphone. "Of course not."

"NO MObile PHOne phoBIA" is a 21st-century term for the fear of not being able to use your cell phone or other smart device. Cell phone addiction is on the rise, surveys show, and a new study released Thursday adds to a growing body of evidence that smartphone and internet addiction is harming our minds - literally.

How do you know if you're addicted? There's an online (of course) quiz to find out, which has been translated into Spanish, Italian and Turkish.

Take the quiz here.

Rate your responses on a scale of 1 (completely disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) and add your score. According to Caglar Yildirim, an assistant professor of human computer interaction who created the scale for use in his research at State University of New York at Oswego, a score of 20 or below means you're not an addict; a score of 21 to 60 means you're mildly nomophobic; and a score of 61 to 99 means you probably can't go long without checking your phone.

"It might be a good idea to be conscious of that," Yildirim said, "but we are only concerned if it starts to interfere with your daily life."

Did you score between 100 and 200? You're probably struggling with severe anxiety when you can't access your cell phone, he said.

"This might negatively affect your social life and relationships with friends and family," Yildirim said. "There are studies that show those who score high on the test tend to avoid face-to-face interactions, have high levels of social anxiety and maybe even depression.

"It might affect your ability to work or study, because you want to be connected to your smartphone all the time," he added. "So if any of this applies to you, then it's time to start looking at your behavior and level of anxiety."

SecurEnvoy, a two-factor authentication company, conducted research using a polling panel (which is not as scientific as a randomized poll) and found that 66% of people in the United Kingdom have some form of nomophobia. Notably, 41% of the participants said they had two or more phones to make sure they stayed connected.

Surveys by the Pew Research Center this year showed that 77% of Americans own smartphones, up from 35% in 2011. Ninety-five percent own a cell phone of some kind.

What's wrong with being a cell phone junkie?

Obviously, there are some serious ramifications to having a cell phone habit. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mobile phone use is partially to blame for the distracted driving that kills an estimated nine people each day and injures more than 1,000.

The prevalence of texting while driving has reached epidemic proportions. A 2010 study by the Pew Research Center said nearly half of US adults admit reading or sending a text message while driving. The news is worse for teens: Nearly one in three 16- or 17-year-olds said they have texted while driving.

Millennials are the worst offenders, according to Pew. Fifty-nine percent of people between the ages of 18 and 33 reported texting while driving, compared with 50% of Gen Xers (age 34 to 45) and only 29% of baby boomers.

It's not just driving. A study of pedestrians in midtown Manhattan found that 42% of those who entered traffic during a "Don't Walk" signal were talking on a cell phone, wearing headphones or looking down at an electronic device. A 2013 study found a tenfold increase in injuries related to pedestrians using cell phones from 2005 to 2010.

Other health ramifications include text neck - that cramping, stabbing pain that comes after looking down at your phone too long - and poor posture, which can affect your spine, respiratory functions and even emotions. Researchers have also found that the blue light emitted from our cell phones and other internet devices can disrupt melatonin production and therefore our sleep.

A connection to executive functioning

The latest evidence comes from a small study presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago. The study, which has not been peer-reviewed, indicates that cell phone addiction may affect brain functioning.

Researchers from Korea University in Seoul used brain imaging to study the brains of 19 teenage boys who were diagnosed with internet or smartphone addiction. Compared with 19 teenagers who were not addicted, the brains of the addicted boys had significantly higher levels of GABA, a neurotransmitter in the cortex that inhibits neurons, than levels of glutamate-glutamine, a neurotransmitter that energizes brain signals.

"GABA slows down the neurons," explained Yildirim, who was not involved in the Korean study. "That results in poorer attention and control, which you don't want to have, because you want to stay focused. So that means you are more vulnerable to distractions."

"It's a very small study, so you have to take it with a grain of salt," said Stanford neuroradiologist Dr. Max Wintermark, an expert in neuroimaging who was also not connected with the research. "It's the first study that I read about internet addiction, but there are many studies that link alcohol, drug and other types of addiction to imbalances in various neurotransmitters in the brain."

Yildirim agreed that the preliminary findings were consistent with prior research.

"We know that medium to heavy multitaskers, who engage in multiple forms of media simultaneously, tend to demonstrate smaller gray matter area in the anterior cingulate cortex, which is the area of the brain responsible for top-down attention control," he said. "Altogether, this means that if you are too dependent on your smartphone, you are basically damaging your ability to be attentive."

Addicted teenagers in the study also had significantly higher scores in anxiety, depression and levels of insomnia and impulsivity, said Dr. Hyung Suk Seo, professor of neuroradiology at Korea University, who led the study.

Join the conversation

The good news is that when 12 of the addicted teens were given nine weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy, the levels of GABA to glutamate-glutamine normalized.

"This is a common finding in the literature," Yildirim said. "There are studies that have looked at how cognitive behavioral therapy can improve attention control and executive functioning."

One study of mindfulness training showed increased cognitive performance, and another showed neuroplastic changes in the anterior cingulate cortex, the same area of the brain damaged by smartphone addiction.

"To me, the most interesting aspect of the study is that they were able to see a correction of the imbalance after cognitive behavior therapy intervention," Wintermark said. "What I would like to see is more research on whether the symptoms of addiction are also corrected."

Fighting back against smartphone addiction

If you, or a loved one, seems to have the symptoms of smart device or internet addiction, experts have some suggestions in addition to mindfulness training. First, turn off your phone at certain times of the day, such as in meetings, having dinner, playing with your kids, and of course, driving. Remove social media apps, like Facebook and Twitter from your phone, and only check-in from your laptop. Try to wean yourself to 15 minute intervals at set times of the day when it won't affect work or family life. Don't bring your cell phone and it's harmful blue light to bed; use an old fashioned alarm to wake you. And last, try to replace your smart device time with healthier activities such as meditating or actually interacting with real people.

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Smartphone addiction could be changing your brain

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Being addicted to your smartphone can affect your safety and your health New research shows a connection to a lack of neural chemicals that affect your ability to focus You may be one of the growing number of Americans (or global citizens) who has a bit of nomophobia. "Nomophobia?"

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unrealistic expectations/affect on overall happiness

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As young people spend more time on computers, smartphones and other devices, researchers are asking how all that screen time and multitasking affects children's and teenagers' ability to focus and learn - even drive cars.

A study from Stanford University, published Wednesday, wrestles with a new question: How is technology affecting their happiness and emotional development?

Michelle Litvin for The New York Times

The answer, in the peer-reviewed study of the online habits of girls ages 8 to 12, is that those who say they spend considerable amounts of time using multimedia describe themselves in ways that suggest they are less happy and less socially comfortable than peers who say they spend less time on screens.

The research raises as many questions as it seeks to answer, as the scientists readily acknowledge. That is because the research was based on an online survey taken by more than 3,400 girls, a sample that may well not be representative of the larger population and, because the responses are self-reported, are not subject to follow-up or verification by the researchers.

Among the crucial questions that the researchers were not able to answer is whether the heavy use of media was the cause for the relative unhappiness or whether girls who are less happy to begin with are drawn to heavy use of media, in effect retreating to a virtual world.

But the researchers hypothesize that heavy use of media is a contributing factor to the social challenges of girls.

The reason, say the researchers, is that on a basic, even primitive level, girls need to experience the full pantheon of communication that comes from face-to-face contact, such as learning to read body language, and subtle facial and verbal cues.

"Humans are built to notice these cues - the quavering in your voice, perspiration, body posture, raise of an eyebrow, a faint smile or frown," said Clifford Nass, a Stanford professor of communication who led the study. Social media, he added, leaves the conversation two-dimensional. "If I'm not with you face to face, I don't get these things. Or, if I'm face to face with you and I'm also texting, I'm not going to notice them."

The peer-reviewed study appeared Wednesday in Developmental Psychology, a journal published by the American Psychological Association, as part of a series of articles on interactive technology and human development. There is no analogous study about how screen time affects boys.

The fact that the study was based on an online survey gave pause to some academics. While they said the paper raised good questions, they also expressed concern about giving it too much weight, given that the researchers were not able to follow up with the survey subjects to get important context, including their family circumstances, income or ethnicity.

Moreover, the limitations of the online survey did not even allow the researchers to verify the ages of the girls.

Lyn Mikel Brown, an education professor at Colby College who studies girls' behavior, cautioned against reading too much into the research because so little is known about the survey subjects.

It may well be, she said, that girls who seek out online relationships are girls who otherwise might not feel social at all.

"Finding like-minded people online and issues they can relate to and work on with others can be incredibly important," she said.

But she also said the research should provoke further study about the connection between time spent online and social development, and should provoke conversations in families.

"The clear message is also how important it is for parents to create opportunities for girls to unplug, to live a balanced life, and increase quality face-to-face time with the people important to them," Ms. Mikel Brown said.

Patricia Greenfield, a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who edited the article, said that that even though the authors did not find that Internet use causes unhappiness among girls, the correlation that the authors did find was very significant.

The research was based on an online survey of about 80 questions answered by 3,461 girls whom the scientists found by advertising in Discovery Girls magazine. The researchers found that the average amount of media use by the girls surveyed was 6.9 hours per day, a figure that included reading as well as screen time. The average amount of time spent in face-to-face social settings was 2.1 hours, a figure that did not include classroom time.

Some parents of girls who are heavy Internet users said the research addressed questions that they had been concerned about.

Lucy Gray, 45, who lives in Chicago and helps schools integrate technology, said her daughter, Julia, 13, has for several years been a heavy consumer of media - she watches movies on her laptop, has an iPad, iPhone and a Nintendo DS portable game machine. Ms. Gray said that Julia can have trouble picking up on subtle social cues in face-to-face interactions, but she is not ready to blame her daughter's heavy use of technology.

In fact, she said, she thinks that, on the whole, the technology has helped her daughter navigate the world socially.

"She'd be missing out on an opportunity if she wasn't connected." Ms. Gray said.

At the same time, Ms. Gray said, she worries that her daughter, who is using Facebook more, is playing out her social life online sometimes without the benefits of the full emotional range that comes from face-to-face interaction.

"It's a double-edged sword," Ms. Gray said of the social implications of social media.

Lena Garzarelli, 13, an eighth grader in Asheville, N.C., who spends as much as two hours each day on Facebook, video chatting with friends and using other multimedia, said that the technology, on the whole, has helped enrich her social life. But she said that she felt it could be a poor substitute for face-to-face interaction.

She has had instances, she said, of serious miscommunication because her real meaning was lost in text-based communications.

When people converse online, she said, they "may not understand how I feel because they can't see the emotion in my face and can't hear my voice."

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A study from Stanford University, published Wednesday, wrestles with a new question: How is all technology affecting the happiness and emotional development of young people? The study, of the online habits of girls 8 to 12, raised as many questions as it sought to answer.

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Political echo chambers on social media

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targeted advertisements

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phone screens and sleep patterns

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Social media ads

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Effects of social media

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The effect of modern medication on advancing health problems

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Social Networks, Stress, and Physical Health: A Longitudinal Study of an Inner-City Elderly Population1

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Abstract. Research examining the relationship between social networks, stress, and physical symptoms has been limited by rudimentary network measures and the la

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Cyberbullying

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Photoshop and body image

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In-game purchases and DLCs

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Effects that technology has on the productivity

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Effects of social media on body image

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Social media use in politics

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social media and mental health

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mental health in relation to social media and false standards or the effect of phone addiction to productivity

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Most people buzz and beep their way through the day, as their smartphones contantly demand attention. Whether at the office, at an important client meeting, or on a date, the phone is right there, usually placed directly on the table in front of us, signaling our priorities.

We rationalize that the phone makes us more productive, allowing us to engage in important communication all day long. But is that true?
Breaking the Flow
One of the best ways to ensure productivity is to strategize an environment conducive to uninterrupted concentration. Whether at home or at work, attention requires eliminating distractions. Can you achieve an optimal state of concentration with a smartphone on the table in front of you? According to research, the answer is no.

Research by Éilish Duke (2017) entitled, "Smartphone addiction, daily interruptions and self-reported productivity," discusses the ways in which smartphones impact productivity.[i] Results indicate smartphone addiction and actively checking the phone have a tendency to decrease productivity both at work and at home.

Preliminarily, Duke notes that smartphones distract us from achieving a state of flow, defined as "a state in which we are fully absorbed by an activity, forgetting about space and time, whilst being very productive." She uses as an example, how in a state of flow, we can accomplish a task, such as authoring a significant portion of a document, without an awareness of the passage of time.

She also notes that the ability to achieve flow requires at least several minutes of unbroken concentration, and its maintenance requires focused attention on the particular task or project one is seeking to accomplish. She explains that research has indicated that interruptions, even as brief as 2.8 seconds, have been shown to disrupt the flow of concentration and lead to increased errors when performing a cognitive task.

Smartphones, beeping and buzzing with their alerts and notifications that incoming messages have arrived, interrupt flow, and can decrease productivity. Smartphones also prompt users to check them frequently, further impacting the ability to engage in consistently productive work.
Smartphones Prompt Foolish Behavior
Interestingly, Duke´s results included the finding that people spent more time on their smartphones at work than they felt was optimal, demonstrating that people continue to allow themselves to be distracted by their phones at work, despite an awareness of the negative consequences.

Many users also check them constantly, sometimes even compulsively-even when there is no indication they received a message or email. How frequently do people check their smartphones? Duke cites research that indicates people look around every 18 minutes, within the first five minutes after waking up, and within the last five minutes before going to sleep.

Do we even appreciate how much time we spend checking our phones? Discussing her own research results, Duke suggests that people probably check their smartphones more frequently than they think, as checking the phone may be unconscious and automatic-leading participants to underestimate the number of times they check their phones. This suggestion is corroborated by other research demonstrating people underestimate the frequency and duration of smartphone use.
Smartphones and Personal Life
Duke found that participants reported smartphone use negatively impacted their personal lives as well as their professional lives. She noted this was consistent with previous research on "technostress," defined as "the direct or indirect negative inﬂuence of technology, including smartphones, computers and the Internet, among others, on one's attitudes, behaviours, thoughts or physiology, including perceptions and emotions pertaining to the increased prevalence of technology in the workplace and society."
Intelligent Smartphone Use: Regaining Productivity
Battling smartphone addiction and improving concentration does not require you to go device-free. We live in a day and age where people expect us to be connected. Instead, a healthy balance of focus and freedom requires a disciplined approach to the smartphone. Keep it accessible, but not necessarily in view. Unless you are expecting an important call or are required to be reachable around the clock, consider keeping it out of sight until you absolutely have to use it. Keep it out of sight during important conversations.

Establishing intentional boundaries will allow you to maximize your productivity, and facilitate intelligent use of your smartphone-what a great concept.

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How Your Cell Phone Habits Impact Your Productivity

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Most people buzz and beep their way through the day, as their smartphones contantly demand attention. Whether at the office, at an important client meeting, or on a date, the phone is right there, usually placed directly on the table in front of us, signaling our priorities.

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Targeted Ads

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Are Targeted Ads Stalking You? Here’s How to Make Them Stop (Published 2018)

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Ever been haunted by an online ad for an item you researched or bought? Targeted ads were designed to follow you around everywhere. Here’s how to banish them.

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effects of social media on mental health

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The rise of social media has meant that people are more connected than we have ever been in the history of time. But our reliance on social media can have a detrimental effect on our mental health, with the average Brit checking their phone as much as 28 times a day.

While social media platforms can have their benefits, using them too frequently can make you feel increasingly unhappy and isolated in the long run.

The constant barrage of perfectly filtered photos that appear on Instagram are bound to knock many people's self-esteem, while obsessively checking your Twitter feed just before bed could be contributing towards poor quality of sleep.

Here are six ways that social media could be negatively affecting your mental health without you even realising.

We all have our fair share of insecurities, some that we speak about openly and others that we prefer to keep to ourselves.

However, comparing yourself to others on social media by stalking their aesthetically perfect Instagram photos or staying up to date with their relationship status on Facebook could do little to assuage your feelings of self-doubt.

A study conducted by the University of Copenhagen found that many people suffer from " Facebook envy ", with those who abstained from using the popular site reporting that they felt more satisfied with their lives.

"When we derive a sense of worth based on how we are doing relative to others, we place our happiness in a variable that is completely beyond our control," Dr Tim Bono, author of When Likes Aren't Enough explained in Healthista.

Becoming more conscious of the amount of time you spend scrolling through other people's online profiles could help you focus more on yourself and boost your self-confidence.

As human beings, it's so important for us to be able to communicate and forge personal connections with one another.

However, it can be hard to do so when we're glued to rectangular screens, becoming more acquainted with our friends' digital facades than their real-life personas.

Stina Sanders, a former model who has 107,000 followers on Instagram, explained how social media sometimes makes her feel like she's being left out.

"I know from my experience I can get FOMO when I see my friend's photos of a party I didn't go to, and this, in turn, can make me feel quite lonely and anxious," she told The Independent.

A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology that assessed 5,208 subjects found that overall, regular use of Facebook had a negative impact on an individual's wellbeing.

Social media can be great for looking back fondly on memories and recounting how past events occurred.

However, it can also distort the way in which you remember certain tidbits from your life.

Many of us are guilty of spending far too much time trying to take the perfect photo of a visual marvel, all the while not actually absorbing the firsthand experience of witnessing it with your own two eyes.

"If we direct all of our attention toward capturing the best shots for our social media followers to admire, less will be available to enjoy other aspects of the experience in real time," said Dr Bono.

"Spending too much time on our phones will detract from those other aspects of the experience, undermining the happiness we could be gleaning from them."

Having enough sleep is of paramount importance.

However, many of us use our phones too soon before choosing the hit the hay, making it harder to doze off.

"Getting worked up with anxiety or envy from what we see on social media keeps the brain on high alert, preventing us from falling asleep," explained Dr Bono.

"Plus, the light from our mobile device just inches from our face can suppress the release of melatonin, a hormone that helps us feel tired."

Try setting yourself a strict rule of not going on your phone for at least 40 minutes to an hour before going to bed, and see if that makes a difference to the quality of your sleep.

It's not just your subconscious brain that you need to worry about, but also the extent to which your brain is able to fully concentrate when you're awake.

While it's incredible to consider the amount of information readily available at our fingertips thanks to social media, it also means that people have become far more easily distracted.

"Social media has provided a means of constantly giving into the temptation of instant, easy-access entertainment," said Dr Bono.

If you're unable to not check your phone for at least a few minutes, then you'd do well to practise exercising your willpower on occasion.

Not only has social media been proven to cause unhappiness, but it can also lead to the development of mental health issues such as anxiety or depression when used too much or without caution.

In March 2018, it was reported that more than a third of Generation Z from a survey of 1,000 individuals stated that they were quitting social media for good as 41 per cent stated that social media platforms make them feel anxious, sad or depressed.

Ben Jacobs, a DJ who has more than 5,000 followers on Twitter, decided to go on a hiatus from the platform in January 2016 and has found the break really beneficial.

"Twitter did indeed make me feel anxious from time to time as it slowly dawned on me I was concerning myself with the feelings of the thousands of strangers I followed, while they didn't necessarily know who I was," he said.

"Since my Twitter hiatus, I have had a clearer head with plenty of time to devote to other things such as waking up in a cold sweat at 3am and reading a book instead."

While you don't necessarily have to quit social media for good, if you feel like it's beginning to bog you down, why not consider allocating social media-free time slots during your daily routine? The slight change could do you a whole lot of good. [This article was originally published in October 2020]
If you are in need of mental health support, you can contact the free Samaritans helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org to find details of your nearest branch.

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Six ways social media negatively affects your mental health without you even knowing

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The rise of social media has meant that people are more connected than we have ever been in the history of time. But our reliance on social media can have a detrimental effect on our mental health, with the average Brit checking their phone as much as 28 times a day.

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mental health

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Smartphone addiction

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Abstract

Background

The risk of cell phone addiction is a social and psychological problem which has been proposed by psychologists, psychiatrists, and educational supervisors. The present study aimed to investigate the behavior of mobile phone addicts and mental health of university students of Shahrekord, Iran.

Methods

This study was an applied research survey for the purposes of this study. The study population ýconsisted of all the students of Payame Noor University, Islamic Azad University, and University of Medical Sciences. The study population consisted of 296 students who were randomly selected from the target population. To collect data, two types of questionnaires were used, the Symptom Checklist-90-R(SCL-90-R) questionnaire, and the 32-point scale questionnaire of behavior associated with ýmobile phone use (Hooper and Zhou, 2007). Data analysis was performed using SPSS software, statistical analysis, frequency distribution, mean, one-way ANOVA, chi-square, and LSD (Least significance difference).

Findings

The results showed that university students of Shahrekord, based on the six categories of mobile ýaddiction behaviors, were mostly placed in habitual behaviors (21.49%), addiction (21.49%), and intentional (21.49%) categories. By reviewing mental health indicators, it was found that students were affected with depressive disorder (17.30%), obsessive compulsive disorder (14.20%), and interpersonal sensitivity (13.80%). The results showed that there was a significant inverse relationship ýbetween mental health and habitual behaviors (r = -0.417), dependence (r = -0.317), addiction (r = -0.330), and incontinence (r = -0.309) in using mobile phone (P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Survey results showed that with increased and improved mental health, the student's rate of cell phone addiction reduced.

Keywords: Mental health, Cell phone, Addiction, Behavior, University

Introduction

The current era can be known as a combination of information and communication. Today, in possession of advanced information and communication technology, we are able to establish connections and exchange information faster than before. 1 The most dominant type of information and communication technology is the mobile phone, the use of which in the past few years, due to social impact, has grown substantially. Mobile phone addiction, as a mental impairment resulting from modern technology, has come to the attention of psychologists, sociologists, and scholars of education. Troubled mobile phone use can be accounted a form of technological addiction.

Many mobile phone addicts are people with low self-esteem and poor social relationships; thus, they think they should be in constant contact with others. Mobile phone silence can lead to anxiety, irritability, sleep disturbances, shaking, insomnia, and digestive problems. 2 From the perspective of Thomee et al. problematic and overuse of mobile phones is associated with anxiety, insomnia, depression, psychological distress, and unhealthy lifestyle. 3 The emotional attachment to mobile phones for their users is in a way that makes them believe they cannot live without a cell phone. Researches have presented the negative impact of excessive use of mobile phones on physical and mental health of students. 4 Medical research on the effects of mobile phone indicates that this means of communication does not act in order to maintain the health of its users. For example, results of a number of studies show that mobile phone radiation causes changes in gene regulation, auditory and visual problems, increased pressure of acid on the cornea and lens tissue, headache, heat sensation in the ears, memory loss, and fatigue. 5- 9 Studies also showed that prolonged use of cell phones cause brain tumors. 10 In terms of psychology, communication technology reduces social relations and the welfare of the individual due to loneliness, depression, and isolation. Beydokhti ýet al. found that among adults and young people, the use of information and communication technology can lead to social anxiety and sleep disorders. 11

From these contents it can be concluded that there is a relationship between addiction to mobile phones and physical and psychological health. In fact mental health includes behaving in harmony with the community, acceptance of social reality and the ability to cope with them, and satisfying one's needs moderatly. 12 Mental health according to the World Health Organization is a health condition in which a person knows their own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, is fruitful for the community, and is able to make decisions and collective participation. Therefore, mental health is the base for welfare and health for individuals and society.

Hooper ýand Zhou, psychologists from Staffordshire University, studied 106 people who had used ýmobile phones, and found that 16.00% of them have behavioral problems. Their research concluded that behavioral problems followed by the addiction to cell phone use causes stress. 12 Despite the importance of mobile phones in everyday life, research indicated that some people use this device uncontrollably and this has affected their personal lives. 13 Review of research literature on the subject indicated that excessive use of mobile phones is a form of technology addiction. Results of the study by Hooper and Zhou showed that the rate of mobile phone use among university students is very high. 12 There is a relatively high number of evidence for mandatory, voluntary, or dependent use of cell ýphones; however, habitual, compulsive, and addictive behaviors of mobile phone use are relatively ýless observed.

The findings of Shambare et al. showed that mobile phone use was mostly addictive, habitual, and dependent. 14 The study of Ahmed et al. showed that a small number, less than 18.50%, of Pakistani students displayed mobile-related addictive behaviors. In this study the targeted subjects used mobile phones under reasonable conditions, and thus, did not have the tendency for addictive behaviors in mobile phone use. 15 The results of several studies showed that addiction to text messages has a relationship with students' social anxiety and nervousness, and personality traits of extraversion and neuroticism. Furthermore, the rate of addiction to text messages in different educational groups of students were different. 1, 11, 16

Moreover, other studies showed a positive correlation between depression and anxiety and the amount of sent text messages in a day, and loss of control and social anxiety. 17, 18 Chen examined the relationship between depression and mobile phone addiction on 519 American students and concluded that there was a significant association between mobile phone addiction symptoms (distraction, withdrawal, and escape) and depression. In addition, he stated that women had significantly higher rates of mobile phone addiction symptoms compared to men. 19

Technology addiction in general and dependency on cell phones in particular are important for several reasons. Despite the advantages and necessity of technologies for human society, due to their stimulating factors, they results in excessive use and lead to addiction. Young people are more vulnerable to excessive phone use, and thus, become phone dependent. 20 Young people's mental health, addiction to mobile phones, as a driving force, and an active community is major topics that are discussed in psychology and sociology. The present study addressed the question of whether there is any relationship between the amount and type of cell phone addiction and mental health status of university students in Shahrekord, Iran.

Methods

Due to the purpose of this study, this research was an applied research survey. The study population consisted of all students in different universities of Shahrekord (Islamic Azad University, Payame Noor University, and University of Medical Sciences). From among the target population, 296 subjects were randomly selected. Two types of questionnaires were used to collect data that include the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) questionnaire, and 32-point scale questionnaire of behavior associated with mobile phone use (Hooper and Zhou, 2007). 12 The SCL-90-R questionnaire has been used in many researches in Iran and outside Iran, and has a high reliability. 12, 21- 23 The validity and reliability of the mobile phone use questionnaire in some researches was at a high level. 13, 19 In order to analyze the collected data, SPSS for Windows (version 18, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) was used. The Pearson correlation analysis, Student's independent t-test, and chi-square test were used for data analysis. From the total of 296 students who participated in the study, 57.10% were men, 49.90% were female, 14.90% were single, 85.10% were married, 34.80% were living in a dormitory, and 65.20% lived elsewhere. Moreover, 50.30% studied in public Universities of Medical Sciences, 32.80% studied in Payame Noor University, and 16.90% enrolled in Islamic Azad University.

Results

Based on the results of , the majority of students, according to the categories of addictive behaviors of mobile phone, were placed in the three categories of habitual behaviors (21.49%), voluntary behaviors (21.49%), and dependent behaviors (21.49%). Based on the results of , students, with regard to mental health, had higher rates of depression (17.30%), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (14.20%), and interpersonal sensitivity (13.80%). Results showed that with confidence interval of 0.99 and P < 0.001, there was a relationship between mental health and four out of six categories of mobile phone addiction (habitual behaviors, dependent behaviors, addictive behaviors, and involuntary behaviors). In fact, only at the level of voluntary and compulsive behaviors there was no significant relationship with students' mental health. The results showed that with confidence interval of 0.99 and P < 0.001, there was a significant negative relationship between mental health and general behavior of addiction to mobile phones. This means that as the rate of mobile addiction becomes less, the students' mental health increases. presented phone addictive behaviors that have a significant relationship with mental health. Based on these results, mental health of university students of Shahrekord did not differ according to demographic factors (gender, type of university, type of residence, education, and marital status).

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Discussion

The results of this study showed that university students of Shahrekord, based on the six categories of mobile phone addictive behaviors, were mostly placed in categories of habitual, voluntary, and dependent behaviors with 20.30%. These finding were consistent with results of several studies. 12, 17- 20 As was noted in the findings section, there was a significant inverse relationship between mobile phone addiction and mental health. Findings show that the highest correlation was related to mental health and habitual behaviors. Habitual behaviors refer to behaviors that are formed from habit, without hesitation, thought, and mental awareness in order to achieve a particular purpose. 17 Students who suffer from lower mental health, usually when faced with a challenge, a problem, or an assignment or a specific purpose, feel helpless, frustrated, and powerless. As a result, to counteract these negative feelings, they turn to their previous habits involuntarily and automatically, such as mobile phone contacts, and with this they reduce their anxiety and worry due to their inefficiencies. It was observed that after habitual behaviors, addictions and dependent behaviors have the highest negative correlation with mental disorder. One of the most important causes of this serious relationship probably depends on the nature of addictive and dependent behaviors. Addictive behavior refers to a sudden and involuntary tendency to do a particular act or behavior, in the state of psychological imbalance, and the main factors that drive this conflict and psychological imbalance are irrational negative, inner thoughts. 12, 21- 23 Hence, it seems that students with lower mental health and psychological balance, are more vulnerable to addictive mobile phones use, because they try to reduce their internal tensions by talking to others. On the other hand, students who had average and high mental health levels also had some types of addiction to mobile phones (habitual addiction). This could be related to excessive use of mobile phones for long-distance calls to family members. Another factor is the lack of entertainment and addiction to entertainment and games that are available on mobile phones. Factors such as jealousy, personality characteristics, the presence or absence of metacognitive skills such as self-regulation skills, and financial considerations could be other factors for the usage or non-usage of cell phones. 21- 23 Further research on the relationship between these factors and mobile phone addiction is recommended.

The results showed that between mental health and addictive behaviors toward mobile phones there was a significant inverse relationship in the categories of dependent, involuntary, and addiction behaviors. In other words, in higher mental health, human behavior is more rational, and the amount of cell phone addiction reduces. These findings were consistent with results from a number of studies such as Thomee et al., 3 Chen, 19 Billieux et al., 17 Park et al., 18Hassanzadeh and Rezaei, 1 Golmohammadian and Yaseminejad, 24 and Seyed Ali. 25 Research results indicate that there is a relationship between addiction to mobile phone and mental health in dimensions of behavioral problems, anxiety, depression, and psychosis. In addition, the results showed that there was no relationship between the occurrence of behaviors of cell phone addiction and gender, type of residence, type of university, and the study filed. These findings were consistent with results of Koo and Park, 26 Pawlowska and Potembska, 27 Wei, 28 and Wilska, 29 and domestic research, including Zamani et al. 21- 23 The investigation showed that there was a relationship between mobile phone addictive behavior and gender-related factors. Furthermore, there was a relationship between habitual behaviors of mobile phone use and marital status, addictive behaviors, and university. However, the results indicated that there was no significant relationship between mental health and gender, marital status, type of residence, university, and field of study.

Conclusion

Survey results showed that with increased and improved mental health, the rates of students' addiction to mobile phones reduced. Hence, it is necessary to take more steps in developing recreational programs for students' leisure time to maintain students' mental health, and thereby decrease addiction to a variety of new digital media such as the Internet, chat rooms, computer games, and mobile phones. Therefore, it is necessary that the university authorities and higher education institutions develop training programs, and make efforts to maintain physical and mental health of students.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all students in different universities of Shahrekord for their collaboration in this research.

Footnotes

Conflicts of Interest

The Authors have no conflict of interest.

REFERENCES

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# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Relationship between Mental Health and Addiction to Mobile Phones among University Students of Shahrekord, Iran

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The risk of cell phone addiction is a social and psychological problem which has been proposed by psychologists, psychiatrists, and educational supervisors. The present study aimed to investigate the behavior of mobile phone addicts and mental health of university students of Shahrekord, Iran. This study was an applied research survey for the purposes of this study.