Notes on: Social Media's Impact on Mental Health

'Social Media's Impact on Mental Health' is taken from the course, 'Managing Happiness,' by Arthur Brooks on edX.org.

How Relationships Have Been Impacted

Jean Twenge has done extensive research that has led to authoritative insights into how social media affects young people. The data shows that although young people are physically safer and less susceptible to accidents these days, they are psychologically more vulnerable with smartphone devices and social media and this has lead to a widespread mental health crisis.

According to her research, there has been a 30% drop in dating in younger generations and a decreased likelihood of marriage and cohabitation. According to surveys, younger people have a third less likelihood of finding love. Smartphones and social media have a significant impact on a person’s well-being, which has a negative impact on relational well-being as well.

The Impact on Youth and Especially Young Girls

If you look at 10 - 20 years olds over the last decade or so, you will see very concerning trends in mental health for both boys and girls, but in most cases, they are more pronounced in girls.

It is not common to see such big changes in data in such a short period of time, but some of the trends include:

• Anxiety has gone up

• Depression has gone up

• Loneliness has gone up

• Unhappiness has gone up

• Life satisfaction has gone down

• Self-esteem has gone down

These conclusions are not just drawn from surveys, but evidence has manifested physically as well, as emergency room visits for self-harm, like taking too many pills or cutting, have gone up, and this is typically more common amongst girls then boys. The biggest concern is the youngest group, girls aged 10 - 13, have seen the biggest increase in negative behaviours.

The one area that impacts boys more than girls, is teen suicide rates, which are still higher for boys than they are for girls, but the rate for girls has gone up a lot more in the last 10 years.

The trends are very negative across the board, but have a stronger impact on girls overall. When you cross reference these trends with some data from a Pew Center for Research poll you see that smartphone ownership started to cross the 50% ownership mark 10 years ago and social media usage went up to 75%, meaning if you did not have it, you were part of the minority.

Twenge argues a combination in both of these trends has fundamentally changed teens social life as increased social media use usually leads to less in-person interaction as well. You get the substitution effect, where social media replaces opportunities for face to face connection and that is what becomes very unhealthy.

Aside from inhibiting in-person connections, social media also tends to come with a lot more negative exposure as well, as teens get more into comparison of body image and lifestyle, which is stronger for girls. The link between spending a lot of time on social media and being depressed, or having depressive symptoms is also stronger for girls than boys overall.

Social media can have a negative impact on everyone, but the data shows, girls need to be more careful. Use social media in moderation and do not let it interfere with opportunities to connect with people in person. It is important to control your social media use, and not let it control you.