A Study on the Impact of Social Networks on Adolescent Mental Health

This report investigates the impact of social networks on adolescent mental health, aligning with WHO recommendations. It explores the increasing use of social media and its effects on teenagers, focusing on anxiety, depression, and self-esteem. The study examines the relationship between social media use and mental health, highlighting the need for policy integration. It reviews key studies and discusses implications for social work practice, emphasizing the role of social workers in addressing mental health issues. The report also provides background information on the rise of social media platforms and their association with psychiatric disorders, emphasizing the need for holistic approaches to mitigate risks. The study's findings aim to inform policy decisions and improve adolescent mental health management. The report also highlights the lack of awareness regarding the impact of social media on mental health and the need for intervention programs.

Running head: THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 1
The Impact of Social Networks on Adolescents
Name of Student
Institutional Affiliation

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 2
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
Methods.........................................................................................................................................10
Results............................................................................................................................................13
Discussion......................................................................................................................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................17
References......................................................................................................................................18

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 3
Abstract
The purpose of 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 the use of social media. From the review of the concerned literature, a vast gap
was found in the theoretical framework that explored the possible impact of social networks on
the minds, psychosocial development and on the mental health of the adolescents in United
States. The time spent in the social networking and its relation to the behavioral and emotional
change of the adolescents is greatly implicated, in terms of adolescent mental health. The study
aims to understand the whole range of possible impacts of social networks on the adolescent
mental health and it takes up an explorative, qualitative research approach to reach the novel
findings. A semi structured interview along with a thematic analysis is used to find the critical
‘themes’ relating to the exact areas of social, personal and psychocultural issues associated with
the mental health issues in the adolescents. The study also provides a set of recommendations to
address the exact areas of issues.

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 4
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). The number of
adolescents using social media in increasing 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

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 5
(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 media on the 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 adolescents’ mental health
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. The first paper is by Pantic (2014) addressing the issue of online social networking and its
impact on mental health. The author focused on the role of Social Networking Sites (SNS) 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 is a systematic review of the impact of social media

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 6
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
adolescents’ mental health. 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 problems among adolescents as well as the community. Community development
and sustainable development are the two terms are widely used to explain the development, a
holistic plus continuous progress of an urban or a rural community. From the social perspective,
the health of the members of the community and the accessibility to the health services are the
critical determinants of social determinants of social growth and development. As the population
of children and the youth determines the future of the population, community and setting, it is
critical to understand that one of the central aspects of the social service is indicated at the
improving the health and wellbeing of the children and adolescents of the society and more so of
the adolescents as because they are prone to more negative health condition due to maladaptive
social behaviors and actions (Singleton, Abeles & Smith, 2016). As in the modern era of
advanced technology and digitization, internet and social networking is connecting people of all
group across the world, the adolescents who generally have a freedom seeking behavior gets
automatically risked by the harmful aspects of the internet and social networking. The duties of
social workers and the local activists become very important in imparting the right mental health
education to the parents and the children in a society, about the harmful and adverse effects of

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 7
social networking on the teens. The social workers should be engaging more and forming
partnerships with the nongovernmental organizations and governmental organizations working
for the mental health interests of the adolescents in order to deliver the right mental health
services to the adolescents. The role and practice of social workers includes empowerment of the
data control and digital use policies with respect to social networking and adolescent mental
health. Forming a closed framework with the national level policy makers and providing
feedback to make the required changes is very critical as well.
Since the findings of this 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). 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
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. 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.

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 8
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
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. There is an increased lack of knowledge, awareness about the
different conditions that affect mental health and wellbeing of the adolescents and lack of self -
care skills as well parenting skills are greatly involved in the development of mental health
conditions amongst the adolescents in the community, resulting from wrong use of information
technology such as the concept of social networking. The idea of social networking appeals as
exciting to the older children and there is a positive perception in the adolescents even about the
negative sides of the social networking and here is where the lack of awareness and good
judgment to be taken about one’s health and wellbeing comes to play (Baker, & Algorta, 2016).
The parental support and the social support in the prevention of the mental health issues and in
the management of the mental health issues when already is affected by various internal and
external factors again. Lack of knowledge about the mental health policies and internet usage
policies and even the very lack of essential policies and regulations in the management of the
adolescent mental health issues arising from the social networking – are critical barriers to health
and social change. The researches done in this area is also very limited and the biopsychosoical

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 9
elements related to research problem, is not taken into consideration for policy change, which is
hugely problematic.
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
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 IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 10
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. 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.
Methods
Research approach – the study will use an interpretivism-constructivist approach to explore the
subjective nature of feelings, ideas, thought content, affect and emotions of the adolescents with
respect to the use and application of social networking sites in their day to day lives. The choice
of this philosophy and approach is attributed to changing self-concept and self-image during
adolescent stages of psychosocial development (van der Velden et al., 2019). It is highly
important to understand, as found from the literature that there are various conditions that can
affects the child, mentally such as anxiety disorder, mood disorder, perceptual and attitude
problems, esteem and body image issues, behaviors and personality problems and as because
these physiological elements that concerns mental health of an individual is subjective in nature
and it differs from individual to individual, it is vital that the study undertakes an qualitative

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 11
research to understand the depth and vastness of the issues from the perspectives of different
adolescent children who has been reported by their parents and peers to have been spending a lot
of time on the internet, especially the social networking sites (Kim et al., 2018). Hence, the
interpretivism approach focuses on the individualism and individual aspect of the research
problem, in order to develop an empathic yet an intricate insight into the lives and experiences of
the children with social networking sites and how the same has been impacting their mood, affect
and feelings.
Sampling
16 adolescents were chosen for the study (males = 9, females =7)
Inclusion criteria
1. Age should be between 12 to 14 years
2. Do not have any history of mental illnesses.
3. Should be from United States
Exclusion criteria
1. Age is less than 12 years to more than 14 years
2. Have any history of mental illnesses.
3. Do not belong from United States
Data collection
A semi-structured interview was conducted to understand the impact of social networking
on the mood, behavior, affect and feelings of the participants. Open ended questions allowed the
free exploration of the children into their thoughts, moods, feelings, emotions and as because

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 12
children are less likely to organize their thoughts and relate to just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, a semi
structured interview is best suited and provide a good opportunity to the adolescents for a
broader reflection on their own views and emotional, cognitive and affective parameters.
Ethical considerations
Informed consent – as the participants were in the minor age, the informed consent was taken
from the parents of the children, who bought their child to the research settings.
Equity – the resources of the article was equally distributed among the participants and there was
no demonstration of bias or discrimination from any of the researchers of the study.
Beneficence – the researcher made recommendations at the end of the study to the children and
to the parents of the children on how to balance between studies with limited use of social
networking and taught a constructive use of social networking, eliminating the harmful aspects
of it (Li et al., 2018).
Non-maleficence – every safety precaution and safety guidelines were followed to impart a sense
of psychological safety to the participants of the research and strict steps were taken to eliminate
any least chance of harm being done to the participants. Effective communication with warm
gestures to make the children feel comfortable at every point of time, during the interviewing
process was assured.
Privacy and confidentiality – each step was taken to ensure privacy of the children and the data
related to their identity, background, family situation and all the other form of personal data
provided was kept confidential.

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 13
Dignity, Autonomy and Integrity – children have their identity, personality and viewpoints of
their own and it is important to give respect and dignity to the same, in order to maintain the
integrity of the child, as an individual. As an individual, the child has certain rights as well and
by no means, that can be completely oppressed by the adult society as it can have more
disastrous effect on the lives of the children, resulting in trauma and more mental health
complications (Daly 2018). Hence, the children in collaboration with their parents, can take a
good and effective decision regarding the use of social networking. Hence, the researchers of the
study maintained the integrity and autonomy of the children.
The responses of the questions to the interview was recorded using a transcribed verbatim
Data analysis
A thematic analysis was undertaken to reveal the important themes, related to the research
problem.
Results
The themes that were found are as follows.
1. The role of social networking in the development of anxiety – it was found out from
the responses of the participants that the long durations of the social networking made
them anxious and stressed as well that made them disturbed after a point of time. The
anxiety started from a generalized anxiety that increased every day or held stable during
the browsing of social networking site and most of the participants explained a sort of
nervousness and panic when they came across visually disturbing negative media content
related to violence, aggression, sex or death. The general anxiety accumulated over a
period of time, lead to social anxiety (Santesteban-Echarri et al., 2018). More the hours

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 14
spent in the internet browsing the social networking websites, more was detachment of
the participants from their family. Feelings of discomfort with and around the family,
increased need for browsing the sites, addictive feelings and positive attitudes towards
the social networks are the factors that kept the adolescents addicted to the social
networking sites but anxious at the same. The participants felt a general need of knowing
what is going on in other people’s lives of strangers and friends alike that kept them
glued addictively to the websites. Increased social anxiety led to negative stress and other
related issues.
2. Disruption of attention as a result of social networking – attention is important for
performing of the activities of the daily lives tasks and for attention in addition to
concentration play a huge role in the development of self-efficacy for a good academic
performance. The imbalance of study hours and hours spent in social networking led to
lowering of the academic performances and there are increased rate of absenteeism in the
schools. Proper nutrition and enough hours of sleep are the two most vital factors that
affect the functioning of the day to day lives and also contributes greatly to memory,
emotional resilience, thought patterns, management of stress and anxiety as well to the
‘well-being’ in the adolescents (Oberst et al., 2017). On the other hand, it was revealed
that the excessive use of the internet and excessive numbers of hours spent in the social
networking sites led to disruption in the daily patterns of eating and sleeping. The
sleeping hours were completed leading to feelings of anxiety and burnout that actually
deteriorated the level of attention, needed to focus on studies. This lead to lowering of
academic performances.

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 15
3. Social networking and social isolation – in most of participants, it was found that there
was continuous feeling of loneliness, anhedonia and the feelings of not being accepted by
the society and the feelings of differences with the society (Dietrich et al., 2016).
Generalized anxiety and social anxiety that results from over use of social networking
also led to various adolescents isolating from their parents and other members of the
family as well as there was marked evidence of social withdrawal from the friends as
well. The development of a ‘social phobia’ was seen in many adolescents who spent a lot
of time browsing the social networking sites.
4. Depression and the ideal-self – most of the teen agers tend to develop a freedom-
seeking behavior against the family, from the society and environment due to changes in
their self-perception, self-concept and changing self-image as well. As per the responses
of all the children who were the participants in the study, they felt a concept between
their perceived self and the ideal self and social networking helped them to idealize their
‘desired self’ and this happened more in the girls (Kwan et al., 2020). Repetitive
behaviors like mirroring grew as a resulting of disruption of ideal self when looking into
the mirror. The sadness was caused due to the marked difference between actual self and
ideal self and on a long term, the usage of social networking website led to feeling of low
esteem, self-disruption, heightened emotion arising with self-conflict and confusion about
one’s true self. There was an increased feeling of identity crisis developed from the
excessive and uncontrolled use of internet and social networking that led to burnout and
depression (Charmaraman, Gladstone, & Richer, 2018). Other negative coping
mechanisms of eating disorder, drinking disorder and substance abuse lead to feelings of
aggression, isolation and detachment was also revealed.

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 16
5. Lack of parental support – most of the children attributed their addiction to social
networking to the lack of attention received from the parent. Both the parents worked
outside and did not have enough time to spend their children at home that lead to
engagement of children in the social networking sites. The lack of parental support was
revealed as another important cause for the development of mental health issues in the
adolescents due to overuse and addiction to social networking sites.
Discussion
Spending of time in the internet led to feelings of inferiority or incompleteness as
compared to the lives of the others. The constant competition and comparison that was
unnecessarily drawn into the lives of the adolescents were the main causes of anxiety and stress
in the teens (Escobar-Viera et al., 2018). According to Erik-Erikson’s stages of psychosocial
development, in the adolescent age group, the conflict that sets in – is between role identity
versus role confusion and the social networking play a huge role in the development of
inferiority complexes that are difficult to resolute of dissolve once formed and it contributes
heavily to the feelings of sadness and aggression causing depression and mood disorders in the
adolescents (Pontes, 2017). The use of photo filters and to project one’s near ideal selves in
addition to showcase the good side of life such as good food, a tour and vacation or being
engaged in certain event – were all means of developing self -importance in the society and in
the social circle that an individual belonged to. The projection of one’s ideal-self became an
insanity and obsession after a short span of time, in most of the adolescents that affected their
mental health greatly and led to maladaptive behaviors such as negative coping (Kuss &
Griffiths, 2017).

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 17
There are feelings of apprehension, inferiority, fear, anxiety, paranoia developed from the
exploring of other people’s lives on the internet (Yin et al., 2019). The good and bad side of
society and world is visible in the internet and at an sensitive age as that of the adolescent age, it
is hardly possible to discriminate the good from the bad or the bad from the good and both of it
has an overwhelming effect on the minds of the adolescents that results in the development of
social phobia. The lack of knowledge of the parents and the adolescents about the balanced use
of social networking and adolescent mental health issues were revealed as the major issues.
Recommendation – the researchers of the study strongly recommends government policy making
and policy change directed towards psycho-education of children and their parents as the major
social intervention to address the problem. The policy framework should include regulations
such as close monitoring of the children’s social networking behavior, strict supervision on
maladaptive behaviors, parents spending quality time with children and engaging in enjoyable
recreative activities and monthly visits by the local social workers to survey the changes in
outcomes. The counselors and therapists should also be recruited in the mental health programs
to deliver individual therapy and problem solving therapy as interventions to address the
depression part of the adolescent’s mental health issues.

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 18
Conclusion
Hence it can be concluded saying that the perceived lack of affections, attention and
freedom were the major problems that were heavily implicated with the lives of the adolescents
spending a lot of time on the social networking sites. Using strategies like parental support,
psychoeducation and incorporating of positive coping skills by problem solving therapy is
important to solve the depression and other adolescent mental health issues arising from the use
of social-networking.

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL NETWORKS ON ADOLESCENTS 19
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