A Research Report on Social Media's Link to Depression and Anxiety

This research report investigates the impact of social media usage on the mental health of youngsters in the UK, focusing on anxiety and depression. It aims to identify causes of anxiety and depression, examine the effects of excessive social media use, explore parental strategies for fostering mental...Read More

Research Methods in Social
Science

ABSTRACT
The major purpose of this research is to identify the impact on mental health of
youngsters those are using social media in high manner. Social media has proven to be one of the
technology which has positive and negative impact over youngsters. In terms of positive with the
help of social media interaction between people can be made easier so that social life can be
enlarged whereas due to social media youngsters are not able to communicate with people in
face to face manner due to which anxiety and depression are faced by them.

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................2
1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................4
2. AIM AND OBJECTIVES ...........................................................................................................5
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ........................................................................................................6
4. RATIONALE FOR THE RESEARCH.......................................................................................7
5. LITERATURE REVIEW ..........................................................................................................8
Examine the causes of anxiety and depression among youngsters?.......................................8
What is the impact of excess use of social media on mental health of youngsters?..............8
What are the ways used by parents and guardians in fostering mental health of their child?9
6. METHODOLOGY AND METHODS .....................................................................................10
7. ETHICAL ISSUES....................................................................................................................11
8. EXPECTED FINDINGS, CONCLUSION/RECOMMENDATION .......................................12
9. TEMPORAL PLAN...................................................................................................................13
10. REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................15

RESEARCH TOPIC: DOES SOCIAL MEDIA LEAD TO DEPRESSION
AND ANXIETY?
1. INTRODUCTION
In the current time social media is regarded as one of the major platform which is used by
different people in order to interact with different people and to connect with them as well. This
is being observed that young people spend so much time on social media and they get involved
in social media in huge manner which may provide negative impact in the long run. Increasing
use of social media is causing anxiety and depression among youngsters as youngsters want to
stay isolated which is one of the biggest reason for generating anxiety and depression.
Youngsters with excessive use of social media may face sleep problem and this could create
suicide risk among them (Boursier and et. al., 2020). Social media is bad for mental health of
individual in which individual wants to keep them away from gathering and public. Social media
proven to be one of the greatest platform for people in order to share thoughts and to connect
with people. For youth and teenager social media is one of the fanatic platform which they use
while studying or eating. The current report is providing information in relation to negative
impacts of social media over mental health of youngsters. This research proposal is going to
provide knowledge in respect of social media and its impact over youngsters and using literature
information will be collected within the research. The research proposal will come up with the
following aim and objectives:

2. AIM AND OBJECTIVES
Research aim
To determine the consequences faced by youngsters due to excessive usage of social
media in terms of anxiety and depression. A study on UK.
Research objectives
 To identity the causes of anxiety and depression among youngsters
 To examine the impact of excess use of social media on mental health of youngsters
 To explore the ways used by parents and guardians in fostering mental health of their
child
 To evaluate the available services to support or prevent mental health among teenagers
on NHS

3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
 Examine the causes of anxiety and depression among youngsters?
 What is the impact of excess use of social media on mental health of youngsters?
 What are the ways used by parents and guardians in fostering mental health of their
child?

4. RATIONALE FOR THE RESEARCH
The major rational behind conducting this research is to gather knowledge in context of
impact of social media over mental health of youngsters. This is analysed that usage of social
media is increasing in current time and due to this youngsters are totally involved in using the
same which is leading them to stay isolated from social gathering. Youngsters prefer interaction
over social media as in comparison of face to face communication. Youngsters feel anxious
when they need to interact with some other people over face to face communication and this is
biggest reason for developing depression among them. The study will contribute in huge manner
within field of social study in which assistance can be given to future researches in order to
gather knowledge regarding the topic. The selection of this research topic is personal choice of
researcher in which researcher is willing to develop their knowledge in the same field. Using
aspects of the above research, various issues can be sorted out by the researcher in terms of
challenges faced by youngsters. The research is related with dual perspectives such as personal
and professional. In terms of personal perspectives the current research would lead the researcher
in developing various skills such as research skills, communication skills, analytical skills and
many others. These skills can be used by researcher in managing their roles and responsibilities
in their career. On the other hand, in terms of professional skills the researcher would be able to
manage their future researches in more appropriate and desired manner. This way the current
research is contributing in huge manner to the reader and researcher as well. The research is
regarded as one of the prominent aspect which is related with providing mental support to
youngsters those are dealing with the issue of anxiety and depression. The mental health is
tarnishing within youngsters due to the implication of COVID as staff within NHS is lesser as in
comparison to needed capacity. So the working employees were faced huge burden among
themselves and this has impacted the well-being of young people as well. The research is
conducted in order to prevent people's future those are working with NHS and are youngsters.

5. LITERATURE REVIEW
Examine the causes of anxiety and depression among youngsters?
As per the viewpoint of Wood,, Bukowski and Lis, (2016), there are various causes of
anxiety and depression among youngsters such as family history, illness and health issues,
medication, drugs, personality stress build-up, negative thought build-up and many others.
Anxiety is a process of feeling uneasiness and fear. There are few symptoms of anxiety such as
feeling nervous, having increased heart rate, feeling weak, trembling and breathing rapidly.
Depression is a serious mental illness that negatively creates an impact on the feeling of people,
the way they think and how they act. There are different types of depression such as major
depression, persistent depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, seasonal affective disorder and many
others. Depression generally occurs when an individual feel sad, hopeless, tearfulness and
emptiness. The other symptoms of depression are angry outbursts, loss of interest, sleep
disturbances or frustration. Youngsters generally get sad and worried related to their life events
such as fights, family issues, exams or due to friends. When the feeling of sadness go on for
weeks or months, it influence their everyday life due to which youngsters have depression and
anxiety. Depression and anxiety is a risk factor for self harm and suicide. The reason behind the
rise in teenagers with severe anxiety and depression are high expectation, pressure to succeed,
threatening and social media.
What is the impact of excess use of social media on mental health of youngsters?
As per the opinion of Naslund and et. al., (2020), there are various impact of excessive
use of social media on mental health of youngsters. Human beings are generally social creatures
due to which they remain active on different social media sites such as Facebook, Snapchat,
YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Youngsters generally use social media platforms for self
expression and entertainment. Social media platforms creates a negative impact on youngsters as
it distracts them, expose them to bullying, disrupt their sleep and rumour spreading. Overuse of
social media affects the brain of youngsters which leads to depression and low self esteem. It is
being identified that most of youngsters generally hide their online behaviours with their parents
so that they can live their own life happily without any restriction. The social comparison and
feedbacks which youngsters seeks by using social media platform are linked to depression
symptoms. Social media creates a great impact on the people as if they use social media sites for

longer time period and scroll the photos and videos of their family and colleagues, they belief
that others are happier than them which affects the mental health of youngsters. The teens and
youngsters have impulsive nature due to which if they post content on social media it brings a
risk of sharing intimate photos and highly personal stories. It mainly results in bullied,
blackmailed and harassed. Mainly youngsters post the content without considering these factors
or privacy concerns. There are few indicators which determine that social media affects the
mental health such as spending more time on social media as compare to real world friends,
experiencing cyberbullying and having no time for self reflection.
What are the ways used by parents and guardians in fostering mental health of their child?
According to Orben and et. al.,(2020), parents play significant role for mental health of
individual in which parents try to adopt such strategies which are helpful in supporting mental
state of individual. This is said that parents are the one those can understand their child like no
one else can. Over the past two decades social media has attain higher growth in which every
individual is now connected over social media platform. High impact of excessive use of social
media is seen over youngster in terms of loosing of language and various other capabilities.
Under the condition of anxiety and depression the major strategy that could be used by parents is
related with watching behaviour of individual in which parents are required to study behaviour of
their child so that any noticeable behaviour can be examined. This way parents can get to know
regarding changed behaviour of their child so that precautionary measures can also be taken in
order to foster mental health. Besides this open communication is the another strategy that can be
used by parents so that to stay in touch with their children and to create such comfort zone so
that their children can share any issue without hesitation.

6. METHODOLOGY AND METHODS
Research methodology is defined as adoption of such methods into research by which
research can be executed in such manner that research objectives can be attained. These are the
tools and techniques which are used for the major purpose of analysing, selecting and evaluating
collected information within research. Research methodology are the methods which are referred
as how the overall research will be conducted. There are various research methodologies which
are used within the research are elaborated as under:
Primary and Secondary Research: Data collection is the method of collecting and measuring
data or information which are pertained with the research and would be helpful in executing the
research in overall manner. Under data collection information is gathered within research using
different sources so that research aim and objectives can be attained. There are two major
methods of data collection such as primary and secondary methods (Dhir, Kaur, Chen and
Pallesen, 2019). Under the current research both of these methods of data collection are used
such as primary and secondary. Under primary method questionnaire will be used and in terms of
secondary methods books and journals will be used in order to gather in-depth information.
Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods: Research choice is defined as one of the
important step within research in which decisions are made in context of outlining the research.
There are two types of research choice such as quantitative and qualitative. In the current
research quantitative research choice will be used in which questionnaire is selected as source of
data collection. The current research is based on primary research in which questionnaire will be
used in order to take out appropriate research results.
Data analysis: Data analysis is defined as the process which is used in order to evaluate
collected data in such a manner that research objectives can be attained. Under the current
research frequency distribution table data is analysed so that research objectives can be attained.
Using excel data is accumulated within research so that to align the research in overall manner.
In order to present data Excel will be used so that to manage appropriateness within research and
to examine overall research results. Using questionnaire primary data will be collected and
youngsters are target population within the research. Sample size is taken as 30 in which
questionnaire is given to 30 respondents in order to manage the research.

Example of Questions
Q.1. What are the major causes of anxiety and depression among youngsters?
a) Family history
b) Illness and health issues
c) Medication
d) Drugs
e) Personality stress build-up
Q.2. As per your perception, What is the impact of excess use of social media on mental health
of youngsters?
a) Depression and low self esteem
b) impulsive nature
c) Harassment
d) Cyberbullying
Q.3. What are the ways used by parents and guardians in fostering mental health of their child?
a) Watching behaviour of individual
b) Open communication
c) Creating comfort zone

7.ETHICAL ISSUES
Ethical issues are regarded as such challenges which are being faced by the researcher
during the research. There are different ethical issues such as confidentially, informed consent,
data storage and destroy. Researcher need to manage these issues appropriately so that to attain
the objectives in needed manner. The researcher has specifically paid attention over managing
confidentiality so that responses of respondents can remain private. On the other hand the
participants those are taking part in this research will provide their informed consent so that their
given responses can be used within research for attaining research objectives.

8. EXPECTED FINDINGS, CONCLUSION/RECOMMENDATION
From the above research this can be concluded that social media has significant negative
impact over mental health of youngsters. This is examined that parents are required to take
various measures so that issues with their child in relation to mental health can be promoted. In
the current time depression is one of the consequences which is faced by youngsters due to
excessive usage of social media. Youngsters those are using social media in high manner would
feel to remain isolated and this is the biggest reason of their depression and anxiety. Youngsters
are not able to concentrate on their academics due to excessive usage of social media and this is
the situation when strict actions are needed to be taken so that future of these youngsters can be
saved.

9. TEMPORAL PLAN

10. REFERENCES
Books and journals
Boursier and et. al., 2020. Facing loneliness and anxiety during the COVID-19 isolation: the role
of excessive social media use in a sample of Italian adults. Frontiers in psychiatry,
p.1380.
Dhir, A., Kaur, P., Chen, S. and Pallesen, S., 2019. Antecedents and consequences of social
media fatigue. International Journal of Information Management, 48, pp.193-202.
Naslund and et. al., 2020. Social media and mental health: benefits, risks, and opportunities for
research and practice. Journal of technology in behavioral science, 5(3), pp.245-257.
Orben and et. al., 2020. The effects of social deprivation on adolescent development and mental
health. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 4(8), pp.634-640.
Wood, M.A., Bukowski, W.M. and Lis, E., 2016. The digital self: How social media serves as a
setting that shapes youth’s emotional experiences. Adolescent Research Review, 1(2),
pp.163-173.