(PDF) Effects of Social Media on Mental Health
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Added on 2021-04-24
(PDF) Effects of Social Media on Mental Health
Added on 2021-04-24
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Running head: EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON MENTAL HEALTHEFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON MENTAL HEALTHName of University:Name of Student:Authors Note:
2EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON MENTAL HEALTHSocial media is a collective term for a number of sites and applications, which allowusers to create various kinds of content, share the content made by others or connect with otherindividuals or parties online (Fox & Moreland, 2015). Social media has become a major part ofhuman lives in the present day and there are a number of social media sites, which have differentfeatures and purposes. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snap chat are few of the most commonlyused social media sites. There are others like Tumblr, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, which havevaried purposes. Facebook and Twitter are very popular and almost every aspect of a person’slife gets updated on the facebook statuses. World health Organization has defined Mental healthas a state of wellbeing in which individuals are capable of realizing their potentials, are capableof coping up with the life stresses, have the ability to work in a productive manner, is able tocontribute to the society and is well adjusted. In simpler words, mental health is about emotional,social and psychological well being, which affects the way we feel and act in various situation(Galderisi et al., 2017). Therefore, mental disorder is term used for a wide range of disorders thataffects the mood, thought processes and feelings of individuals. A study conducted by Kimberly S. Young(1996) explored the emergence of a newdisorder called the Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). In her research she wanted toinvestigate if Internet addiction actually existed and what possible problematic behavior thatcould arise in case of such chronic misuse of the Internet. An adapted version of the criteria forpathological gambling that was defined by DSMIV was used. 396 dependent internet users and100 non dependent users (control group) were classified on the basis of the DSMIV criteria(Young,1998). After conducting qualitative analysis of the collected data, it was found that thereexisted a significant behavioral difference between the two groups. Prior to this research, therehad been no identification of Internet usage in terms of problematic behavior by sociologists,
3EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON MENTAL HEALTHpsychiatrists or psychologists. The results of the study suggested that the Dependent group spenta significantly more amount of time on the internet that the non-dependents. The dependentsspent a mean of 38.5 hours per week in comparison to non-dependents who spent an average of4.9 hours. 35 percent of the dependents utilized chat rooms more to spend theory time incomparison to 7 percent for the non-dependents (Young,1998). Therefore, since the emergenceof social media, individuals were spending most of the time in there. Dependent users viewed theinternet as a place to meet new people and socialize, they even preferred on line relationships, asit felt less threatening. Non-dependent users however found internet to just be a useful resourcefor information and a medium for certain business or personal communications (Young,1998)..On examining the extent of problems, it was found that dependents had reported numerousfamily, personal and occupational issues, the non-dependents faced no such issues except timemanagement problems. Dependents were on the internet longer that they were with their lovedones and real people, which hampered relationships, academics, professions etc. It was foundthat despite the number of issues, 54 percent of the dependents were not willing to cut downinternet usage and the rest 46 percent had made several unsuccessful attempts to cut off.Although strong evidences were found from the study, there were numerous limitations to it.Number of participants were too small, the control group was nit demographically matched forthe generalizabilty of the results. Also this study had numerous inherent biases, the group ofinternet users were self-selected , number of women were 20 percent more (Young,1998)..However, this experiment was conducted in 1996 and acted as a foundation for IADs and hencewas worth mentioning, the usage of social networks , however, have changed and evolved waytoo much in the past 12 years and recent studies have more proof of mental health related issues.
4EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON MENTAL HEALTHYoung in another study that she conducted in 1998, tried to explore the relationshipbetween internet addiction and depression. The Beck Depression Inventory was used and apopulation of 312 was taken, where 259 profiles were categorized under addicted users (Young,1998). The results of the study suggested that levels of depression were higher in individualsaddicted to the internet. Also, it suggested that clinical depression was associated significantlywith the increase in levels of personal use of internet. The researchers stated that either peoplewho were already depressed or suffered from poor motivation, low self-esteem tended to beoverly involved in internet usage, or, depressed individuals are more drawn to internet usagebecause that way they do not have to deal with the inter-personal difficulties (Young, 1998).However, it is not clear from the study, if depression preceded development of IAD or was it aconsequence (Young, 1998). Researchers Amichai-Hamburger, Wainapel, and Fox (2002) conducted a study to findout the relationship between extraversion, introversion and Internet Interaction. The studyexamined the ways in which personality characters determined the affect of the user in terms ofimportance given to internet social interaction when compared to real life interactions. The studywas conducted on a population of 40 participants who were familiar with using ‘chat’ and after a“chat session”, they were asked to fill up some questionnaires. The results of the study suggestedthat individuals who scored high on neuroticism and introversion were able to locate their realself on the internet. Individuals with high extraversion and stability scores located their realselves in traditional face-to-face social interactions (Amichai-Hamburger, Wainapel & Fox,2002). However, the major limitation of the study was generalizability as the number ofparticipants was very small. The implication of the study however was strong as it gave an ideaof how personality characters can be related to internet and social media usage.
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