What Does The Research Say?

Researchers conducted an experiment on the impact that the growth of Facebook had on college students’ mental health. Their analysis of student mental health around the years of Facebook’s expansion showed that there was a negative impact. There was also an increase in students who reported issues with their academic performance due to mental health issues. Further evidence provided by the authors stated that there was reason to believe that these results were due to the fact the Facebook promoted poor self-esteem and social comparisons (Braghieri et al., 2022). 

This is a discussion about social media platforms, like Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram, and the feelings they produced in young people. The researchers conducted nine focus groups with males and females of the ages of 14 and 15. The study found that the features of these social media platforms (i.e. likes, views, comments) influenced feelings of jealousy, peer pressure, and inferiority. Furthermore, researchers found that the participants would attempt to combat these negative feelings by using filters, altering their persona, and being selective about what they post. Participants would do these things to boost their self-esteem and popularity (McCrory et al., 2022).

Researchers examine whether or not negative comparison on social networking sites worsens negative feelings and suicidal ideation. Furthermore, researchers wanted to see if this relationship differed between various social media sites. The researchers surveyed 456 students on negative social comparison and suicidal ideation. The results shows that there was a positive relationship between suicidal ideation and negative social comparison. This relationship was stronger on Instagram (Spitzer et al., 2023).

This article discusses a study that examined the potential relationship between frequent social media use and ensuing mental health issues in adolescents. The study examined over five thousand adolescents between the ages of 12 and 14 over the course of five years. The study found that frequent social media use is associated with poor mental health in adolescents. The study also found that while social media use negatively affects the mental health of both girls and boys, the growth trajectory of mental health issues differs between girls and boys (Lee et al., 2022).

Learn more about the popularity and usage of well-known social networking sites, like Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram, and the research that suggests that social media induces many different negative mental health issues, such as increased depression, body image struggles, and decreased well-being. The authors continue by discussing the existing interventions, stating that those interventions can produce small improvements. The authors conclude that there are however areas that can be worked on: consistent terminology, continued development of psychological programs, and interventions that are theory-driven (Herriman et al., 2023).