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    The Effects of Social Media On Mental Health

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    A study surveyed 1,500 young people about the effects of social media on mental health. It found both positive and negative impacts. Positively, social media supports relationships and identity. However, it can also cause depression, anxiety, poor sleep, and body image issues from unrealistic content leading to feelings of inadequacy. The most damaging platforms were Instagram and Snapchat due to their image focus, while YouTube and Twitter were most positive. Solutions proposed include tracking usage and highlighting digitally manipulated photos.

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    The Effects of Social Media On Mental Health

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    fatin
    7K views2 pages
    A study surveyed 1,500 young people about the effects of social media on mental health. It found both positive and negative impacts. Positively, social media supports relationships and identity. However, it can also cause depression, anxiety, poor sleep, and body image issues from unrealistic content leading to feelings of inadequacy. The most damaging platforms were Instagram and Snapchat due to their image focus, while YouTube and Twitter were most positive. Solutions proposed include tracking usage and highlighting digitally manipulated photos.

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    The effects of social media on mental health

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    A study surveyed 1,500 young people about the effects of social media on mental health. It found both positive and negative impacts. Positively, social media supports relationships and identity. However, it can also cause depression, anxiety, poor sleep, and body image issues from unrealistic content leading to feelings of inadequacy. The most damaging platforms were Instagram and Snapchat due to their image focus, while YouTube and Twitter were most positive. Solutions proposed include tracking usage and highlighting digitally manipulated photos.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    7K views2 pages

    The Effects of Social Media On Mental Health

    Uploaded by

    fatin
    A study surveyed 1,500 young people about the effects of social media on mental health. It found both positive and negative impacts. Positively, social media supports relationships and identity. However, it can also cause depression, anxiety, poor sleep, and body image issues from unrealistic content leading to feelings of inadequacy. The most damaging platforms were Instagram and Snapchat due to their image focus, while YouTube and Twitter were most positive. Solutions proposed include tracking usage and highlighting digitally manipulated photos.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 2

    The effects of social

    media on mental health


    The positive and negative effects of social media on
    mental health
    Written by Megan Stonecipher and posted in news

    In this day and age, social media constantly surrounds us. People are always on their phones or
    laptops updating statuses, posting pictures, liking things, and messaging back and forth with friends.
    Although social media is extremely beneficial in several ways (i.e., self expression, communicating
    with long-distance friends, self-identity, emotional support, and so on), it does have a negative
    impact on mental health.

    Recently a study was conducted by the Royal Society of Public Health and the Young Health
    Movement, which surveyed nearly 1,500 young adults around the ages 14-24 from Northern Ireland,
    England, Scotland, and Wales. For this survey participants were asked to rate 14 mental health and
    wellbeing-related issues for different platforms of social media. The mental health and wellbeing-
    related issues consisted of items like: quality and amount of sleep, feelings of loneliness, bullying,
    fear of missing out (FOMO), anxiety, emotional support, depression, self-expression and so on.

    The results of the study showed that there are both positive and negative impacts of social media
    platforms. Some of the positive impacts of social media platforms include, that it is great for making
    and maintaining relationships with people, self-expression, self-identity, emotional support, and
    community building. While on the other hand, the negative impacts of social media platforms
    include issues like increased levels of depression and anxiety, poor sleep quality, dissatisfaction with
    body image, cyberbullying, and FOMO. In general these negative impacts of social media are
    typically attributed to unrealistic depictions in posts that cause viewers to feel inadequate. This
    feeling of inadequacy and low self-esteem can lead to the negative impacts that were just listed
    above (i.e., increased levels of depression, anxiety, body image dissatisfaction, and so on). Social
    media can easily make people feel as if they are not good enough which can then lead to negative
    feelings and desiring to alter yourself or your life. These negative feelings and the desire to alter
    yourself or your life is harmful to one’s mental health. Additionally other research has found that
    the more often you spend on social media and the more social platforms that you are on can also
    lead to increase negative feelings and rates of depression and anxiety.

    Based on the results from the 14 health and wellbeing-related questions, the study went ahead and
    displayed the overall net impact of each social media platform on health and wellbeing. YouTube
    was rated the most positive for health and wellbeing, followed by Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and
    finally Instagram was found to be the most damaging for one’s health and wellbeing. It has been
    noted by many that there seems to be a problem with viewing image content since both Instagram
    and Snapchat were rated so negatively and are social media platforms hugely focused on images.

    In terms of trying lessen the amount of negative impact from social media, the Royal Society of
    Public Health and the Young Health Movement are proposing a couple of ideas. The first is having
    social media platforms keep track of the amount of usage done by a user and providing pop-ups
    stating that viewing more content may be harmful. This would most likely also help lessen the
    addiction that some people have to social media, and lessen the rate of depression and anxiety.
    Another proposal is having social media platforms highlight when photos of people have been
    digitally manipulated (this includes photoshop and filters). This would help with body image and
    levels of depression and anxiety.

    There is no way to know for sure if the proposed ideas will ever be put into action, so that is why it is
    important to be weary of your social media usage and the feelings it may be causing you. If you feel
    as if you are constantly checking social media or are feeling anxious or depressed after viewing your
    social media, it may be important to take a step back from your phone or laptop screen and take a
    break from using social media. It is also as equally important to spend time evaluating what you are
    putting on social media as well, as some content may be harmful or damaging to others. Overall
    though, remember that it is most important to do what is best for your mental health and wellbeing.

    Published June 13th, 2017

    https://spunout.ie/news/article/the-effects-of-social-media-on-mental-health

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