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Jordyn Horstman

Professor Leonard

English 1201

23 March 2021

How Does Social Media Affect Adolescent Mental Health?

Social media is harmful to adolescent’s mental health because it’s addictive and

increases risk of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, loneliness and sleep deprivation.

Although social media appears to be harmless, it’s full of underlying secrets that can be more

harm than good. It is well known that during our youth, being able to develop and maintain

healthy friendships as well as positive emotional habits is vital.

The invention of smartphones came in 2007, and by 2015, a whopping 92 percent of

adolescents owned a smartphone (Miller). Depressive symptoms began to rise in correlation to

the adoption of smartphones, comparatively year after year (Miller). This survey shows that as

soon as social media was introduced to the public, a rise in depressive symptoms such as

anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and loneliness began. The original idea behind the

smartphone was to bring people closer together, but instead teenagers ended up more involved

in social media and less invested in personal connections causing them to feel lonely. The

longer smartphones have been around, the more their dependency has grown to them and now

people, especially young adults, feel alone in their battle with addiction to social media.

Smartphones and tablets make it incredibly easy to stay connected to our friends and

families. In spite of the modern day convenience smartphones allow for us to stay connected, it

is also While this is a convenient way to stay connected, social media is too readily available to

everyone. This 24/7, increased networking ability can provoke the inability to control our

impulses. That incessant little red icon with the number of missed notifications is making one a

slave to one’s phone (Robinson). Are we becoming addicted to our “missed notifications”? Can
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one become addicted to social media? Is that even a thing? The definition of addiction

according to Online Etymology, is being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something

that is psychologically or physically habit-forming. We think of an addictive substance being

drugs or alcohol, but according to this definition, the ‘something’ that becomes habit forming is

checking our social media accounts everytime we receive a notification. We can compare a

social media addiction to one being addicted to cocaine or heroin. In both instances one is

craving something that one must receive in order to feel relief or a release. According to a

recent study by Harvard University, expressing oneself openly on social media sites creates a

similar effect in the brain as taking habit-forming substances (Social Media Addiction). However

social media addictions are different because one is not using a substance, instead one is being

rewarded with likes, shares and follows. The neurons responsible for the dopamine-producing

areas in the brain are activated when the person experiences a positive reward (Social Media

Addiction). Social media addictions are unnoticeable and undiagnosed but as many as five to

ten percent of Americans hit the standards for electronic addiction (Social Media Addiction).

This is an addiction based on behavior. We are driven with an undeniable need to tap into or

check social media, and we sacrifice endless amounts of energy and focus on the internet

which begins to hinder more aspects in our lives.

According to Dr. Abi-Jaoude, concerns have been raised about social media platforms

being designed with the intention to use behavioral psychology in order to increase behavioral

reinforcement and behavioral addiction. Other studies have verified large numbers of

adolescents seem to be addicted to their electronic devices (Abi-Jaoude). Although these

studies vary on their definition and scales of measuring behavioral addiction, they all agree that

the brain is rewiring itself through positive reinforcement.The activation of the dopamine levels is

triggering the brain to seek the reward. The ’reward’ of a ‘like’ becomes the positive

reinforcement. Pleasure comes when the individual gets a ‘like’ or a ‘mention’. Social media

addiction does not look unlike any other substance addiction, one will experience mood
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changes, salience, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, conflict, and relapse (Social Media

Addiction).

When one views social networking sites as a way of dealing with life stresses such as,

loneliness, or depression, then the overuse of social networking sites becomes an issue. For

these people, the social media platform is providing the reward they are not receiving in their

real-life relationships (Social Media Addiction). This unhealthy use of social media will lead to a

vicious cycle of interpersonal problems, which may then lead to worsening mood swings

causing this person to pursue their increase their interest in electronic media as a way of

reducing their sadness (Social Media Addiction). For these people, the craving is created when

dopamine is triggered in their brain after receiving the ‘reward’ of a follow or like on a post. From

there the addiction grows and they start to feel themself craving just one more like or one more

follow. One doesn’t know who is going to find interest in a picture they posted, or what people

will think when they view that picture. This curiosity keeps the user actively pursuing their social

media accounts (Coyne). This “one more” craving turns into hundreds and then thousands more

but they’ll never feel fully satisfied. The less they feel satisfied, the more time they’ll spend on

social media trying to fill this void, even in the event it becomes harmful to other aspects of

one’s life.

Social media is an addiction and it’s not to be taken lightly. Addiction in any shape or

form can seriously affect one’s mental health. What separates social media addiction from

others is it can take hold of anyone without warning and consume them, leaving them unaware

of how they got to this point. Once one becomes addicted, it’s a long battle to learn how to be

able to live without the approval of their peers via social media. It begins with simple signs such

as one feeling urges to use social media, daydreaming about social media, using this outlet to

suppress their personal problems, becoming unsatisfied or troubled if they cannot access social

media, and using electronic outlets to the point it becomes counterproductive to their job or

studies (Social Media Addiction). It is possible to be set free of this addiction by simply putting
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one’s phone down and recognizing the world is right in front of one and not behind a screen,

however it's not always easy to do. Enjoying the company of others in person, preventing likes

and follows, and refusing to be a slave to social media.

Addiction isn’t the only mental health issue excessive use of social media causes.

According to an observational study, when one allowed themselves to spend significant

amounts of time engaging in electronic media outlets they reported feeling less happy with

themselves and their achievements, whereas time spent on face-to-face engagements related

to feelings of well-being (Abi-Jaoude). Human beings are social creatures and require personal

touch with others in order to be completely healthy. The more one values their social media

contacts above their live, personal relationships, the more one is jeopardizing their chances of

developing anxiety or depression (Social Media and Mental Health). Several view the increase

in sadness as proof that the bond these social media addicts form are unfulfilling emotionally,

leaving them feeling socially abandoned (Miller). This social isolation leads to depression as a

result of the low self-esteem correlated to the anxiety and loneliness produced by social media.

Depression is an empty feeling of sadness that leads one to lose interest in activities that one

once found enjoyable. Anxiety is a state of constant worry and fear of what's to come.

Loneliness is a state of being alone and being upset about it. Low self-esteem is when someone

lacks confidence about themselves. As the research has shown depression, anxiety, loneliness,

and low self-esteem result because of heavy social media use.

In addition, 23 studies were reviewed to find a possible connection unhealthy internet

usage and mental deterioration was the concept of “fear of missing out - FoMO” (Lin). As a

result of FoMO, a person's mental exhaustion increases. TIn a study done by Dr. Abi-Jaoude,

he too concluded that teens struggle with FoMO, this is “a persuasive apprehension that others

might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent” and has been linked with

higher stress levels correlated to social media use (Abi-Jaoude). The results showed that

participants experiencing fear of missing out were more reactive from being socially included
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versus being socially left out. As a result, participants with increased fear of missing out could

be susceptible to abuse from internet relationships and have an increased desire for validation

(Lin). Those that experience FoMO are more likely to develop trust problems along with the

feeling of being isolated and alone. Loneliness begins to take over because the only

connections the adolescent is experiencing is through social media rather than in-person,

leaving them feeling socially isolated. FoMO can lead to negative consequences on one's sense

of self and lead to a neurotic obsession assuring themselves that they haven’t missed out on

anything (Social Media Addiction). The fear of missing out can damage one's sense of self,

trigger fear, and ignite more social media use (Robinson). They’re anxious about missing a

Tweet that everyone’s talking about or looking like someone that got millions of likes on a post.

Their self-esteem decreases as they constantly compare themselves to others, even if they

know the images they’re viewing are manipulated and photoshopped.

Many of us use electronic media as a “safety net”. When we find ourselves in an

element that has us feeling fearful, out of place or dejected, we pull out our phones and log onto

an electronic connection (Social Media and Mental Health). By relying on one’s phone as a

“security blanket”, one is denying themselves the opportunity for a real-life interaction that would

help to ease the fear. As a result, we find ourselves in the cruel rhythm of addictive social

media use. According to Social Media and Mental Health, prolonged internet usage can cause a

destructive cycle:

1. When one feels dejected, sad, worried, or troubled, one uses social media

frequently - as a way to reduce the blahs or feel alive again.

2. Using social media frequently, though, will improve the chances of FoMO and

feelings of incompetence, discontentment and detachment.

3. In turn, these destructive emotions will degenerate symptoms of sadness, worry

and dejection.
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4. These degenerating symptoms create a catch twenty-two effect, triggering one

to increase their social media use.

Another common contributor to melancholy in adolescents is sleep deprivation which

can be attributed to social media use(Miller). Social media could be the real reason why one is

not sleeping well at night. Sleep is the absence of wakefulness over a period of time. Social

media can cause a delay in one’s ability to fall asleep. In a 14-day, randomized, use of social

media prior to falling asleep was shown to interrupt sleep in various ways: taking longer than

normal to fall asleep and not feeling as tired in the evening, reduced melatonin secretion, ones

natural clock being thrown off, reduced amount and delay in rapid eye movement sleep, and

diminished morning alertness the next day (Abi-Jaoude). Falling asleep requires your brain to

slowly shut down over a period of thirty minutes, but the use of social media keeps your brain

awake.

Sleep deprivation due to social media affects 60 percent of adolescents who chose to

look at their phones before bed. Those that stare at their phones screen in the last few minutes

prior to falling asleep get about an hour less of sleep than their peers (Miller). This lack of sleep

is mostly due to the extended amount of time one spent on their phone. “You have the intention

to check Facebook or Instagram for 5 minutes, and then the next thing you know 50 minutes are

gone. You’re an hour behind in sleep and more tired the next day,” says Dr.Bubrick (Miller).

Poor sleep quality and excessive daytime sleepiness is directly correlated to the use of social

media before bed.

Phones already produce blue light that makes it difficult to fall asleep, but social media

makes it much worse. By grabbing one’s attention and holding onto it much longer than one

anticipated, social media works its way into one’s sleeping time. Sleep is a valuable thing that

impacts everything one does everyday and without a goodnight’s sleep one can’t function to the

best of one’s ability. Sleep deprivation is a clue that electronic media is impinging one’s mental

health. If one is compelled to view their social media account prior to falling asleep, then again
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when they awake, or even during the night, social media use is definitely a negative blow on

one's mental health (Social Media and Mental Health).

Even though social media seems unavoidable, you can still take extra steps to resist

addiction. There are things that one does in one’s everyday life now that are promoting one’s

social media addiction. Instead of falling into social media and relying on it for one’s ticket out of

boredom, try other things and focus on new alternatives.

A 2018 University of Pennsylvania study found that reducing social media use to 30

minutes a day resulted in a significant reduction in levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness,

sleep problems, and FOMO (Robinson). By simply shortening the amount of time one spends

on social media, one can improve multiple aspects of one’s mental health. Although it’s not ideal

to shorten the time spent on social media to 30 minutes a day, try to shorten the time by 30

minutes instead. To track one’s time on social media, use an app and set a goal each day. Try

to shorten the total time each day, even if it’s only a 5 minute difference. Another helpful trick is

to turn off one’s phone completely during certain times of the day. For example, one is spending

time with one’s family sitting around in the living room watching television. Instead of picking up

one’s phone and scrolling through social media, spark up a conversation and see how

everyone’s day is going. Or maybe try to not take one’s phone into the bathroom. This will

decrease both your time on social media and the time you spend in the bathroom. You can also

try leaving your phone in another room at bedtime. This would prevent you from getting on it 30

minutes before going to sleep therefore increasing your sleep quality. If one doesn't want to go

without one’s phone, then at least turn off social media notifications. It’s hard to resist the

constant buzzing, beeping, and dinging of your phone alerting one to new messages.

Disengaging notifications can allow one to manage their time and focus (Robinson). Along with

disabling notifications, limit the number of times one check one’s phone. One shouldn’t be

compulsively checking one’s phone every minute. Try to decrease how often one checks one’s

phone from once every 15 minutes, increasing to once every 30 minutes, and finally only once
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every hour. The less one checks one’s phone, the less you’re a slave to social media. Lastly,

one can try to remove all social media apps from one’s phone. It may be too drastic to delete all

one’s apps at once, so try to remove one app every few days. Soon enough one will no longer

be impatiently waiting on notifications to appear on one’s phone screen.

Try changing your focus about social media. Are you logging on out of habit or to burn

through boredom? If one can discover one's reasons for logging on, then one can decrease

time spent on social media, one could also enrich their experiences and avoid many of the

negative aspects. If one is logging on to check for specific information, or to share a photo with

family or friends, the experience is likely to be different than if logging on out of boredom or to

see how many likes your most recent post got. Next time one goes to access electronic media

accounts, stop and think, question the reasons for doing so.

Questioning whether one is an active or passive social media user will help identify your

reasons for logging on. Mindlessly flipping through posts or namelessly stalking the interaction

of others on social media leaves one feeling disconnected from others. This unhealthy act may

even increase feelings of loneliness. Being an active participant, posting pictures to share,

positively commenting in the conversations, will offer one a sense of connection with others

(Social Media and Mental Health).

Another way to try to break your social media addiction is to spend more time with

friends offline. Human beings need face-to-face companionship in order to be happy and

healthy. There is no doubt that social media is the ideal tool for fostering real-life connections.

But when virtual connections are permitted to replace real-life friendships in one’s life, steps

need to be taken in order to rebuild meaningful connections. Making a weekly date for coffee

and allowing time to catch up, everyone must agree to always stay off their phones. Catching

the smile of a total stranger and sending one back to them. Putting down the phone at the

restaurant, the post office or other places of business and taking the time to interact with people

will greatly improve one’s mood.

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Although some may think that social media is bad for mental health, others believe that it

benefits people. Social media was first introduced with the purpose of bringing people closer

together and making them feel connected. Social media does bring people together and helps

them to meet new people that they wouldn’t have been able to meet before the use of social

media. It brings people all around the world together on one app where they can communicate

and spread information. It is beneficial when there is new information that needs to be spread

quickly among people since most people are on social media at least once if not more times a

day. Social media is an information ‘superhighway’ that spreads information and news quickly

among people in order to help inform everyone at the same time. Many people rely on social

media like the daily newspaper to get their information and important news. However no matter

how important and beneficial it may seem, it’s not as great as it appears.

Research has shown that there is an undeniable link between social media use,

negative mental health, and low self-esteem. While social media platforms have their benefits,

using them too frequently can make people feel increasingly unhappy and isolated (Social

Media Addiction). After understanding the addiction and mental health issues that social media

can cause, one can infer that it is more harmful than beneficial to them. While appearing

harmless and fascinating, social media has proven to be an addiction in disguise.

The amount of growth challenges that come for children and teenagers along with social

pressures can be daunting. Unfortunately, the use of social media can make those challenges

worse, creating more problems, increasing their fears, loneliness and causing their self-esteem

to plummet. Parent’s that stress over their child’s excessive use of social media, can find ways

to reduce their use. One way is to simply remove the source by taking away their tablet, i-pad or

phone. The idea though is not to create more problems for the child, leaving them feeling

separated from their friends. Parents need to supervise and restrict children’s use of social

media. Learn how to use the parental control apps in order to limit children’s data usage or

limiting the amount of time they may use their phone during the day. Enforcing “social media”
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breaks until your child has completed their homework, not allowing electronics during meal

times or during family activities. To avoid sleep issues, parents should take away electronics at

least one hour prior to bedtime. Most importantly, parents need to explain that social media is

not a clear introspection of other people's lives. Teach children to have high self-esteem and not

try to compete with others on social media. People only post the best possible images of

themselves, and most of these images are false, carefully posed and selected (Social Media

and Mental Health).

After the countless number of hours spent scrolling through posts and comparing oneself

to others, one will realize that they are not only addicted but also deteriorating their mental

health. Acknowledge the addiction in order to rise above it. The only way to heal mentally from

the harm from social media is to take time off of it. Today, try to limit yourself from social media

and try starting a new book, journaling, connecting face to face with friends, or throwing a ball

outside with a friend, do whatever you need to do to distract yourself and heal from the damage

done by social media.

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Works Cited

Abi-Jaoude, Elia. “Smartphones, Social Media Use and Youth Mental Health .” Mental

Health , 10 Feb. 2020, www.cmaj.ca/content/cmaj/192/6/E136.full.pdf. Accessed 21 March

2021.

Lin , Chung-Ying. “Mediated Roles of Generalized Trust and Perceived Social Support in

the Effects of Problematic Social Media Use on Mental Health.” Sinclair Library , eds-a-

ebscohost-com.sinclair.ohionet.org/eds/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=50b9cb67-c2a4-4a21-

9743-c35e6ca601c8%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU

%3D#AN=148724385&db=c9h. Accessed 21 March 2021.

McLean Hospital. “The Social Dilemma: Social Media and Your Mental Health.” Here's

How Social Media Affects Your Mental Health | McLean Hospital, McLean Hospital, 10

Feb. 2021, www.mcleanhospital.org/essential/it-or-not-social-medias-affecting-your-

mental-health. Accessed 21 March 2021.

Miller , Caroline. “Does Social Media Cause Depression? .” Media and Tech ,

whygethelp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Does-Social-Media-Cause-Depression.pdf.

Accessed 21 March 2021.

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Robinson, Lawrence. “Social Media and Mental Health.” HelpGuide.org,

www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/social-media-and-mental-health.htm. Accessed

21 March 2021.

“Social Media Addiction.” Addiction Center, 20 Nov. 2020,

www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/social-media-addiction/. Accessed 21 March 2021.