Excessive Social Media Usage and Its Negative Impacts on Adolescent Mental Health
The main purpose of this article is to study the impacts of excessive social media usage on sleep quality, anxiety, depression, self esteem and other mental disorders in adolescents. The article takes into account the usage of social media platforms, especially during night time and how that affects the self esteem levels and sleep patterns of teenagers. The writers are of the opinion that adolescents who were more inclined towards using social media at night and during the day were more likely to be invested emotionally in their online presence. As a result, most of them failed to get adequate sleep which affected their anxiety levels and even led to chronic depression.
At least 90 per cent adolescents, according to the authors, indulge in social media. As a result, the identities of these adolescents become intertwined with their online presence. Their poor sleep quality in turn makes them more vulnerable to low self esteem, early onset of depression and anxiety disorders. The article can be called a credible one because it provides sufficient empirical evidence to support its hypothesis.
The article claims that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter can be used to study the behavioral patterns of people across the world. The authors in the article hypothesize that at least tens of millions of people across the world suffer from depression. The article uses a crowdsourcing technique to gather information on social media users. The social media platforms (mainly Twitter) of people who had been diagnosed with clinical depression were analyzed. Their posts and statuses over a period of time were studied in order to identify behavioral patterns associated with depression and other mental disorders.
This article is a highly credible one because it portrays social media platforms as an important way of identifying behavioral patterns which could indicate depressive symptoms. Such information could be used to identify people suffering from the mental disorder, and it would be possible for them to get help. However, the authors fail to specify the use of social media as one of the leading causes of depression.
This study attempts to highlight the fact that use of certain technologies or media, for instance Facebook, would result in unfavorable attitudes and anxiety amongst the users. The article also claims that the excessive use of social media platforms would result in a few specific kinds of mental disorders which include – chronic depression, anxiety, compulsive behavior, paranoia, histrionic behavior, anti social behavior and even schizophrenia. The authors also opine that the increased use of internet and over exposure of teens to the world of social media has increased the levels of depression, sadness and loneliness amongst teens and adults.
Social Media Platforms as a Tool to Identify Behavioral Patterns Associated with Mental Disorders
The authors strengthen their argument by using an anonymous questionnaire which was filled up by teens on social media platforms. Responses from these teens demonstrated various kinds of mental disorders like personality disorders, anxiety, failure to maintain social relationships, dysthemia and bipolar mania. However, it can be argued that the authors narrow their discussion by simply focusing on one social media platform. Moreover, the results are based on an online anonymous questionnaire, which is adversely affects the credibility of the article.
The author in this article claims that social media has been found to be detrimental to both the professional and personal lives of individuals. According to the author, Stoney Brooks, there is extensive research on the adverse impact of social media on the psychosocial well being of individuals. The author claims that excessive use of social media can be distracting for people and would have an impact on their task performance and productivity.
The survey carried out by the author showed that greater use of social media led to decline in the level of task performance of the subjects. The article is further made credible by the claim that social media use leads to depression and technology related stress. However, the article focuses simply on the use of social media during professional times, and fails to account for the pervasive negative consequences that internet addiction can have on the well being of an individual.
The article studies the impact of social media on the depression and anxiety prevalent amongst teenage girls. The authors claim that proliferation of news and glamorous graphics on social media could lead to increasing levels of self esteem issues, body image issues, life dissatisfaction and eating disorders. The authors state that more than other media platforms like television or traditional media, social media influenced the mental well being of teenage girls. For instance, it was found that social media would increase the level of competition between peers amongst Hispanic teenage girls. This increase in peer competition is what resulted in body image issues and consequent depression amidst teenagers.
The article can be deemed credible because it highlights the link between social media platforms and eating disorders and self esteem issues in teenage girls. However, the article simply focuses on one aspect, that of peer competition, as a leading cause behind depression and other mental disorders in teenage girls.
This article focuses on the role of peer victimization evident on social media as one of the leading causes of mental disorders amongst users. Peer victimization is also termed as cybervictimization and is extremely common amongst adolescents. In order to affirm the hypothesis, the authors conduct a research on 839 adolescent high school students over a period of six weeks. The research showed that the use of social media and cyberbullying or cyber victimization led to symptoms of depression and social anxiety amongst students. Cyber victimization has also been found to contribute to low self esteem, depression and even suicide ideation.
Addressing the Aggregate Amount of Time Teenagers Spend on Social Media and Computers
The first thing that one notices about the article is the emphasis on one aspect of social media use. Cyber bullying is indeed one of the most common forms of harassment online at present. This has been found to take a toll on the mental and physical well being of adolescents. However, the article does not delve into the nature or the extent of the impact of cyber victimization.
The article claims that the pervasive nature of social media tends to influence the body image issues of women and teenage girls. The article claims that women in the twenty first century are increasingly reliant on social media. However, although social media is interactive in nature and provides relevant information to individuals, it can also lead to peer competition and development of negative attitudes amongst women. For example, social comparisons amongst women can lead to body image concerns. Increase in body image issues has a direct impact on chronic depression, social anxiety and loss of self esteem.
There is no doubt about the fact that the article can carries out extensive research into the influence of social media on the mental well being of young women across the world. It studies in detail the exact nature of the extensive impact of social media as compared to mass media. Yet, it lacks sufficient empirical evidence which would affirm the authors’ statements.
The article is based on the claim that a medium is the message, signifying that a person may very well communicate his inner thoughts and emotions through various media. Internet addiction In the article is defined as excessive use of internet related services, which includes social media platforms like Facebook. The authors also claim that internet addiction can potentially lead to depressive symptoms in adults and youngsters. The article mainly emphasizes on the concept of social comparison, which refers to the act of comparing oneself with others on social media.
The most noteworthy aspect of the article is the fact that it delves deep into the concept of social comparisons and the adverse impacts it would have on mental health and well being. However, it must be noted that there are several other reasons why individuals on social media suffer from depression or anxiety – for instance, cyber bullying or peer pressure.
Annotation
The article claims that social media has had a pervasive influence on the present generation. Although social media allows individuals across geographic barriers to communicate and connect, the young generation today is lonelier than ever. Given the impact on social media on mental and physical well being of individuals, the authors are of the opinion that the prolific impact of social media is unlikely to decrease in the upcoming years.
Conclusion
As a result, the authors suggest an interesting alternative. According to them, image based social media platforms like Instagram would be more beneficial than text based platforms which offer no intimacy at all. However, it must be understood that even image based platforms like Instagram may lead to social comparisons and have an adverse impact on the mental well being of individuals.
Reference Information
Lup, K., Trub, L., & Rosenthal, L. (2015). Instagram# instasad?: exploring associations among instagram use, depressive symptoms, negative social comparison, and strangers followed. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 18(5), 247-252.
Annotation
This article mainly emphasizes on one social media platform, Instagram, and its resulting depressive symptoms in adults and young adults. According to the authors, the imaged based social media platform allowed a number of strangers to follow an individual and vice versa. This activity not only increased the level of social comparisons one indulges in but also increased levels of loneliness.
The authors carried out their research based on questionnaires filled online. The research affirms the fact that extensive use of Instagram led to associations with more number of strangers, which could lead to depressive symptoms. However, the article simply focuses on one aspect of Instagram – namely, that of strangers following a person on the platform. However, the authors ignore a major aspect of social media use, like cyber crimes, which are rampant on image based platforms like Instagram.
References:
Brooks, S. (2015). Does personal social media usage affect efficiency and well-being?. Computers in Human Behavior, 46, 26-37.
De Choudhury, M., Gamon, M., Counts, S., & Horvitz, E. (2013). Predicting depression via social media. ICWSM, 13, 1-10.
Ferguson, C. J., Muñoz, M. E., Garza, A., & Galindo, M. (2014). Concurrent and prospective analyses of peer, television and social media influences on body dissatisfaction, eating disorder symptoms and life satisfaction in adolescent girls. Journal of youth and adolescence, 43(1), 1-14.
Landoll, R. R., La Greca, A. M., Lai, B. S., Chan, S. F., & Herge, W. M. (2015). Cyber victimization by peers: Prospective associations with adolescent social anxiety and depressive symptoms. Journal of adolescence, 42, 77-86.
Lup, K., Trub, L., & Rosenthal, L. (2015). Instagram# instasad?: exploring associations among instagram use, depressive symptoms, negative social comparison, and strangers followed. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 18(5), 247-252.
Perloff, R. M. (2014). Social media effects on young women’s body image concerns: Theoretical perspectives and an agenda for research. Sex Roles, 71(11-12), 363-377.
Pittman, M., & Reich, B. (2016). Social media and loneliness: Why an Instagram picture may be worth more than a thousand Twitter words. Computers in Human Behavior, 62, 155-167.
Rosen, L. D., Whaling, K., Rab, S., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N. A. (2013). Is Facebook creating “iDisorders”? The link between clinical symptoms of psychiatric disorders and technology use, attitudes and anxiety. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 1243-1254.
Steers, M. L. N., Wickham, R. E., & Acitelli, L. K. (2014). Seeing everyone else’s highlight reels: How Facebook usage is linked to depressive symptoms. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 33(8), 701-731.
Woods, H. C., & Scott, H. (2016). # Sleepyteens: social media use in adolescence is associated with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. Journal of Adolescence, 51, 41-49.
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