Social media is not harmful to mental health.

Question

Social media usage in not linked to having negative mental health. There are different ways this can be interpreted like one's use of social media can affect their mental health in different ways. If someone is just consuming media from supermodels and celebrities, they could feel poorly about themselves from comparing yourself to these unrealistic people. If your watching videos on hiking and food recipes, you mental health might not be affected. An article from Disco shares a study done by the University of Oxford and they said, "The meat-analysis failed to find a statistically significant link between internet use and mental health or psychological well-being". The study shows there is not a direct correlation to bad mental health and being online. University of Oxford is a credible source and their study was with 2,434,203 people from 168 countries and it spanned for 16 years. This is a very strong study because of the amount of people used and the timespan. 

Answer 1

After reading the article I have to disagree with your claim. Social Media is defintly harmful for someones mental health especially younger people. The article I picked to factcheck this, (claim https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/it-or-not-social-medias-affecting-your-mental-health) Uses a psychologist information to prove that your claim is wrong. She states that 81 percent of teens that use social media seem to feel depressed and have anxiety from using it because of the release of dopeamean that is released when people use social media. 

Comments

I agree with what you have said. By using a McLean Hospital article, you create a strong and credible case against social media's impact on mental health. The article highlights how social media negatively affects mental health noting that 81% of teens report anxiety or depression tied to dopamine-driven rewards.

Answer 2

It is true that depending on the type of media viewers decide to intake can have an impact on their mental health. Still, your initial claim stating that "social media is not harmful to mental health" is very inaccurate. From just a simple search, you find that social media affects your mental health by increasing the risk of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Furthermore, social media can physically affect your body through sleep deprivation and attention problems. Not only does the self-comparison brought on by interacting with social media cause mental health issues, but the amount of cyberbullying online is very alarming. In 2024, 44% of all internet users in just the U.S. stated that they have experienced online harassment. The article that you found your information from does bring up interesting points, but it's very safe to say the amount of information out there with proof that social media causes people more harm than good, proves your claim to be unreliable.

https://www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/it-or-not-social-medias-affecting-your-mental-health

https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/cultivating-health/social-medias-impact-our-mental-health-and-tips-to-use-it-safely/2024/05/.

Comments

I appreciate the thoroughness of your fact check. The original claim makes such a wide, sweeping generalization about social media, and you do a good job here of summarizing why the claim is incorrect.