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.

Answer 3

The claim that "social media is not harmful to mental health" can be refuted on the basis of multiple scholarly articles and peer reviewed studies linking social media use to depression. A 2016 study titled "Association between Social Media Use and Depression among U.S. Young Adults" finds that social media "use was significantly associated with increased depression" in their study.

Another study, "Association Between Social Media Use and Self-reported Symptoms of Depression in US Adults" identifies "associations between type of social media use at initial survey and greater levels of depressive symptoms on a subsequent survey."

While there is not enough research about whether or not social media use explicitly causes worsening mental health, there is a plethora of evidence of a positive correlation between use of social media and depression.

Sources:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8611479/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4853817/

Answer 4

The claim that “social media is not harmful to mental health” is inaccurate. Vast research has been done regarding the harmful affects of social media to mental health. In the article linked by Yale Medicine, it is said that over the last decade, increasing evidence has identified the potential negative impact of social media on adolescents explaining that ,“American teens ages 12-15, those who used social media over three hours each day faced twice the risk of having negative mental health outcomes, including depression and anxiety symptoms”.

https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/social-media-teen-mental-health-a-parents-guide

In this article linked written by McLean Hospital they highlight the vulnerability of young teens to social media and the negative impacts it can cause. Explaining that social media provides young people with a “window through which they can view missed experiences”, social media puts a distorted lens on appearances and reality. Which leads to unrealistic and unattainable standards which in turn affects ones mental health as well as the cyberbullying that many face when interacting on social media.

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

Answer 5

This claim that social media is not harmful to mental health is definitely not true. I have seen it first hand and there is so much research to show the negative affects from social media. One aspect of this I found is from health.ucdavis.org. They state, "social media heavily focuses on filters." There is so much pressure to look a certain way and people constantly feel the pressure to look good on social media and this can heavily affect our mental health.

Another aspect of the affects on our metal health is from hopkinsmedicine.edu. They make the claim that, " time spent on social media may lead to a lack of healthy activities." Being outside releases endorphins and helps produce healthy chemicals to make us feel good. When we aren't being outside and doing those healthy activities, we are more likely to be isolated and it can increase chances of depression.

To conclude, there are so many reasons on why social media can be harmful to our mental health, and why this claim being made is false.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/social-media-and-mental-health-in-children-and-teens

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

Answer 6

A comprehensive study done at the University of Oxford found no significant link between internet or social media use and negative mental health outcomes across any age or gender group, including teen girls, despite widespread public concern and media narratives suggesting otherwise. Analyzing data from millions of people across over 200 countries and nearly two decades, the researchers found no consistent patterns of harm. 

An article produced by the APA argues the negative implications of social media stem from an adolescent's personal characteristics, such as self-regulation, maturity level, and comprehension of risk skills. The article continues to say that because of these characteristic features, it's hard to have a definitive age for when social media can become harmful to certain groups, but that it can be harmful. Social media can influence certain individuals' minds by promoting ideologies supporting racism, harmful body images, age inappropriate behaviors, and more. These influences are not fixed to one age or gender category, rather a risk anyone of any category can run into while using the internet as a whole. 

Recent Pew Research Center data supports the findings from the APA that there is no clear consensus on the impact social media has on teens' mental health. About half of teens say social media negatively affects their peers, though “only 14% feel it harms them personally”. Girls are more likely than boys to report negative impacts on mental health, but also report the positive implications associated with it, such as better connections and communication, creative outlets, and access to support systems. 

According to the Virginia Mental Health Access Program, the use of social media can have greater harmful effects on adolescence than it can on adults due to the way younger minds process received information. Because kids are more susceptible to forming their self-worth, discovering who they are, and creating their core values due to their young age and developing minds, social media can impact this development by fostering obsessive social pressures and external opinions. The article continues to say that “social media isn’t just designed to be addictive- it actually is”. The neverending quick releases of dopamine, infinite scrolling on apps like tiktok and instagram, all flood our brains' reward center. This flooding creates an addiction impact similar to someone struggling with substance abuse or gambling. 

https://www.apa.org/topics/social-media-internet/health-advisory-adolescent-social-media-use 

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/04/22/teens-social-media-and-mental-health/ 

https://vmap.org/2025/02/26/is-social-media-harmful-for-teen-mental-health/