(PDF) Impact of Social Networking Siteson Adolescents -Research 2022

Running head: SOCIAL NETWORKS 1
The Impact of Social Networks on Adolescents
Name of Student
Institutional Affiliation

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Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Significance of the Study.............................................................................................................4
Problem Statement.......................................................................................................................4
Key Studies that Informed this Research.....................................................................................5
Implication on Social Work Practice...........................................................................................6
Background......................................................................................................................................7
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Abstract
The reason for conducting this research is to investigate how social media is impacting
the mental health of adolescents. The research addresses this issue in line with the
recommendations of the WHO on policies to curb and prevent mental health problems among
adolescents. Over the years, the use of social media has become fashionable as a mode of
interaction and communication across the globe. The application of different platforms in
business and communication has been emphasized with limited regard to the implications on
other facets of life such as teenage mental health. Studies have shown that there exists a
relationship between mental health and social media frequent use. Since there is limited inclusion
of this issue in policies and implementation programs, there is a need for further studies focusing
on this subject. The present study focuses on adolescents between the age of 10 and 16 where the
objective is to assess the impact of social media networks and platforms on adolescent mental
health. Through the findings of this study, it will be possible to design a collaborative and
sustainable healthcare intervention that incorporates all stakeholders. The outcomes of this study
will also form part of the evidence that could be used to inform policy decisions on effective
management of adolescent mental health across the globe.

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The Impact of Social Networks on Adolescents
Introduction
Significance of the Study
The World Health Organization (WHO) requires each country to have robust and
multidimensional mental health policies for adolescents (WHO, 2005). The policy should
address key areas such as stigma and discrimination, mental disorders, risk factors, prevention,
and management. The government is expected to come up with sustainable intervention and
foster awareness across different populations and stakeholders by capitalizing on partnership and
collaboration. Studies seeking to investigate the problem of teenage mental health are essential
because they offer important insights, evidence, and recommendations that inform policy
development and implementation (Hetrick et al., 2016). Amid this era of digitalization and
sophisticated technology, social media has become one of the most common platforms for
interaction (O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011; Pew Research Centre, 2015). Young people
between the age of 10 and 16 using social media is increasing in number each moment.
However, this has equally exacerbated the process of prevention and management of teenage
mental health problems. This study is targeting adolescents between the age of 10 and 16 since
this group is at a high risk of poor mental health. The study is significant because the findings
and recommendations will be used to inform policy decisions and changes to improve adolescent
mental health and management capacity across different institutions.
Problem Statement
It is estimated that over 10-20% of young children experience mental health challenges.
About 75% of the cases are witnessed between the age of 14 and 16. Common conditions include
anxiety and depression. At the same time, there has been an escalating trend in recent years

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(Hoare et al., 2016; Iannotti et al., 2009). Therefore, there is a need for more studies focusing on
how social media impact adolescents’ mental health. The requirement by the WHO that countries
should have robust policies on adolescent or teenage mental health has been implemented
differently across countries (WHO, 2005). In the wake of increased use and access to social
media by teenagers, policy dimensions need to capture this dynamic change and seek to integrate
interventions that address the effects associated with the trend (O’Dea & Campbell, 2011;
O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011). As noted earlier, anxiety and depression are the leading
forms of mental health problems facing adolescents across the globe. Policy recommendations
by WHO calls for a multidimensional approach to mental health management and prevention
(WHO, 2005). Risks factors such as the nature of exposures that people teenagers encounter
plays a key role in informing policy development. However, the question remains on how the
effect of social networks on the nature of mental health of adolescents could be effectively
captured in policy recommendations and implementations. This problem could only be solved
through comprehensive research focusing on the impact of social networks on mental health of
this group to evaluate the elements at play.
Key Studies that Informed this Research
Based on the scope of the study, several research articles have informed and justified this
study. While searching on key databases using the topic phrase, the researcher came across 21
results that addressed the issue of the use of social media and mental health. However, when
narrowed down to those addressing the impacts among adolescents, the number drastically
reduced. From the 21 articles, five were selected and the remaining 16 discarded because they
presented the themes that effectively articulated the research topic. The first paper is by Pantic
(2014) addressing the issue of online social networking and its impact on mental health. The

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author focused on the role that Social Networking Sites (SNS) play and how they define mental
health patterns. The second paper was a thesis by Strickland (2014), which investigated the
effects associated with social media use among young adults in terms of mental health. The third
paper by Keles, McCrae, and Grealish (2020) is one of the recent publications on this subject.
The article adopted a systematic review to assess the impact of social media psychological
distress, depression, and anxiety among adolescents. The fourth research that informed this study
was by Kelly, Zilanawala, and Sacker (2018) that evaluated data from the millennium cohort
from the United Kingdom. The study investigated how social media impacts the mental health of
the selected population. The fifth study was O’Reilly et al. (2018) and focused on the role of
social media and the wellbeing of adolescents in terms of mental health. The five studies have
offered the desired literature baseline for the discussion of the key concepts of this current study.
Implication on Social Work Practice
Social workers play an essential role when it comes to the prevention and management of
mental health challenges among adolescents as well as the community. Social workers foster
effective communication to improve effective decision making, which is important in adolescent
mental health. The professionals are part of the stakeholders in decision-making and problem-
solving discussions; therefore, they require an extensive understanding of the dynamics
associated with teenage mental health. The available resources that social workers need include
reliable and accurate research focusing on emerging issues. In the case of adolescents, social
workers require updated and well-articulated knowledge to address mental health concerns and
work with the clients to enhance recovery and prevention. Through this study, it will be possible
for social workers to devise measures that could be used to assist adolescents to strike a balance
between the use of social media and staying away from risk factors. Since the findings of this

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study reveal how this issue could be accommodated in the WHO policy recommendation, it will
be possible for social workers to meet global mental health goals among adolescents (WHO,
2005). In mental health, culture, creativity, and flexibility are essential factors that social workers
need to consider when working with the client or a community. Through the findings of this
study, it is possible to link these factors in intervention implementation to ensure that adolescents
experience a transition that guarantees limited risks of relapse and effective patient outcomes.
Background
The last ten years have been characterized by increased development of popular social
media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Snapchat, and WhatsApp. The
dynamic changes in social media started back in 1997 with the Usernet revolution (Weise, 1998).
Since then, the developments have transformed how people interact and communicate across
these platforms. Some platforms have a huge number of subscribers or users such as Facebook
with over one billion active members. Recent studies have shown that apart from the role that
social media play in communication and business, the use of social media is equally associated
with different psychiatric disorders. Additionally, evidence depicts that social media have
become a source of anxiety, depressive symptoms, and low self-esteem among teenagers as well
as adults (Pantic, 2014). With the increased popularity of social media platforms, scholars have
predicted further escalation of mental health problems among users.
Healthcare organizations have been keen to recommend the implementation of policy
initiatives to curb mental health problems. However, with the new dimensions emerging such as
the impact of social media platforms on people’s mental health, there has been a lack of a holistic
approach to the mitigation processes. For example, the limited knowledge of how mental health
is affected by social media interactions is not captured in the national policy frameworks across

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different countries. Such a limitation has become an obstacle to the comprehensive
implementation of intervention programs. The efforts of social workers have been thwarted by
the lack of adequate awareness among the targeted population and stakeholders within the care
environment regarding this issue.
According to Strickland (2014), young adults, especially adolescents, form the highest
representation on social media platforms. A huge percentage of active users and teenagers. The
nature of information shared across these platforms and the manner of peer-to-peer interaction
creates an enabling environment for the propagation of anxiety and depressive tendencies among
adolescents. Young teenagers who are constantly active on social media are at a higher risk of
developing mental health complications when compared to those who spend their lives outside
social media platforms (Strickland, 2014).
According to Keles, McCrae, and Grealish (2020), depression, psychological distress,
and anxiety cases have increased among adolescents owing to the high degree of engagement on
social media platforms. From the literature review carried by scholars, it was evident that policy
dimensions need to incorporate the effect of social media when designing intervention
frameworks to curb mental health issues among adolescents. According to Keles, McCrae, and
Grealish (2020), there is a need for more studies in this area for professionals to understand the
putative implications of social media among adolescents as they cope with mental health
problems and risks.
Kelly et al., (2018) found out that when the variable of gender is incorporated into the
analysis, girls were more vulnerable to the impact of social media on psychiatric disorders than
boys. However, the effect of the use of social media platforms was evident among adolescents
irrespective of gender variability. Evidence from Kelly et al. (2018) is not captured in policy

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recommendations, which implies that there is a need for transformation of approach to mental
health management among adolescents. Indirect interrelation depicted in this article also paved
the way for a multifaceted perspective when dealing with mental health among adolescents. For
example, the relationship between extended social media uses hours and bodyweight that
eventually paved the way for depressive tendencies.
O’Reilly (2018) also concluded that indeed social media has a significant influence on
the mental health of adolescents. Social media was associated with increased negative moods as
well as escalated anxiety in identified cases among adolescents. In fact, social media networks
formed the primary platform for instances of cyberbullying. Moreover, the use of such platforms
came with the risk of addiction, which presented a key avenue or a precursor for depressive
symptoms and tendencies (Greenfield, 2014; Hanprathet et al., 2015). In this case, such crucial
evidence and postulated as seen in the findings by O’Reilly (2018) should be accommodated in
policy dimensions and part of primary concerns among social workers dealing with adolescents’
mental health.

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References
Greenfield, S. (2014). Mind change: How digital technologies are leaving their mark on our
brains. London: Rider.
Hanprathet, N., Manwong, M., Khumsri, J., Yingyeun, R., & Phanasathit, M. (2015). Facebook
addiction and its relationship with mental health among Thai high school students.
Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand, 98; S81–S90.
Hetrick, S. E., Cox, G. R., Witt, K. G., Bir, J. J., & Merry, S. N. (2016). Cognitive-behavioral
therapy (CBT), third-wave CBT and interpersonal therapy (IPT) based interventions for
preventing depression in children and adolescents. Cochrane Database of Systematic
Reviews (Online), 9; 8.
Hoare, E., Milton, K., Foster, C., & Allender, S. (2016). The associations between sedentary
behavior and mental health among adolescents: A systematic review. International
Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. BioMed Central Ltd. DOI:
10.1186/s12966-016-0432-4.
Iannotti, R. J., Janssen, I., Haug, E., Kololo, H., Annaheim, B., Borraccino, A., & Roberts, C.
(2009). Interrelationships of adolescent physical activity, screen-based sedentary
behavior, and social and psychological health. International Journal of Public Health,
54(SUPPL); 2.
Keles, B., McCrae, N., & Grealish, A. (2020). A systematic review: the influence of social media
on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. International Journal of
Adolescence and Youth, 25(1); 79-93. DOI: 10.1080/02673843.2019.1590851

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Kelly, Y., Zilanawala, A., Booker, C., & Sacker, A. (2018). Social Media Use and Adolescent
Mental Health: Findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. clinical Medicine, 6; 59
– 68.
O'Reilly, M., Dogra, N., & Whiteman, N. (2018) Is social media bad for mental health and
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Pantic, I. (2014). Online Social Networking and Mental Health. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and
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Strickland, A. (2014). Exploring the Effects of Social Media Use on the Mental Health of Young
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WHO. (2005). Mental Health Policy and Service Guidance Package: Child and Adolescent
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https://www.who.int/mental_health/policy/Childado_mh_module.pdf
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O’Keeffe, G., & Clarke-Pearson, K. (2011). The impact of social media on children, adolescents,
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Pew Research Centre (2015). Teens, social media & technology overview 2015. Retrieved from
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