Literature Review: Role of Social Networking in Mental Health

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING IN
MENTAL HEALTH
Literature Review: The Role of Social Networking in Mental Health
Student’s name
University
Author’s note

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING IN MENTAL HEALTH: LITERATURE
REVIEW1
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore the relation between mental health and the use of social
media. It has been argued by many researchers as well as scholars in the field of psychology that
avid use of social media in the contemporary timeframe has become a global threat to mental
health. It increases anxiety, depression, stress and the fear of social distancing. To test the
validity of the claim, this study takes up an exploratory research through the survey of existing
literature in the field. It restricts the area of research in the presence of stress among Facebook
users. The results show that the level of stress among Facebook users is very much prevalent,
and it explores the various causes to this phenomenon.

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING IN MENTAL HEALTH: LITERATURE
REVIEW2
Introduction
With the rapid progress and technology and the revelation in the field of communication,
the dynamics of social relations and the subsequent effects on human beings have become one of
the predominant issues of academic discourses. Human beings are essentially social creatures,
living within the web of complex social relations and support systems. It is opined by several
thinkers that human individuals thrive with the help of fellow companionship, and suffers to
carry on without a support system or a social safety net (Balatsoukas et al., 2015). Given the
importance of social connections, it can be safely argued that social connection has a deep rooted
impact on the mental health of the individuals. Being able to connect to someone eases off a
person from anxiety, stress, depression, loneliness, suicidal impulses and boost confidence, self-
worth and provide comfort. However, with the advent of social media platforms, the nature and
consequences of social connections has taken a paradigm shift. With the use of such media
platforms, people these days can connect to peers, friends and family members even from a
remote location. Further, they can also connect with people from different backgrounds and
strata, otherwise completely unrelated to them (Lup, Trub & Rosenthal, 2015). In this regard, the
impact of social connection has not been the same on people, especially among adolescents and
youngsters. Along with comfort and support of social bonds, connections made over social
media platforms can also yield several negative impact. For example, unhealthy competition
among adolescents and the youth, bullying, overt criticism on insignificant issues, homophily,
etc. are observed in people, which yields suffering and distress rather than the expected social
support and comfort (Moqbel & Kock, 2018).

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING IN MENTAL HEALTH: LITERATURE
REVIEW3
In the past few years, scholars have repeatedly emphasized that social media has a strong
negative impact on mental health. They have opined that social networks can never replace real
world interpersonal communication, and is one of the predominant reasons for decaying mental
and emotional health in today’s time. To evaluate the viability of the claim, the present study
takes up an exploratory research to determine prevalence of stress among Facebook users and the
probable causes of such stress. The purpose of this research is to explore the available resources
and evaluate the arguments presented in the existing literature, thereby constructing a valid
conclusion. The significance of this review does not only limit in the comprehension of the
effects of social networking, it extends as well to aid future researches.
Methods
The literature review encompasses an exploration of a wide range of peer-reviewed
articles published in the last ten years, ranging from 2010 to 2020 from the database of several
scholarly sources such as PROQUEST, SAGE journals, SPRINGER, and ELSEVIER etc. The
search process was made limited to English publications and only those which provided the full
text online were chosen. The keywords that were employed to obtain the desired search result
included ‘social networking’, ‘mental health’, ‘social media’, ‘adolescents’, ‘social relation’.
‘social support’, ‘competition’, ‘stress’, ‘anxiety’ and ‘social disorder’ etc. The complete list of
articles on the merit of their central thesis as presented in the respective abstracts. The resources
were then gathered and scrutinized were chosen based on their relevance with the issue, and
those who did not match the inclusion criteria were duly removed from the resource list. The
remaining articles were then examined and explored extensively, and were further scrutinized
and excluded if they did not meet the inclusion criteria. Additionally a manual search was also