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The Effects of Social Media on Mental Health - Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health The article was published on the Lancaster General Health website, specifically in their Health Hub section. Author- Kelsey Cardwell

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The Effects of Social Media on Mental Health (Web Article)

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The Effects of Social Media on Mental Health (Web Article)

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This article offers valuable insights into the effects of social media on mental health, highlighting both the positive and negative impacts. It discusses issues such as increased anxiety, depression, and feelings of loneliness, while also acknowledging how social media can foster community and connection. This helps deepen your understanding of the complex relationship between social media usage and mental well-being, emphasizing how these platforms can influence emotions and overall mental health. This article helps me understand how social media can impact mental health, especially in terms of increased anxiety and altered dopamine levels, which ties directly to my focus on the neurological effects of social media use.

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The LG Health Hub features breaking medical news and straightforward advice to help individuals of all ages make healthy choices and reach their wellness goals. The blog puts articles by trusted Lancaster General Health clinical experts, good 'n healthy recipes, videos, patient stories, and health risk assessments at your fingertips.

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The Effects of Social Media on Mental Health - Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health

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Frequent social media usage has been linked to depression, anxiety and feelings of loneliness. Here's how to use it in a healthier way.

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The article is published on the Stanford Law School website. The author of the article is not explicitly mentioned on the webpage.

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Social Media Addiction and Mental Health: The Growing Concern for Youth Well-Being

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Social Media Addiction and Mental Health: The Growing Concern for Youth Well-Being

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This article highlights the growing concern about social media addiction among youth and its impact on mental health, focusing on the legal responsibilities of social media platforms. It offers insight into the potential need for regulations to protect young users. The article deepens my understanding of social media's impact on youth mental health, highlighting concerns about addiction and related issues like anxiety and depression. This awareness prompts me to rethink my own social media use and consider healthier habits.

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It was published in Computers in Human Behavior, a scientific journal available on the ScienceDirect platform. The article is authored by M. Salehan and M. Negahban.

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The effects of social media on students’ behaviors; Facebook as a case study (Journal)

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The effects of social media on students’ behaviors; Facebook as a case study (Journal)

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The article provides a detailed, research-based examination of how social media usage is associated with aspects like well-being, mental health, and behavior patterns. It offers empirical data that can deepen your understanding of both positive and negative impacts on users. The article enhances my understanding of how social media influences consumer behavior and brand perceptions. It emphasizes psychological aspects like self-esteem and social comparisons, which relate to my research on social media's effects on mental health. Overall, it broadens my view of social media's impact on daily life.

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It is published on the American Public University System (APUS) website. The article is titled "How Social Media Sites Affect Society.The article does not list a specific author.

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Social Media Impact: How Social Media Sites Affect Society (Journal)

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Social Media Impact: How Social Media Sites Affect Society (Journal)

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This article gives a clear overview of how social media affects our lives, covering both the positives and negatives. It explores its impact on mental health, communication habits, and how it shapes public opinion and trends. It’s a quick read for understanding the bigger picture of social media’s influence on society today. (This article gives me a better understanding of the positive and negative effects of social media on mental health, helping me see both its benefits and potential harms.)

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By Linda C. Ashar, J.D. | 05/02/2024

Once upon a time, social exchanges involved conversation around the kitchen table, on the front porch, over the back fence, and on the telephone's party line. Western Union was the original Twitter. Mail was sent by letter that went through the postal system, and news was published in print media.

The advent of radio and television sped things up. Later, the internet came, connecting people on the World Wide Web, and everything changed again.

What Is Social Media?

Social media now refers to web-based applications that promote the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Social media's range is global, with its scope of topic and type of user virtually unlimited. Social media includes internet sites such as Meta's Facebook® and Instagram®, X® (formerly Twitter), YouTube®, Yelp®, and countless blogs.

Social media has become a vast, informal network of online venues - public and private, paid subscription and free, large and small. It can be used for a variety of purposes, such as:

Family celebrations

Political campaigns

Charitable promotions

Health support groups

Sports clubs

Prayer circles

Hobbies and occupations

Fundraisers

Information sources

Social media wields cultural influence on fashion and food trends, family and adolescent health issues, world news and local events, political and community action events. Social media has spawned a new type of marketing through the use of a unique, virtual public personality: the social influencer.

Social media has become a complex phenomenon because it is much more than individuals exchanging words. Social media sites - the venues where communications happen - are controlled by their platform owners.

Conglomerates like Meta have come under fire with allegations of exerting censorship on the one hand and insufficient control of content on the other. In the U.S., these problems are considered under the First Amendment. Other countries' laws might differ.

According to a 2023 Surfshark article, people in China, Iran, and Turkmenistan have been denied access to Facebook, YouTube, and X for 14 years. YouTube has been blocked in Eritrea for almost 14 years, and most major social media sites have been barred in North Korea for up to 8 years.

As Surfshark notes, that means multiple generations of 1.6 billion people are cut off from social media. Those people are confined to a cloistered, narrow world, where they have limited access to each other, as well as to other nations' people and events. These nations' blocking of social media access to their populations is tacit testimony to the power of social media at the grassroots level of society.

Social media has clarified one aspect of human behavior that is above dispute. People enjoy:

Talking with like-minded people

Railing at each other

Sharing life's joys, interests, and grief

Spending time with each other

Watching each other

Technology has enabled the social media revolution. But from the beginning, its success has been driven by this human need this human need to communicate.

The History of Social Media

Humanity is a social species by nature. When the internet entered daily life around 1983, worldwide connections became an instant possibility.

Talking to the next-door neighbor became anyone on the planet, and the backyard fence was traded for a computer monitor. Whether for private purposes or business, communication is what humans do - not always gracefully or truthfully, but certainly continuously.

Social media had its first seeds in email. The pleasure of receiving a letter from a friend in a physical mailbox expanded to the computer.

"You've Got Mail!" became a daily electronic notice in business and personal correspondence. Then, technology proliferated from clunky desktop computers to sleek compact laptops and mobile phones.

With email came email groups organized on internet sites - electronic discussion groups for people with similar interests. A leading example was YahooGroups (which closed in 2020).

The internet enabled online bulletin boards and chat room forums for information exchange and group talk. In the 1990s, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and ICQ allowed real-time text messages.

In 1994, the wiki was born. A wiki is a user-collaborative information site that can be edited by any user through a browser. According to Katie Terrell Hanna of TechTarget, "wiki wiki" means "fast" in Hawaiian, which is how the name originated.

According to Wikipedia, computer programmer Ward Cunningham created WikiWikiWeb in 1994. Today, there are reportedly hundreds of thousands of wiki sites.

The inherent catch of wiki sites is the ability of nameless users to post and edit information that is not vetted for accuracy, so other users must evaluate and correct it. This accuracy problem gives rise to a concern about "fake news." However, academic and evidence sources can also post data in wikis.

The worldwide collaborative, interactive, free access to information on virtually any topic makes wiki social media sites an important component of the social media revolution. At the very least, they are information gateways to other research sources.

In 1999, Pyra Labs launched Blogger®, a publishing platform acquired by Google in 2003. Mat Honan of Wired explains that Blogger "was a revolutionary web product" that "gave push-button publishing to the people."

Today, information is available digitally to anyone with access to a computer or mobile phone. As a result, this widespread change in communication has enabled a dramatic shift in information sharing and acquisition of knowledge that, in turn, affected lifestyles and social mores.

The 'Invention' of Social Media

The recognition of social media as a distinct entity was in 1997 with Andrew Weinreich's launch of SixDegrees. Called the " father of social networking," Weinreich forecast the social media phenomenon seven years ahead of Facebook.

SixDegrees' base was a site for email connection links. In simple terms, Weinreich's vision was networking.

Social media's networking capacity is exponential for connecting social media users' who share interests, have questions, and want to connect with others. But in 1997, the technology to facilitate such capacity had not yet caught up with Weinreich's full vision.

Weinreich sold SixDegrees for $125 million in 1999 and moved on in the industry. Social media technology, however, took off in the new millennium.

Social Media's Explosion in the 21st Century

The timeline of social media innovations in the 2000s highlights just how quickly the social media revolution advanced in that era. While wikis and other online sites were focused on general information, easier personal connections for social media use came into their own in slick online sites.

The launch of Friendster® in 2002 expanded the concept of networking occupied by email groups and virtual bulletin boards. Also in 2002, LinkedIn® established a social media site for professional and business networking.

MySpace® launched in 2003, followed quickly by Facebook in 2004. Originally created for college students, Facebook grew into the global colossus that is Meta today, eclipsing Friendster and MySpace.

In 2005, YouTube appeared. YouTube has since expanded from a collection of user-uploaded videos to include live streaming, music, advertisements, and marketing channels.

The year 2006 introduced Twitter - a real-time dialogue, news, and opinion posting system called "micro-blogging," that limits messages to short posts. Twitter quickly wielded a powerful influence, connecting social media users in real time worldwide, a popularity somewhat narrowing since Elon Musk changed the site to X in 2023.

Digital image sites like Pinterest® added a visual dimension to social exchanges in 2010. By 2016, amateur entertainment and personal influencer reels became a hit on TikTok, rivaled by Snapchat®, , Facebook's Reels, and Instagram. That same year, live-streaming took off on Facebook and Periscope (with the latter ending its activities in 2021).

According to Pew Research Center, Facebook and YouTube are the most widely-used platforms as of 2024. But as of March 2024, Slashdot lists 101 social media platforms. These sites lure users and advertisers to participate in a marketplace of social chat, to see and be seen, to buy and sell, and to be heard.

If one platform does not last in popularity, another will take its place. Emerging sites cater to niche interests and facilitate family and friend connections. They also offer emotional support and promote boutique products, health aids, charities, business brands, education, political activism, and so much more.

Whether - and how - to control of all this activity is an ongoing debate. The U.S. government has recently moved to either limit or ban TikTok® in the U.S. due to Chinese ownership interests. Sparking further controversy, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case about federal government involvement on social media.

Social media usage is widespread and continues to grow with a variety of options. People have exchanged the backyard fence and the kitchen table for a carnival's midway of fluid conversation groups and virtual booths of barker's wares.

It is still early days for understanding all the implications of people's online habits and the inevitable changes being wrought by social media sites. Nevertheless, surveys, studies, and experts have ventured some observations and predictions about the effects of these online platforms.

The Positive Effects of Social Media

Social media wields a powerful influence. Some of the positive effects include:

Improving users' mental health

Providing an outlet for creativity

Offering opportunities for professional networking

Creating educational opportunities and social awareness

Building new business opportunities and marketing channels

Improvements to Mental Health

Social media's impact has created many positive effects for society. Mesfin Awoke Bekalu and Rachel F. McCloud concluded in a 2020 Harvard study that routine daily use of social media positively correlated with "three health-related outcomes: social well-being, positive mental health, and self-rated health."

While this national study of adult use of social media did not discount the potential negative aspects of addiction to or overuse of social media, Dr. Bekalu reported, "Our findings suggest that the ways in which people are using social media may have more of an impact on their mental health and well-being than just the frequency and duration of their use." This positive networking in turn reduces feelings of loneliness, social isolation, and low self-esteem.

Social media has created complex human interaction at several levels that happen simultaneously in a single venue, ranging from the most personal to general entertainment and news events in ways formerly segmented in separate communication channels - telephone, print media, one-way radio/TV shows, and telegraph messages.

Social media sites provide opportunities for individuals to connect with friends, family, and like-minded individuals, even across geographical distances. These connections help maintain relationships and interests, fostering a sense of belonging, self-esteem, and support in users.

Personal Expression and Creativity

In today's world, social media provides a cornucopia of offerings in art, innovation, and creativity. Part of social media's complex connections are the opportunities for sharing knowledge on virtually any topic, collaborative projects, and creative endeavors.

Whether through online forums, sharing documents, group chats, or how-to videos, individuals can work together with others to achieve common goals, create meaningful content, and solve problems collectively. They can learn how to do something they want to achieve for themselves, practice a new hobby, or pursue a sport. Outlets and tutorials foster a sense of camaraderie, community, and social well-being.

Opportunities for Professional Networking

Social media platforms offer opportunities for people to expand their social networks and forge new connections with other individuals around the world that they might not have otherwise encountered. By broadening their professional circles, people can access diverse perspectives, experiences, and resources, which can enrich their lives and enhance their social capital.

This opportunity for professional development was the idea behind LinkedIn early on. The LinkedIn platform has expanded exponentially in 22 years, a testimony to the value of professional connections for both individuals and businesses in a global marketplace.

Research supports the value of social networks in building and maintaining professional relationships. As Makena Shultz at Michigan State University noted, "A great thing about social media is that it allows you access to both your strong and weak connections. Increasing the spectrum of possible connections can help individuals and organizations identify specific parties with shared interests or goals, experience solving similar challenges, or even developed tools or methods for completing a mutual task."

The instant reach of digital technology and the variety of ways online companies have devised to maintain connections allows professionals to collaborate and share knowledge, opportunities, and innovative ideas.

Educational Opportunities and Social Awareness

Internet sites offer educational resources such as online courses and tutorials, making learning accessible to a global audience, often for free and regardless of a user's location or socioeconomic status. Many of these educational opportunities account for overcoming language barriers.

Hand-in-hand with educational opportunities are social awareness initiatives and advocacy efforts for humanitarian and social causes on both a local and a worldwide scale. Social media use enables advocates to more easily reach a global audience and discuss solutions to social issues that can better lives, such as increasing physical activity for better health and getting more fun out of life.

New Business Opportunities and Marketing Channels

Businesses can leverage social media platforms with broad audiences for brand promotion, marketing campaigns, and customer engagement. With the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms, users' search activity on a commercial or search site is directed to brands on social media pages.

For example, a user who searches for "types of mattresses" on Google, where mattresses are not sold, may later be served mattress ads on Facebook as a result of that search activity. A tracker on the search tags the user and links the user to pinpoint mattress ads on social media, which is known as remarketing or retargeting.

Sean Craig of Elite Digital Marketing explains that "User tracking is not limited to just one platform or website. Ad retargeting is a common practice where advertisements are placed on multiple websites based on a user's web browsing history. This technique allows companies to reach their target audience across multiple different platforms."

For example, the user's search activity suggests an intention to buy a mattress. Since the user appears to be in the market for a mattress, the Facebook ads help that user get to a decision and buy an advertiser's mattress.

Facebook is in it for the ad revenue, and the mattress companies hope to make a sale. The user might or might not want a mattress, but this type of advertising makes it possible to find one more easily.

Social media provides these types of marketing opportunities for businesses, individuals, and nonprofit groups. For nonprofit groups, online platforms may be used to raise awareness of a troubling issue - such as abuse or chronic disease - and for fundraising campaigns.

Social platforms host community trade groups, barter pages, garage sale days, and nonprofit events. These sites do on a large scale what local community bulletin boards traditionally have done.

The Negative Aspects of Social Media

Social media's power can sometimes be used in the wrong way to hurt others. Some of the negative effects of social media use include:

Cyberbullying

Social media use is fertile ground for cyberbullying. The Cyberbullying Research Center (CRC) defines cyberbullying as "when someone repeatedly and intentionally harasses, mistreats, or makes fun of another person online or while using cell phones or other electronic devices."

While cyberbullying can happen to people of any age, it is of particular concern for students ages 13 to 17. In a CRC 2023 national study of this age group, researchers found that 55% of them had experienced cyberbullying to the detriment of their self-worth.

Cyberbullying can take many creative forms, such as:

Embarrassing comments

Negative posts or photos

Compromising sexual images (which might be fake)

Using social media to spread rumors

Threats to the person, the person's family, or pet

Offensive videos or webpages

Cyberbullying acts can be pernicious and harmful long-term, far beyond a passing embarrassment. In the case of a young Ohioan, severe cyberbullying allegedly caused her suicide and led to the state enacting the Jessica Logan Act, requiring schools to implement active countermeasures to cyberbullying.

Doxxing

A type of privacy invasion enabled by social media use is called "doxxing." Identity theft expert Max Sheridan explains doxxing as "the unauthorized collection and public distribution of personally identifying information or private material for malicious purposes."

An example is posting a person's name, home address, email, and telephone number without that person's permission on a public social media platform. The post might be flavored with a false allegation of association with a hate group.

The private information is often obtained through social media. Doxxing is intended to cause harm and is typically motivated by revenge, hate, bullying, terrorism, or bad faith tactics.

Real-life examples of doxxing include:

Releasing the personal information of the agent and lawyer of a 2016 presidential candidate (reported by Ranker)

Publicizing the physical addresses of certain U.S. Supreme Court justices after the decision overturning Roe vs. Wade (according to Cybersixgill))

Parking a "Doxxing truck" on a college campus - the truck displayed certain faculty names and images with the accusation they are "antisemites" (reported by The Denver Post)

According to Sheridan, privacy has become an "increasingly rare commodity. Internet tools allow anyone with a connection to become an investigator and publisher. This expansive access to info and social media explains how so many have fallen prey to doxxing."

Child Exploitation

A dark side of the internet and social media is child exploitation. The global reach and speed of digital communication have enabled child pornographers and predators to flourish behind digital masks and in shadowy groups.

The ease of using social media apps and platforms on mobile devices enables predatory adults to groom children by text and live streaming, share and consume child pornography, and extort children for sex.

Minors also make this exploitation easier, intended or not, by "sexting." Sexting involves sharing explicit photos through a child's social media account or texting.

Further complicating this exploitation is the rise of "kidfluencers." Kidfluencers are children with their own channels and followers on YouTube, TikTok, or similar platforms.

Children with large groups of followers can often earn money with ad sponsors. But these kids are not considered actors or "workers."

According to Vanessa Cerzarita Cordeiro of Humanium, "Though child actors are able to gain access to numerous protection mechanisms, 'kidfluencers' are treated differently because their activity takes place in a private home setting on a platform in which parents consensually participate." They are not workers due to "the absence of an employer-employee relationship and the fact that children are deemed to be undertaking normal family activities on camera rather than putting on a 'performance.'"

For this reason, the money they are earning from their "kidfluence" has not had much protection under the traditional child labor laws and regulations. But several states and Congress are working on improving this protection, as well as privacy laws, for these minors. For example, Illinois passed a law to provide some measure of protection for kidfluencers.

Addiction

Excessive use of social media platforms and their contribution to poor mental health, especially in young people, may be cause for concern. According to the Addiction Center, social media addiction is not yet a formally diagnosed condition that damages a user's psychological well-being, but it is sufficiently recognized to be treatable and covered by some insurance providers.

The Addiction Center defines this type of addiction as a behavioral condition, characterized by "being overly concerned about social media, driven by an uncontrollable urge to log on to or use social media, and devoting so much time and effort to social media that it impairs other important life areas." In other words, the person is obsessed with social media habits such as scrolling, texting, and posting, will spend time online to the exclusion of other life activities, and may ignore family members and friends.

How can such an addiction and damage to a user's psychological well-being happen? Social media use stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain - too much for some people. The Addiction Center explains that constant interaction with an online platform triggers the "brain's reward area" chemically in the same way as drugs like cocaine, or like "a syringe of dopamine being injected straight into the system."

Social Media Use Shines a Light on Basic Human Nature

Like everything else in life, social media use is a choice. According to researchers Jenna L. Clark, Sara B. Algoe, and Melanie C. Green, the key to social media's contribution to the positive impact on mental health and social welfare is where it fosters real human connection. The way to make the best of social media is for users to choose credible providers and to be aware of social media's pitfalls.

Hawra Hashem, marketing manager and communication strategist, emphasizes that social media use can be "more beneficial than not" if users "keep a healthy perspective about social media's role in [their] lives ... [and] use it to inspire, educate, show empathy, and become better communicators." In other words, use social media with the same respect and demeanor as with in-person relationships.

Considering its positive aspects and its negative risks, social media's growth seems a given. Statista notes that "Social media consistently expands, advances, and grows around the world. The total number of social media users is expected to hit over 5.85 billion individuals by 2027, which would be over half of the world population." Considering social media's unlimited exponential capacity, this prediction could well be underestimated.

The social media revolution is well under way. The massive changes social media use has wrought in how people connect and communicate are largely positive and have improved other people's lives. It is driven by humans' very nature to communicate, collaborate, and share information.

But social media shows the dark side of human nature. It is not social media that casts darkness, but its users. Social media exposes the problems humanity needs to solve as well as the pleasures to enjoy.
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Social Media Impact: How Social Media Sites Affect Society

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Social media impact - how does it affect people in society? This article explains the origin of social media and its positive and negative effects.

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How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers - Child Mind Institute It was published on the Child Mind Institute website. Author-Dr. Laura K. Lander.

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How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers (News Article)

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How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers (News Article)

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The article highlights how social media can increase anxiety, depression, and self-esteem issues in teenagers, offering a clearer understanding of its mental health impacts. It also suggests ways to support healthier use among teens. The article enhances my understanding of social media's dual effects on teens, highlighting both the positive aspects of connectivity and the negative impacts like anxiety and self-image issues.

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

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

Indirect communication

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

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

Lowering the risks

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

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

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

Cyberbullying and the imposter syndrome

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stalking (and being ignored)

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

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

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

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

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

What should parents do?

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

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

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

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

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How does social media affect behavior negatively?

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How does social media affect teenagers' mental health?

Is social media harmful?

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How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers - Child Mind Institute

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

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It was published on Simplilearn, an online learning platform. The article on Simplilearn does not specify an individual author; it appears to be a collaborative piece from the Simplilearn editorial team

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Impact of Social Media: Advantages and Disadvantages [2024]

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Impact of Social Media: Advantages and Disadvantages [2024]

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The article outlines the various impacts of social media, highlighting both benefits, such as enhanced communication and networking opportunities, and drawbacks, including mental health concerns and the potential for cyberbullying. This balanced perspective can help you better understand the complex role social media plays in our lives. The article helps me understand the mixed effects of social media on mental health, highlighting the need for balance between online and offline interactions. It encourages me to consider how my social media use impacts my well-being. This aligns with insights from other sources about the importance of being mindful of our online presence.

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Who can do something about this problem, and what can they do?

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Who can do something about this problem, and what can they do?

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Policymakers and Regulators: They can create and enforce regulations that protect users, especially children and teenagers, from harmful content and exploitative practices on social media platforms. For instance, implementing age-appropriate design codes, similar to the UK’s Age Appropriate Design Code, can help safeguard young users

Parents and Educators: They play a crucial role in educating young users about responsible social media use, setting boundaries, and fostering open communication about online experiences. Programs that promote digital literacy can help mitigate the negative impacts of social media .

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Who are the stakeholders in this problem?

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Who are the stakeholders in this problem?

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Users: Individuals, especially teenagers and children, who use social media platforms are directly impacted by its effects.

Parents and Guardians: They are responsible for guiding and protecting their children’s online experiences.

Educators: Schools are key in promoting digital literacy and mental health awareness.

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What are the constraints and affordances around this problem?

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What are the constraints and affordances around this problem?

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Constraints:

Lack of Regulation: Many social media platforms operate with minimal oversight, allowing harmful practices to proliferate .

User Behavior: Individuals may struggle to recognize and limit their own harmful social media usage, leading to addiction or negative mental health outcomes .

Financial Interests: Social media companies often prioritize engagement and profit over user well-being, making it challenging to implement beneficial changes .

Affordances:

Increased Connectivity: Social media can foster connections and support networks, which are particularly beneficial for mental health​

Access to Information: Users have unprecedented access to information and resources related to mental health and well-being .

Advocacy and Awareness: Social media can be a powerful tool for raising awareness about mental health issues and mobilizing support .

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Constant craving: how digital media turned us all into dopamine addicts was published by The Guardian. It was written by Mark Rice-Oxley and published on August 22, 2021

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Constant craving: how digital media turned us all into dopamine addicts

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Constant craving: how digital media turned us all into dopamine addicts

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I recently came across an article from The Guardian titled "How digital media turned us all into dopamine addicts – and what we can do to break the cycle." It really got me thinking about how social media is specifically designed to keep us engaged by tapping into our brain's reward system. The constant notifications, likes, and new posts act like a form of instant gratification, which makes it really hard to pull away from these platforms. It’s almost like the same mechanism behind addiction—every time we check our feeds or see a new notification, our brain releases a little burst of dopamine, keeping us hooked.

This article ties directly into my research on how social media affects dopamine levels. It provides real-life examples of how digital media captures our attention and keeps us coming back for more. It’s a great way to illustrate my point about how social media can mimic addictive behaviors, and why that matters for our mental health and overall well-being.

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Constant craving: how digital media turned us all into dopamine addicts

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According to addiction expert Dr Anna Lembke, our smartphones are making us dopamine junkies, with each swipe, like and tweet feeding our habit. So how do we beat our digital dependency, asks Jamie Waters