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Running Head: PSYCHOLOGY
What is the Relationship between Social Media use and the Outcome of Mental
Problems?
Name of Student
Institution Affiliation.
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Running Head: PSYCHOLOGY
Contacts for help:dorineadalyn@gmail.com
What is the Relationship between Social Media use and the Outcome of Mental Problems
Human being are by nature social creatures and often need companionship of other
people to make progress in their life. Therefore, by being socially connected, people tend to
relieve sadness and anxiety however lack of social connection can result to mental health risk. In
the current day life, social media has become a part of the people’s lives as many people tend to
spend more hours on social media. Despite having many positive attributes regarding people’s
lives, social media has become one of the predisposing factor to people’s related mental health.
Social media has a reinforcing nature as it activates the brains rewards centers by enabling the
production of dopamine , a hormone linked to pleasure or a feel-good chemical such social
interaction. Such platform are often related to anxiety, physical ailment and anxiety. As such,
social media are related to aggravated mental health challenges.
Stigma on social media is still recognized a social barrier for early diagnosis and
treatment for subsequent mental health problems. According to Robinson et al, (2017 on
“Measuring Attitude toward mental Health using Social Investigating stigma and Trivialization”,
social media can be applied in measuring the stigma levels and highlights the new trends. The
study used the social media platforms such twitter to research and trivialize attitude across range
of mental and physical health conditions. According to the research, mental health stigma is
common in social media. As such, the article claim that while the many research are targeted at
investigating mental health problems, need care should be take into consideration to ensure that
the process is performed accordingly. The articles also posit that it is possible for the general
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Running Head: PSYCHOLOGY
public mental health to be studied using social media platforms (Robinson, et al, 2017). Using
automated software, the research collected data from social media platform specifically twitter
and analyzed messages related to mental and physical health conditions. The data were collected
within a 72 hour window period in 50 days. A total of 1059 tweets were collected and for every
condition, 1300 tweets were collected. The tweet were randomly selected for analysis and were
categorized based the presence and topic of stigmatization and trivializing attitude. The data
were analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis which were conducted on the trivializing and
stigmatization. To test the proportion of stigma attitude, a Chi-square test was done to test the
differences. To analyses the data on stigmatization and trivialization, it was necessary for the
data to be analyzed using qualitative analyze to add further details. The article safeguarded the
confidentiality of the people investigated as information regarding the article is also protected
and not available to all links. Also, creative common licensee for the content must be seek to get
access.
According to Cain, (2017), on It’s Time to Confront Student Mental Health Issues
Associated with Smartphones and Social Media, there is need to focus on the mental health of
youths to address the risk of depression, stress, anxiety and enable children acquire education of
hobbies, nutrition, sleep and excise. Despite other factor such need to succeed academically, and
other broad societal issues for depression, anxiety and stress among the youth; technology and
specifically smartphones and other social media have greatly affected mental health of children
in the contemporary world. There are reported cases of digital destruction coming from use of
social media outlets. The research analyzed various previous research study that were done in
relation to the topic and analyzed them by coming up with common themes among them. The
researcher analyzed various young adults between age 12 to 17 and 18 to 25 years and attempted
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Running Head: PSYCHOLOGY
to show the relation between smartphones use and the resulting mental health (Cain, 2017). By
gathering information from previous research article, the researcher was able to draw a
conclusion about what is common to the topic and make a conclusion. Ethically, the research
was done correctly because the researcher referenced all the sources which he drew his
knowledge. The research is good because it brought various perspectives into one conclusive
idea.
According to Berryman (2017) on “Social Media Use and Mental Health among Young
Adults”, there are many expressed concerns regarding social media use among the youths. Users
of social media plays an active role uniting in creating and shaping the experiences. Studies
have tied negative impact on youths mental health to use of social media,, however, for other
studies, evidence of harm or benefit from social media have not be found. Negative impact of
social media among the youths relate to impaired mental functioning, social anxiety, depression,
suicidal ideation, loneliness, and reduced empathy. However, there are misplaced concerns
regarding use of social media among the youths. Quality use of social media is good for one and
well-being, but negative use of social media is associated with authentic self-depression. Some
social media are associated with words that solicit attention of the users and are designed to elicit
behaviors for authentic self-presentation givens the vagueness of the words. Long time exposure
to social media is associated with reduced mental health (Berryma, et al, 2017). The study
consisted of 471 participants out of which, males were 130 and females were 335 mostly from
university. The data were excluded from analyzed data due to incomplete reponse. Separate
regression analysis were performed for different outcomes connected to mental health as a result
of use of social media. The research used questionnaires and ll the measures used Likert-sale
items. This was significant to access the degree to which the participants were connected
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Running Head: PSYCHOLOGY
emotionally to the social media use and to keep a brief mental inventory for mental health issue
related to social media use. The method was used to access the perceived social support that
adolescent were getting from parents and friends to combat the impact on mental health crisis as
a result of use of social media. Ethical issue relating to participants confidently are well
preserved in the article. Also, the article was conducted within the premises of ethical regard as
participants were allowed to answer only question they felt comfortable with. This this article
has more research and the conclusion drown are from social medias’ impact and its associated
mental health among the youths.
According to George (2018) on Concurrent and Subsequent Associations between Daily
Digital Technology Use and High-Risk Adolescents’ Mental Health Symptoms, most adolescent
spend a lot of time on digital technology and thus, their connectedness to social media is
resulting to their poor mental health. Most, adolescent are most at risk. The study was done on
multilevel regression models provided information that daily association to digital technologies
resulted in attention deficit especially texts sent. There are also associated conduct disorder
symptoms, poor self-regulation, and increased conduct disorder among the adolescents in regad
to social media use. The article also posit that digital technology may lead to offline symptoms
by isolating at risk adolescents through solitary (George, et al, 208). The study was conducted by
MiLife Study. Mobile phones were tract to report daily experiences, emotions and behaviors.
The participant of the study included 151 youths especially those at risk of mental health
problems. According to the result, CD symptoms were reported by close to 80% of the
participants. The participants who were taken were based on the report given by the parent. The
report had to relate to parent reporting behavioral difficulties hyperactivity or inattention or
exposer to substance. The study was conducted in three phase of baseline assessment, 8 month
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follow-up and EMA. This research designed enabled the research to explore the dynamics
instead of static components relating to social media use and mental health. The decision to have
deal with each adolescent was based on report given by the parent to enable the researcher to
evaluate mental health challenges provided the baseline for analysis of forecast outcome of the
study. Ethical regard especially to the adolescent could predispose them to advanced mental
health problems such aggression if they discover that they have been targeted for research. The
article is conducted with compelling details and well research topics. It is robust in exploring the
particular mental challenges that can result in social media use among the youths.
According to Jaoude et al, (2020) “on Smartphones, social media use and youth mental
health”, increased mental distress and medication among the youths has been paralleled with a
steep increased in smartphones. Empirical evidence show smartphones and social media
application to increased mental problem, Suicidality and self-injurious behaviors. The adolescent
self-view can be affected by social media through social comparison and illicit interaction. Many
youth are engaged in smartphones thus resulting to cognitive deprivation. Health official can wry
with youth, parent and other caring person to solve these practical problem. The article uses
systematic reviews of various research done in regard to social median its association to mental
health. In this way, the researcher is able to identify various components of the research
components to draw conclusion about them. The author adhered to ethical issues regarding
referencing, as such, it provide each source in regard to its associated author. This research is
informing, however, it would be more elaborated if practical research were done without relying
on previous information.
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Running Head: PSYCHOLOGY
References
Berryman, Chloe. Ferguson, J. Christopher. (2017). Social Media Use and Mental Health among
Young Adults: University of Central Florida, Orlando.
Cain, Jeff. (2017). It’s Time to Confront Student Mental Health Issues Associated with
Smartphones and Social Media: American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education.
Retrieved from:
George, Madeleine. Russell. A, Michael. Piontak, R. joy. Candice L. Odgers. (208). Concurrent
and Subsequent Associations between Daily Digital Technology Use and High-Risk
Adolescents’ Mental Health Symptoms: Child Development
Jaoude, A. Elia. Naylor. T. Karline. Pignatiello, Antonio. (2020). Smartphones, social media use
and youth mental health. Mental Health.
Robinson, Patrick. Turk, Daniels. Jilka, Sagar. Cella, Matteo. Measuring attitudes
towards mental health using social media: investigating stigma and trivialization: Social
Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. Retrieved rom:
