Social Media's Effect on Youth: Mental Health and Wellbeing Report

This report investigates the significant impact of social media on the mental health and wellbeing of young people. It highlights the correlation between excessive social media use and increased rates of depression and anxiety, supported by research from the World Health Organization and various studies. The report explores how social media platforms contribute to peer pressure, body image concerns, and the fear of missing out (FOMO), particularly among teenagers. It examines the role of social comparison, online validation through likes and comments, and the addictive nature of social media algorithms in shaping youth behavior and mental states. The report also discusses how social media is engineered to control the psychological state of young people, often leading to a preference for the virtual world over real-life experiences, and references key studies by Ahn (2011), Best et al. (2014), and others to support its findings. Overall, the report underscores the need for awareness and strategies to mitigate the negative effects of social media on youth mental health.

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SOCIAL TREND 1
Effect of social media on youth
World health organization has found that the main cause which is related to the disability is
generally related to the depression on the mind. Many types of research have been conducted
which is clearly indicating towards the addiction of social media and related depression towards
it (Ahn, 2011). A depression study was conducted with the tool with almost 2000 youths of age
group 19-32 with the help of questions on social media. From this study, it was found that there
are almost 11 most used platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube and many
others.
A survey was conducted by Royal society for public health in 2017 and has found that even the
teenage group is getting worried about their social media platform which has given rise to
depression, anxiety and even reduces their sleeping time which is necessary for the healthy body.
The continuous use of social media is actually exposing these youngsters towards bullying and
developing fear related to their images and one of the common worries in present for the
youngster is fear of missing out. This depression is not only in teens but it also among grownup
too because social media in present time has emerged as an industry of its own (Bolton et al.,
2013). There is no doubt that spending more time on social media is leading to mental health
problems. In the case of teenagers, the quantity of peer pressure equine on them and the
authentication they pursue online is somewhat which generates insecurity problems at the first
time. Insecurity triggers to anxiety and additionally affects psychological ability. Previous,
gratitude from parents and close ones was enough for them to trust in themselves. Persons,
though, are now looking for likes and estimation surveys online, from persons they don’t know
personally at all, to authenticate whether they’re decent sufficient or not.
Though youngster is very often trying to find out some association with some community it is
actually negatively impacting on their mental health by this culture of comparing. It is this
comparison which gives birth to anxiety among the youngster related to their self (Best,
Manktelow & Taylor, 2014). In various case, it has been found that Facebook has created an
inadequate feel in the adults with the help of status updates, an image of others having a good
time, stories and make them uncomfortable by lowering their confidence, thinking, and creativity
within them.

SOCIAL TREND 2
The Current issue of social media is related with photo uploads
It has been seen that social media has captured more than half of the world due to their vast reach
and in this world of glamour, every single person is very conscious about looks. Every single
person associated with this platform want that world should see them as an ideal by their acts
through their uploading photos like where they travel, food, their looks and one of the biggest
problem of comparing with their self. It has actually developed an environment which is full of
negativity, low confidence; feel the anxiety to interact with others (Cain, 2008). The people on
the social platform have forgotten that every person in this world is different in terms of their
behavior, appearance, thinking, and values. They are actually making other people feel that they
are not part of this dynamic world or they should find some other players for themselves.
Reason for this behavior and attraction towards social media
From the behavior point of view, it has been seen that the main work of a social media addicted
person is to add new connections. At the same time, it has been seen that social media always
from a curiosity for forming network connections like in Facebook, add as a friend option is
available and at the same time they offer another person with accepting or remove option and in
the case of Instagram it offers to follow and following options (Toubia & Stephen, 2013). In all
the social media cases, it has been seen that it is actually developing a positive reinforce the
behavior of the person with the reward of their personal details which keeps them connected in
this network forming.
Various social media are now focusing on this reinforcement paradigm by transforming their
many activities into single signal with the help of notification icon (Valenzuela, Arriagada &
Scherman, 2012). It has been noticed that by generation a unique display in the form of bright
and red “+ 1” to keep them checking for whether it is a friend request, like or comment on
updated photos and their hidden latent of not displaying information without log in which really
reinforce the behavior of the youth.
The interest of students is more in social media as compared to studies
The social media is engineered in such a way that it is actually controlling the Psychological
state of mind of the young generation and there up to date feature is making them feel more

SOCIAL TREND 3
valuable as compared to studies as per students. Social media has impacted the student in such a
way that they have started living in their imaginary world instead of the real world which is not
good from the student point of view because they have to read, learn from real life experiences
(Gil de Zúñiga, Jung & Valenzuela, 2012). In the present time all the information related to
education, medical or science related, politics is being offered on the social media and so
students see it as an interesting aspect as compared to studies. They are actually getting attracted
to the fascinating world of glamour which is mostly unreal.

SOCIAL TREND 4
References
Ahn, J. (2011). The effect of social network sites on adolescents' social and academic
development: Current theories and controversies. Journal of the American Society for
information Science and Technology, 62(8), 1435-1445.
Best, P., Manktelow, R., & Taylor, B. (2014). Online communication, social media and
adolescent wellbeing: A systematic narrative review. Children and Youth Services
Review, 41, 27-36.
Bolton, R. N., Parasuraman, A., Hoefnagels, A., Migchels, N., Kabadayi, S., Gruber, T & Solnet,
D. (2013). Understanding Generation Y and their use of social media: a review and
research agenda. Journal of service management, 24(3), 245-267.
Cain, J. (2008). Online social networking issues within academia and pharmacy
education. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 72(1), 10.
Gil de Zúñiga, H., Jung, N., & Valenzuela, S. (2012). Social media use for news and individuals'
social capital, civic engagement and political participation. Journal of Computer-
Mediated Communication, 17(3), 319-336.
Toubia, O., & Stephen, A. T. (2013). Intrinsic vs. image-related utility in social media: Why do
people contribute content to twitter?. Marketing Science, 32(3), 368-392.
Valenzuela, S., Arriagada, A., & Scherman, A. (2012). The social media basis of youth protest
behavior: The case of Chile. Journal of Communication, 62(2), 299-314.