Contents
- 1 Does social media affect a teens mental health?
- 2 How social networks affect mental health?
- 3 How does social media contribute to teenage depression?
- 4 How does social media affect children’s mental health?
- 5 What percentage of teens have depression?
- 6 How does social media affect teenage body image?
- 7 How social media affects mental health pros and cons?
- 8 How does social media affect behavior positively?
- 9 What are the effects of social media addiction?
- 10 How social media causes low self-esteem?
- 11 How can social media affect a child?
- 12 How the Internet is bad for mental health?
According to the Pew Research Center, social media is “nearly ubiquitous” in the lives of teens. However, research reported in the journal JAMA Psychiatry found that adolescents who use social media more than three hours per day “ may be at heightened risk of mental health problems, particularly internalizing problems.”
When people look online and see they’re excluded from an activity, it can affect thoughts and feelings, and can affect them physically. A 2018 British study tied social media use to decreased, disrupted, and delayed sleep, which is associated with depression, memory loss, and poor academic performance.
One of the most common contributors to social media depression among teenagers is sleep deprivation. A recent study showed that teenagers who use social media for five hours or more daily were 70% more likely to fall asleep later or get less sleep compared to those who are online less.
The time our kids spend online has a direct effect on their mental health. Too much time on social media can lead to bullying, depression, and anxiety. Spending more than four hours a day online significantly increases a child’s risk of becoming hyperactive and inattentive, and decreases feelings of self-worth.
What percentage of teens have depression?
About 20 percent of all teens experience depression before they reach adulthood. Between 10 to 15 percent suffer from symptoms at any one time. Only 30 percent of depressed teens are being treated for it.
Teen girls report that social media has the biggest impact on how they feel about their bodies, rather than looking in the mirror, their health, or how their clothes fit. Research suggests that time spent on social networking sites is associated with body image issues and disordered eating in teen girls.
Impacts of Social Media on Mental Health
- Pro – Increases communication and raising awareness.
- Con – Promotion of fake news.
- Pro – Can help combat feelings of loneliness and isolation.
- Con – Can also increase feelings of loneliness.
- Pro – Normalises help seeking behaviour.
- Con – Can promote anti-social behaviour.
The good impact of social media: It allows people to explore and become actively involved without the fear of rejection. While no one advocates spending hours after hours gaming, social media games can build social connections, improve a person’s self-efficacy, boost their cognitive flexibility and self-control.
Excessive social media use can not only cause unhappiness and a general dissatisfaction with life in users but also increase the risk of developing mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.
The first study found that people who used Facebook most frequently, had lower trait self-esteem that those who used Facebook less or not at all. Moreover, this negative effect on trait self-esteem is the result of the fact that extent of upward social comparison was greater than that of downward social comparison.
I have learned that children’s developing brains are more affected by social media and the lasting consequences on their brains. Some negative effects from social media were violence and aggressive behavior, sexual content, body image and self-esteem, and physical health and school performance.
How the Internet is bad for mental health?
Excessive Internet use may create a heightened level of psychological arousal, resulting in little sleep, failure to eat for long periods, and limited physical activity, possibly leading to the user experiencing physical and mental health problems such as depression, OCD, low family relationships and anxiety.