Social Media and Mental Health Challenges

Social media, in the broadest of definitions, refers to similar yet distinct types of interactive, network-based, online communication opportunities that rely on user-generated content for message transference. Social media may include video sites such as YouTube or more personal/profile-driven platforms, for example, Facebook. Messaging applications, like WhatsApp, may also be included. Although the internet traces back to the 1960s, social media did not truly begin to emerge until the 1990s when personal computers and blogging became more widespread. Two of the earliest social media platforms were Friendster and Six Degrees. More than 5 billion social media users existed by early 2024.

Similar to the internet in general, social media has been criticized for simultaneously being isolating and inclusive. While these platforms allow real-time communication exchange between nearly all parts of the world, they also allow users to retreat into their spaces and remain alone. As communicating through social media gained in popularity, concerns arose as to the impact of social media on one’s mental health. In addition to often being connected to a lack of quality sleep, social media usage is frequently linked to anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem in children, teens, and adults. Although many social media applications and/or sites have minimum age requirements, younger users have found ways to circumvent those requirements, ranging from using an adult’s or other of-age person’s account to lying. This gives young people a potentially unmonitored communication space that has potentially problematic results for adolescents’ mental health.

Overview

History

Although historians date computers to the early nineteenth century, the more common and modern references to computers typically begin with the 1960s and 1970s. Computers began as expensive, large, mainframe systems that filled an entire room. Individuals did not own the earliest computers, which were not only extremely large but also were prohibitively expensive. Instead, the technology was used by governments, the military, universities, and very large companies. Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), a long-haul network that predates the internet, began in the late 1960s within the US Defense Department. It was designed to connect computers at Pentagon-funded research sites so that information could be easily exchanged.

Personal computers gained popularity in the 1980s, though they were still expensive. During the 1990s, home computers and internet access became more common and by the early twenty-first century, it was the new norm. With more people gaining access to computers and the internet, personal blogging began as a way for individuals to share their thoughts with the world. Although some blogging sites allow for comments and feedback, blogging is frequently considered a one-way flow of communication, where a message is created and left for a reader to consume. However, the creation of social media sites allowed for a two-way flow of communication that could potentially exist in real time. Six Degrees is often considered the first online social media site. The premise behind the site is that everyone is connected by no more than six degrees of separation. Six Degrees was launched in 1997 and lasted until 2001. At its peak, it had approximately 3.5 million users. Friendster was launched in 2002 and had more than 100 million users. It was rebranded in 2011 and targeted toward gamers. In 2019, the site ended.

Perhaps one of the most well-known social media sites is Facebook. Created by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollom, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes in 2004, Facebook began as a private social media site for Harvard students but became available to anyone older than thirteen in 2006. Facebook is only one of many social media sites that exist. Other popular social media apps and sites include WhatsApp, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and LinkedIn. Although its demographic audience has changed throughout the years, Facebook remained the largest social media platform in the 2020s, with over 3.05 billion users by early 2024. Not surprisingly, because of its popularity and userbase, Facebook has also frequently come under fire for its content. Individuals and organizations have used it to spread misinformation. The site has reportedly had a negative impact on the mental well-being of some people. However, Facebook is not alone in this respect. Because of their popularity, social media platforms have overall been criticized for promoting unhealthy behaviors and expectations. For example, Instagram, because of its highly visual nature, has been accused of promoting anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem among its users.

Addiction

The popularity of social media has led many people to anecdotally talk of being addicted to social media. According to several reports, this perceived compulsion to use social media may be real. Addiction to social media can be similar to addictions to other activities, with symptoms mirroring other substance-use disorders. Treatment programs have been designed to treat social media addiction in ways similar to other compulsive disorders. A telltale marker of addiction is if someone uses social media to improve their mood, even if a person’s social media use leads to negative consequences.

A dependency on social media may be physical or psychological. The positive feeling created by social media occurs from the release of dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a chemical that transmits messages between nerve cells. This is the same chemical that is released when someone eats a favorite food or engages in another pleasurable activity. The positive feeling evoked causes the person to crave the feeling again and again, leading them to repeat the activity. This repetition can ultimately lead to a dependency cycle. However, too much dopamine can lead to anxiousness, hyper-aggressiveness, and poor impulse control. These characteristics can lead to repetitive, impulsive behavior, as well as mania and a need to complete the specific behavior to feel any sense of pleasure. This can become an example of too much of a good thing. Dopamine, the feel-good chemical, can turn positive responses into anxiousness and a lack of focus. However, achieving the right chemical balance is challenging. Too little dopamine is also characteristic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Predators and Abuse

In 2024, investigative journalists from a consortium of media outlets including the Washington Post reported that an international network of child abusers were emerging in the 2020s, terrorizing thousands of children via the social media platform Discord, a gamers' hub that was popular with teens, and the messaging app Telegram. In September 2023, the FBI sent out a public warning that identified eight online groups that sought to harm minors between the ages of eight and seventeen for the abusers' entertainment or notoriety. Abusers in the groups would coerce victims into livestreaming acts of self-harm, including sexual abuse and suicide, on the platforms. The platforms and law enforcement have found it challenging to moderate and ban such abuse due to the platforms' encryption and the abusers' abilities to set up new accounts, servers, and chat rooms when existing ones are shut down.

Further Insights

Children and Social Media

Psychologists and other social scientists are particularly interested in the impact of social media on children because they have less experience with critical thinking and less understanding of media literacy. In addition, children spend more and more time in front of screens, often unmonitored. A 2022 Pew Research study revealed that 97 percent of US teens reported using the internet daily, up from 92 percent in 2014–2015. Almost half of the teens surveyed (46 percent) reported using the internet “almost constantly.” Results also showed potential signs of perceived addiction, with 54 percent of teens stating it would be hard to give up social media, including 18 percent who believed it would be very hard. Teen girls (58 percent), more often than teen boys (49 percent), reported difficulty in disconnecting from social media. Older teens in general also perceived themselves as potentially having a more difficult time giving up social media than younger ones. Forty-one percent of teenage girls said they spent too much time on social media, while 31 percent of teenage boys reported the same.

Although Facebook remains a social media giant, teen use of Facebook has declined from 71 percent in 2014–2015 to 32 percent in the 2022 report. Instead, teens have tended to gravitate toward YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. Facebook was one of the first social media platforms to evoke studies surrounding mental health. For example, after Facebook was released to colleges and universities, research showed a sizeable increase in students reporting mental health concerns the following year. Reports of depression increased by 7 percent and anxiety disorders increased by 20 percent. Social media applications like Instagram and TikTok, which are more popular among children, young adults, and teen consumers, have also been blamed for contributing negatively to users’ mental health. Research and the general public have accused the platforms of normalizing unrealistic beauty standards that contribute to unhealthy body perceptions.

In addition to indirectly promoting unrealistic expectations, social media has also come under target for providing incorrect information, particularly as it pertains to mental health issues. In 2023, TikTok was the most widely downloaded social media app. People of all ages, but particularly young people, acknowledged finding communities of like people through the app. In particular, users began using TikTok to find people going through similar mental health challenges. While this can be a useful way to obtain information, professionals have also noted major issues. Research revealed that TikTok’s algorithm may direct incorrect and dangerous information to those already dealing with mental health issues. For example, an individual dealing with unrealistic body expectations may be hyper-exposed to media content promoting anorexia or extreme dieting messages.

In 2024, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, called for warning labels to be imposed on social media apps that declare the association between social media usage and significant mental health consequences for adolescents. Dr. Murthy also recommended fundamental changes to social media apps and the passage of legislation by Congress to further protect children from potential harm.

Adults and Social Media

Although considerable research focuses on children and teens as vulnerable populations, adults are not immune to the effects of social media. Anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem can occur at any age. Some scholars point to fear of missing out, or FOMO, as a concern of children and adults. Adults, in particular, may experience this when viewing posts or messages by those leading lives that are seemingly more interesting than their own. Consistent consumption of this material can move an individual from disappointment, to jealousy, to depression. Although adults are expected to have a higher degree of critical thinking and media literacy skills, research has suggested that Instagram and TikTok may also contribute to sadness or depression in adults. Some research stops short of stating that social media usage causes mental health problems in adults, noting that correlation is not causation. Instead, it examines the correlation between social media and depressed individuals, or the tendency for depressed individuals to be more likely to consume—and contribute to—such sites.

A study of nearly 5,400 adults revealed that survey respondents were more likely to report an increase in depression symptoms after using social media. Researchers acknowledged the difficulty in establishing a causal relationship between social media use and depression among adults with data collected from 2020 and 2021, arguing that it is difficult to factor in the impact of COVID-19, the worldwide pandemic. During the global pandemic, social media served as a way for people to connect with others and maintain a sense of normalcy. So, while social media usage increased between 2020 and 2021, the potential impact of COVID-19 on depression cannot be ignored.

Issues

Critiques of social media lean toward its negatives. However, researchers do acknowledge the positive outcomes of social media usage. Online interaction does not have the same psychological benefits as face-to-face communication, but in situations such as the COVID-19 global pandemic, social media can provide invaluable connections during isolated times. Robinson & Smith list communicating, finding communities, networking, promoting causes, seeking/providing emotional support, self-expression, and discovery as positive aspects of social media. Connecting and establishing communities can be particularly helpful to those living in isolated areas or those seeking friendship or information from members of underrepresented groups.

Proponents of social media and its usage remind naysayers of the social aspect of social media. While critics in the early days of the internet argued it isolated people and destroyed face-to-face communication, supporters countered that the internet allowed people to communicate with individuals around the world, albeit in new ways. The same arguments have also been used in defense of social media. Reducing social media usage may be the compromise to maximize benefits over drawbacks. Logging on for thirty minutes or less per day, according to a 2018 University of Pennsylvania study, reduces anxiety, loneliness, and depression. For those who do not view this low usage range as realistic, researchers advise, at minimum, disabling notifications, creating media-free times or zones, and limiting social media apps to desktop or laptop computers. Scholars are also hesitant to recommend banning children or teens from social media because the use of these platforms has become an integral element of modern culture and in many cases a necessary means of communication. For example, students of all ages routinely work on group projects via apps and sports and other activities organize events, and post notifications using social media platforms.

About the Author

Kalen Churcher earned her PhD in mass communications from the Penn State University in 2014. She is an associate professor of media and communication studies at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Before entering academia, she worked in both the journalism and public relations fields.

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