Literature Review - Callie Riley

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Callie Riley

Professor Freeland

English 1201-505

19 Mar. 2022

How does social media affect the mental health of young people?

Young people around the world are constantly on social media chatting with friends,

sharing their own posts, and viewing the posts of others. As great as social media is for staying in

touch with others, the negative aspects tend to outweigh the positives when it comes to mental

health. Mental health issues among young adults and adolescents are a rising problem. Therefore,

the question arises, how does social media affect the mental health of young people?

Modern social media is relatively new, considering that the internet that we know was

only invented in 1969, according to Ralph Olliges, a writer from the Journal of Philosophy and

History of Education (1). Olliges’s purpose for writing the article was to inform people of the

history of the internet and technology. No one at the time of the invention of the internet had any

idea that social media would spring from it, not to mention how it would affect people in the

long run. Now, studies from Mental Health Weekly Digest, a mental health news publication

company, have shown that social media is one of the top causes of mental health problems and

suicide in young adults. This study was done to spread awareness of the risks social media poses

on teens, specifically girls. (“10-year study shows elevated suicide risk from excess social media

time in teen girls”).

Many researchers have developed the similar idea that too much time on social media

causes increased risk of depression, anxiety, and other mental health illnesses. Michelle O’Reilly,

a writer and researcher for the Journal of Mental Health, states that 99% of adolescents are
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online for 21 hours per week at least (1). Constantly being on social media can cause addiction.

Being addicted to social media and spending too much time aimlessly scrolling can cause anxiety

from having to go without it, and depression. Furthermore, Vikram R. Bhargava and Manual

Velasquez, philosophical writers and professors at Cambridge, found that most people addicted

to social media are among younger users (6). Both studies were intended to find different ways

that social media and mental health are linked.

Another repeating idea among researchers is that young adolescents have access to any

information on social media. This can seriously affect mental health, as they can be exposed to

inappropriate, serious, or hurtful content that influences them in harmful ways. Tatum Hunter, a

writer for the Washington Post, interviewed a young adult whose mental health was affected by

social media. He wrote that some teens may see things that they do not want to see, such as

weight loss ads or inappropriate and vulgar images (Hunter). A study by Lindsay H. Dewa, a

doctor specializing in mental health research, showed that young adults and adolescents are

exposed to negative content on social media (44). For example, pro-anorexia forums, videos

including violence, posts of self-harm, romanticizing suicide, and instructions on how to kill

yourself were all able to be accessed and seen on social media. Dewa and Hunter’s findings were

both found in separate ways, Hunter’s being through interviews and Dewa’s through research,

but they both found the same idea and had the same purpose.

Low self-esteem is another major effect that social media poses on young people. Seeing

celebrities and influencers have perfect lives and ideal body types makes teens and adolescents

feel bad about themselves and lowers their self-confidence. Teens are constantly surrounded by

expectations of what they should look like on social media, which puts pressure on them to be

“perfect.” However, a lot of celebrities' pictures are manipulated and edited, as found by Anna
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Behrmann, a writer and researcher for the Times in the UK. These self-image problems can cause

a variety of issues in both boys and girls, including low self-esteem, eating disorders, and

depression (Hunter).

Some topics regarding social media use among young people are quite controversial. Not

all parents monitor their children the same, as some let their kids do whatever they want with

their social media while other parents are extremely strict with it. Some researchers say that

parents should constantly be checking their children’s phones, have access to their accounts, and

limit their time on social media to teach them to be healthy social media users (“10-year study

shows elevated suicide risk from excess social media time in teen girls”). On the other hand,

some researchers believe that taking kids' phones and constantly monitoring them is not the

answer. This is because children can access social media from any device, some even get their

hands on another phone. Furthermore, these researchers believe that educating these teenagers of

the risks of social media and how to have more self-confidence is the answer (Hunter).

In conclusion, social media affects the mental health of young people by lowering

self-esteem, exposing them to content that can be harmful, and developing social media

addictions. All these effects produce the same outcomes; depression, anxiety, eating disorders,

bad body image, etc. in young adults and adolescents. Other than these effects, cyberbullying and

appearance editing apps, or FOMO (fear of missing out) could be other ways social media affects

the mental health of young people.


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Works Cited

Behrmann, Anna. “Teenagers Blame Social Media for Anxiety over Body Image.” Times, The

(United Kingdom), July 2018, p. 7. EBSCOhost,

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=7EH139861153&site

=eds-live.

Bhargava, Vikram R., and Manuel Velasquez. “Ethics of the Attention Economy: The Problem of

Social Media Addiction.” Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 3, July 2021, pp.

321–59. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1017/beq.2020.32.

Dewa, Lindsay H., et al. “Young Adults’ Perceptions of Using Wearables, Social Media and

Other Technologies to Detect Worsening Mental Health: A Qualitative Study.” PLoS

ONE, vol. 14, no. 9, Sept. 2019, pp. 1–14. EBSCOhost,

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222655.

Hunter, Tatum. “For Teens, Navigating the Mental Health Pitfalls of Instagram Is Part of

Everyday Life.” The Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2021. EBSCOhost,

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgin&AN=edsgcl.679703951

&site=eds-live.

Olliges, Ralph. “A Brief History of the Internet.” Journal of Philosophy & History of Education,

vol. 70, Jan. 2020, pp. xiii–xxix. EBSCOhost,

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=149427369&site=eds

-live.

O’Reilly, Michelle. “Social Media and Adolescent Mental Health: The Good, the Bad and the

Ugly.” Journal of Mental Health, vol. 29, no. 2, Apr. 2020, pp. 200–06. EBSCOhost,

https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2020.1714007.
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“10-year study shows elevated suicide risk from excess social media time for teen girls." Mental

Health Weekly Digest, 22 Feb. 2021, p. 66. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,

link.gale.com/apps/doc/A652566215/OVIC?u=dayt30401&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=a

2b5c43e. Accessed 20 Mar. 2022.

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