heavy use of social media is linked to mental illness

Question

Youngsters report problems with anxiety, depression, sleep and “FoMO”

Comments

This prompt was very interesting and I learned that many people talk about this topic. Social media influences many people to look or act a certain way and we can see that through this link attached. A lot of people have a version of themselves that they want to be in their mind or a loom-a-like that they see online and will do what they can to achieve that. Which causes people to do things to themselves that can create issues physically and mentally.

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It's important to note that the impact of social media on mental health can vary based on individual usage patterns, the nature of content consumed, and personal consuming the media. While some people may experience negative effects, others might find social media to be a valuable tool for support and connection. Some negative effects of social media are excessive use has been associated with "increased risks of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress. A systematic review found that the use of social networking sites is linked to these mental health challenges"
https://law.stanford.edu/2024/05/20/social-media-addiction-and-mental-health-the-growing-concern-for-youth-well-being/?
There are also a lot of body image concerns being distributed to kids or even adults that question the beauty standard of the society we live in today." Social media can lead to body image dissatisfaction, particularly among adolescents. This dissatisfaction may contribute to the development of eating disorders and other related issues."
https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-023-01243-x?
In summary, while social media offers can show connection and support, excessive use can contribute to mental health struggles. Balancing online engagement with offline activities and being mindful of content consumption are essential steps toward maintaining mental well-being.

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The statement that social media has negative effects on metal health is factual and backed up by scientific evidence, but the source used of the Economist is not entirely reliable because it is a .com website, and it's source is from the Royal Society for Public Health, which have since taken down their article. I found a source from the National Library of Medicine with a study titled The Relationship between Social Media and the Increase in Mental Health Problems. They did a study in Saudi Arabia on teenagers who use social media, and stated that "High social media exposure has also been found to be associated with a higher risk of depression and anxiety in the kingdom [12]". The NIH is a trusted and reputable source that is peer-reviewed, so I trust their evidence.

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This article claims that the heavy use of social media is causing depression and anxiety among young people. One of the main uses of evidence is that Sean Parker, Facebook’s former president, admitted that Facebook was designed to exploit human psychology. This is true as Sean Parker came out to the public in 2017, sharing that Facebook was designed to consume as much attention as possible, knowing its impacts on young people's brains. This article took findings from a survey by the Center for Humane Technology, indicating that nearly 63% of Instagram users reported that they were unhappy, having spent an average of an hour per day on the app. 37% who were happy spent around half an hour. This is consistent with what I found in the official survey, making this fact check true.

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This article from The Economist makes a claim that young people from the ages 14-21 that use social media deal with a lot more mental health problems. I agree with this claim because they use a lot of backed up evidence and statistics to provide a valid argument. Some of the evidence they used like "platforms exacerbated anxiety and depression, deprived them of sleep, exposed them to bullying and created worries about their body image and “FOMO” (“fear of missing out”)." that is backed up by a well respected organization from the United Kingdom. I agree with The Economist's claim and I believe it is a valid article.

Answer 1

The idea that an excessive amount of social media causing mental illness is proven to be true time and time again. In the article, "How heavy use of social media is linked to mental illness" by The Economist, it claims that too much social media has a negative effect sleep, body positivity, fear of missing out, bullying, and many other problems. The article emphasizes that due to a HEAVY amount of social media teenagers are getting more negative effects of social media than positive. Although social media is a good place for connection and self expression, spending too much time on it can cause long term issues. Additionally, I searched up the claim online and was overwhelmed with the amount of other articles that cover this material. Taken from another article by Psychology Today, they talk about how an overuse of social media can conflict with happiness in ways that arenʻt normally noticed. All of these different articles help support the idea that with an excessive amount of social media, mental issues can happen.

Answer 2

This article seemed to have good journalism, with similar articles coming from other valid sources such as government sites. A key piece of evidence is a 2017 admission by Sean Parker, Facebook’s former president, who stated that Facebook was deliberately designed to capture as much attention as possible, fully aware of its impact on the brain, especially of younger audiences. The article uses evidence from different types of citations, including surveys from the UK government and different established organizations/universities. There is plenty more statements on this, such as the National Library of Medicine, who claimed, “Social media use is the second leading cause of disability among psychiatric disorders.”

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/05/18/how-heavy-use-of-social-media-is-linked-to-mental-illness?utm_medium=cpc.adword.pd&utm_source=google&ppccampaignID=17210591673&ppcadID=&utm_campaign=a.22brand_pmax&utm_content=conversion.direct-response.anonymous&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw68K4BhAuEiwAylp3kojZc-_RSnDsZNcqsrkgak4j9Q8JBp2LzzSAIP-uPjHy9VeuAY_qzBoCFfEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10129173/